Please Help !! So Scared about Insomnia !!

[TheLostSaga]

Okay to preface, I have had insomnia basically all my life, I have sleep-onset insomnia which means that it's hard for me to fall asleep.

Well fast forward to yesterday, I woke up from a 7 hour sleep at around 10pm (terrible I know but my schedule has been a disaster for some time.)

I stayed awake until around 3am the next day and figured I should try to sleep despite the fact that I wasn't feeling sleepy or really tired. I laid down in bed, and took probably I think like a 10 minute nap. I DREAMED during those 10 minutes, which kinda unsettled me, but since I couldn't actually sleep for long and was just tossing and turning I decided to try to stay awake the entire day to try to fix my sleep schedule.

Well fast forward to 8pm today, throughout the day I'd have moments where I felt like I could pass out, which then immediately went away and I was wide awake again. I decided to try to sleep however and .... nothing.

I couldn't sleep at all, I was just tossing and turning. Again the same thing happened where I slept for probably 10 minutes and DREAMED, I dreamed about things I actively was having my mind before I lost consciousness, I don't 100% remember the dreams, but there you have it. I also have hypnic jerks both when I tried to sleep at 3am and then again at 8pm. It won't be a full body 'jerk' but my shoulder will jerk up or my leg will jerk and it will be enough to put me wide awake again and sabotage any chance of sleep I could have gotten. I have these jerks while wide awake, but have only ever had this persistent hypnic jerks once before when I was having a bad panic episode.

I also still don't feel tired or sleepy. It's been over 24hrs since I last slept and I still don't feel like I have to sleep despite knowing I should and that I need to.

Sporadic Fatal Insomnia (SFI) has always kinda been in the back of my mind every time I have a bad insomniac episode but it's never been like this before and honestly I'm terrified. I tried to take a Valium and that didn't help at all.

I'm scared the dreaming so fast (within 10min) is a bad sign, is this vivid dreaming? Or are those only ones where you 100% remember them. What about never feeling sleepy or even tired?

I know right now a big reason why I can't sleep atm is because I'm having a panic attack currently but I was really calm and at peace earlier. I'm so scared I've been shaking really badly and all I can think about is how I'm never going to be able to sleep again. Any reassurances or similar experiences that any of you could share would help a lot.

[WiseMonkey]

Hi sorry you're going through this. Anxiety is the worse for not letting you sleep. Many years ago when I was extremely depressed I didn't sleep for 4 months, but eventually I did after finding the right antidepressant. I'm still alive 30 years later, although my sleep is still sporadic and poor.
I also find that if I have a good sleep one night then the next will be bad. These days I just don't worry about it, get a cuppa, take it back to be then read. After and hour or so I'll have a couple of hours sleep then get up and go about my day.

I believe you can dream anytime, even with light sleep.

[TheLostSaga]

Update: I slept about 2 1/2 hours last night from about 4am - 7am. I still don't feel hardcore tired and forget about feeling sleepy.

I just sat up in bed and started sobbing, I've always had trouble falling asleep, but to actually have difficulty staying asleep is pretty new to me and really demoralizing. I'm not sure what to do at this point, I'm terrified and I know the best thing to do is just lay in bed and not worry about whether you sleep or not but every time I try that there is a ball of anxiety in my chest that won't go away no matter how much I will myself to relax.

[ErinKC]

I'm so sorry you're going through this, it sounds so difficult. But, reading your post, it seems completely normal based on how you describe your sleep. You've messed your sleep cycle up pretty badly, so your body has no idea what to do! The dreaming right when you fall asleep is also always what happens to me when I'm overtired. Your body and mind WANT to sleep, but your anxiety is preventing it. I think the absolute best thing you could do is force yourself back onto a normal schedule. Get into bed at a reasonable time, like 10 or 11pm. Turn the lights down, read a book, drink tea, anything calming if you're not ready to actually sleep. And then try to rest as best you can.

Then, get out of bed at a normal time in the morning and try and get out and do things. Go for a walk, see friends, etc... And repeat.

Are you working? My brother hasn't worked in some time and his lack of a normal sleep cycle has made his anxiety and depression so so bad. It kind of detaches you from everyone else's reality, if that makes sense.

[TheLostSaga]

Are you working? My brother hasn't worked in some time and his lack of a normal sleep cycle has made his anxiety and depression so so bad. It kind of detaches you from everyone else's reality, if that makes sense.

I have been unemployed for some time now, and I can definitely relate to feeling like I'm kinda of disassociating when my sleep pattern is wildly out of sync with everyone else, or if I wake up at night.

