Search Results for 'acupuncture'

[gsdmom]

Today is my 10 month anniversary with insomnia, ugh. Last night my mind and body thought is would celebrate by staying up all night! This is the first no sleep night since mid-November, and that is because since then I’ve been taking 5mg of Ambien on the nights where I just don’t feel like I’m going to sleep, about 7x since Nov. But since I didn’t have to work , I thought I would just lay there and rest, and try to stay calm. I did have energy to vacuum, and hike the dog for 25 minutes, go food shopping, pay bills and will make dinner. But if I had to do critical thinking, that would not work very well.

I was starting to get better sleep since about Christmas, last week 5 nights in a row of falling asleep in 5 minutes and sleeping 7-7.5 hours. Then a couple days ago falling asleep quickly stopped. I liked what KarenP wrote about practicing mindfulness – daily. Once I start to feel better I get out of that habit, and like her, stress brings insomnia on much more quickly than my life prior to insomnia. So now I’ll listen to some guided meditation this afternoon. I also wanted to mention I got really great sleep after my last two acupuncture sessions that were 6 days apart. Here’s hoping the sleep drive will kick in tonight and I and everyone else here will have a deep and restful sleep tonight!

[gsdmom]

Happy New Year Everyone!
It’s so nice to read your updates.

Pam- OMG, you have been through so much! You mentioned acupuncture, how long did you try it for and how many times a week? During my worst times of insomnia, last spring, acupuncture did help a little, mostly by reducing anxiety and there were a few nights where I actually slept for 7 hours after a session. I’m in my late 50’s, and I know starting in my 40’s my hormones did affect my sleep. I’m on HRT now and recently requested a slightly higher dose, my doctor objected, but I insisted because I was having so many night sweats and getting so hot. They have decreased with the new dosage. I know how you feel with the dark circles and bags under your eyes. I’ve always looked young for my age, last year a man in my neighborhood who is 9 years younger than myself wanted to date me. He had no idea of my age or that I was married. This year after insomnia, I feel I look my age, and aged if you know what I mean. I am seriously thinking of getting a liquid facelift, some injections to put volume in my cheeks.

Steve – my sleeping time pattern is similar to yours. I believe last week when I averaged my hours of sleep over 7 nights it was about 6 hours – that of course includes one night of 3 hours and another of almost 9 hours. Compared to 6 months ago I was averaging 2-3 hours of sleep per night, so hopefully, over the next six months I will be close to a normal sleeper. Also, I still am in the light sleep stage for longer than normal, especially at the beginning of the night. I also seem to have trouble transitioning from REM (dream sleep) back into stage 1 of light sleep, often waking after dreams.

Deb – thanks so much for all your insights and sharing and being open with your life and your journey for recovery. Honestly, I don’t think I’d be sleeping better without you.

For anyone new to this forum, for reference, I started ACT on 8/1/19, 5 months ago. It’s a slow, but steady process, especially for me since I’ve had a lot of personal stressors with jobs and marital, and family health issues. Stress definitely affects my sleep more so than pre-insomnia days.

[Gabyoninsomnia]

I know what it’s like to feel like you don’t get a single minute of sleep at night. Stories of four-hour sleeps sound luxurious and you wonder how you are surviving on not a single second.

I tried ‘everything’. From lavender and CBD oil, to acupuncture and CBT. I thought I would be an insomniac for the rest of my life. I stumbled across stories of people who hadn’t slept well for 20 years convinced it was me. It was robbing me of joy from my life because I felt like I was dragging myself through the days and social situations.

Knowing that psychologically I was contributing to the illness didn’t help. I felt powerless.

At the time I thought it was the insomnia causing my anxiety and perpetuating itself, now I know I’d got used to such high stress levels in my life that I didn’t recognise that I was so highly stressed it was interfering with my sleep. I didn’t like my job but as a career-minded person I had suppressed my dislike, determined to think positive. Ultimately I felt trapped. Here are my top tips to curing insomnia and how I got better eventually.

1. First, some reassurance

I know how desperate insomnia can feel so I want to promise you that you will get better. You are not the exception, you don’t have a weird medical condition that is inhibiting your ability to sleep, and it won’t take you 20 years.

2. Change your environment

I had spent so many sleepless nights in the flat that I rented that I grew to feel anxious being there. My insomnia started to get better when I moved in with a friend and had a completely different bedroom to go to. It’s not possible for everyone, but if you have the option of going to stay in a friendly home for a while, I’d recommend it. If not, try moving your furniture around. Start afresh.

3. Of all the alternative and relaxing remedies I tried, the only one that helped me at all was very hard reflexology – it was a very relaxing foot massage and I was completely sceptical that it would help but it did.

