Night time anxiety

[phil6]

Looks like this is a common problem. It certainly is so for me recently.
I am usually able to retire and get to sleep but am regularly waking in the night and then struggling to get more sleep.
Initially I would wake after only a couple of hours sleep and manage to check the clock and get back to sleep but more often than not if the time is anytime beyond abot 3 am then I habitually start to think that I need to be careful with how I think in case I spark off my anxiety. Well this is usually enough to do the trick. It then can be a nasty adrenaline rush or just moderate anxiety with a lot of silly rumination.
Whether you wake with panic or just anxiety, sleep becomes a struggle.
What is the best thing to do, at this middle of the night time.
What do you do?
Phil

[xrachykinsx]

My anxiety started out based around Sleep Phil. It is literally the only reason I got myself in this pickle in the first place. I had trouble going to sleep after having a sinus infection. I got so panicked and the more I willed to sleep..the more I didn't...the anxiety was totally on another level and so so strange considering I was completley fine before, I'd never had this kind of anxiety ever in my whole life. It was obviously the trigger for a lot of general stress bubbling over for me.

I'm on sedative antidepressants because of it, and since taking them..I sleep like a log 11pm-7am perfect...but generally if you start getting insomnia..the advice is to get up if you can't go back to sleep within 15minutes and do something mundane..read a boring book, or watch something reaaaaally boring on the tv, do some housework.. I've been in this pickle before where I've just lay there getting more and more worked up and upset by not sleeping and I've spent whole nights laying there tossing and turning and crying and getting so angry I've got up and starting throwing stuff around the bedroom in frustration.

[phil6]

Xrachykinsx
Thanks, that sound like a plan... It's horrible when you are tired but you cannot relax enough to get to sleep.
Sounds like Mertazapine ... Is that what you are on... It's magic for sleep!
Phil

[xrachykinsx]

That's the one...started out on 30mg but now on 45mg and it's still doing its job of making me sleep! It's the one reason I'm reluctant to come off... as I'm a bit concerned I will still have the insomniac bug and I'm not really very keen on zopiclone...I feel that zopiclone actually was what caused my anxiety to get worse.. because I became reliant on it but still couldn't solve my anxiety!

[cloudbusting]

Phil and Rachykins

I keep earbuds by the bed and when I wake up ( as I always do) I listen to some guided relaxation meditation on YouTube. There are loads to choose from, just have a listen to see which 'voice' you like and feel comfortable listening to.

The earbuds are to stop waking up Mr Cloudbusting and also there is sometimes a 'second' voice that speaks gentle affirmations under the main voice.
This usually works for me.

Lisa x

[phil6]

Thanks cloudbusting, good idea..
I think I will try and rise to start with... Often turning on the light helps.
Yes, mertazapine was good when I tried it... For me though, I felt a bit drowsy in the mornings. I am never happy if I am aware I am on something and I worry about limiting me. It's just me.....stupid really. So I came off them after about 4 weeks.. But it is a nice gentle med.

[xrachykinsx]

So gentle I'm not 100% convinced its doing anything but helping me sleep! Lol I found the zombie groggy feeling disappeared after a week at most for me. I am starting to think that the next hurdle is to cure this anxiety by myself. I'm pretty sure I'd feel the same on other meds so hopefully getting this part time job will do me the world of good. Hope you sleep better tonight Phil :)

[Phuzella]

Make sure you get enough daylight during the day too :)

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's the one...started out on 30mg but now on 45mg and it's still doing its job of making me sleep! It's the one reason I'm reluctant to come off... as I'm a bit concerned I will still have the insomniac bug and I'm not really very keen on zopiclone...I feel that zopiclone actually was what caused my anxiety to get worse.. because I became reliant on it but still couldn't solve my anxiety!

I know what you mean about Zopiclone. I went onto Citalopram the first time around and it made my insomnia far worse and a CPN told my GP to give me something to help me sleep until I got over the side effects. He dished them out for 30 days and when the CPN did they follow up they told me he shouldn't have done it like that add I should have been alternating on/off days. So, I had to get off them by alternating them and for the first week out was 1 night sleep, 1 night no sleep.

It took about 2 months to restore a sleep pattern, although I only did the alternating thing for about a week.

I found ether made me groggy for hours the next day. It would take me hours to drag myself out of bed and trying to eat was a real chore.

Did you take anti biotics for your infection? Did the anxiety come at this point?

[xrachykinsx]

I was given antibiotics Terry, but reluctantly from the doctor because they didn't beleive it was truly an infection despite having severe symptoms. To this day I still genuinely have no idea why I got so worked up and upset about not sleeping for a few days. It's happened many times in my life...and more in the past 3years than anything (I have a 3year old)..My GP seems to think I had post natal depression untreated, and then I went on to have lots of more stress including planning a wedding, trying to go back to work but not working due to the ridiculous nursery fees, so the doctor seems to think the virus I had and no sleep...was my trigger for some overdue stress!

In a way I find I'm rather angry for how poorly I've been all because of it...and I think that harms my recovery..because I just can't understand WHY! I was such a love life, bubbly kind of girl and now I'm the opposite!

Hope you slept better last night Phil :)

[MyNameIsTerry]

Rach,

Did you know that some people have experienced anxiety disorders after being on anti biotics when they were fine before? I've seen other comments on such as Amazon about IBS resulting from the. The people were able to resolve it by cutting out sugar and taking probiotic supplements. It turned out in their cases that the anti biotics, which are known to negatively impact your immune system, were killing off the good gut bacteria and the bad was then feeding on the sugar and growing out of proportion.

There are some threads/posts about things like this in the Top Tips, Natural Remedies, sections by members such as Lilharry and mbarger.

[xrachykinsx]

Ohh interesting Terry. I didn't take the full course because I realised I wasn't improving with my sinus problem so the gp was probably correct in that I didn't need antibiotics. I will look into that though, thanks :) I do personally think I'm like this because it was long overdue from stress but I do find it very odd how I'm still pretty bad 14weeks into meds x