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I don't know anything free. I have been going to a therapist who does a lot of CBT and it has helped me immensely. He is free for me because I am a student. You should look for local clinics; sometimes there are ways to get free or reduced cost sessions. I can tell you some things that my therapist has be do to change my thoughts. I have a lot of exercises and “homework” that I've been given. One of them was “4 facts” Whenever your sleep makes you worry about something in your life you write 4 facts that combat it.
For example: “I'm never going to get to sleep. It's going to ruin my day tomorrow.”
Facts: “Last night I got a few hours.” “I was still able to make it through the day today.” “I enjoy being in bed next to my husband, so it could be worse.” “If I can't sleep I can get up and get things done.”
I do this with all negative thoughts, and I write them down.
Another one I love is my “Mr. Most Likely Situation.” It's very similar, but I tend to focus on the worst possible situation, so my therapist tells me to write down the most likely situation.
Example: “I'm never going to get to sleep. It's going to ruin my day tomorrow.”
Mr. Most Likely: “I will probably sleep for a couple hours. Tomorrow isn't going to be horrible. It will probably be a normal day. I will be tired, but I'm not going to have the worst day ever.”
Example: “I had to read my essay in class, and I hated it. I'm embarrassed and everyone is going to think of me and my crappy essay.”
Mr. Most Likely: “My class probably won't even remember my essay next week. In fact, I probably won't even remember my essay.”
One last exercise (I have a million more!) is compartmentalization. Visualize a box with the word “Sleep” on it, then visualize all of your worries about sleep going into the box. All of them. Then visualize putting a lid on the box, and putting it on a shelf. It helps me to put my worries away. Sorry if I got carried away, but I know how you feel. I didn't want to take pills either, but try not to stress over it too much or it will make the insomnia worse. Every doctor and therapist has told me this. Go slow. It's better that you get sleep than no sleep. Just work on the CBT. When you finally feel able to sleep, you won't worry as much about the pills. This is where I'm at. I don't need them as much. Try Mindfulness. It's wonderful once you get the hang of it. I like breathing exercises. I do them whenever I feel stressed about sleep. It can get better I promise!
'Martin' wrote on '11:I hope members of Insomnia Land and their friends and family aren't affected by events in Japan.
My wife and I are currently on vacation in Mexico. We were woken up during the night when our Oregon landlord called telling us about the earthquake and potential tsunami. Our house is out of the tsunami zone so it should be OK even if a tsunami hits.
We should be OK here in Mexico too. We're by the beach but apparently there are good warning systems in place and where we are staying there is a big lagoon protecting us from the beach. No ocean lazing today I guess.
It's so crazy. My aunt and uncle were in Hawaii when the tsunami hit there, but luckily they have wealthy friends with a house high up on the mountain. Those friends invited them to stay after the tsunami warning hit. They got on a plane to come home as soon as possible.
'IvanAleisterMesniaa' wrote on '16:I'm sorry about your insomnia. At least here you know you'll have people who understand you. As for getting pregnant I hope that works out for you!
Welcome to the website and I hope you enjoy your stay, is there any other meds you can take to help your sleeping AND can be taken while pregnant. I can't remember the name but my sister was on some while she was pregnant which was alright while being pregnant.
Welcome again!
Ambien can be taken during pregnancy. It's an “AB” drug which means it is safe. My sister-in-law gets pregnancy induced insomnia, so she takes 5 mg when she's pregnant.
'kerrivw' wrote on '16:Hello.I have had sleep onset insomnia really bad for the past year. So bad that I had to get sleeping pills from my doctor because I work 9-5pm and couln't handle not sleeping anymore. Recently, I researched the drug I am taking called Zopiclone. I always knew it was only supposed to be taken occasionally but recently I have been taking 1/2 a pill 5 nights a week. After reading about it, I have decided to stop. Also, I have been trying to get pregnant and it is not good to take this drug. So, I am in search of other solutions which is why I joined this group. Also, because people without insomnia don't understand what it is like…
Welcome! Nice to meet you. Insomnia sucks, and it's true that people that don't have it don't get it. I take ambien, although after about 7 months of taking it, I think it's finally losing its effects. Perfect timing too, because I'm starting to sleep better, which means I could go off it for a while and then go back on it if I needed to. Is there an underlying reason for your insomnia?
I take ambien. It has never made me a zombie the next day. It just helps to calm my mind down (a lot) before I doze off. I stop doing anything for school or work an hour before bed time so I can relax. One thing I like to do is take a hot shower, and then in bed I write in a journal to get out all of my excess thoughts. Usually right here I do breathing exercises, and practice mindfulness (my therapist showed me this. I think it's great). Sometimes I go through addition of all the numbers that can equal another number. Like 1+2 = 2, 2+2= 4, and 3+1 also =4, 3+3= 6, 1+5=6, 2+4=6. Another trick my therapist taught me. I really have a problem with anxiety though so all of my routines are to calm me down, and keep my mind off of obsessing about sleep. I am a product of therapy. 🙂
I mostly just lay in bed now, and wait to fall back asleep, and practice mindfulness. I've been sleeping much better, and mindfulness makes the time pass quickly until I fall back to sleep. Oh how I love it!
Thanks, Aimee. It's a fun hobby. This summer we're going to go on tour with some small (but bigger than us hopefully) bands. I just love the fact that someday I will be able to tell my kids I have a t-shirt and a cd of my old band.
