Anxious insomnia

[Widbear]

I am panicking over not sleeping and then in the vicious cycle have such palpitations and jolting that I can't sleep at all. Does it ever get better?

[watercolorworld]

So sorry you are struggling. It has to get better. Stress is keeping me awake as well. I fall asleep from exaustion but wake up a few hours later with my mind running at full speed. Then lack of sleep makes my anxiety worse. I'm trying to learn to meditate and get a night time routine but I know it will take time if it will help. Good luck and let me know if you figure things out.

[Hope4me1]

I have experienced this and it’s so hard. But in time with patience and having gentle kindness for yourself you will sleep peacefully again. Meditation practice, sleep music, and staying away from electronic screens a couple of hours before bed will help and have a sleep ritual like reading with peaceful music. There are teas for sleep, too. I wish you well and know that in time it will all be right with you again.💕😊

[Sunflower0121]

I’ve had this condition for years.I’m lucky if I get 2 hours sleep through night.I’m so fed up with it.seen doctor they put my meds up.I’m still the same.so frustrating.do you have anxiety depression.I feel it’s never ending

[Widbear in reply to Sunflower0121]

Yes I have bad anxiety. Have taken Mirtazapine for years but I think they have stopped working

[Lin1944 in reply to Widbear]

Mirtazapine usually give you a good nights sleep. I have just gone on 45 mg as Duloxetine had stopped working. Horrible side effects getting used to them

[STEM_Dad]

I've read that a GABA supplement taken at bedtime might help. There's not much research on this, but lots of people swear by it in product reviews.

I've only taken a GABA supplement a few times, but it seemed to help. I am going to try taking it every night for the next couple of weeks. (I've struggled with anxiety and sleep problems for the last 5 years, the first four were due to job stress and the last year has been due to martial issues.)

My anxiety has gotten better with counseling and by learning CBT techniques. I still rarely get more than 4 hours of sleep each night, and last night I woke up at 3:30am laid awake for 1.5 hours before falling asleep again

[Widbear in reply to STEM_Dad]

I guess at the end of the day I am going to have to not be scared of insomnia.....I am trying to accept it but it is so hard.

[STEM_Dad in reply to Widbear]

My ex-wife has had insomnia for as long as she can remember. She's just used to it as part of life, but it still gets her down sometimes. Most days, she still functions very well. She can go months at a time functionally normally, and then for days to a few weeks she has to sleep well into the morning.

What I've observed with her is that an increase in stress or uncertainty in life circumstances will disrupt her sleep patterns. She doesn't try anything to control the stress, like meditation, mindfulness or CBT. A number of years ago, she was exercising regularly, and I think that helped her to stabilize a lot.

(She has only tried medication, but has had mixed results.)

She is the reason I researched GABA as a possible solution, since she has multiple indications of having persistent excess glutemate (and only GABA offsets that).

[designguy]

I know it's hard but try not to feed the anxiety beast with more anxiety and just accept that you can't sleep and know that you can actually go for a number of days and not sleep. Your body will eventually correct itself and you will sleep. Also cut out all caffeine, no alcohol and do what you can to lower your cortisol. I take ashwaghanda, phosphatidyl serine and magnesium glycinate each night before bed to lower my cortisol. I also take melatonin to aid in quality of sleep. When i'm having trouble sleeping I also take valerian root which is a natural sedative. In my state CBD is legal and I was also using a CBD tincture with herbs as a sleep aid which helped but I found out it's bad for glaucoma, which I have.