I don't require a lot of sleep to actually function, I used to go to school on four hours of sleep sometimes, but the fact that I cannot remain asleep is getting to me.

I try to lay down and relax but I have (and always have) a hard time shutting my brain off, or when I do finally manage to relax, there will be a noise or movement that jolts me awake. I'm emotionally struggling and just constantly in a state of fear.

The longer I stay awake, the less tired/sleepy I feel, the more distraught I become.

[ErinKC]

I have been unemployed for some time now, and I can definitely relate to feeling like I'm kinda of disassociating when my sleep pattern is wildly out of sync with everyone else, or if I wake up at night.

Having watched this wreak havoc on my brother's mental health, I really recommend (just as someone with experience, not as an expert by any means) trying to force yourself into a schedule. Getting a job - even something really simple would be best, but if not actually write yourself out a schedule. Like, 9am - wake up
9:30 - eat breakfast
11:30 - go to the library (or coffee shop or store)
1:00 - eat lunch
2:00 - read a book for an hour

etc, etc...

And, think of some kind of goal or something to work towards, like finishing a book or running a 5k or anything.

I really think your sleeping problems are all a vicious cycle compounding on itself. The less you sleep the harder it is to sleep. I learned this when I had a baby. You'd think keeping your kids up later would mean they'd sleep later - NOT SO! Sleep begets sleep. I learned that as a product of evolution, the human brain will actually start releasing adrenaline at a certain point of over-tiredness. This is why kids who are overtired become more hyper and crazy. And why, I presume, a lack of sleep makes anxiety worse. It's because our brain notices how tired we are, but we don't go to sleep. So, it starts to think there must be a survival reason that we're still awake, so it helps us out by pumping out chemicals to keep us up so we don't get eaten by a tiger or something.

Your lack of sleep is teaching your brain that you need to stay up for some reason and your anxiety is exacerbating it. The more you sleep the better you will sleep!

[TheLostSaga]

Thank you, I will try that. I'm going to attempt to take some ZZZQuil tonight and see if that actually helps me to at least get the ball rolling and sleep. But I will try to follow your advice and set myself up with a schedule to ensure I don't wind up repeating this sleep pattern.

I will update later on! :yesyes:

[TheLostSaga]

:huh: So I was really tired around 4pm yesterday and actually managed to sleep sans pills up until 8pm. I think I got scared that I wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep so I took the ZzzQuil.

I don't know if they worked or if they didn't, because I fell asleep after that - slept until 12am, fell back asleep, woke up again at 3am, then fell back asleep until I finally got up at 5am.

These sleep disruptions - are they normal? I didn't get up or feel wide awake, it was more like I wanted to look at the clock to see the time. Is this due to my anxiety?

I do feel rested, and I do intend to try to keep up with a schedule perhaps going to bed at around 12am or so in order to get 6hrs and wake up at 6am. Although I'll be honest, I am really anxious and afraid I'll be unable to do a repeat performance and wind up not sleeping again. :weep:

[ErinKC]

The constant waking is almost certainly from your anxiety. You've become consumed by a worry about sleeping normally, so it's making you so overly aware of how long you're asleep.

I sleep very well normally, but the other day I had to wake up early for an appointment. I'm a stay at home mom, so it was the first time in ages I had to set an alarm for something. Just the idea in my mind that I'd have to wake up earlier than normal to an alarm totally disrupted my sleep. I woke up 3 or 4 times throughout the night to check my clock and see how much longer I had to sleep. That hadn't happened to me in years, since the days when I was working and would have to get up early and would stress out about not getting enough sleep.

[HelloPanda23]

Okay to preface, I have had insomnia basically all my life, I have sleep-onset insomnia which means that it's hard for me to fall asleep.

Well fast forward to yesterday, I woke up from a 7 hour sleep at around 10pm (terrible I know but my schedule has been a disaster for some time.)

I stayed awake until around 3am the next day and figured I should try to sleep despite the fact that I wasn't feeling sleepy or really tired. I laid down in bed, and took probably I think like a 10 minute nap. I DREAMED during those 10 minutes, which kinda unsettled me, but since I couldn't actually sleep for long and was just tossing and turning I decided to try to stay awake the entire day to try to fix my sleep schedule.

Well fast forward to 8pm today, throughout the day I'd have moments where I felt like I could pass out, which then immediately went away and I was wide awake again. I decided to try to sleep however and .... nothing.

