exhaustion and anxiety

[snowgoose]

Hi :)
Been reading somewhere and it may have been on here ...about a psychiatrist who believes strongly in the power of long induced sleep for recovery from the acute stages of anxiety. If you dont sleep then the adrenaline keep on churning and no time for it to go before you wake up ? ?
I think this was used years ago in psychiatric wards .
Now not advocating drugged to eyeballs coma :ohmy: ...but the theory sits right with me somehow.
I was so hyper and adrenaline ridden once, existing on 3 hours a night twitching and jerking .....going to work next day .We do dont we ? push and push ourselves .
Of course like so many of us I broke apart .
But I was given meds that made me sleep deeply for a long time each night while on a long time sick leave .......and the effect of rest was so helpful to recovery .few side effects really probs cos I was sleeping through them :)
I know that with young children and no family support this must seem impossible though . And those working all hours and trying to cope .

What do others feel here about the fact it is exhaustion that has lead them to the meds not working as well as they should maybe ?
What came first .........overwhelming sleep deprivation or the anxiety causing it ?
After all sleep deprivation is used by regimes as torture .
It would be nice to think that for one weeks deep sleep ,our minds would have time to reset the adrenaline cycle and it would save days of anguish . oh well just pondering

and hugs to those who are suffering :hugs: with you at the moment xx

sorry i must say this is only my thoughts for the sort of help like first aid . So not that is all it needs to recover from this illness . of course not and sorry if it comes over as this . my typing starts before my brain engages .xxx

[pinkdove]

hi snowgoose, very interesting post, when i first started suffering with anxiety i was working full time, but as you say just kept going, untill i got so bad i could hardly function.

long story shortened, all in all it led to weeks of sleep deprivation, and even tho i was prescribed meds i could'nt sleep day or night, however as i started to calm down i began to sleep better not only at night, but could manage a nap in the day too, i really believe that the extra rest and sleep played a significant part in my recovery.

so in my case first came the anxiety and then the sleep deprivation.

hope you are well xx

[hoshi]

nothing will ever make me feel better than a good, long sleep in my bed. i think i'm extremely lucky in that emotionally/physically speaking, not a lot can get in the way of my being able to sleep, at any time of day for as long as is possible. even if it takes me a long time to wind down i find i can have endless patience in being able to just lay in place and let everything wash over me until sleep comes. and i think if i didn't have that, and i was constantly up and pacing around doing things when i felt too nervous to rest, i would be much worse off.

that is, however, only on the condition that i allow myself to sleep, like if i know i have a deadline to meet and things have to get done, i won't even bother going to bed. that's when things start to go downhill and then i get meeessed uuuuup!! :wacko:

[Julianne]

Hi Snowgoose,

It is a downward spiral, anxiety-sleep deprivation-more anxiety-more SD and so it goes.

It ends up that you have to just stop, sleep and sleep more as the starting point for relieving the anxiety. It does also help you to get to sleep quickly if you can try to stop the thinking process since it is this that prevents sleep from happening quickly, so try to stop the 'mental noise', the thinking by mindfulness meditation. A good book which will help you is 'The Miracle of Mindfulness' by Thich Nhat Hanh.
You will overcome it be sure of this.
Kind thoughts

[PanchoGoz]

Good stuff about mindfulness from Julianne, mindfulness helps me sleep, just concentrating on the niceness of the sleepyness of my body sends me off...
When I had a bit of a breakdown last year, I realised I needed more sleep and slept a good 10 hours a day for a couple of weeks, it did the world of good.
Sweet Dreams xxxxx .....zzzzz....zzzzzzz......

[ElizabethJane]

Hello Snowy when I was a patient in an older style asylum a long time ago there was a young patient who was undergoing sleep therapy. She was put to sleep and slept all day only to be woken for the loo and for something to eat! I know that this is not done today. She had suffered severe trauma and it certainly helped her. When I was severely depressed I just slept all day it was dreadful. I slept at night too. I remember also another hospital admission sleeping a lot. I thought that I would get into trouble for not attending the therapy sessions! Sleep can definitely help with anxiety and even now if I am feeling 'bad' I will go to bed for a few hours. I usually time myself so I don't sleep for too long. EJ

[snowgoose]

thank you for replies :)
pinkdove ....I always think we are very similar in lots of ways
so hope that you recover soon .........it is coming lass ...can see it in your posts :flowers:

hoshi ..... yes the power of sleep eh ? it is so essential .
hope you are ok and managing to get the shut eye when stressed . thank you for post . :hugs:

Julianne ......found the book on Amazon and will order .
I am huge fan of mindfulness and have Jon Kabat Zinn books . still struggling but getting there . it does help and when you get that peace it is so lovely . Just got to work harder and read more . stop the struggling !!!
thank you :flowers:

---------- Post added at 21:53 ---------- Previous post was at 21:34 ----------

pancho :)
you know I get that feeling once in a while when trying to sleep . Just letting go and being mindful of the feeling of the bed and the silence around [or not :mad:] thank you xx
you a witch ? too young in my book for such wisdom :winks:

Ej ............so it isnt in the history books than . Sleep cure was around not so distant past . You have seen so much . :weep:
thank you for post and hope that you are feeling better .
sleep is necessary ........so necessary for us .
hope your lad is ok .been thinking of you :hugs: