[Chelkee]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been suffering with insomnia for many many years, the only way I can get to sleep is from meds which is why I’m going to see my doctor to try to get off them. I ideally would love to be able to sleep without having to rely on meds

I have a 10 month old and since he was 6 weeks old my husband has been taking him every night due to my sleep problems.

I have an app with my doctor coming up so I can perhaps get a referral to a sleep specialist and a psych I was recommended.

Most of the meds I do take for sleep make me drowsy and really low in mood and energy for most of the next day which makes it really difficult when I have a busting with energy 10 month old to entertain.

I have tried a few anti depressants lately thinking why I’m not sleeping could possibly be anxiety related but I had a fairly terrible experience when I started a new anti anxiety medication. I took it for 11 days and each day I started getting more and more depressed until I was unable to cope. I took myself off them and am now beginning to feel somewhat myself again.

I hope one day i’ll be able to go to bed put my head on the pillow and fall asleep without taking sleep aids and wake up feeling refreshed. That’s my dream.

Im up for trying anything really, meditation, yoga, I exercise most days and eat healthy.

A question I would love to know is do you think some sleep problems could be hormone related?

The reason I want to know is because I slept like a baby when I was pregnant for a full 9 months but as soon as I have birth my sleep returned to a huge problem. I’m hoping my doc can give me a blood test.

 

Thank you for reading 🙂

[Deb]

Hi Chelkee – it sounds like you’ve developed conditioned insomnia which is what most of us on this forum have. That means that you you need reconditioning to heal, not medication, hormone therapy, meditation or yoga, although some of those are good practices but won’t help with the insomnia.

Please read this website to understand what conditioned insomnia is and what you can do to cure it. Then read the forum threads of those who are practicing the reconditioning behaviors of SR and SC and are getting better.

[Chelkee]

Hi Deb,

Thank you for your reply! I’ve just been researching conditioned insomnia and it does seem I possibly have this.

I’m doing light therapy at the moment (last week) with blue light blocking sunglass at night and bright light therapy sunglasses in the morning hoping to set my circadian rhythm. I wake up at the same time every morning regardless of when I went to sleep. Is this called sleep restriction? I’m also taking vitamin D as it’s winter where I am in Australia and doctors have told me I need more vitamin D.

I do believe my body is overly sensitive to stimulants and being diagnosed with generalised anxiety doesn’t help. I suppose I’m at the point I really don’t know what else to do. It’s depressing.

Thank you again for your reply! Hope we can all sleep well one of these days.

[Martin Reed]

Hello Chelkee and welcome to the forum. Sleep can be disrupted due to pregnancy (or any life change) — however, it’s usually our response to this sleep disruption that determines whether or not sleep is able to recover.

If you have chronic insomnia, bright light therapy is unlikely to be particularly helpful since people with insomnia don’t normally have any problem with their circadian rhythm (other than their propensity to voluntarily go to bed before sleepy and to get out of bed at a different time each day).

Have you looked into cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)? You will likely find it to be very helpful.

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