[michaelh120504]

Hello everyone:

A few questions:

(1) Can anyone point me to a good reviews website for finding good sleep doctors ?

I am not too encouraged about this approach, but I would like to rule out medical issues if that’s possible and I would be most curious about doctors that truly supervise insomnia treatments like some doctors do.

I am thinking in particular of Dr. Pelayo who wrote a insomnia book.

Most seem to just farm out the practice to sleep psychologists – is my impression correct on this ? This is kind of like the relationship between an orthopedic doctor and a physical therapist – the PT will probably do a whole lot more to help you 🙂

(2) Does anyone have any recommendations for doctors / sleep related people in / around Minneapolis/ St Paul MN ?

(3) How extreme can symptoms be for insomnia and still be considered “psychological” ?
I have some rather extreme anxiety, hyperactivity and hyper vigilance that goes on and I am typically < 4.5 hours of sleep per night. A few nights ago, I didn’t sleep at all I was so hyped up / amped up that I did not sleep at all so I decided to go to a hospital and they tested my thyroid and it came back normal. The next day I super tired in the morning, having little involuntary micro naps in front of my computer while I worked, made it through the rest of the a bit better and by the time midnight rolled around (my typical bedtime) I was once again completely amped up even with zero sleep the last day. It seemed to get worse as bedtime approached.

Can you say this is still psychological ? At what point is it medical ?
Do you think a CBT based program can still deal with this ?

It’s very clear to me that I will have any number of zero sleep nights if I try to only go to be “when sleepy” Is that other people’s experience ? I saw one podcast where a woman talked about that sort of experience.

Thanks,
Michael

[Martin Reed]

Hello Michael and welcome to the forum. I can’t recommend any review sites for sleep doctors but you might want to check out the provider directory on the website for the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine.

In terms of whether chronic insomnia is psychological — that’s definitely an influence! There’s no real mystery behind chronic insomnia — it’s fuelled by our thoughts and behaviors. So, although there can be as many triggers for initial sleep disruption as there are people in the world, if sleep disruption sticks around for longer than a few months, the initial trigger is often no longer to blame — at that point, our sleep disruption is usually down to a change in our sleep-related thoughts and behaviors.

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.

[michaelh120504]

Hello Martin:

I have been playing with “sleep when sleepy” and the end result was in that in 2 weeks, I did not sleep a majority of days or got some tiny bit of sleep. I was completely wired the whole night long. I could easily go 3 days no sleep and probably be wide awake through the third night. I didn’t quite push it there, but you get the point.

If I go two days with no sleep, I can get a very nice night of 5 hours of sleep 🙂

I found a good sleep psychologist who when I told him how little I was sleeping was suggesting various psychological things like maybe even something like bipolar disorder or depression.

I have some reason to believe there really are physical issues at play, brain, endocrine system, I don’t know. The level of “activation” and wiredness and anxiety that I experience day after day is extreme and persistent.

I am going to do a sleep study and rule out brain issues – this should not take too long to do.
Sleep doctors are hard to find – but from what I understand, they are kind of useless for a “mystery” problem.

If you really had the time to discuss in person, I wouldn’t mind that 🙂

Thanks,
Michael Hoffman

[michaelh120504]

I should clarify:

Huge amount of already existing anxiety and “internally generated ?” stress that I deal with on a daily basis <– I think I need to find some way to reduce this.

This has me constantly hyped up. Not sleeping for day/s makes me extremely sleepy at certain points – morning, afternoon, but I wake up again especially at night time and can go the whole night and well into the next morning. w/o getting sleepy.

Sleep doctors — most of all of them take weeks or months to schedule out and to do another appointment. What I understand is that they mostly focus on sleep apnea, etc and will just hand anyone sleeping pills ….

No one seems to exist for that 1 % that might have some other serious problem.

[Martin Reed]

From my perspective, I can tell you that nothing in your posts indicates anything more unusual than chronic insomnia (I am not a doctor, though). Your story is similar to the stories others with chronic insomnia share with me on a daily basis.

If you take a sleep study and “brain issues” are ruled out, what’s the next plan, Michael? What’s the next test you’ll take or the next area you’ll explore?

Much of the struggle with insomnia comes down to the ongoing (and completely understandable!) detective work, experimentation, and research — stuff that takes a lot of effort, makes things seem more mysterious and worrisome and doesn’t usually get us to where we want to be or help us live the kind of life we want to live.

I hope this might be helpful.

—

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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