Hello from a newbie

[pigsmightfly]

Hello. Joined today. Diagnosed with OCD in late teens / early twenties. Got that pretty well managed, but then health anxiety and depression got me in my thirties. Had first major bout in 2007, relapsed in 2015 and again in late 2016. My anxiety manifests as intractable insomnia, chronic fatigue, heart palpitations and a myriad of other symptoms. I then get stuck in a vicious circle of health anxiety, which then leads to bouts of depression. It all sucks, but I find the insomnia the worst. I've had all the tests. I'm even off for a sleep study next week. The symptoms just seem so all consuming that I find it hard sometimes to fully buy in to the anxiety diagnosis, and will go to great lengths to research other medical explanations e.g. neurological disease, fatal insomnia, CFS / ME etc. Anyway, looking forward to talking with you guys in the forum.

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya pigsmightfly and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[fduop]

Good morning pigmightfly. Well guess what, I also suffer bouts of insomnia (along with everything else). The best thing I can tell you, as a fellow sufferer is, go for your sleep study. I've had four done at various times and yes I do have Sleep Apnea. But in my situation while the CPAP therapy works well, but it doesn't stop the insomnia most nights.

I work for myself, so this works for me, so I take this negative and turn it into a positive. You see I'm a writer and business analyst by profession, so I worry about everything. What I've learned to do over the years is work with my insomnia. In other words, I usually pop up around 3am, so I keep my smartphone with me and either make notes or check analysis via my phone. If I'm really anxious about a particular thing I'll simply come here to NMP and tell how I feel in the forum. For me that seems to claim me down enough to allow me to get a little more rest. Or at least get a jump start on a project.

I hope this helps pigsmayfly, best to you with the sleep study and on your journey to getting better.

[pigsmightfly]

Thanks FDUOP. I guess sometimes we have to work with the condition, not just try to beat it.