Worried I will never sleep again! HELP!!!!

[defyinggravity65]

Well last night was better but not great. I took some more lorazepam, as my doctor never called me back about a different sleep med.
I slept HARD from 11:30-2:30 (a good three hours). I think I racked up another 2 or 3 hours between then and 9 this morning, but I'm not even sure to be honest. If I did, it was in small chunks and the sleep was very anxious/fretful. At one point I know I for sure was dreaming but I still felt like I was awake if that makes sense. One I looked at the clock and 1.5 hours had passed since I last looked and I couldn't tell if I had been sleeping or not. I thought that I must have been sleeping since the time passed quicker than I would have thought. But then I was laying in bed for a bit after that and I KNOW I was awake and I spent about an hour and a half doing that as well and it didn't feel like much time had passed. So now I'm just doubting everything and I'm still a nervous wreck. :(

[Pkstracy]

Stress and anxiety can do that to you as well, I am totally off my meds and I was on five different ones, I weaned myself off, even my sleeping pill, I now take 5 mg of melatonin at night to sleep, I stay up until 130 or two in the morning but I get a good 8 hours, I went through what you are going through now, longest I was awake once was 40 hours. Talk to your Doctor, it could also be your meds,

[Carys]

OK, that is definitely better though. Its a small step in the right direction, and you need to take positives from that. I recall my husband saying to me 'oh you slept well last night' and I came out with a description similar to you...moaning about how it a few hours with lorzepam then I was awake on and off. Your pattern sounds so like mine was.

[defyinggravity65]

Thank you so much for these responses. So happy to know I'm not alone

[pulisa]

You are certainly not alone. Sleep should be a natural thing and when it goes to pot it can make it very difficult to function rationally because your brain is tired and everything is more difficult. The nights are so long too and it's easy to panic when you are sleepless and highly anxious.
I seriously wouldn't overuse the benzos-you don't want to get dependant no matter how "attractive" they are in terms of giving you some respite from the insomnia.

[Sleepy]

I was on a sedating AD but changed to escitalopram about 8 weeks ago. I was told that insomnia may ensue and it did. I take Zopiclone anyway but had to double my dose to 7.5. A typical night was waking every 1-2 hours. If I added together all the little bits I maybe got 5-6 hours.

I'm still on the 7.5 but now I wake maybe three times and go straight back to sleep. I'm really glad I stuck with the escitalopram as it has really helped my anxiety.

I sleep best when I tell myself that I have 9 hours ahead of me and I'll sleep for some of it. What I really need is rest.

Good luck, it will get better. It makes you feel like rubbish I know, but it's not forever.

[defyinggravity65]

I am also taking escitalopram and have been on it for two weeks. I know this med can cause insomnia but I don't think it's affected either way becsuse I had terrible insomnia before the med as well. Last night I slept 3 hours again, from 6:30-9:30 am with MAYBE another 30 minutes of dozing between awake and asleep before that.
Will this kill me?? I'm so worried this will kill me :(

[Daedalus]

There's absolutely no way this will kill you, particularly not on 3-4 hours of sleep a night, which parents of new born children sometimes endure for months on end (as do soldiers during wartime, the whole of London during the blitz, and so on).

Won't kill you! No way!

Plus, you're not necessarily going to know when you're asleep. The brain takes micro-sleeps when it needs them, which you're probably not going to notice (this is partly what makes driving, etc., dangerous in a sleep deprived state).

[defyinggravity65]

Thank you for this reply. I take comfort in knowing you think I'm not going to die. Lol, seriously. And you're right about the new mom thing, too.
I'm just so scared with each passing day that im coming closer to death or something.