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[CLKD]

Anxiety is NEVER over nowt    - you have answered your own question, if you have friends with health issues it will be on your mind, whether or not you are able to be supportive.

Worrying about not sleeping fulfils it's prophecy  - have you done relaxation i.e. tensing/relaxing muscles from toes upwards ?

[countrybumpkin]

I have done everything short of hanging from the ceiling like a bat!

I can go to bed all calm (obvioulsy underneath I am not) but if I don't fall asleep in 30 mins then I get the horrid rush of panic and the self fulfilling prophesy as you say.

I never know what comes first, whether undelying anxiety over something gives me the one sleepless night and then my panic keeps it going or if its just not being able to sleep that triggers the panic.  Chicken and Egg and probably doesn't matter anyway

[Kathleen]

Hello countrybumpkin.

It's amazing how quickly we lose our confidence at this time in our lives isn't it. I know when I am going through a jittery phase I can make a life threatening problem out of just about anything!
Years ago I read a book about sleep which was written by an eminent scientist and it may interest you to know that we are unable to deprive ourselves of sleep, the brain will just not have it. As long as no-one is actively preventing us from sleeping or continually waking us up, we will always have enough to function. It is even possible to sleep standing up. I accept this is probably small comfort to you but at least you don't have to worry about doing yourself any harm.
I wish you well countrybumpkin, I know what it is to develop irrational worries and you have my sympathy.

Take care.

K.   

[CLKD]

Some 'experts' tell us that we can't 'catch up' on sleep lost, however, I am able to    . When my brain says sleep, then sleep I will.  Have you tried sitting up half an hour later than usual?

[countrybumpkin]

I can just picture a line of us all hanging upside down like bats

I have stayed up until I am cross eyed with tiredness but if I don't fall asleep in about half hour then all tiredness goes out of the window no matter how lovely my tempur cloud mattress is!

[CLKD]

What's worrying you?

[honeybun]

Have you tried sleep sound apps to listen too. Lavender oil in the room or on a tissue in your pillowcase.
When I really have problems I just give up trying because it makes it worse. I get up and have a cup of warm milk and honey and read for a little while. I then go back to bed to rest and not to sleep. I actively try and keep my eyes open. Normally after a while I drop off.
If you just accept it the way it is for the moment then it will pass.

It's not just something that affects our age group. My daughter has problems too and she is 20. She says her mind won't turn off and she is writing her dissertation in her head every night at the moment.

No easy answer I'm afraid, but I would suggest just simply stop trying to sleep and see what happens if you are just resting.


Honeybun
X

[SadLynda]

3 years of it.  Numerous visits to GP who didnt give a rats ass I turned into a wreck I did not recognise, this was my first symptom of perimeno but I only found that out a few months back.

Took many supplements to try help this, stopped caffine, changed diet... I drink yogi 'bedtime' tea which helps.  But the thing that helped me the most was my acupuncture, I sleep as I used to now with the extra bits on the sofa in the evening

(traditionally trained acupuncture not nhs)

[countrybumpkin]

Thanks everyone. It was suggested to me that I try counting backwards from 1000 as this had worked for them so last night I tried it and slept like I normally do, whether this was purely due to exhaustion I don't know but when I woke in the night as I always do I did the counting again and soon went back to sleep.

Time will tell if this trick helped or not. 

I didn't know acupuncture could be used. I have this for my spinal problems via a chiropractor.  My sleep has def got worse now I am post meno, I wake up alot more but that may also be due to pain and numbness from my spinal issues plus mild carpel tunnel.

As for whats worrying me - As the saying goes I am not happy unless I am worrying and if I don't worry I then worry that I need to worry.  I have a long time fear of being left alone due to childhood trauma and I think that anything happening in and around my life that brings up this fear tends to trigger the intense anxiety.

[CLKD]

I dread anything happening to DH  ……… I like my own company; however.

I was reminded yesterday of the story: "Alive" : anyone read it?  Puts my daily problems (apart from the phobia) into perspective.

[countrybumpkin]

Oh buttocks for want of a better word!  Thought after my one normal nights sleep that I was on the mend but oh no - twiddling my thumbs until 3am and then only slept because I took a nytol tablet.  I am so angry with myself which of course is not helping.

Drs appt today plus phone call from mental health person - what fun!

[SadLynda]

good luck with appointments.

[countrybumpkin]

My usual Dr who I thought would be unsympathetic was wondeful. When I explained my panic reaction to not being able to fall asleep he said " you and me both" which rather surprised me.  He also said not to feel guilty about how I am reacting as I am not doing it on purpose and can't help it.  He also said that my reaction is very common but no one other than at the Drs talkes about it.

He has given me 14 days of temazepam and suggested that I take one for a few nights then start cutting them in half etc and see if this will get me back.  If not then he said he would scratch his head and see what else I could try. I can't take beta blockers as I had bad asthma as a child and anti depressants give me severe heartburn and weight gain but you never know there may be something else and hopefully I will start to improve.

I keep telling myself I have been here many times before and every other time it has got better eventually.

I also had phone call from mental health person and she is putting my name on the cbt list.

[ariadne]

Can anyone tell me why I can drop off at the drop of a hat in the chair in the evening.....then I start to get ready for my comfy cosy bed.....and then I can't get to sleep.

Makes absolutely no sense to me...except there is no expectation of sleep in the evening so perhaps it's easier.

Maybe I should just sit in a chair 

Honeybun
X

Ooh me too! I can be almost comatose with sleep on the sofa and unable to rouse myself- limbs like lead and eyes just wont stay open. And I have to say its a lovely feeling. Yet I never ever feel that way once I've gone to bed.

Ariadne xx

[CLKD]

So sleep in the chair, have a blanket to pull over you ……..

You may find you are 'hung over' with the sleeping pill …….. I took 1 for 3 nights at 8.00 then stopped.  After a few good night's sleep, I accepted that some nights I wouldn't sleep but that I had the sleeping pills if necessary.  I did take a few more on a once a week basis.  Found the box recently in the Safe dated 1999