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- This topic has 11 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 11 months ago by Dozydame.
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December 28, 2010 at 2:09 pm #8365
i need help with my insomnia
December 29, 2010 at 7:08 pm #11947That's an interesting poll you've started there, Molly!
I'm sure you'll find lots of support and help here at Insomnia Land if you continue to contribute and get to know our other members.
How long have you suffered with insomnia for? Have you sought any medical advice or tried any techniques to relieve your insomnia?
—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.
January 9, 2011 at 1:18 pm #11948Welcome, Molly. I know it's been a number of days since you first posted this, but hopefully you were able to get some sleep. I also hope to see you around more.
January 11, 2011 at 7:37 am #11949'sugarplummolly' wrote on '29:i need help with my insomnia
Hi Sugarplummolly,
I have been battling insomnia for 40 years. Is there anything I can do to help? Believe me I've been thru every emotion there is over this time and have devised a few strategies to help me cope. What type of insomnia do you have? Can't get to sleep – can't stay asleep – or constant waking?
January 12, 2011 at 7:42 am #11950Hi, i have terrible depression and i cant believe how confusing my sleep is i sometimes know i am asleep but unless i dream i could swear i have been awake all night its getting worse at the moment even i dont understand it it leaves me a nervouse wreck all day i dont know whats what and i barley funtion excuse my spelling my heads not that good today thanks for lisning to me i feel so alone
January 12, 2011 at 1:43 pm #11951Hi Molly I really understand how you feel. The problem is that the more desperate you feel, the more difficult it is to sleep. Are you taking any antidepressant medication? I think it's more important to tackle the depression than the insomnia at the moment. I know that I feel better almost straight away when I start taking antidepressants even though it's probably more of a placebo effect, but just knowing I'm doing something positive definitely helps. I hate taking drugs for depression, but it's necessary sometimes just to lighten the load a little. Once you start to feel better it's easier to tackle the insomnia – or you may find it'll improve by itself once the depression abates. I know sometimes it's a bit of a chicken and egg situation – are you depressed because you're not sleeping or not sleeping because you're depressed? It took me a few tries to find an antidepressant I was comfortable with – most have some side effects – but these days I take Lexapro if I need to take one. I'm not using it at the moment, but I always have some here in case I feel myself sliding into a hole.
I think it really helps to remember that it doesn't matter if you don't sleep, your body will cope if you can just relax and rest as much as possible. The worst thing you can do is go to bed thinking about how much you really need to sleep tonight. The other rule I have these days is I never look at the clock if I find myself awake in the middle of the night. As soon as you do that you'll start getting frustrated about being awake and thinking about how tired you'll be in the morning. I just try to relax and rest and I'll usually go into a sort of daydream state. If you can do that you'll feel much more rested the next day even if you don't sleep. I hope this helps a little Molly. Please tell me a little more about what kind of sleep problem you're having at the moment and whether you're taking medication. Take care Molly ♥
January 13, 2011 at 8:32 am #11952HI, THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLY I DO TAKE MEDS BUT I HAVE BEEN LIKE THIS FOR OVER A YEAR MY BIGGIST PROBLEM IS NOT KNOWING IF I AM SLEEPING OR NOT WHICH WHEN I WAS WELL WOULD HAVE THOUGHT MADNESS MYSELF I HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FACT THAT I CAN EVEN SLEEP I LOOK FOR DREAMS TO TELL ME I HAVE BEEN ASLEEP LAST NIGHT WAS DREADFUL I REALLY FELT LIKE I HADNT SLEPT AT ALL NOW I WILL HAVE ANXIETY ALL DAY MY I SAW A DIFFERENT SHRINK LAST WEEK BUT CANT SEEM TO TELL HIM HOW I FEEL I JUST THINK I AM MAD AND FEEL LIKE ENDING IT ALL ALTHOUGH I HAVE PROMISED HIM I WONT DO THAT BUT WHAT IF THIS CONTINUES HOW CAN I LIVE LIKE THIS I HAVE TOTALLY LOST MYSELF I HAVE SUCH A GOOD LIFE I SHOULDNT BE LIKE THIS AND I REALLY CANT COPE ANYMORE
January 13, 2011 at 12:59 pm #11953Hi Molly, I don't know what type of meds ur on, but many of them stop normal dream sleep or stop you remembering them. I think using dreams as a measurement of sleep won't help you much. Being anxious is the biggest enemy of sleep, so you have to find a way to relieve some of the stress. What works for one person, may not work for another, but there are all sorts of suggestions in the insomnia part of the forum. Have you read through that? There may be something there that you can try which will help.
I was going thru a really bad patch a couple of months ago when I was getting no sleep at all. I was becoming really desperate like you, so I tried a program called “Sleep Tracks“.
