I have been doing pretty good with this program. I have started putting myself in situations that I have avoided for the last several years. I am back to getting on an elevator, I am driving on the freeway again, I even went to a football game at UoM without one bit of worry or panic. My problem that I am having is dealing with the OST of "what if I don't sleep tonight?" I had a very bad bout of insomnia in January and February, which sent me into panic attacks and crying jags. My sleep has gotten better, but I go to bed every night wondering the same thing "what if I don't sleep". I focus on the positive accomplishments that I have made, it is just this one big worry. My thoughts start to creep in about dinner time. I have gotten myself into a routine of writing down my worries, writing positive for every negative, I just cannot figure this one out. I also get this weird feeling that if I don't journal, then for sure I will not sleep. Has anybody had or still have this situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Lisa
I Need Help With this OST Sleep Problem
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Guest
Hi Lisa,
Start to turn that "what if" around. "What if I do sleep tonight." Make it OK to wonder about your sleep. When you resist you are uptight and tense, but when you allow you become relaxed. It really doesn't matter if you have the thoughts or not. In and of themselves, they are not important. Your reaction to them is important. Allow. They are OK.
When you get the "feeling" that you "must" do something in order to have peace, don't. Risk not sleeping for awhile. The intensity of that feeling will pass. When you no longer care one way or the other if you get sleep, this will no longer be an issue for you.
Start to turn that "what if" around. "What if I do sleep tonight." Make it OK to wonder about your sleep. When you resist you are uptight and tense, but when you allow you become relaxed. It really doesn't matter if you have the thoughts or not. In and of themselves, they are not important. Your reaction to them is important. Allow. They are OK.
When you get the "feeling" that you "must" do something in order to have peace, don't. Risk not sleeping for awhile. The intensity of that feeling will pass. When you no longer care one way or the other if you get sleep, this will no longer be an issue for you.
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Guest
Hi Lisa,
I also had trouble with my sleep for quite a while earlier this year. I see an herbalist for my anxiety/panic, which has actually turned out to be high thyroid and perimenopause - which he is helping with. And he also gave me Magnesium for sleep. I also listen to "Healthful Sleep" by Belleruth Naparstek found at <A HREF="http://www.healthjourneys.com" TARGET=_blank>www.healthjourneys.com</A>. These have been extremely helpful resources for me.
Hope this helps,
Eileen
I also had trouble with my sleep for quite a while earlier this year. I see an herbalist for my anxiety/panic, which has actually turned out to be high thyroid and perimenopause - which he is helping with. And he also gave me Magnesium for sleep. I also listen to "Healthful Sleep" by Belleruth Naparstek found at <A HREF="http://www.healthjourneys.com" TARGET=_blank>www.healthjourneys.com</A>. These have been extremely helpful resources for me.
Hope this helps,
Eileen
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Guest
eileen,
I am very interested in a more natural approach but where I live it will be hard to find any good drs
I do get material from some drs like dr whitaker he has reports and he tells what works for most different diseases like heart disease and my daughter has migirine (spell) I have read where some b vitamins maganesium and feverfew what do you take? I read one of your post and was very interested in this apporach I have been on an antidepressant for 25 years would like to get off I am working the program but I have alot of phobias mostly going places
I am very interested in a more natural approach but where I live it will be hard to find any good drs
I do get material from some drs like dr whitaker he has reports and he tells what works for most different diseases like heart disease and my daughter has migirine (spell) I have read where some b vitamins maganesium and feverfew what do you take? I read one of your post and was very interested in this apporach I have been on an antidepressant for 25 years would like to get off I am working the program but I have alot of phobias mostly going places
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Guest
Boon and EileenV: Thank you so much for your replies. I really appreciated the very good advice. Boon, I am going to try to risk not sleeping when I cannot get calm, that will be the best way for me to work through that fear and let it lose its power. EileenV, I went to the webtsite you posted previously and ordered the CDs. I listened once when I could not fall asleep and woke up with my headphones in my ears, it worked magic. Again, thanks for everything.
Lisa
Lisa
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Guest
Lisa:
I'm a few days late on this one but maybe you'll see this.