5. Rid yourself of the nagging stress in your life. There is probably something you are unhappy with. It could be your relationship, for me it was the job. Try and save some money if you can, consider what it would take to make the change that you need to. I thought my job was bearable but when I quit it I began sleeping again.

6. Get some sunshine

Low seratonin (the happy hotmone) is a cause of bad sleep. Therefore, even if you’re exhausted, try and sit in the warm sunlight for a while. It might not feel like it works on day one, but think of marginal gains.

7. Download a podcast

Find a podcast you genuinely like and listen to it. Listen to it when you’re in bed if you feel like it.

8. Get a hot water bottle or electric blanket

This cosy trick is soothing.

9. Set yourself smaller goals in the day

It’s enough to just get your washing done. It’s enough to do half of the project you’re working on. Don’t overstretch yourself. Even if you have room to do more, cut down your routine for a bit.

20. Get custom-made earplugs

The best £70 I’ve ever spent in specsavers. They take two weeks to order and they fit very snugly inside your ear so they stay in, there’s no discomfort and there’s no noise at all. Whether or not you’re in a noisy environment, these are your secret weapon as they create a complete cocoon. I put them in when I’m reading in bed. I even wore them and turned my podcast up, just so they were a little bit of comfort in my nightly routine.

You will be ok. Your body is getting 20 seconds of sleep in every minute, you just don’t know it.

[Steve]

All ACT. No sleep window. I am in bed for about 8 hours as that is what I used to do pre-insomnia. Definitely no SC. I stay in bed if I can’t sleep. I practice all of the meditations and tools as outlined in the Meadows Sleep Book. I started acupuncture but not sure if it’s reducing my anxiety any yet. I’ll give it a couple more sessions but even if it doesn’t help my insomnia, I might stick with it if it helps other areas of my body.

[Steve]

It’s been awhile since I posted and I’ve been catching up on the other posts. Glad everyone is progressing, even if slowly. I am also progressing slowly. Friday night, I had about a 7 hour sleep and Saturday night I had about a 7.5 hour sleep. I usually can do pretty good on the weekends but this weekend was really good. During the week is another story and I think it’s because I stress over having to get up and go to work. Last night, I awoke from a very bad dream about an hour after I initially fell asleep and couldn’t get back to sleep right away. Between 10:30 and 3:00, I figure I got another hour in of light sleep and then a deep sleep from 3:00 to 4:00 and 4:15 to 5:15. So I am not a zombie today but don’t nearly feel as well as yesterday. I did go to the neurologist last week and she assured me that while she isn’t saying all of my symptoms are being caused by insomnia, I have to remember that everything I mention can be caused by it. So I am comfortable with that part of it. And then she tried to put me on a tricyclic anti-represent for my headaches. i told her no thank you. I am not going through the anti-depressant route again. So, I am going to go for an acupuncture treatment tonight and then just go to bed with the intention of just getting some rest.

Deb – Are you still taking the anxiety meds? Are you planning to come off soon?

Mac – Two things that I noticed you mentioned a couple of times in your posts. The first is clock watching. In ACT, it’s okay to look at the clock during the night. There is nothing wrong with that. The thing to watch for is how you react to looking at the clock. (See page 175 in The Sleep Book.) If you personally don’t want to look at the clock and want to hide it so you don’t see it, that’s perfectly okay. But I don’t want others in this ACT thread to think that they can’t look at the clock if they awaken or get up to go to the bathroom. The second is that you mention you look forward to a good sleep that night. We have had two people here talk to Dr. Kat at The Sleep School. Deb was one. I forget who the other was but Dr. Kat told him that thinking we are going to have a good night that night is actually a bad thought. That may seem odd but the theory is that if you keep thinking that and it doesn’t happen, it will cause anxiety. With ACT, when you go to bed, you should only be practicing Acceptance and Letting Go. Hope this helps.

Hope everyone out there continues to improve.

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to the forum, Sazzy. Like most people with insomnia, you have tried many things in an attempt to improve your sleep — but, unfortunately, we wouldn’t actually expect any of them to work.

Sleep aids, lavender, magnesium, yoga, warm baths, melatonin, antihistamines, and acupuncture are not effective treatments for chronic insomnia.

Have you looked into cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)? CBT-I is the best treatment for chronic insomnia because it gets to the root cause of insomnia — the thoughts and behaviors we have and implement in a bid to improve our sleep that actually make sleep more difficult.

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[gsdmom]

Hi Everyone –

Hope those of us in the USA have recovered from Thanksgiving, and those of you in the other parts of the world I hope you are sleeping better. Deb, glad things are getting back to normal for you and you are able to make small trips and journeys without any setbacks.

