[Nav]

Having suffered depression on losing my mum, i am over this now i have been left with a bothersome tinnitus and insomnia. I am going to do a sleep study on Thursday but in meantime the dr has told me to take one 7.5mg zopiclone everynight. ( I was trying to reduce the zopiclone, trying to take half of 3.75mg but my sleep was worse.) Now, I still get up a few times, go to another room to read, (try to follow the CBT guidelines.) I know taking a pill is really psychological and that it doesn’t help sleep and yet it’s hard to do without it. Do hope natural sleep will come, would love to feel refreshed and rested in the morning. Thoughts?

[hiker]

Hi Nav, I don’t know how long ago you lost your mum, but I do know there is no set timeline for recovery. Anyway, it sounds like insomnia moved in and has decided to keep hanging around.

Sleep meds can help short term, but if there was a med out there which cured insomnia for good, you would have heard about it. Doctors will prescribe something because they can, and many are not really into listening to what’s going in your life that might be driving the insomnia. Good at fixing tangible, specific things–medical engineers; beyond that, not a real solid bet for a cure. (If the sleep study shows you have sleep apnea, the docs are good at resolving that. CPAPs are kind of a hassle, but you can get used to them and they do work.)

I know it sounds simplistic to just let sleep happen, though I will have to give that a try myself at bedtime tonight. I had a stressful event yesterday, and so it is not a big surprise I did not sleep that well last night. So okay, I’m tired. And the stress isn’t totally gone, so who knows, maybe I won’t sleep that well tonight, either. Sure, I would rather get a good sleep tonight, but if it doesn’t happen, I’ll be okay, I have been here before.

And here comes the thought that omg, what if the insomnia is coming back long term, how will I live, I don’t want to go through that anymore, I would rather die, no one understands, why can’t I sleep, what’s wrong with me, I can’t handle this etc etc. Okay, this thought is passing through, but rather than buy into it and live it for hours, I am going to just let it drift on through my head like a cloud passing by in the sky until it’s out of view.

Suggest you sign up for Martin’s updates (emails/podcasts) for tips—-and also a reminder that you are not alone in this. People who have never had sleep problems can’t relate, but we can!

[Martin Reed]

How did you get on at the sleep study, Nav?

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[Nav]

Hi Martin, sleep study showed severe apnea so i have started using a CPAP a few days ago. Sleep is still agitated, i guess i have to get used to it.

[Author]

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