My panic started 8 months ago and along the way became a sleep issue as I was kind of okay during the day but then panicking out of sleep some nights. So I became like you, starting to wonder around dinner time what would happen. What I did to "fix" this is to change my behaviour. It started with my next panic out of sleep. I did the following:
1. I know what this is, no big deal just a little panic...that silly dream or those hot covers got me going a little
2. deep breathing
3. pacing, I like to pace slowly when panicked...its kind of like a physical mantra for me to help let me know I'm okay
4. I got out of my bedroom, turned on lights in the living room, and read books or folded laundry
Eventually, I got tired and went back to bed and slept the rest of the night. This happened several times over several weeks...each time I handled it this way, the panic was less and less severe. Eventually, I'd wake up, not in a panic but feeling awake, so I just went through this as a routine. Each time as well, I found myself returning to bed quicker and quicker.
A few other things I did was to change my perception of all this during my waking hours:
1. I gathered reading material in preparation if this should happen again....then told myself, oh well, if it happens I can catch up on some reading I've been meaning to do...Cool!
2. Missing a little sleep is no big deal as the body tends to catch it up eventually. So a four hour sleep one night maybe just means I don't need 8 hours that night.
3. I've never awoke from a panic and not been able to return to bed at least at some point. I knew to be a little careful with this one because if at some point I didn't return to bed, I couldn't say this anymore. So I said this to myself and then followed with "if it ever does happen that I don't go back to bed, I will eventually catch up on my sleep and think of all that awesome reading I will have done!!!"
Some say to put boring reading out...I found that unmotivation and unattractive to think about when I was up with panic. So I put out magazines that I like to read so that I could spin it as "i don't necessarily want to be awake but at least I've got some awesome mags to read"....this helped decatastrophize it for me. Boring reading just seemed to add to the awfulness of the situation in my mind at 2am!!
One last thing I did is that I kind of started to plan about what I would think about once I hopped into bed. These were distracting thoughts such as: what are mascots of every NFL team and does that mascot have a meaning to that city? So meaningless things like that....before I knew it most nights, I was asleep before getting thru 4 or 5 cities. So I'd pick it up the next night or at 1am if I happened to wake up. Eventually, I got my thoughts of getting into bed as, this is cool, what wild fun meaningless things will I get into tonight! Which as I got more comfy with bedtime turned into: this pillow and bed are so soft! Bedtime is awesome!
Helpful?
I'm a few days late on this one but maybe you'll see this.
My panic started 8 months ago and along the way became a sleep issue as I was kind of okay during the day but then panicking out of sleep some nights. So I became like you, starting to wonder around dinner time what would happen. What I did to "fix" this is to change my behaviour. It started with my next panic out of sleep. I did the following:
1. I know what this is, no big deal just a little panic...that silly dream or those hot covers got me going a little
2. deep breathing
3. pacing, I like to pace slowly when panicked...its kind of like a physical mantra for me to help let me know I'm okay
4. I got out of my bedroom, turned on lights in the living room, and read books or folded laundry
Eventually, I got tired and went back to bed and slept the rest of the night. This happened several times over several weeks...each time I handled it this way, the panic was less and less severe. Eventually, I'd wake up, not in a panic but feeling awake, so I just went through this as a routine. Each time as well, I found myself returning to bed quicker and quicker.
A few other things I did was to change my perception of all this during my waking hours:
1. I gathered reading material in preparation if this should happen again....then told myself, oh well, if it happens I can catch up on some reading I've been meaning to do...Cool!
2. Missing a little sleep is no big deal as the body tends to catch it up eventually. So a four hour sleep one night maybe just means I don't need 8 hours that night.
3. I've never awoke from a panic and not been able to return to bed at least at some point. I knew to be a little careful with this one because if at some point I didn't return to bed, I couldn't say this anymore. So I said this to myself and then followed with "if it ever does happen that I don't go back to bed, I will eventually catch up on my sleep and think of all that awesome reading I will have done!!!"
Some say to put boring reading out...I found that unmotivation and unattractive to think about when I was up with panic. So I put out magazines that I like to read so that I could spin it as "i don't necessarily want to be awake but at least I've got some awesome mags to read"....this helped decatastrophize it for me. Boring reading just seemed to add to the awfulness of the situation in my mind at 2am!!
One last thing I did is that I kind of started to plan about what I would think about once I hopped into bed. These were distracting thoughts such as: what are mascots of every NFL team and does that mascot have a meaning to that city? So meaningless things like that....before I knew it most nights, I was asleep before getting thru 4 or 5 cities. So I'd pick it up the next night or at 1am if I happened to wake up. Eventually, I got my thoughts of getting into bed as, this is cool, what wild fun meaningless things will I get into tonight! Which as I got more comfy with bedtime turned into: this pillow and bed are so soft! Bedtime is awesome!
Helpful?