Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I am sorry to hear about your ongoing struggles with sleep. Can you describe an average night? When do you normally go to bed, when do you get out of bed in the morning, and roughly how many hours of sleep are you getting each night?
—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.
Hello Carls and welcome to the forum.
First, let me reassure you that you have not lost the ability to sleep. Your insomnia can go away, and you can sleep well again.
Can you tell us a bit more about your sleep? When do you go to bed, when do you get out of bed in the morning, and roughly how many hours of sleep do you get on a typical night? Can you talk us through an average night?
—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.
Hello Tania and I’m sorry to hear about your struggles with sleep. When do you normally go to bed at night, and when do you normally get out of bed in the morning to start your day?
Do you tend to struggle more initially falling asleep at the start of the night, or do you find that you wake during the night and find it hard to fall back to sleep?
—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.
To be honest, I am quite surprised to hear that a CBT-I counselor wants to also try hypnotism. That’s because hypnotism is not a component of CBT-I and no evidence exists to support its use as an effective treatment for chronic insomnia.
I did find this old forum discussion on hypnosis for insomnia — it doesn’t seem to have been effective for anyone who contributed to that thread, but I would be interested to hear from anyone who found it 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.
It’s completely normal for major life stresses to disrupt sleep — this happens to everyone and can’t really be ‘fixed’ because this is natural and so there’s nothing to be fixed.
If you are struggling with sleep at least three nights per week and this has been ongoing for at least three months, then CBT-I techniques can help get your sleep back on track.
—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.
I am sure you will find CBT-I to be helpful — I hope you aren’t waiting too long for that referral! I am not a therapist, but I do use CBT-I techniques when working with clients because this is the best way to address insomnia and improve sleep over the long term.
—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.
Welcome to the forum, Amir. Are you currently receiving treatment for your depression?
—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.
I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your brother, Moyo. It is absolutely no surprise that such a tragic event had a negative effect on your sleep.
The good news is that no evidence exists to support the idea that chronic insomnia causes any health problem whatsoever. I spoke about this briefly in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoX04HJihNI
Can you tell us a bit more about your current sleep pattern? When do you go to bed, when do you get out of bed in the morning, and roughly how many hours of sleep are you getting on an average night?
—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.
Hello again, Alan. I wouldn’t come to the conclusion that you don’t have sleep apnea based on your unprescribed use of a CPAP machine since there are a number of variables involved when it comes to making effective use of CPAP (such as pressure settings, pressure variability, mask/interface fit, etc).
There is a helpful (and clinically validated) tool call the STOP-Bang that you can use to help assess sleep apnea risk — here’s a link:
http://www.stopbang.ca/osa/screening.php
I am in the US, but I’m a British expat so I know what you’re referring to when you talk about Deep Heat. I’m not sure that exact brand exists here, but a similar brand is Icy Hot.
When are you due to have your X-rays and MRI? Have you asked your doctor if they think your sleep issues could be caused by a head, neck, or back problem?
—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.
Hello Donna and welcome to the forum. What kind of sounds are waking you during the night? Have you tried any techniques to mask these sounds to help improve your sleep? Can you explain what you mean when you say that you are “so aware of your surroundings” in a bit more detail?
—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.
If melatonin is helping you, it’s entirely down to the placebo effect. The only evidence supporting melatonin use is some weak to moderate evidence that it can help with some circadian rhythm disorders — and insomnia is not a circadian rhythm disorder.
There are a number of additional reasons why melatonin is not an effective treatment for insomnia. In fact, I hope to record a video of this soon and I’ll put it on the YouTube channel when it’s ready.
If you think melatonin is working for you, by all means, stick with it — but try to avoid the temptation to attribute any success you have sleeping to the melatonin, because the melatonin pill is not what is making you sleep!
—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.
Hello Steve and welcome to the forum.
CBT-I techniques are effective for people with chronic insomnia who take sleeping pills and they are effective for people with chronic insomnia who do not take sleeping pills.
To answer your question, yes — eventually you would have fallen asleep without pills. That’s because nobody can stay awake without sleeping at some point. Sleeping is a bit like breathing. Just as we can hold our breath, we can temporarily suspend sleep (usually due to worry about sleep). However, eventually, the body will take over and force us to sleep, just as it will take over and force us to breathe.
If you aren’t sleepy, then you probably aren’t going to sleep. However, it’s important to bear in mind that it is very easy to forget the cues of sleepiness when you have been living with insomnia for a long time and you have very high levels of arousal.
You might find this quick video I recently recorded to be helpful (check out the comments section, too):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjWdsuOsTt0
—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.
Hello again, Sailguy.
I can certainly offer you some guidance points, based on what you’ve shared.
First of all, I would recommend reserving the hour before the start of your sleep window as your buffer zone. When the buffer zone starts, you no longer check the clock until your alarm goes off in the morning and you only go to bed when you feel sleepy enough for sleep.
If you have to, remove or cover the clocks in your house and move your phone or alarm clock to the other side of your bedroom and turn the face away so you can’t see the time.
If you find that the radio helps you fall asleep, then that is fine (although not ideal). However, what I would suggest is seeing if you can run the radio on a timer so it switches off after a certain amount of time. That’s because the changes in volume that are typical during broadcast programming disrupt sleep and even if you aren’t consciously aware of this, this will be reducing your sleep quality and increasing the likelihood of nighttime awakenings. If you need some sound as a distraction, a white noise machine is usually a better option.
If you are taking Ambien and Restoril at 3:30 AM it is little surprise that you feel so lousy when you get out of bed at 7:00 AM. Did your prescribing physician offer you any guidance as to when to take these drugs?
Nothing you have described so far suggests that CBT-I would not be an effective option for you. Have you discussed CBT-I with your doctor?
—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.
Can you tell us a bit more about your sleep, Jax? Maybe we can share some tips or offer some guidance or even just some reassurance!
—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.
Have you spoken to your doctor about CBT-I to see if it would be an appropriate option for you?
People with chronic insomnia do not have a problem with melatonin production or regulation, so melatonin supplements are not an effective treatment for chronic insomnia. Furthermore, in the United States, the sale of melatonin is not regulated and research has found that many times the contents of the bottle are not the same as what is described on the label.
—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.
