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I’ve had chronic insomnia for about four years. I’ve searched for the trigger and about one year ago I thought I’d found it. My neurologist gave me a take home sleep test and it showed that I had mild sleep apnea. I thought I had discovered the cause of my middle of the night awakening. It was explained that my apnea was waking me, surging cortisol and adrenaline through me and thus keeping me awake the rest of the night. But my rejoicing was short lived. When I finally tethered myself to my mask and machine, my brain rebelled as if thinking it was in a medieval torture chamber. My insomnia raged. Now I can only sleep with the CPAP on if I take Ambien. Once again I find myself between two evils. Any suggestions out there?
When it feels as though your brain rebels and thinks you are in a torture chamber, what kind of things does it do? What does it say? How do you usually respond?
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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.
It’s as of my brain has become alien to my body. It seems to punish me if I make any mis step. If I nod off to sleep in my recliner, or over sleep by an hour, or look at a late night email on my phone or laptop, etc. then I’m rewarded by extra sleep loss on the very night of my “mistake.” No one else seems to have to follow all of these rigid rules. I’m trying hard to follow my sleep restriction schedule of 12-6. This is day three and I got 3.5 hours of sleep last night so, sorry, I’m a bit sleep deprived today.
Hi langleys18, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I also had chronic insomnia unrelated to sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is the one–in my experience, the only one–cause of insomnia which traditional Western medicine can effectively address. It is a physical abnormality, the way the palate, etc. interact. It can be technologically measured through a sleep study, supervised by a physician certified in Sleep Medicine. The solution is the CPAP, which does take getting used to. The physician will refer you a medical supply company which specializes in CPAP gear to see which type of mask/headgear works for you. You may well find a representative who uses a CPAP themselves and can relate to what you’re going through.
A CPAP machine will digitally monitor your sleep, and the physician will be able to track your progress, i.e. how many times per hour you register breath interruption, gasping or however they call it.
(Some people with sleep apnea blow off the CPAP machine and just try to pretend the apnea isn’t happening. This leads to continued insomnia caused by apnea, and there is a long-term risk of stroke if sleep apnea is not addressed.)
As I said, I had unrelated chronic insomnia beyond sleep apnea. This has meant using the CPAP to take care of the sleep apnea, then addressing the rest. This is where M.D. assistance drops off, other than prescribing a sleep med for a possible short-term effect. Much more effective is addressing how you react to the insomnia. I hope you will explore Martin’s website and read posts to see that there is help for you.
Thank you for your response. The CBT-I is actually helping me adjust a bit more to the CPAP. Sleep restriction is the answer. Apnea and chronic insomnia is a bad combination. But I’m making progress so thanks.
I recently started using the CPAP this past April or so. I failed at it for at least six weeks.
Determined to get it right, I began to put it on when I’d awake in the middle of the night and also if I’d lie down to meditate during the day. Eventually I had some zzzs in the middle of the night with it on. I eventually got up the confidence to put it on when I went to sleep (after striking out several times doing it) and now… I have to have that mask on! My resting heart rate dropped and I went from 32 apneas per hour to about .5 to 1.5. Stay committed to finding ways to use it even if the ambien is a crutch to get there. But do avoid getting hooked on ambien as it and any “z-drugs” are very hard to get off of. I know, I successfully tapered off Klonopin using the Ashton Method (switching over to valium and then tapering off over a 4 month period.).
Some great stuff in this thread!
It can sometimes be helpful to remind ourselves that our brain never works against us — it’s job is to look out for us and sometimes it can try so hard and take that job so seriously, that it kind of gets in the way a bit!
As you shared, @langleys18, people who sleep well don’t tend to have any sleep rules and rituals. So, with that in mind, perhaps it’s the rules and rituals and the effort to control sleep that might be making things more difficult, rather than whatever your brain might be doing as it does its job of looking out for you?
—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.
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