[DonnaR]

I started having insomnia toward end of Sept. when I faced a medical scare and surgery. Now that surgery is over and outcome has been positive I still unfortunately suffer from the insomnia. Trying things such as not looking at clock will in bed to help ease the anxiety. This and reading Martin’s posts has helped. I am trying hard to get up the same time in the morning and go to bed when sleepy but some nights I am wide awake and others cannot keep my eyes open. Want to fix this so can have better sleep throughout my life .

[California dreaming]

HI Dreamland,

You are so wise to catch this insomnia demon in the bud. I am having great success with CBT-I, after 30 years of struggling with sleeplessness, anxiety, and day-time fogginess. The key for me has been to keep at it. Stick with your sleep window. If you’re awake at bedtime, stay up till you are sleepy. When you can’t keep your eyes open, try walking around — just getting up and walking across the room has helped me. If you lose sleep, try thinking of it as part of a long-term project, and that not sleeping tonight is actually building your sleep drive for a better sleep in the coming days. I have found that I can actually do ok on less sleep than I thought. As you continue your journey, you will find thoughts of sleep and not sleeping taking up less of your precious mental space. And I find that a little bit of sound sleep is so much more refreshing than sleep ever was with sleeping medication. Do your best not to worry. Congratulations on successful surgery and on getting healthier. Saying goodbye to insomnia once and for all will follow, I’m sure, if you just keep reading this forum and working with Martin’s advice. It has been so helpful to me to hear from others, and to have Martin’s encouraging voice in the background.

[Martin Reed]

It’s quite typical for insomnia to develop in response to a medical scare but persist long after that initial problem is no longer an issue — and that’s because of the thoughts we have and the behaviors we implement in a bid to improve our sleep that actually make it more difficult for our sleep to recover!

If you are consistent with the cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) techniques you’ve been learning about, your sleep will become more consistent.

Thank you for sharing your encouraging words and personal experience, California Dreaming!

How are you getting on since you posted, Donna?

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