I believe it helped me to break the cycle I was on and I feel much better – any sleep beats no sleep! Even if you don't want to buy the program which you just download, the guy has some suggestions which I think are quite helpful. Just remember your sleep will improve sooner or later – no matter how bad it seems right now. If you know something helps you to relax, just do it! For me, things like massage, music, aromatherapy, reading etc. definitely help to relieve some of the stress. Try to go to bed and not worry about whether you actually sleep or not, knowing that you'll feel better the next day if you can just get some rest time. Your body and mind can cope with very little sleep as long as it gets a chance to recharge. I hope some of this helps, Molly.
Have you been diagnosed with a medical condition or is it just the insomnia & depression? Remember, I've been dealing with these issues for 40 years and I'm still here. You will be ok! Hugs to you, xx♥
January 14, 2011 at 3:04 pm #11954Hi, still trying to cope i think the cofusion to wether i am sleeping or not is getting me really down and i feel so out of controle with it excuse my spelling my head is all over the place i cant seem to get a grip of it all feel like i am going mad part of me knows i must be getting some sleep but the doubts creep in and take over and i cant seem to get a grip sorry for sounding so stupid love molly
January 28, 2011 at 7:40 pm #11955Molly – You don't sound stupid. We all understand what you're going through here. You don't need to explain yourself and you don't need to apologise.
Keep in touch, OK?
—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.
January 29, 2011 at 3:35 am #11956Hi Dozydame, how long have you been using sleeptracks? I looked at the website and am considering getting it. What have I got to lose except $70? I have spent way more than that in sleeping pills that haven't done nything for me. Let me know everything that you think about it…thanks!
'Dozydame' wrote on '13:Hi Molly, I don't know what type of meds ur on, but many of them stop normal dream sleep or stop you remembering them. I think using dreams as a measurement of sleep won't help you much. Being anxious is the biggest enemy of sleep, so you have to find a way to relieve some of the stress. What works for one person, may not work for another, but there are all sorts of suggestions in the insomnia part of the forum. Have you read through that? There may be something there that you can try which will help.
I was going thru a really bad patch a couple of months ago when I was getting no sleep at all. I was becoming really desperate like you, so I tried a program called “Sleep Tracks“.
I believe it helped me to break the cycle I was on and I feel much better – any sleep beats no sleep! Even if you don't want to buy the program which you just download, the guy has some suggestions which I think are quite helpful. Just remember your sleep will improve sooner or later – no matter how bad it seems right now. If you know something helps you to relax, just do it! For me, things like massage, music, aromatherapy, reading etc. definitely help to relieve some of the stress. Try to go to bed and not worry about whether you actually sleep or not, knowing that you'll feel better the next day if you can just get some rest time. Your body and mind can cope with very little sleep as long as it gets a chance to recharge. I hope some of this helps, Molly.
Have you been diagnosed with a medical condition or is it just the insomnia & depression? Remember, I've been dealing with these issues for 40 years and I'm still here. You will be ok! Hugs to you, xx♥
January 29, 2011 at 8:16 am #11957Hi Aimee,
Well one of the reasons I haven't done a review of Sleep Tracks is because I stopped using it as soon as my sleep improved – which is not really the reccommended way to use it. The reason I stopped using it is because I didn't want to be trying to stay awake until the end of the track so that I could take my earphones out and turn my mp3 player off and risk waking myself up again in the process. I figured that since I'd started falling asleep more easily I'd just see how it went. I am thinking of buying a product called SleepPhones which is like a headband with built in headphones which you just plug your iPod into but leave on all night and blocks noise also. They are out of stock at the moment though.
Anyway, I did use the Fall Asleep track, the Whole Night track and the Insomnia Buster track. I found I preferred the Fall Asleep track because it was shorter – about 20 minutes. I also did use the Whole Night track on loop, but am not sure it made much difference. All I can tell you is that I was just not able to get to sleep at all without drugs for quite a while (but I'm really leery of using drugs much because I've been hooked on them before and don't want to go there again – so only every 3rd night) anyway within about 6 days of starting Sleep Tracks I found that I began to at least fall asleep again. I wish I could tell you that I'm now sleeping like a baby, but sadly not. However, I am getting some sleep most nights and am feeling more rested AND I've stopped taking drugs again. Most importantly, I'm now going to bed expecting to get some sleep instead of dreading another night of NO sleep. It seemed like it just broke the cycle I was on and allowed a better cycle to begin. After 40 years of insomnia I'm well acquainted with the fact that I go through cycles with it, but I still can't work out what the triggers are. Before I tried Sleep Tracks I tried hypnotherapy again but it made no difference at all. That last bad patch was the worst I've ever had and I was feeling absolutely desperate.
When I read about Sleep Tracks, like you I thought I really had nothing to lose and in fact they offer a money back guarantee if after 60 days you're not happy with it. I don't know how easy it is to actually get a refund, but the guy does come across as pretty genuine and you do get follow up info once you start the program.
Hope this helps Aimee and if you do try it I'll be really interested to see how it worked for you. Maybe you'll be a little more disciplined than me and use it correctly. Best of luck!
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