Insomnia for months

[StephenS]

Hi people
I have had insomnia pretty much each night since last December, it came out of the blue. At first it took me hours to fall asleep but now I have more of a issue staying asleep. I can usually get to sleep just fine most nights but I seem to wake up every couple of hours. It's usually after dreams, not nightmares but quite vivid dreams then wake.

I think the last time I had a full 7 or 8 hours without waking and without any medication was about February. It's been that long. I am constantly fatigued because of the sleep interruptions. My eyes feel heavy all day every day. It's making me depressed. I wasn't depressed before the insomnia but it's the insomnia making me feel like this.

I have taken 10mg of Zolpidem only about twice a week as I don't want to get addicted. Zolpidem seems to be the only way I can get between 4 and 6 hours sleep without waking up.
My doctor doesn't seem to have a solution, as he says my blood pressure is fine and so is my blood tests. I'm just fed up with waking up multiple times a night. Anyone know what I can try to help? It's like my brain is too active 24/7. Thank you.

[Sunnydelight]

Are you on any other medication? When my anxiety levels are high I find that really effects my ability to sleep have you tried chamomile before bed ? And relation techniques ?

[StephenS]

Hi, no I'm not on any medication apart from Zolpidem which I don't take often anyway. I have tried chamomile and relaxation techniques, I think these are actually better suited to people who cannot get to sleep when they first get into bed, I can but it's the frequent awakenings with me. Often I'm not anxious but still cannot stay asleep all night. It almost happened overnight really. I was a great sleeper before December, very rarely would I wake up during the night. So waking up to four times a night is a bit alarming. It's like I have a very overactive mind even whilst asleep.

[MyNameIsTerry]

You will find plenty of people on here who have been through this, myself included, so understand how much this can affect your mental health.

Initially I went through the inability to fall asleep and years later when I relapsed it was about waking too early and the anxiety setting off so I couldn't get back to sleep. Either way you end up worrying about sleeping & coping through the day, even if you are just going to be sitting about doing nothing, and the cycle continues. Worrying about sleep just keeps it going.

It's not going to change in your mind so quickly so to some extent there will be worry but reducing your negative responses to it when it happens will help.

Do you get much exercise? You probably just feel like you want to sleep for a month but exercise does help to make your more tired and sleep deeper for longer periods. You will find you sleep beyond those 2 hour blocks more often with exercise.

It's interesting that we do sleep in such blocks and go through several cycles per night without noticing. Sadly for us we can wake up as the cycles are changing.

What is your sleep hygiene like? Do you do things like reading in bed?

I can understand about using hypnotics, they can build dependence quicker than benzo's. After 5 weeks of daily use on Zopiclone I had dependence and couldn't sleep at all without it, even with it I was getting no more than 6 hours by then on the starting dose. But I got off it pretty quickly with a week or so of unpleasant rollercoastering between the bad nights and the recovery ones until I could get 6 hours on my own.

[StephenS]

Hi, I do exercise... I'm not working at the moment but I have a walk around the shops pretty much every day but perhaps I should do longer walks? Even a few miles a day? Surely this will make me very tired? I would say my sleep hygiene is OK but could be better, I have a blue light blocker on my electronic devices to stop them reducing my melatonin, maybe I should stop using them a few hours before bed though to stop them stimulating my mind. I try to go to bed at a similar time each night. But still the frequent awakenings carry on.