[Be2slow]

Hello!

18 months ago, I took 2 pills of Cipro, and my world changed upside down. I had bad insomnia and horrible pains, a lot of which have improved, except toe following:

– I get 6 hours of sleep, on average. I go to bed at 11pm, and wake up at 5:30 or so against my will as I’m utterly exhausted. I lay there trying to get back to sleep, but it doesn’t happen and get out of bed around 8, although last few days I’ve been trying to get out of bed before 730. I end up remaining in a fog/groggy state for a few more hours, normally burns off around 11.

– I have leg pain…nerve or muscle not sure but it’s from the Cipro also and really sucks.

Regardling sleep, I normally wake up once or twice. I have a S+ sleep monitor by resmed that tells me my sleep stages and the pattern looks strange – usually a lot of awakenings. I know it’s not fully reliable tho.

Before all this started, I was a 8-9 hour solid sleeper, woke up feeling mostly good. I do have sleep apnea, but am CPAP compliment and my numbers look great.

Now I have a hard time functioning in the morning and I don’t know what to do. The pains I have I can deal with but I need to wake up with energy, and hopefully a few additonadd hours of sleep. What can I do to help this?

 

My sleep hygiene is ok I guess. I watch TV in living room with blue light blocking gkasses, and keep my room cool and as dark as I can. I dink around on my phone with blue light filter for about 15 minutes or so before I go to sleep, and when I wake in the morning I lay there with eyes closed trying to rest.

 

I feel so bad in the mornings I struggle with why this keeps happening and have a difficult time finding my motivation.

 

Thanks!

 

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to the forum, Be2Slow — and I am really sorry to hear about your ongoing struggles with sleep.

First of all, if you are going to bed around 11:00 PM but not getting out of bed until around 8:00 AM, this is something you can address right away.

Ideally, the amount of time between when you go to bed at night and when you get out of bed in the morning should be very close to your typical nightly sleep duration. This helps build sleep drive and leads to more consolidated sleep — which can really help address those feelings of daytime fatigue.

Here’s a video about the “sleep window”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUO4bmoD5XI

Another technique is to either get out of bed when you can’t sleep and only go back to bed when you feel sleepy enough for sleep (stimulus control), or to sit up in bed when you can’t sleep and read a book until you feel sleepy again, then lie back down and repeat the process (countercontrol).

Here’s a video about stimulus control:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ndAEIjZ7IA

Here’s a video about countercontrol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G00ZESFVMDI

Have you tried CBT for insomnia?

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

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.

[Be2slow]

Martin,

Thanks for the reply. I’ve looked into cbt-i and haven’t done it yet. Does this work for those who have early morning awakenings? I get 6.5 hours of sleep from 11-5:30 on average but am so tired and cannot fall back asleep. I don’t know why, it’s weird.

 

Ideally I’d like to sleep from 11-7, like I used to, but I just can’t for some reason. Is there a possibility of going to bed at 12:30 and waking up at 7, and then slowly see if I can go to bed earlier by 15 minites? What if I again wake up at 5:30 after going to bed so late? I don’t know what to do but I need to break this pattern!

 

Last night I went to bed at 10:45 and woke at 445…and am in a fog.

 

 

[Be2slow]

Still struggling.

Can a 1230 to 7 am change help reset my circadian rythem to push back waking time? And once I’m used to that start bumping bed time up? I feel I need more sleep but my body is waking too early, and I’m exhausted.

[Martin Reed]

We can’t control when we fall asleep or how long we sleep each night. One thing we can do is implement a regular (and appropriate) sleep window to make sleep more consolidated. This leads to better sleep quality and more predictable sleep. Once this occurs, we can extend the sleep window to allow for more sleep.

Right now, your best goal is probably to observe an appropriate amount of time for sleep based on your current average nightly sleep duration and go from there.

I hope this helps.

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

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.

[Author]

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