Please help, Worried about Insomnia

[James160]

For the past week now i have been finding it difficult to both fall asleep and stay asleep. After about 5 or 6 hours, I wake up and my body feels as if it's ready to start the day, even though my eyes still feel heavy, when i attempt to go back to sleep, I shake and tremble, my heart rate goes up and starts beating hard, and before you know it, i'm walking around my room in a panic that just won't go away.

Whenever i try to calm down and go back to sleep, I have the sensation that just as the feeling of sleep is about to set in, my mind and body tense up and suddenly bring me back into a wakeful state, almost as if i had suddenly remembered something or was suddenly alerted from a noise. I've had this feeling before but never for this long, and it's scaring me to an extent that i feel i'll never be the same, or that i have developed Sporadic Fatal Insomnia, or that i'll just die from the missed hours. Even though i know that i am still at least getting some sleep, I can't help but feel incredibly anxious and worried.

It's worth mentioning that this past Sunday was the last time i slept normally, I was trying to reset my sleep cycle by staying awake longer and ended up going to sleep from 5pm until 1am. On Monday i stayed awake until 6pm but woke up at the same time of 1am, only getting 7 hours, then the next day 6 hours as i ended up sleeping from 7pm until 1am again. On Wednesday i slept at 9pm and ended up sleeping 5 hours at first but ended up falling asleep for an extra 2 and a half or so hours. Then as of the time i'm writing this, I slept at 11pm and woke up at 4am, only getting 5hrs.

My doctor prescribed 40mg of Propranolol to slow down my heart rate so i don't get palpitations, I haven't taken any yet out of fear that it'll have a negative affect accompanied with the Valerian Root pills i purchased, but i'm at my wits end, my appetite has gone, I'm constantly watching the clock, and i just don't know what to do.

Please help :(

[ServerError]

Insomnia is very common. I suffer with it, as do many others on here. Honestly, in the short term, you need to learn not to worry about. You will sleep. Your body will eventually insist on it. You can give yourself a helping hand by learning not to worry about sleep. The more you worry and the more you try and force it, the harder it is to attain. If you can't sleep, just try to find some waking relaxation.

Oh, and forget about sporadic fatal insomnia. It's so rare it barely exists. You don't have it.

[James160]

Thank you for the reply!

Though I only slept 5hrs yesterday, i actually felt quite awake and alert, I decided to get some exercise too (nothing too taxing just 20 mins or running), and when the sleepiness began to set in at night, I took a Valerian pill before managing to drift off around 8.20pm. I woke up a good 5 -6 times during the night (The longest at 2am) but managed to get back to sleep after thirty minutes or so, this continued until 5.30am when i finally got out of bed.

I have, however, woken up with a headache and a feeling grogginess, but i was thinking this might have something to do with another dose of Valerian Root i took at 2am, thinking it would help me remain calm enough to drift back off (Which it did), could this just be a side effect?

[MyNameIsTerry]

I've been through it too. Clock watching is something that will make your insomnia worse. You will find that advice everywhere, and many on here will tell you it made them worse too (me included).

Cover the clock up. Set the alarm. You will watch to check, it's only natural, but that gets easier.

Look at your sleep health. Nothing exciting in the hours leading up to sleep. Try to make your bed for sleeping, and the room if possible, so try not to do other exciting activities (well, there's one obvious one and that one is ok for the bed still :yesyes:), but things like working, gaming, etc try and remove them if possible.

Read a book in bed or do things that are easy going leading up to bed time to help your mind relax.

Beware lighting too. Screens have a specific form of lighting in them that triggers a chemical in the eyes to make you wake up. This is why you can get apps for phones to change the lighting.

There is no chance of SFI, that's incredibly rare - it's not rare as a thread topic on the HA or Symptoms boards though, it's a common fear when insomnia is an issue for the HA people. You won't become ill from insomnia, it would need to be really severe for that and the body will force you to sleep when it needs it. At worst you might need some help from your GP but they will be wary in prescribing sleep meds because hypnotics are more addictive than benzo's! They can try other things that aren't habit forming like Mirtazapine, Trazadone, Amitriptyline, etc but you hopefully won't need them.

[James160]

Thanks Terry!

