[Lenochka]

Hello Martin,

I don`t feel an urge to sleep after several days without any sleep because my brain biochemistry got broken when I had a severe prolonged stress and a psychotic episod five years ago.

My doctor agrees on ANYTHING!!! that could fix my sleep problem at least partly. So, there are no problems from this side.

I have started fixing my destroyed body metabolism but the doctor whos helping me with this said that its the most tough work and will take long time.

All the best,

Elena.

 

 

[madmax]

Hi Elena,

I’m insomniac for four months now, and the first two months were a lot like you described. It was hell on earth, I wanted to die. I would also spend some nights in a row not sleeping at all. What’s worse, I was never sleepy, so I thought my brain was broken. Doctors didn’t help. I had all kinds of physical and psychological problems. My life was put upside down and I was constantly thinking it was the end. I got pills for anxiety that just made the problem worse.

Eventually I settled down, I accepted I was sick and stopped worrying. I also decided to stop taking the sleep medication, reducing the dose very slowly. Some nights I wouldn’t sleep at all, but I didn’t give up, and after some time I started sleeping by myself. Now I only sleep an average of 3 hours, but I sleep every night and I’m optimistic it will improve. Now I’m in a state were I can use regular therapy for insomnia, but as you saw I had to arrive here on my own.

I wish this may give you some hope, improving is possible!

[Lenochka]

Hi Madmax,

Many thanks for your input. How did you manage to start sleeping for three hrs every night after having insomnia for several nights in a raw? I would be glad to have three hrs each night of sleep. Didn’t sleep at all for the last several nights. Feel that I can die in a couple of days. I also experience a full spectrum of health problems due to insomnia. Think I really can die in two days…or even sooner. Our doctors also cannot help me. I don’t know what to do. Martin suggests me to practice sleep restriction but how on Earth can I do it if I don’t sleep for several nights in a raw???!!! Probably die soon.. afraid to die… :(((…don’t know what to do…:(((.

[madmax]

Hi Elena,

I’m really sorry you’re suffering so much. I’ve been there, I had the same feeling, and I’m still alive and recovering. It will be the same for you, only in your current state it’s impossible to imagine it. I know the pain and the feeling is real. In my case, after 3 days with no sleep and going to the emergency post because of the serious complains I had, I started taking zopiclone every other night by doctor’s recommendation. If you somehow can avoid taking pills please do it, you will save yourself a lot of trouble! Anyway in my case zopiclone allowed me to “sleep” around 3 hours. It’s not real sleep, but it was better than those horrendous nights I had before. The key thing is that now I know a night with no sleep is better than a night sleeping with zopiclone, as long as you can stay relaxed, which I couldn’t at that point. If you don’t sleep but you are relaxed all night, you begin to be in the right track. For me an important thing was to stop being afraid of death. I don’t know how that happened, but one day I was just ready to accept whatever could happen.

One day I decided to take half zopiclone every day instead of a whole one every other day. Surprisingly the effect was the same as taking a whole one! Later I reduced it to a quarter and the same happened (only one night it didn’t work). Finally I quit completely and I spent a couple of days not sleeping – but this time in a relaxed state! – and then I started sleeping on my own. In the beginning it was terrible sleep, only one or two hours and only dreaming, no deep sleep, but every day it was a little bit better until getting deep sleep for around 3 hours every night.

So, it takes a lot of patience and acceptance, but you can do it! Be strong, you will master it!

[Lenochka]

Hi Madmax,

Thank you very much for understanding my situation and for your support. Unfortunately I cannot stay relaxed during the night when I don’t sleep. What should I do to stay relaxed? During day and during night? I AM!!! afraid of death and I’m pretty sure that this will happen pretty soon …:(((…I don’t know what can I do…I feel so much pain and I suffer so much. Sleeping pills don’t help me at all! My insomnia is not due to stress or anxiety. In my case the cause is physiological disbalance in my frontal lobes. This is all I know. But I have no idea how to correct this disbalance. I think I’ll die pretty soon and I think there is no cure for me in the whole World!!! I don`t know what to do with my extremely serious situation. I did a CBT-I course and it didn’t help me even a bit! As I understood I simply don’t have such problems that CBT-I deals with. So I have no idea what might be my next step. Herbs also don’t help me at all…I have no idea why…it’s sth special about my brain…but I don’t know what’s special about it why sleeping pills and herbs don’t work at all. I would love sleeping herbs start working again.

