View Full Version : Feeling very lost and frightened!
Sorry to post about this again but it's getting worse and I am getting really scared now.I haven't slept well in months and keep waking up numerous times in the night going into panic straight away.I get up and come on here which usually helps me calm down but something has changed,usually I can go back to bed around 4.30/5am and drop back off and get a few hrs but for the past week even this has eluded me so I can't escape the panic. I am scared witless about what this lack of sleep is doing to my brain and body.My mum didn't help by saying "what if your body reacts in some way to the lack of rest" great eh it just made me worse for god's sake.
The doc gave me some sleeping tabs but I am frightened to take them after reading what can happen in the leaflet,daft I know.I had them in my hand last night debating about shoving one in my mouth and getting some bloody relief but the fear won as usual and they are back in the cupboard.My husband is urging me to take them and is worried about me and rightly so,I am so chicken s**t and am frightened of everything,the doc gives me something to help and all I can do is panic like I usually do.
Can anybody alay my fears about lack of sleep?will I cope ok and will my body and brain be ok?I also have an irrational fear of having a fit and spoke to the doc about this,he said you have to be depostioned to them and I won't have one.but I am terrified and think that lack of sleep may bring one on which is fuelling the fear and anxiety.Please help me please someone I will be ok won't I ?
This post has been automatically edited by the NMP post filter
Sorry to post about this again but it's getting worse and I am getting really scared now.I haven't slept well in months and keep waking up numerous times in the night going into panic straight away.I get up and come on here which usually helps me calm down but something has changed,usually I can go back to bed around 4.30/5am and drop back off and get a few hrs but for the past week even this has eluded me so I can't escape the panic. I am scared witless about what this lack of sleep is doing to my brain and body.My mum didn't help by saying "what if your body reacts in some way to the lack of rest" great eh it just made me worse for god's sake.
The doc gave me some sleeping tabs but I am frightened to take them after reading what can happen in the leaflet,daft I know.I had them in my hand last night debating about shoving one in my mouth and getting some bloody relief but the fear won as usual and they are back in the cupboard.My husband is urging me to take them and is worried about me and rightly so,I am so chicken s**t and am frightened of everything,the doc gives me something to help and all I can do is panic like I usually do.
Can anybody alay my fears about lack of sleep?will I cope ok and will my body and brain be ok?I also have an irrational fear of having a fit and spoke to the doc about this,he said you have to be depostioned to them and I won't have one.but I am terrified and think that lack of sleep may bring one on which is fuelling the fear and anxiety.Please help me please someone I will be ok won't I ?
This post has been automatically edited by the NMP post filter
The drug companies have to put all side effects that a patient may have suffered whilst taking a drug. This will have been reported to them by the GP.
Some times it is just a coincidence that a patient gets something while on a particular medication but to cover themselves they have to list them. I was on a particular medication a few years ago for my Raynauds Disease listed amongst the side effects was HEART ATTACK.
This didn't mean I would get a heart attack when I took said tablet it just meant that some one suffered a heart attack whilst taking them (probably not related to the medication at all).
If you have been given tablets to help you sleep you should take them and not worry about any side effects that you MAY get.
I always find it is best to take this sort of tablet gradually. Start by just taking a quarter of it for a few nights then just a half for another few nights then take a whole one. Your system will have been gradually introduced to the drug and should minimise any side effects that you MIGHT get.
This probably sounds obvious but the more you think about not being able to sleep, and thinking about how desparately you want to, the more you won't be able to.
At university I worked myself up into a frenzy for about 2 months during a period of insomnia. I couldn't sleep, I lay awake at night worrying about the fact that I couldn't sleep. The next day, exhausted, I would fret all day about the fact that I hadn't slept, convinced that I would fail all my courses and get seriously ill. Every night I approached my bed in tears because I knew I wouldn't be able to get to sleep and that I would have hours and hours of tossing and turning, thinking about not being able to sleep and how it was ruining my life. Even if I got to sleep I would wake up in an hour or two and battle through the rest of the night trying to get back to sleep.
