Stress Center Peer Support

Hi everyone,

As far as the program is concerned, I feel like I'm making great progress. The only problem is that I still have a problem with chronic insomnia. I can't seem to find any solid thought replacements for that and the thought of even trying to get to sleep causes me great anxiety. Has anyone here who succeeded with the program gone through this? If so, could you recommend some replacement thoughts for nighttime anxiety?

Thank you.

Hey GoodDave yes I have struggled with this. My sleep issue was actually getting myself to go to bed when I got tired instead of waiting till I was exhausted. I had a hard time because of my expectations. What happened is that I would say I should get to bed at a certain time and when that time would come I would resist it like the plague because of certain thoughts like "I won't fall asleep if i get to bed now", or "I need to stay awake and play videogames or be on the computer" or something like that. I would start to obsess and constantly tell myself I would feel horrible the next day if I didn't and I wouldn't be able to handle the next day if I got to sleep late. All these thoughts made sleep a negative thing for me. Is this similar to your problem?

What helped was looking at the reality of the situation. This is a habit that I am doing and it takes awhile to break a habit. There are going to be many nights when I get to sleep late and no matter how aweful I feel the next day, I can still get through it and still be ok. I may feel very uncomfortable and not get much done but I have gone through this many times and I can survive it many more times if I have to. this helped to dissipate the guilt which is what actually kept me from making progress. When we feel guilty we end up going back to our habits or autopilot. So once that was gone it was so much easier to get to sleep when I got tired. You might lose the motivation to get to sleep earlier from the pain and suffering but you won't lose your desire to sleep and your body will try to sleep on its own so you don't need that pain motivation. Bring positive thoughts around sleep and it will become a positive subject and so you will want to address it instead of push it away because its too painful.


Mike

Thanks, Mike. That's pretty similar to what I'm going through. My replacement thought that I've been using is "I don't have a sleep problem; I have anxiety. The more relaxed, positive and less affected I become, the better I'll sleep." It seems to work, but there will come nights where I feel anxious and can't talk myself out of it. I didn't think of the guilt aspect of it though. I'll look more into that. I really appreciate the input, though.

My problem is that I fall asleep easily, but then wake up around 3 a.m. and cannot go back to sleep, no matter what lovely words I put into my head. I do think this may be a side effect of depression and anxiety. I was given Trazodone, and even with this antidepressant (which is used now just as a sleep aid), I tend to wake up, but at least I can go back to sleep. But I can pray to God, affirm that all my issues are safely locked in a treasure chest until morning, and breath in "calm" and breath out "tension" and STILL BE WIDE AWAKE AT 3 A.M. So I have no magic words that work for me. Some nights I do fine, but when I hit a rough night, then the next night I use the Trazodone to make up for lost sleeping time.

Your welcome GoodDave! I hope things are still going well for you in the sleep department since you posted.

Chandler;

I'm also on Trazadone and have sleep issues however waking up during the middle of the night are not my usual ones. That only usually happens when my digestive system is out of wack and I'm not regular. If i'm not having a BM once a day for a consistent period then it happens but once I get my digestive system working better then its fine. Eatting or drinking anything besides water within 2 hours of bed time can do it as well. Have you noticed any patterns like this?



Mike