When you stop taking sleeping pills your insomnia is getting worse. This is a common rule.

Thank you once more time for contacting me here on the forum. I hope you are getting well pretty soon. I wish you all the best and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! I wish you a good health!!!

Elena.

[madmax]

Hi Elena,

I don’t know what caused the extreme insomnia I had those days, and I think you also can’t be sure what causes yours. There may be factors we don’t understand, or even doctors don’t understand, but one thing is sure: worrying and being afraid is enough by itself to keep the problem. You must look into yourself and find the way to stop being afraid of death. I can’t explain how I did it, it’s something almost spiritual. I’m not talking about convincing yourself that everything will be fine, but to truly accept whatever may happen. There are techniques out there on how to overcome fear, lately I read something like “recognize your fear, accept your fear, BE your fear”. That should annihilate fear with it’s opposite. But I’m no expert, I’m just beginning to learn about this stuff. You know yourself and maybe you can instinctively find your own solution like I did.

Good luck, my best wishes and also for you merry Christmas and happy new year!

[Lenochka]

Hi Madmax,

My fear of death don’t disturb my sleep. I’m sure in it. I don’t know why I cannot sleep. EEG shows that I have increased excitation in my brain. Our doctors don’t know how to help me…and I don’t know what to do. In my case it’s not a transitor insomnia. I suffer from it for long five years. And feel no improvements at all. Probably, I’ll die soon…:(((…I want to live so much, have a family, nice, lovely children…I don’t know what to do about my proble…

Best wishes to you!

[madmax]

Hi Elena,

I recently read a book that I find very inspirational, maybe you can give it a try, it’s The Effortless Sleep Method by Sasha Stephens. There are some mechanisms in your brain that you aren’t aware of, but once you begin to understand you can slowly with a lot of patience begin to change them. Don’t stop seeing your doctor to control a possible schizophrenia bout, which may cause insomnia, but insomnia can persist long after the cause that produced it is gone and doctors can’t really help with it, we need to fix it ourselves.

Lots of strength and good luck!

[Lenochka]

Hi Madmax,

I read this book. It’s not about my problem. I don’t have such problems as those described in this book. Sorry to say that. I have physiological excitation in my brain, that’t why I cannot sleep. I’m seing my doctor on a regular basis. And in my case it’s a shizoaffective disorder. My doctor says that he cannot do anything about my problem. How can we fix it ourselves? In my case it’s not a short-term problem, it lasts for several years. And still no fix is found…:(((…my doctor doesn’t want to think how my problem can be fixed. And I don’t have a medical background to resolve this problem on my own.

Good luck to you too!

[madmax]

I’m really sorry I can’t give you a solution, I know how much suffering this is. But here is a thought: imagine one day your mental disorder stops affecting your sleep. I think there is a good chance that insomnia persists, simply because of your thoughts, beliefs and feelings about sleep. So at least you should take care of the part that you _can_ control. I apply the same to myself, I don’t completely understand what caused my insomnia, but I’m ignoring that side of the problem and I’m trying to have faith in a method that worked for other people, and very very slowly it’s working and I’m improving. It can be the same for you! At least you don’t lose anything for trying. There are things in that book that may be difficult to apply in a very severe case, like the “go on with your life as if nothing is happening” stuff, but you can still take profit of a big part of the book (or Martin’s program, or whatever method that is proven to work for a lot of people).

Again, lots of strength and patience, I’m sure you can improve! 🙂

[Author]

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