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Update: Last night, my sleep restriction went out the window. I was so tired when I came home Friday night from the sleep restriction I’ve been doing during the week. I ate and then sat in the chair to watch some TV. An hour later, I woke up. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Didn’t even know I was nodding off. When I woke up, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay awake for the beginning of my sleep window in another hour so I went to bed and fell asleep in 15 minutes. I slept for 6 hours. So with the hour in the chair, I figure I slept for 7 hours. That’s the first time I did that in a long time. Don’t know if I will sleep that long tonight as I think the tiredness from the sleep restriction during the week was a big contributing factor. I kind of felt better when I woke up but legs were still weak and arms and hands still shook a little. Don’t know if this was from lack of sleep over the last 6 months or anxiety. That is something I have to figure out. I am going to try to stay up again as long as I can tonight. The 7 hours I slept was an hour and 15 minutes past my sleep window. I’ll see if this affects me tonight.
By the way, when I did wake up, I laid in bed but concentrated on my meditation exercises. In addition to my counting my breaths meditation, I added two of my own mantras I came up with. They are:
“Past memories are just that. From the past. They can no longer hurt you nor harm you.
Current images are just products of a wandering mind.
Predictions of the future are just images that have little basis in reality.”
and
“Words are shadows of the language. Figures of speech. They are empty and cannot harm you.”
These two seem to help calm me down and help me sleep when I go to bed. I wish all of you practicing sleep restriction the best. I know it is extremely difficult.
Hi Shaner. I took the free CBT course as well and also found it helpful. I also printed out all of the e-mails and review them from time to time. Hope you are getting better.
Good idea on the warm nest. Not so sure about the warm drink. I probably would have to get up later to go to the bathroom! lol.
Thanks Padron for the feedback. Good luck with your sleep restriction.
Thank you also Martin. You never fail to answer our questions. I wasn’t aware about it being ok to watch TV as everything I have seen on the subject says not to watch it starting about an hour before bedtime as blue light comes from the TV and your phone. I think it would help if it was Summer when I had to get out of bed as it is still kind of cold at night where I am! Makes getting out from underneath the covers that much harder. lol.
For those of you who may have been wondering, the CT Scan came back negative for anything. So, we are not sure why I have the pain in my side. Doctor now thinks it might be a rib muscle injury. I am inclined to think that if it was an injury, the insomnia is preventing me from getting a really good rest and letting it heal. For now, I guess I have to live with it as there is nothing more to do unless it gets worse.
Hi Martin. Thanks for asking. I stopped going to him after the 2nd visit. At the second visit, he continued to suggest the medical marijuana as well as melatonin. Also, the hypnosis he was going to do for me was actually on tape to try at home. He was a nice guy, but for other reasons, I decided not to continue with him as I agree that he is probably not a true CBT-i practitioner. I am going back to my old counselor and continue to be treated for depression/anxiety. I have your free CBT-i sleep course and the ACT book to help me along. I feel that if I can just start doing the things I used to do before the insomnia hit, I can try to work my way out of it. However, sometimes I wonder as last night I had a bad dream that woke me up. I dreamt I was sleeping and someone was leaning over the bed calling my name to purposefully wake me up. It worked because I woke up. It’s like my mind is purposefully trying to keep me in insomnia land.
Thanks Delv. I was using an oral appliance before my insomnia hit but I don’t think it is working anymore. Or at least working less than it was. I was thinking of trying a CPAP machine. It may not cure all of the insomnia, but maybe clear up some of it. Do you toss and turn at night or pretty much stay in one position?
CBT-i is a good program but you might also try the ACT method. You can find it in a book by Dr. Guy Meadows called The Sleep Book. Both programs have their merits.
I’m sorry that pain is making sleep difficult for you Dopey. Can you tell us what the pain is from? Does medication give you any relief from it?
I know what you mean about that one piece of the song getting stuck in your head. I hate when that happens. I am sorry you are having insomnia. I do recommend the free sleep course Martin has here on the board. It did help me. I still have insomnia but I am also sleeping better.
I’m very sorry you get nil sleeper nights for days in a row but you shouldn’t be rolling your eyes at those of us that “only” get between 5 and 6 hours of sleep on a regular basis. Even when I get that much sleep, I still suffer the awful symptoms of tremors, not being able to concentrate, severe dizziness and limb weakness, among other things. So yes, I worry about being able to function the next day as much as you do.
For those of you interested, the CT Scan is scheduled for April 17th. Wish I didn’t have to wait that long but it is what it is.
Well, the sleep got a little better last night. I did get up after an hour and fiftenn minutes to go to the bathroom but during that time, I may have been in Stage 1 sleep. Then it took maybe 10 minutes to fall back asleep for real with dreams and I slept for maybe a half hour. Then I fell asleep for maybe 4 and a half hours. I might have woken up once during that time but I’m really not sure. if I did though, I fell back to sleep pretty quickly. So I woke up at 3:30 and was afraid that that was all the sleep I was going to get but I did fall asleep after about 5 or 10 minutes and slept till about 4:50. So all in all, I think I got about 6 hours of sleep which is my best yet in a long time. I do not really watch the clock at night but when I have to get up to go to the bathroom, I do see it. I also see it when I wake up just out of habit. But if I’m lying there awake, I don’t look at it most of the time. I am a poor estimator of time so I’m kind of glad I do look at the clock now and then. Otherwise, I would have no idea how long I slept. Even though I got about 6 hours though, I’m not sure it was a deep sleep as I am really fatigued this morning compared to yesterday when I got a little less sleep. I also had an ocular migraine this morning but that could have been because I had to face a very bright sunrise driving in to work. Also, I have to remember that before the insomnia hit, I was really tired at the end of the week anyway. I would just sleep in Saturday to catch up some. Can’t do that anymore. Still, I think I am making progress.
The ACT book was delivered yesterday so I am starting to read that. Not sure I can read too much of it tonight as I have some plans but will get to it Friday.
Absolutely Christine. Don’t try to carry this burden alone. Your true friends will understand and be supportive. Give them some credit. Everyone I told was completely understanding and have tried to support me in this. Try not to lose friendships over this. Even if you can’t get together as often as you used to, at least they will understand why.
Hard to say Martin. I am not sure he believes in CBT-i totally. As an example, he is not a firm believer in Sleep Restriction but he said he would get into more of that later. He also will try hypnosis and he would like me to consider taking medical marijuana in pill form. To me, that is like a sleep aid and I told him I would have to think about it as I can’t be caught with that in my system, even if I am prescribed it by a doctor, due to job considerations. I’ll let you know how it goes as I get into it more.
