[Lozelise]

Hi Martin, a win is a win so I’ll start with saying I’m pleased to say I almost recovered from my 3 month bout of insomnia. Using my sleeping pills less and less, and sleeping well most nights. I started realised I’d been recovering when sleep no longer dominated my thoughts and i no longer did any rituals or had anxiety when lying in bed. This has built my sleep drive back up and my flight or flight response, which often caused me to wake constantly through the night, finally calmed down and even when I was waking I was easily falling back to sleep! All positive signs.

However, I’m still very much struggling with safeguarding my sleep. So if I have an important event, there’s no trying to sleep on my own, I will take take a sleeping pill. This is frustrating because it means I still don’t have confidence in my sleep and am trying to avoid any anxiety.

I am also sick with a bad case of flu, and the last three nights I’ve only slept 5-6 hours each night (with sleeping pills). I’m so scared this is a set back.

All of a sudden I’m terribly anxious that this flu event will cause another domino effect of continuing bad sleep! I feel so frustrated to see these worries returning.

[hiker]

Hi Lozelise, my sympathies for going through insomnia and the flu at the same time. I have been there a few times. The good news is that the flu will pass anyway, although it might hang around a few days longer since you are not able to get the sleep everyone is recommending. But it will pass.

The worries can stick around indefinitely, but it sounds like you already have the skills to deal with it. You’ve already recognized sleep anxiety for what it is—a powerful thought which can seem all-consuming, but just a thought nonetheless. Hard to see that when you’re tired, I know.

I think you are going to pull out of this.

[Martin Reed]

It sounds as though you’re on the right path!

It’s natural and normal to experience anxiety — that’s a human emotion. What matters is how you respond to anxiety. If you respond by trying to fight or avoid it, you might be more likely to end up tangled up in a struggle that makes things more difficult.

If you can respond by acknowledging it, making space for it to exist, being kind to yourself, and continuing to do things that matter, you might be able to move away from the struggle.

Sometimes when we try to fight or avoid things that are unpleasant, we can do things that we’d rather not do — things that don’t align with the person we want to be or the life we want to live. This can be a problem if we engage in those kinds of behaviors in an attempt to control what our experience tells us cannot be controlled — because then we get pulled away from the life we want to live and the difficult stuff still doesn’t go away.

So, if the action of taking a sleeping pill before an important event is something you don’t want to do, perhaps it might be worth not taking a sleeping pill — yes, you might experience more wakefulness, but you’ll still be able to do the important event AND you’ll be living a life that’s more aligned with your values.

Finally, it’s totally natural and normal to experience sleep disruption when unwell. As you’ve found, sleeping pills don’t make sleep happen — if they did, you’d be sleeping great every time you took them as you recover from the flu, right?

I hope there’s something useful here and I hope you feel better soon.

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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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