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Help/Support for Insomnia

Noelle

Noelle

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone.

I am certain I am not the only person on this forum who suffers from a chronic sleep disorder/sleep anxiety. I only just started treatment (CBTi) after the first of this year, and I've got a long way to go before I will feel like I am over the worst of it.

For anyone struggling with insomnia and feeling completely helpless, hopeless, and isolated in the disorder, I wanted to share a resource that has been encouraging to me:

https://insomniacoach.com


There is a free forum, a free podcast with interviews of people who have suffered from insomnia, and there is also an option to sign up for free daily emails emails from the site creator that allow you to answer a daily question reflecting on your thoughts. I am not going to pay for their 8-week course because I already have a counsellor, but this website is providing free resources that have given me more hope in the past 48 hours than I've felt in the past 5 years (since the insomnia started).

Just wanted to share. At the very least, for any of you dealing with what I am dealing with, this resource will help you realise that you are not alone.

Best,
N
 
Have you tried cannabis? My sister suffers from terrible insomnia as well, and cannabis is the only thing that helps her.
 
Noelle said:
Hello everyone.

I am certain I am not the only person on this forum who suffers from a chronic sleep disorder/sleep anxiety. I only just started treatment (CBTi) after the first of this year, and I've got a long way to go before I will feel like I am over the worst of it.

For anyone struggling with insomnia and feeling completely helpless, hopeless, and isolated in the disorder, I wanted to share a resource that has been encouraging to me:

https://insomniacoach.com


There is a free forum, a free podcast with interviews of people who have suffered from insomnia, and there is also an option to sign up for free daily emails emails from the site creator that allow you to answer a daily question reflecting on your thoughts. I am not going to pay for their 8-week course because I already have a counsellor, but this website is providing free resources that have given me more hope in the past 48 hours than I've felt in the past 5 years (since the insomnia started).

Just wanted to share. At the very least, for any of you dealing with what I am dealing with, this resource will help you realise that you are not alone.

Best,
N
Click to expand...
It might be helpful if you've got the strength to do what's asked
 
I wake for a couple of hours and tend to read and catch up on what you all are saying here, then I go to sleep again. But I think it's a biphasic sleep pattern rather than insomnia. Sometimes I have drinks and snacks. I like the quiet.
 
Only Benadryl and Xanax have helped me. I tried Trazodone but it causes hallucinations for me. :eek:
 
Kalinychta said:
Have you tried cannabis? My sister suffers from terrible insomnia as well, and cannabis is the only thing that helps her.
Click to expand...
I used CBD oil years ago. I'm not sure whether it helped or not. But the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is working. I am not suffering at the moment. That's not to say I don't have some rough nights/days, but I am no longer suffering and would probably not need to identify as an "insomniac" anymore, thank God.
 
Storm Hess said:
Audiobooks normally work the best for me. Plus I can learn something as I relax. :)
Click to expand...
Yeah, I actually love this idea and will probably give it a try. I used to fantasise about learning a language at night, so maybe an audiobook/language course may be good:)
 
Fino said:
Only Benadryl and Xanax have helped me. I tried Trazodone but it causes hallucinations for me. :eek:
Click to expand...
Yikes. Meds don't really address the problem that perpetuates the insomnia though. That was why I wanted to share the link. I can't recommend the paid course (as I haven't tried it), but I can definitely recommend the free 2-week course and the podcast. These have been big game changers for me within the past 14 days. I also used to rely on Benadryl, but I feel like I've been liberated from pills altogether now. I definitely understand the need/urgency for those pills though. I dealt with this for 5 years. The only prescription I ever got was Valium, which thankfully I only needed for 3 days, but I developed a dependency on Diphenhydramine (in Benadryl/Z-Quil and other OTC meds). Then it all just stopped working.

I hope you're able to stop using pills altogether. The Insomnia Coach resources are good, especially for people who cannot afford or do not have time for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with a licensed psychologist.
 
Thinx said:
I wake for a couple of hours and tend to read and catch up on what you all are saying here, then I go to sleep again. But I think it's a biphasic sleep pattern rather than insomnia. Sometimes I have drinks and snacks. I like the quiet.
Click to expand...
Good for you. I think that is a really healthy way of dealing with wakefulness in the middle of night or early morning. I also wake up before I would like, and I was blaming this on "sleep maintenance insomnia" and letting it control my life. But I've started doing exactly what you're doing now, because I also love the quiet. And I'm an early morning person anyway. I would like to fall back to sleep though...
 