I couldn't sleep at all, I was just tossing and turning. Again the same thing happened where I slept for probably 10 minutes and DREAMED, I dreamed about things I actively was having my mind before I lost consciousness, I don't 100% remember the dreams, but there you have it. I also have hypnic jerks both when I tried to sleep at 3am and then again at 8pm. It won't be a full body 'jerk' but my shoulder will jerk up or my leg will jerk and it will be enough to put me wide awake again and sabotage any chance of sleep I could have gotten. I have these jerks while wide awake, but have only ever had this persistent hypnic jerks once before when I was having a bad panic episode.

I also still don't feel tired or sleepy. It's been over 24hrs since I last slept and I still don't feel like I have to sleep despite knowing I should and that I need to.

Sporadic Fatal Insomnia (SFI) has always kinda been in the back of my mind every time I have a bad insomniac episode but it's never been like this before and honestly I'm terrified. I tried to take a Valium and that didn't help at all.

I'm scared the dreaming so fast (within 10min) is a bad sign, is this vivid dreaming? Or are those only ones where you 100% remember them. What about never feeling sleepy or even tired?

I know right now a big reason why I can't sleep atm is because I'm having a panic attack currently but I was really calm and at peace earlier. I'm so scared I've been shaking really badly and all I can think about is how I'm never going to be able to sleep again. Any reassurances or similar experiences that any of you could share would help a lot.

Ok, I'm going to give you the facts I have gathered from researching for a decent amount of time about SFI. First off, your chances are very, very, very, low. Only 8 cases have ever been medically recorded, worldwide. This means, your chances of getting SFI is as rare as 1 in a billion. These chances of you getting SFI lower even more and more based on your age as well. Most people whk get SFI are around the age of 50. Youngest ages ever recorded were 33 and 13. If you are around 20-40, your chances of SFI are 1/7 billion, due to the fact that only one case has been recorded in this age gap, or at least based on my research. If this isn't enough to make you realize how insanely rare this disease is, I'll add on. SFI typically starts off with serious cognitive issues. This disease is a prion disease, and before it starts to affect our sleep, it first cripples our lives. You would have dementia, many issues remembering memories, could barely even stand (would possibly need a wheel chair), you'd have to eat through a tube, and etc. Funny thing is, people make a huge deal about the insomnia part of SFI, and FFI, but the other symptoms are the scariest parts of the disease. The prions do so much damage that if you truly had SFI, you wouldn't be here, and possibly wouldn't even be able to type up these posts, or think normally. You straight up go crazy before you end up losing your ability of sleeping, and trust me when I say this, that's not the worst part of the disease. I'll even add more to get this stupid thought out of your head. When we sleep, we usually go into REM sleep, and that refreshes us and makes us wake up feeling better than when we had slept. People with SFI end up losing this ability and so whether they get unconcious or not, they won't be able to get that good feeling of waking up. It'll simply be like them closing their eyes and opening it a second later. No difference whatsoever. If you see a dream while asleep and remember it while you're awake, you have gone through the REM stage of sleeping, which means you don't have SFI. All this information should be enough to prove that you do not have SFI and you're simply stressed right now. I'll add this last bit to give you a detailed explanation of how unlucky these people were to get SFI.
The reason SFI is super rare is because the only way to get it is through exposure to prions. Ways people get prions are through head surgeries, tainted blood, infected meat, and families. If a person has head trauma, and get a surgery as a result, they are much more vulnerable to fall victim to prions. The kid, who was of 13 years old age ended up having 2 concussions between a 4 month period. I think this messed up his brain and caused his proteins to misfold and form into prions. Not certain if this is the case, but it's the only logical way of him having SFI, considering he had no family history. Tainted blood is practically impossible because of how advanced technology is. Blood is checked for any diseases before being handed for use towards patients. The other way is infected meat. When the mad cow disease breakout happend, a lot of meat was sold and used by consumers. These meats contained prions, and so those who ate them became infected. This then caused the prions to cause deadly disease like vCJD, or even SFI. The most common was vCJD though, or at least I think. Meat is very carefully handled and treated, so this shouldn't be a problem either. Sadly though, elks can carry protein on with their bodies as well. Those who hunt a lot and kill elks may have potential exposure to prions if they get hands on with the infected animal. Eating it would be the best way to completely put them in complete danger of prion disease, but I'm also pretty certain that handling the meat is also dangerous. If none of these things have happend to you, your only source of risk left is through your family. Other than that, you can't have this disease, no matter what. This is the reason behind why this disease is so rare, and i honestly wish I learned about this exactly when i learned about this disease. It simply helps us understand why we don't have it, and why we will most likely never get it. If you need anymore help with questions, i'd gladly answer. Good luck!