This is what worked for me: I stopped trying to get to sleep. I got so sick of worrying about it that I told myself that I'd probably never sleep properly again and I should just stop trying. Instead of trying to get to sleep I found other things to do - mostly reading, writing, listening to music or the radio. I'd have a shower or wash my hair in the middle of the night. I didn't do anything exciting but just quiet, absorbing activities.
Eventually, I'd get tired and think "I'll just lie down and close my eyes for a minute, then carry on with what I'm doing." And often I would drift off to sleep without thinking about it. Eventually my sleep patterns returned to normal.
That's just me, and it might not work for you, but it I can assure you that it felt better to do gentle things that I enjoyed rather than worrying about not sleeping. The more worked up and pumped full of adrenaline you get the harder it will be to get to sleep.
I very much doubt that you could do yourself serious damage or induce seizures by getting little sleep for a period of time.
Trixie offers good advice about the sleeping tablets, and you should give that a try if you feel up to it. But maybe tonight, if you find yourself getting into a panic about not being able to go to sleep: don't try. If you're not going to sleep you might as well do something nice. You can't FORCE your body to go to sleep. Do something quiet and pleasant and when you get tired have a lie down. If you don't go to sleep and find yourself worrying again, get back up and go back to what you were doing.
It might work, it might not, but it will be kinder to your body than the constant worrying and stress. Good luck :) and hope it works out for you.
hi mothermac,
firstly im so sorry you are having a bad time at the moment.
my brother and sister are both chronic recovered insommniacs. i say recovered because for years sleep eluded them and caused so much stress and anxiety but through some hard work they have both conquered it.
this is how they did it.....
getting up very very early no matter how tired you feel, im talking about getting up at 6.am every day no matter what, even earlier in the first few days. setting your alarm clock and getting out of bed immediately....no snooze button.
they did this even if they had only had a couple of hours broken sleep through the night. and then not sleeping at all during the day even if you feel very tired. and finally going to bed at exactly the same time every night. they both went to bed at 11pm on the dot.
this is not an easy thing to do, it sounds really simple but its not. the other thing that is really important is that if you do wake up you must get out of bed straight away and do something simple like have a glass of water and sit down and read, not go on the computer or do anything that will stimulate your mind and body.
sleeping patterns are habitual, what i mean is if you wake up numerous times at say 3.30am then your body clock will reset itself and think you hvae to wake up then for a reason. if you then go on to be mentally active at 3.30am this reinforces the need to wake up.
having a very disciplined time of waking and sleeping will eventually reset the clock.
i hope this helps, i know it sounds simple, it takes a lot of discipline but i really think it is worth a try. my brother and sister found that after a week they were getting better quality sleep and after a few months the problem had all but gone. this is after years of climbing the walls every night.
take good care and sleep well honey
kelly xxx
Hi there - think all the answers on how to get to sleep have been covered but the one question about will it harm you if you don't hasn't.
Will you die from it? No...., I don't think that sleep deprivation ever killed anyone. What it might do is cause you to worry more and think irrationally... sleep deprivation being used as a form of torture to prisoners of War in both World Wars.... it could run you down a little - making you more susceptible to colds and small infections - but not to anything else.
The worst of it, for you, is it makes you miserable, thereby making you more anxious and highlighting all your fears and exacerbating them. We all know what children are like when they lack sleep - why would we be any different?
Take a sleeping pill, ask your husband to keep an eye on you for a night... take half if it makes you feel better. Or, if you can't face that, ask the chemist for a herbal remedy.... But, sleeping pills are pretty safe these days and as the other people have said, they are required by law to put POSSIBLE side effects in...
But, you are not going to die or get anything sinister as a result of lack of sleep. You are just going to be very tired and pretty miserable and worry a lot more! I know what you're going through - it's horrendous and is a vicious circle - but it can be conquered, honestly it really can.
Best of luck.
x
Hi Mothermac
I've had lots of spells of not sleeping well (I never get a good nights sleep even now!!). I think most people have disturbed sleep at times. You definately wont die from it. Your body will tell you when it needs some sleep, you may be sat watching TV and have a little sleep, this will re charge your batteries. Please, please don't worry about it and also don't worry about the tablets. Everything we take has some kind of warning on it but it rarely means it will actually happen. I think you would definately benefit from taking them for a while.