Noelle said:
I've actually heard this. Spending an extended amount of time outside in nature would likely make a big difference. Pardon my ignorance, but what is indoor camping?
Click to expand...

It is a very strict regimen where you basically disconnect ALL light, even flipping the fuse if you must. No flashlights. Nothing. You go by Nature. When the sun goes down, no light. That way the natural way it is supposed to work----actually works. Melatonin is released. In the morning, you let the light of Nature hit your eyes.....go out and walk or garden or sit. Light helps to manufacture it.

Do that cycles for 14 days. It re set 100% of the participants circadian rhythm. Humans are the only dummies that ever tried to screw with their own Nature-given perfection. Then as Big Pharma to fix it.

Nature will fix it if you follow Her rules.
 
Thinx said:
I wake for a couple of hours and tend to read and catch up on what you all are saying here, then I go to sleep again. But I think it's a biphasic sleep pattern rather than insomnia. Sometimes I have drinks and snacks. I like the quiet.
Click to expand...
I’m still not sure whether I have a biphasic sleep pattern or sleep maintenance insomnia. I fall asleep just fine, but I wake up after a few hours of sleep. Sometimes I fall asleep again after one or two hours. Sometimes I can’t fall asleep again for the second part of the night and that really messes me up. I often operate on three hours of sleep and that makes me drowsy, especially later in the day because I’ve been awake for so long. On the plus side, getting in an early morning workout is rarely an issue for me :p
 
Bolletje said:
I’m still not sure whether I have a biphasic sleep pattern or sleep maintenance insomnia. I fall asleep just fine, but I wake up after a few hours of sleep. Sometimes I fall asleep again after one or two hours. Sometimes I can’t fall asleep again for the second part of the night and that really messes me up. I often operate on three hours of sleep and that makes me drowsy, especially later in the day because I’ve been awake for so long. On the plus side, getting in an early morning workout is rarely an issue for me :p
Click to expand...

I understand exactly how this feels. That has been my issue for about 5 years. How do you feel (emotionally) when you wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep? Do you stress over it? Do you think about sleep and being"sleep deprived" during the day? And do you feel anxiety at night before going to bed? This is insomnia, I think. It's a kind of obsession with sleep or controlling sleep that begins to control the person.

You seem, from your post at least, to be relatively upbeat about your situation, so I'm hoping this means you do not have sleep anxiety? If you do, I honestly cannot recommend the Insomnia Coach podcast enough. It completely turned my life around this year.

All the best,
N
 
Noelle said:
How do you feel (emotionally) when you wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep? Do you stress over it? Do you think about sleep and being"sleep deprived" during the day? And do you feel anxiety at night before going to bed? This is insomnia, I think. It's a kind of obsession with sleep or controlling sleep that begins to control the person.
Click to expand...
I agree. I've been biphasic for decades. I do settle down to sleep quite early now though, around 8.30, after a little reading; 3 or 4 hours later, maybe a bit more, I'm awake. I'll get up to pee. Read a bit. I might even write for a bit. When I feel sleepy I turn my very dim light off and get a few more hours. But I never stress over it. It isn't abnormal for me, and I never think something is wrong.
 
Noelle said:
You seem, from your post at least, to be relatively upbeat about your situation, so I'm hoping this means you do not have sleep anxiety? If you do, I honestly cannot recommend the Insomnia Coach podcast enough. It completely turned my life around this year.
Click to expand...
I don’t have sleep anxiety before going to bed. However, when I wake up at night, I usually become pretty distraught when I can’t fall back asleep within, say, 30 minutes. Especially when I have work the next morning. An extra stressor for me is that I have bipolar disorder and lack of sleep is a bit of a mania trigger for me. So a few bad nights in a row does stress me.
 
Hi, all.
A quick update here. I'm happy to say that a year after I posted this thread topic, I can say that I am now insomnia free! Thank God.

Of course I still have sleepless nights, but these do not wreak havoc on my emotional and psychological state anymore. The CBTi really worked, but so did the insomnia coach podcast with interviews from real people around the world who had suffered from chronic sleep disorders.

Just wanted to share the update. Getting over insomnia has drastically changed my quality of life:)
 
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