[Sosleepless]

Hey everyone, this is my first post. I’ve been dealing with insomnia for the past 8 months after I had a stroke. It started with one night, then two, then three consecutive nights where I could not fall asleep. Nothing! not even one hour. I tried multiple otc meds and some would only work for few hours. The lack of so many days without sleep caused me to be so anxious around night time. I reached out to my specialist and all had different ideas; some thought it was due to the location of the stroke (Thalamus,) others due to anxiety. I started with different type of treatments with the hope to put an end to this. I’ve done CBT, Hypnosis, Talk Therapy, meditation, tapping , white lamp therapy, night goggles, sleep hygiene, acupuncture… ect. and multiple different medications. None have really made a significant difference. The cocktail of medicines that seem to work very intermittently is Magnesium L Threonate, L thiamine and 0.5 Clonazepam. Recently my sleep specialist started me on a new medication (Quviviq) . I’ve only taken one dose of this medication combined with the above cocktail. It did help, but i woke up exhausted. I miss my previous life where I was able to fall asleep whenever, wherever and without any restrictions. I have felt very down and anxious during the past 8 months. My GP rx me with Lexapro, but I could not tolerated plus it interacted with my anticoagulant levels. I find my life revolving about sleep! some days I get one to two hours, some others more. I feel like I can’t shake it off regardless of how many therapies I’ve done. I guess my body and mind has gotten so accustomed to being exhausted, sad and anxious. Is there hope? I miss living!
Looking forward to getting any feedback
Thanks!

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to the forum and I am sorry to hear of everything you are dealing with and going through. That all sounds really difficult.

It sounds as though you’ve sure tried a lot to fix your situation — nobody could accuse you of not taking this seriously and nobody could call you lazy, right?! You’re trying hard to problem solve and to fix the situation you find yourself in. That’s admirable.

Since you’ve tried so much and nothing seems to be working for you over the long term, what might that suggest in terms of the value of ongoing trying and ongoing effort to make a certain amount or type of sleep happen? When you think back to a year ago, did sleep require so much effort and trying and experimentation?

You mentioned that you miss living — do you feel as though your life is kind of on hold until you get this all figured out? If so, what might be the benefits of releasing that hold and doing things that matter right now — even while insomnia (and any difficult thoughts and feelings that often come with it) are still present?

There is always hope and there’s nothing unique or unusual in your experience — you definitely are not alone!

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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.

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