Good Luck Mothermac, take care x
:yesyes: mothermac, the giys have given you excellent advice - but only you can decide what to do about your meds, i also have had a fear of them which i have sort of overcome, i say sort of because i am still very wary and i weigh up if i need to take something or not and aslo how desperate the situation is. i have just had a miscarriage and had to have a small op to remove it - so twice in the time it went on for (over 3 weeks!)i resorted to valium - even though i have a fear of it - despite the fact i can take it safely with no ADVERSE side effects.
and i am currently taking antibiotics, but i am constantly scanning myself for efffects, but i am trying really hard to be rational and to cope with how i feel by using my cbt techniques. i was also prescribed an non-steroidal anti inflammatory and co-codamol - both i have refused to take - even though i have also had co-codamol before, i am quite happy to continue with paracetamol while it is still helping - obviously when you are sooooo ill or alot of pain or if you got took into hiospital or had a chronic condition you would have to take the meds and not worry.
but you do have a choice - because lack of sleep will not kill you and like the previous person explained there are ways to overcome insommnia, which in itslef will create anxiety. however i suspect your not sleeping properly because your anxiety is high? valium is prescribed for night anxiety so if you arent happy with taking sleeping tablets, maybe ask for a low dose of valium - however if your anythign liek me they will also sit in your cupboard until they expire? tc, mothermac and keep posting:hugs:
Hi mothermac.
Im sorry your feeling like this, ive had spells like you where ive not slept for a few days and had to go to work and do the usual stuff, but then when i go to bed to try and sleep i fight it for some reason..but after a few days of doing all this i end up really exhausted and i eventually just zonk and sleep for ages.
I dont think the tablets will do you any harm, but your really worrying about them so maybe its best not to take them this time round.
When im feeling like you are right now, i have a warm, not too hot, radox bubble bath and then just lie on top of my bed, put a light hearted dvd or video on and i eventually drop off.....or.....maybe even your hubby could give you a nice massage with oils...it is just soooo relaxing i love it, it really does work..please try it.
I really hope you feel better very soon..take care hun
:bighug1: :bighug1:
Hi mothermac,
I too have/am suffering from a terrible fear of not sleeping. I know the advice to not worry about sleeping and to stay up and do something else is difficult when you are so scared. All I can say is that not getting enough sleep is horid, but not life threatening. The thing that has helped me is to take a drug called peryciazine that is actually an anti psychotic drug (ALthough we are both not psychotic!!) but is also a strong anti anxiety drug and is sometimes given to people the night before an operation in order to keep them calm and to get a better nights sleep. It is not adictive and so can be taken for longer than sleeping tablets. I found this enabled me to get enough sleep to begin to function better again. I am still terribly anxious about sleep, but at least I do sleep and can function at work etc. I really hope you can get some rest soon. Do let me now how you are doing.
hugs
dacer
Liverbird67
21-08-08, 20:31
:ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy:
MOthermac what are you like? sorry you are having such a tough time I haven't been on for ages and I have just picked this up re your not sleeping, I have been there with this one hun, try not to get too worked up about it, it is the old thing about the more you worry about it, the more you won't sleep the old vicious circle thing, try all the usual herbal stuff calomile teabags, lavender pillows and see if you can get any relief from them, I have heard of these filled pillows that you warm up in the microwave and they can help haven't a clue were you would get them, sorry :doh: if the doc prescribes you a short course of sleeping tablets as the others have advised if you are worried just take half or even a quarter to see if that helps.
NB to the terrified of tablets etc, next time you buy a bottle of cough medicine or something simple like paracetamol read the labels, they would scare the life out of anyone and they are things we take all the time!
Sending you big hugs and most of all I wish I could send you a good nights sleep.:bighug1:
lots of love
Liverbird.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hi Mothermac - I have a bath with a few drops of lavendar oil floating on the top and lie there listening to classic fm (shows my age !!! 48!!) and then lie down and close my eyes on the bed listening to music until I float away. I usually go to bed around 11 and am always up before 6am - and quite often catnap early evening in front of tv - even eastenders!!
Hang on in there - your body will konk out when he needs sleep - our bodies are amazing pieces f machinery and they know how to look after us!
Wenjoy xx
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.