Trouble sleeping.

[Shutterbug65]

I have terrible dreams and wake up feeling sweaty and anxious. I have trouble getting back to sleep and I just can't stop these racing thoughts. I take Mirtazapine to help with sleep. I'm scared that I'm going crazy. I'm constantly in a state of worry. I guess I'm just wondering if this is normal for anxiety sufferers? It doesn't help that I'm alone, please can someone just tell me that I'm okay? I also take Effexor and Xanax XR.

[Awkward_Ayden]

I am in no way qualified to say this but you are ok. Lots of people including myself have the same thing and as long as you have talked to your doctor about it then it should be ok

[Shutterbug65 in reply to Awkward_Ayden]

Thank you. I sometimes feel I'm the only one going through this.

[Opossumish]

I also go through periods of experiencing terrible nightmares, so I can relate your pain. Have you ever tried meditation or mindfulness? I find if I focus on my breathing I can at least get some rest, even if I can't get back to sleep.

You will be ok. This too shall pass.

Take care.

[Shutterbug65 in reply to Opossumish]

Thank you. I heard about mindfulness but haven't tried it yet. I have difficulty concentrating because of my intrusive worrisome thoughts. I just want to have some peace of mind. I wake up practically drenched in sweat, racing heart I just want it to stop.

[reinagrace]

HI. Not sure if you saw my latest reply to you when we were commenting on another post- but i had mentioned maybe you need to tweak your meds with your dr. But yes this is common to anxiety and sleep is a hellish problem for me. I should follow my own advice and look into tweaking meds, but i screwed myself up more when at one point i was heavily abusing xanax. So now I limit my meds. You mentioned terrible dreams which yes that happens to me, but also many nights i don't even fall asleep till 7 a.m. Do you ever have this problem? For me, I can't take a pill every night- this is why i ended up abusing meds before .. For example when I started Ambien, it did put me to sleep (only 3 or 4 hours- a single pill only puts me to sleep for a short time). but if i took it more than 3 nights in a row, then i would need 2 or 3 or 4, for it to work, plus when i woke up after 3 hours i'd have to take a second pill to get at least 6 hours total sleep. this was true for anything- xanax, whatever- i build up tolerance. So in the long run i just suffer the insomnia with minimal meds, try to limit to one pill a week, and get by with a crappy 3 hours sleep a lot of the time. 3 hours without a pill always feels better than 3 hours with a pill. for me sometimes meds make my nightmares worse- is that the case with you? insomnia is the worst hell, worse than depression/anxiety. i mean i know it's a symptom of both , but not all anxiety and depression sufferers have insomnia this horrible. PMS makes it worse-don't know if you're a man or woman but if female , do you notice if it's worse during PMS? i pray so hard that we would all get relief from this , it truly is agony.

[Shutterbug65 in reply to reinagrace]

Thanks for your reply. I'm just so worried and scared. I live alone and I worry a lot about what will happen to me. Yes the nightmares seem to be worse when I take the mirtazapine. I'm sick of my life, sick of taking meds. I have no friends or any family members to talk to. Loneliness is the worst hell for me. I'm male so PMS is not my problem lol. I took a Xanax this morning just to calm myself and I feel a bit tired now. I dread going to bed because I'm afraid of waking up drench in sweat and my heart racing. Do you have this problem?

[reinagrace in reply to Shutterbug65]

