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Thank you for replying Martin. Sleep restriction did reduce the time I spent in bed but I couldn’t fall sleep so I found it frustrating. I didn’t understand how it would help me when I wasn’t able to sleep at all. My problem appears to be that I have lost my sleep drive and I am going night after night with absolutely no sleep and although I try so hard not to resort to sleeping medication, I get the point of desperation and have to take something. I am exhausted and it’s so hard to keep going – so, yes, I probably am trying too hard to sleep and giving the problem too much attention but as I cannot work, socialise, drive or do more than the most basic tasks, it’s very hard not to. I am seeing my GP tomorrow morning, and I know he will tell me that I have to take sleeping tablets but I wonder if they are part of the problem, as now my brain doesn’t seem to know how to switch off without them. If so, is this likely to be permanent or does your brain recover eventually?
Thanks for your reply. It’s very scary to find yourself in this situation but it helps to know others have been there and survived somehow. My medical tests have not shown any physical problems. Today I feel so exhausted I don’t know how to carry on. Its very tough.
Thanks for your reply Martin. I have completed a prescribed CBTi course here in the UK and I have continued to use the techniques. I found sleep restriction of no use as I cannot fall asleep at all [unless I take some form of medication], going to bed late and getting up early made no difference to this. I have tried to come off sleep medication by tapering several times but after 5 days of absolutely no sleep, I am desperate. I was recently admitted to hospital as an emergency after collapsing due to complete exhaustion – at this point, the doctors insist I have to take a hypnotic, so I am going round and round in circles. With medication, I can fall asleep easily and then get about 6 hours without interruption. I have been taking either low dose Zopiclone or Phenergan nightly for some months.
My goal is for my natural sleep drive to return and not to have to use medication which is what I had hoped to achieve from CBT. Can this be achieved somehow without experiencing severe sleep deprivation? I have had every medical test going – nothing has been found – and now my GP wants to start me on an SSRI but I don’t think I’m depressed, just suffering sleep deprivation exhaustion.
Thank you.
