Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I have taken a sleep study and I do have sleep apnea. However, rather than using a CPAP machine, since I toss and turn all night and it would never stay on, I use an oral appliance which has worked quite well. It thrusts your lower jaw forward but it didn’t take me long to get used to it.
Thanks Martin. Yes, I did see that video. In thinking about it, you are probably right as I remember before I had insomnia yawning during the day but it didn’t mean I was really tired.
I thought for sure I was turning the corner on my insomnia last night. I just have/had this feeling that I was going to start sleeping again soon. Didn’t happen. Hardly slept at all last night after the initial falling asleep. Don’t know how long that was for as I decided to try and not look at the clock. I ended up sleeping more than I thought as I remembered some dreams from last night. And I was surprised I wasn’t more tired than I was although by mid-day I was exhausted again. I’m starting to think this won’t ever end.
Thanks for the info J. I have really stopped worrying about things in life that I can’t control. It’s true I have some issues going on right now but I just try to take it one day at a time. Every night I go to bed thinking it’s a brand new night so this may be a good sleep night. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t. Glad you were able to kick the insomnia and I really pray it never comes back for you.
I know how you feel about the “living hell” part. I am so fatigued that even when I do get a “good” night’s sleep, which in in the 5 to 6 hour range, it only lasts me for about half the day and then I start getting the tremors again as well as the weakness in my limbs. Sometime it’s so hard just to lift my arms. I know you are supposed to get out of bed when you can’t sleep but I am just so comfortable IN bed that I don’t want to get out of it even if I can’t sleep. To me, that is my refuge from the world ad I look forward to getting into bed every night. I hardly ever think about last night’s bad sleep. To me, it’s always a new night to try and I try to think I am going to break this insomnia soon. Unless all of you are right in that this could be a medical condition caused by something biological. Or in my case, something that happened to me during that surgery.
Just out of curiosity, where is everybody from? I am just outside of Syracuse, New York.
Thanks Edgar. Nothing showed up on the sonogram this morning so probably the next step is a CT Scan after they get authorization from my insurance company. Hope you do well on your MRI scan.
Hi Emma. Sorry to hear about your recent sleep troubles. I think ,y insomnia was also caused by surgery. You bring up a good question which I am going to ask Martin on here.
Martin – Is it possible that surgery somehow has caused our insomnia and if so, can CBT-i help that? I have noticed several people on here saying that after their surgery, they could no longer sleep.
Quite frankly, Christine, I don’t know how I get through my day. When my insomnia first hit in late October of 2018, I was only waking up through half the night so I was able to function okay at work and karate. As time went on, it got worse until in February, I went four days on one hour’s sleep. That was the worst part of the insomnia. Since that time, and after trying out several anti-depressants and sleeping pills that either didn’t work or only worked for a couple days and then quit, I am able to get about 4.5 to 5.5 hours of sleep a night on my own without pills. And that isn’t straight hours, I keep waking up during that time period which I think is the worst part. But that amount of sleep is a drain and I had to cut back on karate as it was hard enough for me to get through the work day. For some reason, the symptoms I get from insomnia hit me hardest in the morning and mid-day. At that time, I am fatigued and can have tremors and cannot sit still for some reason. As it progresses to evening, the tremors subside and I am only fatigued. My friends are trying to convince me to go on anti-depressants, but they didn’t work well for me the first time and I don’t want to deal with the addiction problems with them. I’m also not sure if the insomnia is due to anxiety as I wasn’t really the nervous type before the insomnia hit. No panic attacks or anything like that. I just hope I can keep my job. I don’t know how you do it with young children.
Do you have any idea what caused your insomnia? I am convinced that my insomnia was cause by some surgery I had done last October since the insomnia started about three weeks after the surgery. In looking back, I wish I looked at the surgery more closely but hindsight is 20-20 and there is nothing I can do about it now. I will say this. I have seen some people on here put in their messages that they are considering suicide. I am nowhere near that point but understand where they are coming from. One thing that has happened to me since the surgery is that I have become way more religious and I pray a lot every night. Prayer has definitely helped me get through the day. I pray for me and I pray for everyone on this board that if we can’t be cured, at least help us get through the day.
How tired am I from this? I have to go for a sonogram tomorrow as they have discovered a mass growing in my abdomen and they need to find out what it is. At this point, it could be anything so I am not worried but I am betting at the least, I will need surgery. Who knows, since the lump appeared shortly after the insomnia started, maybe they are related. But if it is the worst and it turns out to be something malignant, I am not sure I have the energy to fight it. I really have no family to speak of and am divorced with no children so being as tired as I am, I probably will just let nature take it’s course. That’s tough for me to say after I just said I am more religious but I just don’t have the energy anymore. I, too, remember the days not too long ago when I could sit in a chair and easily fall asleep for an hour or two. And then get up to go to bed and have no problem falling or staying asleep. I long for those days.
Good luck to you and I will pray for you as I do everyone here.
Last night, I decided to just go cold turkey again in trying to get off of the melatonin. I am glad to say I think it finally worked. (Third time’s the charm.) It did take me anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes to fall asleep but that’s what it takes me now to fall asleep anyway. I am going to do the same thing tonight. I did get a relatively good night’s sleep last night but I had problems in that I kept waking up. It seemed every 60 to 70 minutes I would wake up. I got back to sleep relatively quickly, within 5 to 10 minutes, but throughout the night, I woke up about 7 times. It sure would have been nice to string a couple hours of good sleep together but I did sleep for at least 6 and a half hours so I’ll take what I can get.
Hi Lissy. Sorry to hear about the problems you have been having with your sleep. Are you on the mirtazapine for sleep or for anxiety? At the dosage you are taking, it’s usually for anxiety. If it was for sleep, it would be 15mg or less. I took mirt for a couple weeks but it stopped working for me for sleep so I got off of it. And I was on clonazepam for a week but got off of that as well as I didn’t want to chance addiction for something that wasn’t really helping me. (It was supposed to help me sleep but it never did.) I’m not a doctor so obviously I can’t give you RX suggestions on here but I do want to warn you. If you have been on either of these drugs for more that two weeks, you cannot just stop taking them as you could have very serious withdrawal symptoms. You need to discuss a tapering off schedule with your doctor. These are serious meds you are on and so the tapering off is mandatory. As for your sleep, Martin, the owner of this site, will write on here soon but I also suggest you take his free sleep course he offers on here. You can find it under the Resources menu at the top of the page.
Yes, I know what you mean Eddy. I kind of get ticked off at people who when I tell them I suffer from chronic insomnia they tell me “Me too!”. And then tell me how they can only get about 5 hours sleep two nights in a row and then make it all up on the third night. I don’t really consider that chronic insomnia. My life has really been curtailed by this and I sure wish I knew what caused it, although I have a strong suspicion.
Yes Martin, it does. I do admit I have some idea as when I get up to go to the bathroom, I see the clock when I get out of and get back into bed. So I can estimate the rest. Thanks.
Hi Feralcat. I know, insomnia is tough. I don’t know what brought mine on but I’ve had it for about 5 months now. Did you try the free sleep help program on this site? I think it’s very good.
I know what you are saying but I think once I took them the first time, it would become easier and easier to take the rest. However, I haven’t had a night of absolutely no sleep in a long time so even if I have a bad sleep, which is now about 4 to 4 and a half hours, at least I am functional the next day. If I go back down again to several nights of no sleep, I probably would consider it.