[TheLostSaga]

Thank you - I know that getting sFI is INCREDIBLY rare and that the chance of me having is is almost none.

But I failed again to fall asleep. I tried SO hard. SO SO SO Hard. I tried to sleep for three hours (10am-12am) to NO avail.

Every single time I tried to go to sleep I keep getting hypnic jerks that would snap up again and again and again. I'm just crying and so scared because I tried so hard to ignore the jerks because I know they are normal (despite me not multiple nights in a row before) but I couldn't do it.

I slept maybe an 1 or 2, I feel like such a failure, I managed to sleep so nicely the other day and I couldn't do it again. :weep::weep: I feel so helpless, the Zzyquill didn't work at all, I know I need to follow the schedule and that it all takes time but I'm so scared it'll never get it better.

[HelloPanda23]

Thank you - I know that getting sFI is INCREDIBLY rare and that the chance of me having is is almost none.

But I failed again to fall asleep. I tried SO hard. SO SO SO Hard. I tried to sleep for three hours (10am-12am) to NO avail.

Every single time I tried to go to sleep I keep getting hypnic jerks that would snap up again and again and again. I'm just crying and so scared because I tried so hard to ignore the jerks because I know they are normal (despite me not multiple nights in a row before) but I couldn't do it.

I slept maybe an 1 or 2, I feel like such a failure, I managed to sleep so nicely the other day and I couldn't do it again. :weep::weep: I feel so helpless, the Zzyquill didn't work at all, I know I need to follow the schedule and that it all takes time but I'm so scared it'll never get it better.

The other day, you slept 8 hours and had rem sleep. That means that you cannot have SFI. If you had SFI, you wouldn't have dreamt in the first place, nor would you have gotten 8 hours of sleep. If your logic is convincing you that SFI just started affecting you today and that's why you got no sleep, that's false. If you truly did get it today, it'd first present itself with terrible cognitive issues, such as holding a spoon or having balance issues. Then a few months later, it'd affect your sleep. But since you're convinced that you have it even though you can't get it without the other symptoms being present, let me clarify, again. If insomnia was your first symtpom, which is practically impossible, then it wouldn't start off that quickly. You wouldn't not be able to sleep on the first day it affected you. Your sleep patterns would change, but preventing you from sleeping usually happens in the end due to the loss of the ability. Did you check what I said about how a person gets prion and therefore finds themself at a risk of this disease? If you were in none of those situations, you cannot have SFI ever, in your life. If it was just a random disease that targetdd absolutely anyone, why are there only 8 cases ever in the world? That's because those people were sadly exposed to prions, if you weren't exposed to prions, then you're simply wasting your time with this irrational fear. I'd also like to add that my SFI fear started strong 5 days ago, but it hasn't affected my sleep at all. At first, I was afraid to enter bed due to the thought that I wouldn't sleep, but I was wrong. Slept 7-8 hours each night and had dreams each time. The more you fear sleeping, or the harder you try to sleep, the more unlikely it is that you will. Get used to the thoughr you might not sleep, and accept it. Sleep deprivation doesn't kill anyone, and for us anxiety sufferers, the symptoms aren't the worst things in our lives. We've gone through worse, and either way, your body will knock you out on its own if it finds out you're having issues sleeping, and so don't worry about not getting sleep. Just know that your sleep issues are caused by anxiety, not SFI. I gurantee it.

[TheLostSaga]

The other day, you slept 8 hours and had rem sleep. That means that you cannot have SFI. If you had SFI, you wouldn't have dreamt in the first place, nor would you have gotten 8 hours of sleep. If your logic is convincing you that SFI just started affecting you today and that's why you got no sleep, that's false. If you truly did get it today, it'd first present itself with terrible cognitive issues, such as holding a spoon or having balance issues. Then a few months later, it'd affect your sleep. But since you're convinced that you have it even though you can't get it without the other symptoms being present, let me clarify, again. If insomnia was your first symtpom, which is practically impossible, then it wouldn't start off that quickly. You wouldn't not be able to sleep on the first day it affected you. Your sleep patterns would change, but preventing you from sleeping usually happens in the end due to the loss of the ability. Did you check what I said about how a person gets prion and therefore finds themself at a risk of this disease? If you were in none of those situations, you cannot have SFI ever, in your life. If it was just a random disease that targetdd absolutely anyone, why are there only 8 cases ever in the world? That's because those people were sadly exposed to prions, if you weren't exposed to prions, then you're simply wasting your time with this irrational fear. I'd also like to add that my SFI fear started strong 5 days ago, but it hasn't affected my sleep at all. At first, I was afraid to enter bed due to the thought that I wouldn't sleep, but I was wrong. Slept 7-8 hours each night and had dreams each time. The more you fear sleeping, or the harder you try to sleep, the more unlikely it is that you will. Get used to the thoughr you might not sleep, and accept it. Sleep deprivation doesn't kill anyone, and for us anxiety sufferers, the symptoms aren't the worst things in our lives. We've gone through worse, and either way, your body will knock you out on its own if it finds out you're having issues sleeping, and so don't worry about not getting sleep. Just know that your sleep issues are caused by anxiety, not SFI. I gurantee it.

