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Hi Rita, I see my story in your story very much. You haven’t forgotten how to sleep, you just have anxiety and that is treatable, so good news!
Whats normal is that nearly everyone has had seasons like this in their life. You are not going crazy, you are perfectly fine, you are just going through a season.
I also had pill anxiety and I finally talked with a therapist about it. What I learned is that it’s perfectly fine to just say ‘this is the season I’m in right now and that’s ok’.
My doctor prescribed amitriptyline 50 mg at bedtime and gabapentin 300 mg at around 9 pm. Both of these are great medications that are used off label to treat anxiety and insomnia. Since I do not like pills or the idea of being dependent on them, I used these temporarily for about a year before titrating down off them. I went from 50 mg to 25 mg to 10 mg, etc. It was very easy to come off of and now I’m sleeping fine without it.
I’m def not telling you what to do, just what worked for me.
All of Martins information is spot on and CBT-i treats the anxiety if you don’t want to do the medicine route at all.
Hope this finds you well
Hi Dani, my wife went through the same thing. Do you have an expectation of waking up? Is your son sleep trained? She had a middle of the night struggle to fall back asleep because she was so used to getting up to feed the baby.
If your son is (mostly) sleeping through the night, it might be wise to close the door and remove the expectation from your psyche of getting up.
If thats not possible, it helps to take magnesium glycinate and calcium together along with 1 to 3 mg of melatonin, and a dark cool room. Remove all pressure to fall back asleep take some deep breaths. Inhale for 5 seconds, exhale for 7. Your body will get what it needs, even if lay there still and close your eyes, your brain can still rest. Your brain has an incredible way of getting what it needs in just a few short hours. It’s a myth that you need 7 or 8.
I was in the same boat for a long time but it gets better once you start sleeping. You’ll care less and less about it as you get into a rhythm. CBTI techniques work. One of the things it teaches is to set an appointment to worry. For example, if you notice you’re worrying as soon as you wake up, it’s a good time to say to yourself that you appreciate the thought, but you’ll worry at a specific time later that day. Give yourself time to worry during that window and then be done with it for the day.
Just a thought, gabapentin addressed the benzo withdraw AND the rumination/sleep anxiety.
I’ve experienced the same thing. Hypnic jerks are so annoying but totally harmless. Once I started sleeping better the jerks went away. For me, I noticed the stress and anxiety playing a huge role in that so I addressed it with medication (temporary, took gabapentin for anxiety and amitriptyline for sleep) to get into a rhythm with sleep. Once I got into a rhythm, I started the CBTI and have been in a better spot.
A sauna or a hot shower will help, but I would really try to avoid exercising after 7 pm. No matter what you do at the end of a an intense workout, your body will take a while to calm down
SSRI’s didn’t do much for me either when it came to sleep. Gabapentin and amitriptyline were extremely helpful with sleep because it addressed the rumination and sleep anxiety. Then as far as staying asleep, daytime activity helps a ton with that (walking, cardio, sauna, projects, etc).
Have you tried setting an appointment to worry? For example, if you notice yourself always worrying before bed, set an appointment to worry about it the next day at 3:00 PM for 15 minutes, and then be done with it for the day. If the worry comes back again at night, just tell yourself that it’s not a good time to worry and you’ll pick it back up the next day at a specific time.
Prayer and deep breathing are very good practices before bed. I read something until I start yawning. I don’t go to bed until 1:00 AM every night because that is when I’m actually sleepy. Just a thought. Insomnia coach helped me a ton
I completely understand where you are at and want you to know that you are normal. You’re not losing your mind. I’m in the exact same boat and we’re just in a bit of a funk right now and we will get out of it.
I had to use klonipin last night after my 3rd sleepless night. I’m not recommending it, but sometimes we need medicine to help us get at least enough sleep to function and start CBTI with a clean slate. This is my current opinion but if anyone disagrees please feel free to correct me because I’m new to this site.
You will sleep, so don’t worry about that, you will most likely sleep tonight, because your sleep hunger will override your anxiety about sleep. Your brain is just hopped up on stress hormones from worrying about sleep. The fight or flight part of our brain is activated so it’s fighting through. Focusing on breathing/meditation/journaling before bed, get yourself super calm, go to bed when you’re really tired and consider increasing the mirtazapine or whatever worked to help you sleep until you can get back on your feet with sleep. Then try CBTI again after you’ve learned some more tools. Just my advice, it’s what I’m doing,
