[elcid]

Biggest sleep challenge: Falling asleep. Some nights I get zero sleep and that is not an exaggeration. I can’t seem to nap anymore either.

Sleep Issues: I used 1.5 mg of Mirtazipine plus cannabis for 6 years successfully. Now, nothing seems to work. I have one good night when I’m exhausted and two bad or no sleep nights.

I have really embraced mindfulness to help mitigate the next-day anxiety that comes with sleepless nights. Melatonin helps somewhat.

I came to insomnia coach because I need the courage to learn how to sleep again. Years of bad habits have made me reliant on cannabis and mirtazipine. It sounds easy to change your ways until you actually have to change your ways amidst a bout of insomnia.

I’m worried because I do a lot of the things that are supposed to make me sleepy ie, exercise, sun light, no napping, but nothing has been working consistently. I don’t want to take pills because they leave me so tired the next day. I wish I could pin point what is causing me bad sleep. I never used to care about sleep and I loved it. I’d be tired, I’d go and nap. I can’t even nap anymore. I think I’ve associated bed with insomnia, but we use the bedroom as a living room because of the way the condo is structured. Additionally, there are so many different tidbits of advice on the web that it’s hard to know what works and what doesn’t. All the rules are making my bedtime so rigid.

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to the forum. First of all, let me tell you something: You are capable of sleep!

The ability to sleep is a natural biological process that cannot be destroyed and never goes away. With that being said, we can certainly make it more difficult to sleep (normally by worrying about sleep or paying too much attention to sleep) and this can lead to less sleep.

Do you know what originally triggered your sleep issues? How long have you been having trouble sleeping?

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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.

[elcid]

I had an equivalent of a nervous breakdown 10 years ago. Before that my sleep was okay, but I never stressed about it. During the stress breakdown, I first got insomnia. Coupled with the extreme anxiety I went through, sleep became a priority for me. Unfortunately it became too important to me and now I’m too rigid about the rules of my sleep that I ruined a lot of the spontaneity I used to have. I equated insomnia with the breakdown and sleep has become an obsession. I think a lot of my problem has been I’ve been too rigid about going to bed early. 10:30 may not sound like an early bedtime, but it is for me as I used to go to bed around 12:00. To get to sleep at 10:30, I force it by using a small dose of mirtazipine and a little cannabis. That worked very well for me until it didn’t work. Every three years or so I go through a bout of insomnia which stresses me out so much I can’t think straight. I obsess about sleep and am hyper vigilant about obtaining it. When things stop working it really messes me up . The idea of quitting the meds terrifies me. When I get insomnia, I don’t sleep at all (none) some days which frazzles me and lowers my resolve to sleep naturally. My biggest problem is that when I don’t sleep, I get manic instead of tired and I don’t know how to disassociate being really tired from the mania I get. I’m going into holidays so I’m going to take baby steps. These are some of the techniques I’m going to try: I submitted the post about the unusual living room with two beds. I’m going to start using only one bed for sleeping. I’m going to start going to bed later, which scares me because I’ve made my bedtime too early for 10 years now. I will get out of bed if I can’t sleep. I have no clocks in my room. The room is dark and usually cool.

Thank you very much for your reply. There is simply too much erroneous information out there and too many rules that contradict one-another to formulate a clear treatment option for years of sleep obsession and insomnia. Just by following up with me you’ve already provided me with some clarity.

[Martin Reed]

If I ever write a book about how insomnia develops, I could use your post above as the perfect example of a ‘typical case’. Almost all cases of insomnia stem from a one-off event or period of stress (in your case, the equivalent of a nervous breakdown). However, when the issue that triggered our sleep problems is resolved (or improves), sleep problems can continue to linger — and that’s because we end up obsessing about sleep and giving it far more attention than we ever did before.

When we obsess about sleep, we end up worrying about sleep. When we worry about sleep, we make it harder to sleep. When we find it hard to sleep, we do things to try to make it easier to sleep (such as going to bed earlier, not going out with friends, calling in sick to work, napping during the day, spending more time in bed) — and all these things actually make it harder to sleep!

This then creates a negative cycle of ever-increasing worry, anxiety, fear, and stress about sleep — and ever-worsening sleep!

Fortunately, cognitive and behavioral techniques such as those I use in my insomnia coaching course are designed to fix this negative cycle by changing the way you think about sleep and by identifying and changing the behaviors that are making it more difficult for you to sleep.

Have you ever looked into cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)? I think you would find it helpful.

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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.

[Jlee86]

Your post is so dead on with how it is for me it’s like wrote it my self. The thought of even trying to go to sleep gets me pacing espically when I am going on no sleep (like right now) and I am not quite as good at coping…… it is hell. I know this isn’t productive post at all, just letting you know you are not alone.

[elcid]

Thanks for your response Jlee86. I’m on holidays now so I’m instituting new bedtime practices starting last night. I’m going to start a new thread and post my daily progress.

[Author]

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