Now that you confirmed what I thought, that possibly meds make your nightmares worse- i think it might make the other things worse too. Bc the waking up sweaty, heart racing, was something i went thru when i was taking daily meds. Now the biggest hell is trying to fall asleep in the first place-- which can take several hours to happen, and some nights i only sleep 3 hours, but some nights more. But i'm no doctor and don't want you to take medical advice from me. Unfortunately with mental illness not being such an exact science, the doctors themselves are working by trial and error in prescribing us meds, but we still have to trust our doctors. I still struggle a lot but , from my last breakdown last year when I was hospitalized, it was a combination of my psychiatrist, and counselor's help, and my own research that helped me get more functional. for ME, and this might not be for you, i'm best handling my insomnia without meds, for reasons stated above. limit pill-taking to once or twice a week if possible. and its a matter of knowing my triggers and avoiding them if possible. i started a document last year, where i journaled all my very bad anxiety episodes and also my very rare "good"episodes. I was trying to find a pattern, and i listed every single thing i ate, saw on TV, smelled, heard,or who i hung out with and talked about-- to see if i could find if certain things helped or made anxiety worse . for me PMS definitely makes it unbearable for a whole week, but obviously this won't be the case for you. but i did somewhat see patterns, with certain foods, or supplements and had to stop watching certain kinds of shows esp late at night . i really like crime shows like Criminal Minds, but those definitely gave me vivid bloody nightmares. We really have to guard what we let in our minds . sometimes it could be a little thing like i was walking in a store and a song from the 80's played, which triggered my PTSD traumatic childhood memories. i might not have noticed these things if i wasn't journaling, so maybe see if writing helps you. (as you can see by my rambling, writing is an outlet for me, and i journal in other ways as well. ) Of course i can't avoid every trigger but i can for example, at least avoid returning to a place that i know plays that type of music. oh - chemicals, that's a big one. sometimes if i'm somewhere where there's chemical odor residue like a building where they waxed floors, or a woman's perfume- that would increase anxiety. chemicals in food are neurotoxic, so i try to invest in healthy organic stuff- i definitely get more anxious when i eat crap. there are good episodes but so rare, that i still haven't pinpointed a trigger for those, other than possibly some time with a friend who cares and going to Mass several days in a row. Do you have any feeling good episodes, even if it's one day, once a year?? I hope you can get involved with meetup, or look at NAMI Website (National Alliance for Mental Illness) as they have support groups for depression that meet weekly. there should be one in your area. are you in the USA? well maybe they're international also, not sure. I wonder why you have no family , probably a bad childhood like i had? for me my faith helps, do you go to church? i worry a lot also about what will happen to me and i mentioned faith because Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow and so i pray and strive to get to that point. i pray this for you too. sorry again for the rambling. i think this is part of how i unwind at night. Blessings

[Shutterbug65 in reply to reinagrace]

Funny you mentioned it I went to mass today for the first time in a very long while. I kind of moved away from the church. But I want the lord in my life now. I pray that he alleviates my anxiety. I'm alone because I isolated myself from my family. I never been married or have any children. And my friends and family got tired of my excuses for not attending events. My father passed away 3 years ago, my Mother passed 11 days after I was born so I was raised by my grandparents who have both passed away. . I have very bad social anxiety. So now I'm very lonely, scared of what might happen.

Thanks for your insightful writing. I read it several times and I'm grateful for your information.

[reinagrace in reply to Shutterbug65]

Hi Shutterbug65 that's great that you're Catholic too! well i was praying for you before from the other post, so wonder if my prayers helped lead you to Mass lol. there might be a singles group or something in your church - there is in one of mine, and they do social events, game nights, etc. i go to their game nights and it helps my loneliness. I hope you make good connections at your church

[Shutterbug65 in reply to reinagrace]

Thank you sorry I didn't respond sooner. But I enjoyed going back to church and praying it helped bring about some peace of mind. I know the lord is with me and has not abandoned me. Even though I abandoned him. They really changed some of the prayers I was used to.

I would like to find out about different groups like you said. I have very bad social anxiety so it's difficult for me. This is one of the reasons I'm alone. But I do want to change but self doubt and what if thinking takes over. But I need to force myself and try to make myself believe that people are not judging me.

Thank you for your prayers. It's nice to know that you care.

[Wilburbudgirl]

Hi just wanted to say that it's a pretty sure sign that your not going crazy if you think you are, as people who are actually crazy think they're perfectly normal 😊