Thank you - I really do need some sense knocked into me. I've just been on edge since this all started, and I realize that worrying about not sleeping can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I know that while I attempted to sleep last night, I felt my entire body was tense, expecting to jerk and twitch .. inevitably that happened, because I was waiting for it to happen. :emot-fail: I have to keep telling myself that I don't have it. I also have to try more to let go of the fear of not being able to sleep, which I think, is what is making me very emotionally unstable.

I appreciate you taking the time to explain the disease in more detail, a lot of times all that you really hear about is that it starts with sudden insomnia and that it will kill you in the end, and since there isn't much information on it due to the lack of cases, it's almost like the boogeyman for insomniacs.

I will keep trying to persevere with my exercising, meditation, and sleep hygiene and try to let go of the fear of not sleeping that I have.

[HelloPanda23]

Thank you - I really do need some sense knocked into me. I've just been on edge since this all started, and I realize that worrying about not sleeping can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I know that while I attempted to sleep last night, I felt my entire body was tense, expecting to jerk and twitch .. inevitably that happened, because I was waiting for it to happen. :emot-fail: I have to keep telling myself that I don't have it. I also have to try more to let go of the fear of not being able to sleep, which I think, is what is making me very emotionally unstable.

I appreciate you taking the time to explain the disease in more detail, a lot of times all that you really hear about is that it starts with sudden insomnia and that it will kill you in the end, and since there isn't much information on it due to the lack of cases, it's almost like the boogeyman for insomniacs.

I will keep trying to persevere with my exercising, meditation, and sleep hygiene and try to let go of the fear of not sleeping that I have.
You can easily read up on two cases by simply searchng up sporadic fatal insomia, and both cases started off wth the patients going ill due to cognitive issues. The insomnia part hit them after. I don’t know what case you read, but I’m certain this disease starts off with cognitive issues. Also, I already stated this, if you have not been exposed to prions in the way I listed, you cannot get SFI. It’s literally impossible. You’re probably acting like this due to sleep deprivation, but once you get sleep, I assume you’ll rationalize and understand that you don’t have SFI.

[TheLostSaga]

Hello everyone, just a quick update.

I thought that I was improving, the past two nights I had slept about 8 hours of sleep each (waking up about one or two times each. So for instance I slept for five hours, woke up then went back to bed and slept for another three hours, like that) and to me, that seemed like I was getting better - I was exercising, not drinking caffeine, I wasn't letting my hypnic jerking get to me, I listened to relaxing music before bed.

Tonight it all went out the window.

I knew I had to get up at 6am, and so I tried to plan accordingly and get to bed so that way I was going to be able to get a solid 7-8hrs. Well. It seems I was in tune with every single little sound that happened. Whenever someone in the house would walk by my door, or whenever my dog would move around in the bed, or the tv being a little big extra loud in the living room, I would hear it and then I would look at the clock and get more and more anxious.

To top this off, I began my period yesterday and experienced hot flashes for a few hours last night, as well as intense pain that even with three pills was still coming and going. My hypnic jerks were back with vengeance and every time I listened to a relaxation video to try and soothe me my arms and legs would kick and squirm.

I have no idea what time I finally managed to sleep ... probably sometime after 2am .. I got up at 6am ... did what I had to do and fell back asleep for 2 hours ...

I'm so defeated, I feel like crying. I've even started to minimize the last two nights victories, despite feeling like they meant a lot that I was improving I seem to now be telling myself they were just a fluke and they didn't even mean anything anyway since I was waking up. :emot-crying: My anxiety that I fought so hard to let go of has come back full force and I've spent the last hour just staring at my bed wondering if I will ever be back to how I used to be. I hate this so much.