I'm actually managing to sleep a little better now despite still waking up through the night. I slept from 8.30pm until 1.30am last night, I would have continued sleeping but i then woke up with a pounding sensation in my chest and a little pain that came shortly after. Oddly enough the pounding only came after i took a deep breath in after waking. But after laying on my side and drinking some water, it seemed to subside and i eventually drifted back off to sleep at around 3.30am, before waking up at 8.00am this morning, a good 8 hours if my math is correct. :)

I've had countless ECG's, EKG's, Chest X-Rays and done in the past so neither me nor my Doctor are worried that these sensations in my chest are anything to do with the heart. (Plus, I'm 23, able to run on a treadmill without any issue and generally quite fit.)

Though she has recommended i stop with the Lansoprazole i've been taking as she believes H.Pylori may be the culprit.

[Mojo61]

Insomnia is horrible and I'm going through a bout at the moment. Mine usually takes the form of waking me up at 2am in the morning and then try as I might I can't get back to sleep. Obviously getting up at 2am is ludicrous so I lie there tossing and turning, mind racing, sweating, feeling sick etc until around 5.30am when I get up. I'd love to go to bed at say 11pm and then sleep through until 6am but that doesn't happen. Recently I've found myself falling asleep on the sofa at 8pm and then waking up again about 11.30pm and going up to bed. I can get to sleep Ok, but I wake up between 2-3am and that's it. I'm dreading the clocks going back because that means I'll be wide awake at 1am instead of 2am!!!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Insomnia is horrible and I'm going through a bout at the moment. Mine usually takes the form of waking me up at 2am in the morning and then try as I might I can't get back to sleep. Obviously getting up at 2am is ludicrous so I lie there tossing and turning, mind racing, sweating, feeling sick etc until around 5.30am when I get up. I'd love to go to bed at say 11pm and then sleep through until 6am but that doesn't happen. Recently I've found myself falling asleep on the sofa at 8pm and then waking up again about 11.30pm and going up to bed. I can get to sleep Ok, but I wake up between 2-3am and that's it. I'm dreading the clocks going back because that means I'll be wide awake at 1am instead of 2am!!!

Sorry to here you are struggling with this too, Gill. :hugs:

There are so many insomnia threads on here, it's so common. Some people have had it for a while and needed meds but they eventually get through it too.

When I first had it, it was about getting to sleep. It would take hours of tossing & turning. Some nights I would eventually fall asleep an hour or so before the alarm was due! The worst nights, I would be lucky to get minutes.

When I relapsed, I went through it again only this time I was ok getting to sleep but would wake up about an hour or so before the alarm. This was maddening as I would get anxious about not having enough sleep to go to work. Rarely would I fall back asleep.

Either way, they were horrible experiences. It's very frustrating and when you have anxiety too, it only feeds that and the irony is that then feeds the insomnia. You literally feel like you can't win!

I hope it improves for you soon. Mine has always got better and that seems to be the case for everyone else around here.

---------- Post added at 06:14 ---------- Previous post was at 06:09 ----------


Thanks Terry!

I'm actually managing to sleep a little better now despite still waking up through the night. I slept from 8.30pm until 1.30am last night, I would have continued sleeping but i then woke up with a pounding sensation in my chest and a little pain that came shortly after. Oddly enough the pounding only came after i took a deep breath in after waking. But after laying on my side and drinking some water, it seemed to subside and i eventually drifted back off to sleep at around 3.30am, before waking up at 8.00am this morning, a good 8 hours if my math is correct. :)

I've had countless ECG's, EKG's, Chest X-Rays and done in the past so neither me nor my Doctor are worried that these sensations in my chest are anything to do with the heart. (Plus, I'm 23, able to run on a treadmill without any issue and generally quite fit.)

Though she has recommended i stop with the Lansoprazole i've been taking as she believes H.Pylori may be the culprit.

That's good to hear, James! I bet that felt a relief?

Aside from what I just wrote to Gill, I have had stages where I would wake every hour, need to go to the toilet every hour or so, wake with the thumping chest (like when you awake from a nightmare), etc.

All these things are very normal with insomnia. We get very aware of our sleep when we have this. You may find yourself worrying about getting enough, worrying about a change in pattern or that you may slip back into insomnia again because your subconscious spots a pattern and flags it to your conscious mind (which is just normal processing in the brain, it's just we have to relearn to not care about it).

Just keep working on relaxing more and whilst you don't want to try to suppress thoughts (that only makes them come more often as it gives them importance and makes the subconscious work harder to try & suppress them - like the polar bear analogy), you want to learn not to care as much. The more you give it less importance, the more it will sort itself out.

Exercise is good too. It helps us sleep deeper, as studies prove in the sports world, and regulates hormones.