Hi! Welcome! That sounds rough. My sister has bipolar disorder and the ups and downs can be a scary thing. She was on risperdal for a while, but it was too strong for her. She's a little thing- like 5 feet. Do you take medication to help you sleep at the right time? Did I miss that? I too have been diagnosed with GAD and am currently on Cymbalta, which has helped me TREMENDOUSLY. Anxiety is shitty. Can I just say that? Shitty. I hope that you get stuff figured out, and that you are able to reduce your anxiety! Good luck!
'sleepy wrote on '03:Why doe you hate her?
Not that I'm such a big fan…
Because she is a terrible writer (In my opinion… well in most English professors' and students opinions) Blah. I have not read The Host. I couldn't bring myself to do it after the Twilight books. Not because of the story, because of the writing. So bad.
'Martin' wrote on '03:What about the other suggestions for 'positive' aspects offered by other members? Do you agree with any of those? Insomnia can be tough, and it can be very difficult to look for any positives. Sometimes it can help to dig, though. If only to help you cope.
Welcome to the forums, by the way 🙂
I thought of one positive- It has helped me really appreciate sleep. When I wake up after sleeping well, my whole day seems to go 10x better.
'sleepy wrote on '30:For the moment I'm reading the “quantum gravity” series by Justina Robson. I finished the 2nd book yesterday and now I'm waiting to get the third one delivered by mail.
It's really hard to get English books around here. I order them on 'thebookdepository.com'. The don't charge mail costs.
I don't have a favourite book. I've read to many. I do have some favourite authors:
Janet Evanovich (Stepanie Plum series)
Kelley Armstrong (Otherworld series)
Richelle Mead (Succubus series)
Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Mysteries) I like the books better than the series. Although I keep watching. I just can't get enough of Eric Northmann, yummy!
L.J. Smith (Vampire Diairies, Secret Circle, Nightworld)
Dan Brown
Anthony Horrowitz (The power of five)
Stephenie Meyer (especially 'The Host', not so much the Twilight series)
There are many more, but those are the ones I can think of right now.
*Cries at Stephanie Meyer's name because I hate her*
'aimee' wrote on '26:Hi there,
Yes, law school has just made it awful. Its very stressful and there is an immense workload so you can get behind very quickly. How much longer do you have with school? Stick with it..you will get there. I know how you feel about being apprehensive about grad school due to the sleeping problems. I myself have wondered if I should be going into this field when my sleeping problems have such an effect on me. I am trying very hard to not let it stand in my way, but sometimes it is hard when you are in a really bad mental state from lack of sleep. What are you considering going to grad school for?
I'm graduating this semester, so I'm almost done. I want to go to grad school for psychology. I'd really like to do clinical work, but at this point… who knows what will happen? I don't want to push myself into anxiety. I hope that law school gets easier for you (Meaning I hope that somehow sleep gets better). It's nice to know someone else is doing it and succeeding though!
'Dozydame' wrote on '20:Welcome Annelies.
I'm sorry to say I also know exactly what you're going through. In fact I just reread my first post to this forum and discovered I'd said much the same thing as you have.
My insomnia started 40 years ago and unfortunately I'm still struggling with it! I've certainly changed a lot of things along the way to try and accommodate the insomnia, so I know it does have a big impact on your life.
Like you I've mostly stopped telling people about it for all the same reasons, so it is a relief to be able to communicate with other people who do understand. About the only thing I can offer in the way of comfort is that my body has adjusted over the years, so I find I can still function even if I've hardly slept. I'm not saying I'm not tired, but I can still manage to get through the day reasonably well.
When I first joined this forum, I was not sleeping at all except every third night (briefly) when I took drugs. That was the worst I've ever been and I was feeling really desperate by that stage and really wasn't coping. Since then I've returned to a slighty improved pattern and feel much better. In fact, I'm coming around to the idea that maybe how you feel, depends a lot on what you're telling yourself. It's amazing how good 2 hours sleep looks (and feels) compared to none at all.
I did use a product called Sleep Tracks, which I feel helped me to break the cycle I was on. Martin has asked me to review it and I intend to do that soon.
I'm sure you'll get lots of support from everyone here Annelies and if I can help in any way please feel free to ask.
I look forward to hearing more from you soon.
Please write a review and tell us about it. I would love to know if this product works. It feels like I can only find reviews that are just advertising (several of them are just the same exact words, obviously copied). I would love to not take sleeping pills anymore.
Hi Aimee! I know how you feel. I think we all do. And it sucks when your family just doesn't get it. Law school must make the insomnia that much worse. Stress central. I'm only finishing my undergrad, and I've had to consider whether grad school is really worth it to my anxiety/sleep at this point. I can't even imagine how much it probably makes you suffer.
That being said, Welcome! I'm pretty new myself (4 monthsish), but I really think talking to other people about their experiences is helpful to my own.
Martin, it's true. Tron has terrible writing BUT the score by Daft Punk and the visuals are stunning. It had the potential to be something great, but it feels like the writers were just like hmmm… I'm running out of time! Let's just putting something in quickly! The beginning is a long lead in, and then it drops you into a Tron game without warning. Then it does a horrible job of explaining things. They use these things called “Isomorphic Algorithms” and never really tell you what they are, just that “they're going to revolutionize healthcare and life and stuff.” That is basically how I thought it was explained. Seriously though visuals and Daft Punk music make it a pretty awesome show though. I would say that comparatively to Avatar…. the story isn't even on par with that. Yikes.