[Kingdawson]

I think you're exaggerating your 'issues' to be totally honest and you should stop doing that. You got 6 hours of sleep overall and you're saying you feel like crying and you feel defeated??? What are you going to be like when you actually suffer from real issues??

[TheLostSaga]

I think you're exaggerating your 'issues' to be totally honest and you should stop doing that. You got 6 hours of sleep overall and you're saying you feel like crying and you feel defeated??? What are you going to be like when you actually suffer from real issues??

Excuse me?

I'm sorry but you come off as incredibly rude and condensing. These forums are a platform to help folks who are struggling with anxiety and the many forms and symptoms that they take. Folks come here for advice, encouragement, and fellowship, not belittlement.

[Kingdawson]

Excuse me?

I'm sorry but you come off as incredibly rude and condensing. These forums are a platform to help folks who are struggling with anxiety and the many forms and symptoms that they take. Folks come here for advice, encouragement, and fellowship, not belittlement.

Sometimes you shouldn't suger coat it to be totally honest as feeding into anxiety makes it a great deal worse. You should realise that 1 'bad' night of sleep (6 hours of sleep isn't even bad at all) shouldn't be something that you feel defeated about (especially considering the previous nights were good.)

That's the problem with anxiety ...your brain focuses on on the 'negatives' and instantly forgets the positives. You have no 'issue' so it's best that is said rather then 'encouragement' which makes a non issue an issue.

[HelloPanda23]

Hello everyone, just a quick update.

I thought that I was improving, the past two nights I had slept about 8 hours of sleep each (waking up about one or two times each. So for instance I slept for five hours, woke up then went back to bed and slept for another three hours, like that) and to me, that seemed like I was getting better - I was exercising, not drinking caffeine, I wasn't letting my hypnic jerking get to me, I listened to relaxing music before bed.

Tonight it all went out the window.

I knew I had to get up at 6am, and so I tried to plan accordingly and get to bed so that way I was going to be able to get a solid 7-8hrs. Well. It seems I was in tune with every single little sound that happened. Whenever someone in the house would walk by my door, or whenever my dog would move around in the bed, or the tv being a little big extra loud in the living room, I would hear it and then I would look at the clock and get more and more anxious.

To top this off, I began my period yesterday and experienced hot flashes for a few hours last night, as well as intense pain that even with three pills was still coming and going. My hypnic jerks were back with vengeance and every time I listened to a relaxation video to try and soothe me my arms and legs would kick and squirm.

I have no idea what time I finally managed to sleep ... probably sometime after 2am .. I got up at 6am ... did what I had to do and fell back asleep for 2 hours ...

I'm so defeated, I feel like crying. I've even started to minimize the last two nights victories, despite feeling like they meant a lot that I was improving I seem to now be telling myself they were just a fluke and they didn't even mean anything anyway since I was waking up. :emot-crying: My anxiety that I fought so hard to let go of has come back full force and I've spent the last hour just staring at my bed wondering if I will ever be back to how I used to be. I hate this so much.
You don’t have SFI, please get over it. Look, the chances are 1/1 billion. I fear SFI, but I know I don’t and won’t ever get it in my life. It’s insanely rare and I’m pretty sure the last case was a few years ago. Worst case scenario, let’s just assume you have it for a second, which you don’t. What difference will it make if you find out if you have it or not? There is no treatment or cure, nothing can be done, so why obsess over it? There’s no point to keep a constant fear about this going because if it does happen, you have to live with it. You got 6 hours of sleep, why are you complaining or feeling defeated? Many people with HA barely get 4 hours of sleep, and they don’t even fear SFI. Be happy about it, and just distract yourself from these irrational and unnecessary houghts.

[Kingdawson]

You don’t have SFI, please get over it. Look, the chances are 1/1 billion. I fear SFI, but I know I don’t and won’t ever get it in my life. It’s insanely rare and I’m pretty sure the last case was a few years ago. Worst case scenario, let’s just assume you have it for a second, which you don’t. What difference will it make if you find out if you have it or not? There is no treatment or cure, nothing can be done, so why obsess over it? There’s no point to keep a constant fear about this going because if it does happen, you have to live with it. You got 6 hours of sleep, why are you complaining or feeling defeated? Many people with HA barely get 4 hours of sleep, and they don’t even fear SFI. Be happy about it, and just distract yourself from these irrational and unnecessary houghts.
Great post.

Forget SFI...the Thread starter doesn't even have insomnia. The sooner she realises she actually has no issues and appreciates and be thankful of this the better for her well being.