I had a relapse 12 days ago, and had 5 bad nights out of the last 12. One of those was related to working very late, just could not unwind. It was the same thing for many of my co-workers, many only got 3-4 hours sleep on Thanksgiving and the next day at the start of our shift, one woman said she’s been awake for 29 hours already. So I did not feel so alone. I’m assuming my brain still needs more time to heal. I had so much anxiety one night thinking about relapsing – racing, pounding heart, panic. I told myself I can change my thoughts and tried to go back to the memory of beginning to practice ACT. Eventually, my heart slowed, I relaxed and fell asleep for 3 hours. Since that time I am falling asleep a bit better, but STILL in light sleep. I swear I am awake the first 2 hours of going to bed, but then realize that I did not notice my husband getting in and out of bed at night so then I know I was asleep, plus been having very realistic dreams which make me feel awake. Going for another acupuncture session today hoping it will help with relapse recovery.

[Steve]

gsdmon – Thanks for getting back to me. It’s really strange the night right after the two acupuncture sessions I had. I am going to continue for a couple more sessions before I decide if I am going to continue. Of course, I might not make my decision to continue on the sleep issue alone but how it makes me feel in other areas of my body. Also, thanks for the tip on the income tax but my insurance does a good job of covering. I only have to pay a $25 co-pay, which is one of the reasons I am trying it. She doesn’t stick any needles in my ear. She uses a massage on the pressure points of the ears. The needles she sticks in the rest of my body.

Nice to see that everybody is getting better, even if slowly. I feel I am slowly improving. I am in a more positive mood and still doing the meditations from the book. I still wake an hour after initially falling asleep and then again at 2:00 in the morning. Sometimes I fall back to sleep or am in and out of sleep until 4:00 or 4:30 but then I usually can’t get back to sleep. This cold I had really set me back. It went into a sinus infection and I had to take antibiotics which had a side effect of causing insomnia in some people, so I made sure I took it in the morning. Then I developed a cough which woke me up at night. I take a codeine cough medicine so I can get some sleep but that has the effect of making me very tired the next day. As an example, I had a good sleep last night but because I took the cough syrup, I am very tired today. That’s why I take it only sporadically. I am going to the neurologist next week. I had to cancel the original appointment because my truck broke down. I can’t say yet that insomnia isn’t affecting my social life but I am certainly better than I was 4 or 5 months ago when I was doing CBT-i with SC. I just know now that this is going to take some time to overcome.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[gsdmom]

Hi Steve – Last Spring when my insomnia was really terrible because I had this long-acting medication in my system is when I tried acupuncture. Probably 9-10 sessions between the end of April and the end of June. I don’t know if anything at that time could have cured me from insomnia because the medication in my system was so powerful, however there were 3 nights after an acupuncture session where I fell asleep for 7 hours. That was so great, to have 7 hours of sleep one night a week when normally only sleeping for 2.5 hours. I felt it did lessen my anxiety in general which was helpful.

Starting acupuncture again this week, after this first session I felt normal and then had a fair night of sleep, light sleep for an hour, then woke for an hour, then 5 hours of deep sleep. Yesterday, the day after acupuncture I felt as if a cold virus was coming on, tired and achy. It might have been a cold or the after-effect from acupuncture. I read this can be common 2-4 days after a session. I listened to my body this time and did not push myself. Last night, I fell asleep so quickly I don’t even remember going to bed. The only thing that woke me was lights turning on (because our power went out and the lights were left on). But I slept for almost 8 hours. I will probably go again Saturday or Sunday. Most of the needles were placed in my ears, about 5, and then on other various points on my body. I went to acupuncture once for cervical spine issues and for that problem the needles were placed differently. FYI, if you itemized on Schedule A on your tax return, acupuncture is considered a legitimate medical expense.

[Steve]

gsdmom – How long have you been getting acupuncture? I started last week and had my 2nd session yesterday. It’s too early to say if it’s helping yet. After both sessions, I had fitful sleep. It was almost as if half of my body was trying to sleep and the other half was trying to wake up. I hope it lessens some of the anxiety I know I still have.

[Sazzy]

Since I was pregnant in 2017, I first started to experience chronic awakening around 2am and then having trouble going back to sleep. I have tried a variety of sleep aids, lavendar, magnesium, yoga, warm bath, acupuncture. . On really bad nights or when I have an important work meeting the next day, I take melatonin or nyquil. Doctor prescribed zopliclone, but it hasn’t adjusted the wakening.

On good days, it takes about 2 hours to go back to sleep . On bad days, I just cant go back to sleep and i end up staying up from 2am
Anyone else going through this?

[gsdmom]

Mac- It is great to read about your progress, I hope you are feeling better day by day!

