Scared I have sporadic fatal insomnia

[Gaz1985]

Hi guys for about 2 months now I have been having a lot of trouble sleeping. Nearly every night since the middle of September has been a struggle getting to sleep, I can be lay awake for 7 hours before I fall asleep. Sometimes I don't sleep at all. I have taken some over the counter sleep aids like antihistamines which sometimes help me get a few hours sleep or I have resorted to having a few alcoholic drinks which also does the trick. But it seems I cannot get to sleep normally without some sort of help even if I feel tired!

I am scared I have sporadic fatal insomnia. I know it is very rare (about 1 in a billion) but I cannot help but worry I have it. I feel tired most days through lack of sleep, I used to be a great sleeper, I would be asleep within 15 mins of my head hitting the pillow so I don't understand why I have suddenly got this bad insomnia, stress is not really a factor recently so it's not that. My doctor says it's all in my mind and I am worrying too much about not sleeping when I go to bed so my mind is in overdrive about it but he did offer me some sleeping tablets but I heard they can make things even worse with addiction so I declined. Can anyone offer me some re-assurance about this? it would be a great help to me.

[Fishmanpa]

It's even rarer than what you said. You don't have it. Simple as that.

Positive thoughts

[Fishmanpa]

How the hell did you even hear about this?

Give you one guess ;)

Positive thoughts

[AntsyVee]

Insomnia is not how SFI is diagnosed, the name is only the very end stage of a long Disorder. Trouble sleeping, even prolonged trouble sleeping does not mean SFI. You don’t have it.

[Annaboodle]

I wonder what search terms you used to come up with that one? I'm a chronic insomniac and in the many times over the years I've looked for things to help with it, I've never come across that disorder. You must have looked for "die from lack of sleep" or something. Either that or maybe you read about it on here.

The worst thing for insomnia is worrying about it unfortunately. Best thing you can do is work on reducing your anxiety around bedtime: hot bath, camomile tea or hot milky drink, cut out all caffeine (no coffee, no drinks containing caffeine). Avoid alcohol as it may help you get to sleep but you won't stay asleep and the sleep you do have is v. poor quality. Look up "good sleep hygiene" and work on that. These things sound boring but they really do help and very few people actually commit to doing them.

Longer-term, working on reducing your overall anxiety will help. Sleeping pills can help you get over a bad spell short-term and sometimes break the insomnia cycle, but I understand your reluctance to take them. Doctors in the UK are not keen to prescribe them anyway and they do not solve things longer-term.

[Gaz1985]

Thanks for the replies guys, I am too much of a worrier. I need to calm down and try to relax when it comes down to bedtime, seems like I am my own worst enemy. Maybe I need to ask my doctor for some anti anxiety pills or something. A friend of mine mentioned I could have "adrenal fatigue" causing my stress hormone cortisol to spike at bedtime when it should be low at that time. Maybe I should mention this to my doctor as well.

[ServerError]

Yeah, I'd put money on it just being plain old anxiety rather than "adrenal fatigue".