[BlueRidgeBoiler]

Hello,

I have always had trouble falling asleep, but it usually wasn’t longer than 30 minutes to an hour on most nights. Over the past 7 years, that has progressed and gotten worse. My first insomnia “all-nighter” occurred about 7 years ago when I was stressed out about work and got zero minutes of sleep one night. Since that time, I have probably had this “all-nighter” experience 12 times.

Since the birth of our second child, my son, about 16 months ago, my insomnia has worsened, especially over the past 6 months. Ironcially, my son sleeps mostly great and has slept through the night since month 4 or 5, which has been great. However, once he started teething later on, he has had random episodes of waking in pain. His occasional sleep disruptions have been coupled with me having a hard time falling asleep.

My therapist recommended “Good Night to Insomnia” by Gregg D. Jacobs. I’m into week 2 of his 6-week program and struggling a bit with it. The methods seem to make sense, but the most challenging part is falling asleep before 30 minutes of lights out/going to bed. If I can’t fall asleep within 20 or 30 minutes, the program instructs you to get up and go to another room to do something relaxing for at least 30 minutes before trying to go back to sleep again. I have been challenged to get even 5 hours of sleep on this technique and have been getting more like 3 or 4 hours of sleep now, as I feel anxious about not being able to fall asleep. I’ve been trying meditations and visualizations for a couple of weeks with very limited success. At this point, I’m sticking with the program to see if results will follow.

Prior to this, I was relying on Temazepam (a Benzo) to help me fall asleep about every fourth or fifth night, as I was scared I would stay up all night with no sleep. This has occurred to me about a dozen times over the past 7 years, about 4 times over the past year. I know that the fear of not being able to fall asleep is what is keeping me from relaxing. I’ve been off the Temazepam now for over 2 weeks, so potentially I’m going through some psychological withdrawal, and maybe some physical. I’m looking for a community to share stories and receive support, as I don’t want my wife to be the sole burden of my journey.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Martin Reed]

Hello Jeff and welcome to the forum.

I’m a big fan of Dr. Jacobs’ work. In fact, I use a couple of his core beliefs in my insomnia coaching course — the half hour-half hour rule and the idea that we can generally get by with a minimum of five-and-a-half hours of ‘core sleep’ each night.

The thing about the half hour-half hour rule is it takes time to work, and it only works when practiced every single night, throughout the night. As soon as you skip a day (or stay in bed after getting in and out of bed three or four times during the night), you basically reset your ‘progress counter’ back to day one. So, stick with it!

In my course, I start by getting clients on an appropriate sleep schedule to help minimize the amount of time they spend awake during the night. I then introduce the half hour-half hour rule about a week later. Are you combining the half hour-half hour rule with an appropriate sleep schedule?

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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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