My update – after almost 3 weeks of very good sleep, I had a relapse! Four nights ago I had a nil sleep night. I felt a little bit worse than other times, made some mistakes at work, but was able to correct them. Anyway, was not that concerned because usually, I would sleep fairly well the next night after not sleeping. Well, the next night, I was exhausted but could not sleep, so at just before midnight, I called it a bad night and took my first Ambien in 9 weeks. I slept for about 5.5 hours and felt good the next day. However that night I also could not sleep and at 12:30 am took an Ambien for a 2nd night because I had a big event the following day. The last two nights I have fallen asleep on my own (no meds) but it took until 12:30am, and 12 am, but was able to sleep 6-7 hours. Today I had a day off and decided to get some acupuncture, it had helped somewhat in the past. I do not feel bad about taking the Ambien, occasional use is what it is for and it helped me do what I needed to do. Now, hopefully more mindfulness and a few acupuncture sessions will bring me back to more regular sleep again. I know it is normal to relapse, but I was hoping I’d be the exception!

[sleepy_sarah]

I’m 40 years old and have had chronic insomnia for 15 years. It started when i graduated college and moved across the country to start my career. It started slow, and then progressed to the point where it’s now this dark shadow following me everywhere I go, and influences every decision to make. I no longer travel or go out of town for a night or two, let guys sleep over or sleep over at anyone’s house, even close friends. I think about sleep and not being able to sleep constantly, but especially at night, to the point where i can’t hang out with people past 8 or 8:30 because i have to start my sleep routine. Insomnia has hijacked sarah and i am a shell of who i used to be. i’ve tried so many anti-anxiety meds and antidepressants, as well as almost all prescription and non prescription medications, homeopathy, 2 rounds of CBT-i, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, regular talk therapy, a sleep study, etc. I had or have other health issues as well…….a progressive nerve disease, breast cancer, and migraines, yet if i had to choose one to cure, it would be my insomnia. I’m hoping to find people to connect with and support each other.

[Hppositve]

Hi. I just want to share good news that I have recovered from insomnia.
Just July I started to lose my sleep due to a situation at work. Within one month I lost the ability to sleep altogether and had many nights of no sleep at all.
Prior to this I’ve always slept nearly 8 hours solid every night so losing my sleep so quickly had an awful impact on me.
I got anxiety, depression and had several panic attacks.
The doctor prescribed several different pills which didn’t work and we eventually I settled on zopliclone and an anti anxiety tablet which together helped me to fall asleep.
However, even with sleeping pill I had still many nights of no or just 2 hours sleep. I couldn’t understand why I was suffering so badly. Despite this I still managed to go to work, have a social life and look after the kids. Don’t know how I did it as I had no energy and low mood and I felt like I was living in a bubble.
I also tried hypnotherapy, acupuncture and counseling but nothing really worked.
After 5 months on the pills, my therapist told me that I had to love myself again and get out of the negative thinking cycle that I was in. So I repeated positive affirmations everyday all day long.
Within one month I came if the pills altogether and now, 6 months on I sleep approx. 6.5 hours every night. I feel like old me as I have energy and the bubble has gone. Anxiety and depression also gone.
Martin was great and very supportive and his CBT techniques do work so please do try it.
For me though, it was a mental problem and once I overcame those I recovered. It’s taken a long time but I don’t think it’s something you recover from quickly.
Please remain positive, have faith in your ability to sleep, know that you will get better, never doubt it, relax and try to enjoy life as much as you can.
If you’re newly suffering then rest assured that you can get your sleep back.
Remove any negative thinking in your life of you can because for me that’s what made me lose my sleep and don’t be so harsh on yourself.
I also did meditation every day which helped.
I still don’t sleep as much as much I used to but at least I’m no longer tossing and turning and feel like the old me. With lots of energy. I’m hoping with time that I will be able to sleep nearly 8 hours but I know it’s unlikely.
Please contact me if you’d like to know exactly what I did to recover and I’ll be happy to help.
Good luck all.

[GILL999]

I’ve been suffering from bouts of chronic insomnia for the last 15 years. Often there will be a trigger – such as getting into a new relationship – but some times (like currently) there is no apparent trigger. I get stuck in a ‘loop’ where I sleep for about 2 hours a night (currently between about 7-9am) which in turn causes horrific generalised anxiety during the day, that them causes more insomnia. I’m currently really struggling with hypnic jerks… every single time I start to fall asleep my body jerks me back awake with a jolt. This happens for hours on end. At the moment I’ve been in the cycle for nearly 2 weeks and most of this time I’m unable to work, as after so much consistent sleep deprivation you really do feel very, very ill. My work are as supportive as they can be but I’m acutely aware that I’m letting people down by not being there. I’ve tried every solution you can possibly think of – sleeping pills years ago (became addicted, bad times), CBT, hypnotherapy, counselling, different sleep courses, Acupuncture, reiki, meditation… you name it, I’ve tried it. Nothing has ever made a difference so I’ve reached a point where I’m trying just to accept that this is part of me and try not to fight it and hate it. It’s hard though. Would love to hear from others who have similar experiences…