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Hey Pippa – that’s great news! How have the last couple of nights been? I had my first night of proper SR last night and had the opposite experience – only got 45 mins sleep and feel broken today.
I am trying to stay strong and remind myself of everything Martin has said about it getting worse before it gets better.
Would love to hear how you’ve been doing since
This sounds familiar Roshy! I’ve lost count of the things I’ve tried. My long journey with insomnia (circa 10-12 years) has led me to the conclusion that there is no miracle supplement or miracle pill. Even when I thought I’d found the miracle pill (Mirtazapine) a year later and it has stopped working in the same way. I truly believe that CBT-i is the best shot we have of being able overcome it.
Hi all. I wanted to chime in here as I’ve just sat and read through the whole of this thread.
I’ve been suffering with bouts of severe insomnia for years and am currently in the middle of my worst ever bout, caused by something completely irrelevant. Outside of a bout I have no trouble sleeping, but right now j am getting no more than 2 hours sleep max a night. It’s been 4 weeks to the day since it started and I am literally at my wit’s end. I’ve been signed off work as I’m unable to even function and desperate just to get my life back.
I’ve been prescribed various meds by the doctors, none of which have helped with the actual sleep so i’m no longer taking them. I’ve been prescribed two different anti depressant/anti anxiety medications which i am taking – when they kick in i think from previous experience will help with the severe anxiety that’s been caused by the insomnia.
I have paid for the full course with Martin and am in week 1 doing my sleep diary, but reading through this thread, It’s hard to know what to make of its success or not. I’m not sure about putting myself through more trauma of SC and SR if it’s not going to really help.
I have also seen ACT mentioned a few times which in the past is the only thing that ‘spoke’ to me – I did a course with Guy Meadows. But i couldnt tell you if it actually helped me in the past or not, as i can’t really identify what has got me out of the bouts in the past – it just seems to happen eventually. But then again it’s never been this bad before. It feels as though my brain has literally forgotten how to sleep. I can’t get to sleep and when after hours I finally drift off I suffer from constant hypnic jerks, so I’m waking every few minutes. I’m really at a loss to know where to go with this now. All thoughts and opinions welcomed.
Hi Ron – I just wanted to jump in and say hello as I’m in a similar position to you. I’ve had terrible bouts of insomnia for years (outside of the bouts I have no problems) and this time around has been by far my worst. I haven’t slept more than 4 or 5 hours (on a good night, usually it’s 0-2) in four weeks to the day. My doctor prescribed me with lots of things – zopiclone, diazepam, phenergen. None of it worked except the Zopiclone which sent me to sleep for about 2 hours then I’d wake and feel terrible the next day. I don’t believe that when I take sleeping pills I get a “normal” night of sleep – I can’t prove this without knowing my sleep cycle info, but I feel just as wretched the next day as I would if I haven’t slept at all.
I am now taking mirtazapine which is a sedating antidepressant at bedtime. It ‘worked’ once or twice and I had an ok day the next day but has also know stopped.
I feel the key for both of us is learning how to retrain our brain to sleep naturally as in my experience a sleeping pill doesn’t give you the same kind of sleep and just delays the problem. But as you say it is very tough to come off them and I’m not suggesting you should quit cold turkey.
I’m in the middle of doing my first week of sleep diary (which is all ove trhe place) and just literally trying to survive each day at the moment. I hope you get started and we both manage to get through it. Good luck x
Thank you for your reply – I am honestly at my wits end after having no sleep at all again last night and another horrific day ahead of me. I can’t work or live my life. It’s like my brain has forgotten how to sleep, I can’t ever get to that sleepy brain state naturally, and even when I take my Mirtazapine (a sedating antidepressant) That makes me drowsy, I just jump awake every single time I almost sleep. It’s like actual torture and I can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel at the moment. Even when I follow the rules of getting up and not staying in bed etc, it isn’t making any difference.
Thanks for the reply Steve – I’m taking the paid for course but am still only on the initial sleep diary stage. I’ll re-post the question as you’ve suggested.
It’s a fair comment to make about not being cured of something immediately. My hopes at this stage are really just to get myself having a least a few days a week (i’d even settle for a couple) of relatively ok sleep so that I can at least get back to work and living some kind of normal life (as I say it has been quite a severe decline in quite a short time).
Thanks again Steve, it’s helpful to talk to others who can empathise
Thank you, it helps so much to hear from others who are on thr course. I’m very frightened of the next couple of weeks – the thought of not being able to go to bed till 3am when by evening time I’m already feeling so very ill from lack of sleep is a bit overwhelming right now. Ditto having to get out of bed when I’m not sleeping! I’m worried this is going to mean I’ll end up getting no sleep at all…
PS. I have signed up to the course with Martin 🙂 I figure if there really is a way I can overcome my insomnia which has plagued my entire adult life, then it is worth the cost a million times over!
Thanks goldenbayboy – it’s comforting to hear that I’m not the only one. How long are you into the CBT-I and how long before you started to notice positive changes? I’ve been only sleeping for 2-3 hours a night for two weeks now and am feeling very, very sick from it – mentally and physically.
Thanks so much for your reply Martin – the hypnic jerks do feel exactly as though my mind is “on edge/ on alert” and waiting to fall asleep the whole time, so when it registers that I do it seems to jump me awake. I’ve had it before but never as bad/prolonged as it is at the moment.
I tried CBT about a decade ago – it wasn’t CBT-I though and it was more geared towards coming off the sleeping pills that I was addicted to at the time via the GP. It would be great to know where I can find out a bit more about CBT-I?
