[Amberrae]

Hi everyone,

I’ve had significant anxiety surrounding sleep. A year ago I had post partum anxiety and didn’t sleep for a few weeks. I started anxiety medication and it all worked itself out. I stopped that medication after about 7 months as I was stable. Fast forward to now and I had a few sleepless nights and started panicking about not sleeping. For about 2 weeks I was only getting maybe 2 hours of sleep, sometimes none each night. I restarted my anxiety medication and have been taking trazodone to sleep. I need to stop taking this to prepare to have another baby via IVF. However, every night if I try to sleep without the medication I get instant anxiety, my mind won’t shut down, I have a song on repeat in my head, etc. I’m really struggling with my anxiety before bed. I feel fine all day, but as 8pm approaches I start to feel anxiety and then can’t get to sleep. Any tips appreciated!

[Chee2308]

Sleep anxiety is actually pretty common as is transient insomnia. Everyone experiences it at some point. The key is your reaction. You only struggle because sleep wasn’t anything you thought about before, therefore you have little understanding of it, and now you begin to think something has gone wrong. I am here to tell you that is usually false and misguided. Your sleep is never broken, it probably never will be but it’s your thoughts towards sleep that has changed. And it’s your reaction to these thoughts that keeps you stuck in the struggle. Don’t struggle! Let it be. Continue your bedtime schedules (keep it pretty consistent), and your daytime routines. Act as if nothing happened. If you can’t act, then at pretend or make an effort at it. The key is to not react explosively to insomnia and the problem usually fixes itself. Ever wonder why babies don’t have insomnia? That’s because they don’t have such a concept. Ignorance is bliss. If you are taking medications for sleep, which is what medical professionals will give you when you see them, it’s usually a very good idea to get off them slowly but eventually. Anything that chips at your sleep confidence and makes you think a drug is actually what made you sleep is usually not a great idea. Only your body can make itself sleep and only sufficient wakefulness can make your body get sleepy enough. Anxious thoughts including about sleep itself can put off sleep temporarily but it can never suspend it indefinitely. Good luck to you and congratulations on being a parent.

• This reply was modified 1 years, 6 months ago by Chee2308.

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