trouble sleeping in bedroom

[mandie]

Hi

For the past 8 months my anxiety has been bad and i have had trouble sleeping.

I am often awake till 3 ish and fall asleep on sofa with tv on.

For the past few days I have tried to go to bed earlier in my bedroom.

I have the radio on, but while im lying there trying to sleep i can feel myself getting really panicky and anxious. Took me ages to fall asleep.

I feel like just going back to the sofa and falling asleep that way, but i no thats no good for u all the time.

Its like im afraid to be in there on my own, i feel safer when i got the tv on and im on sofa.

Does that sound silly

love mandie x

[tanya 1]

hi mandie no it doesnt sound silly i remember when i had trouble getting to sleep because i was so panicky so i used to leave the tv on in my bedroom all night with the volume on low and i started reading books in bed aswell,what about trying a relaxation cd in bed ?
hope this helps
tanya 1 x

[shortstuff]

Not silly at all - I have been sleeping on the sofa since October now. For me its an escape thing - my living room is near the front door, therefore I know I can get out. I have decided not to worry about this until I start getting to the route of my anxiety. If the choice is to sleep on the sofa or drive yourself into panic 'trying' to sleep in your bedroom, be kind to yourself. Keep trying the bedroom, perhaps begin to use it as a place to relax in when its not bedtime (read a book, listen to music, meditate etc), and gradually learn that it is a room of relaxation.

Good luck

Nic
xx

[Nechtan]

I can sympathise Mandie as I am exactly the same. I can actually sleep no problem on the sofa but my problems only start when I go to bed so as a result I stay up far too late too until I am ready to drop into bed. My wife is in there and usually our baby son which actually for me makes thinks easier. When my wife takes the kids away I find sleeping even harder.

Even if I am really tired during the day my wife will say to me to go through for a lie down but I just know I would lie there getting agititated so instead lie out on the sofa and shut my eyes.

All the best

Nechtan

[Dominic1975]

When i had really high anziety about 12months ago.... i slept on the sofa for a few weeks, as I felt really alone in the bedroom and my mind, just worked overtime whilst lying there....
I found I could put the tv down low in the living room, get compfortable and naturally drop off to sleep....
I had to get myself out of doing this, even though I didnt want to go back to the bedroom, I really enjoyed my sofa... lol

[valleybear]

Don't see much wrong in sleeping where you feel safe and comfortable for the time being.. I have had sleep disorder for many years and have tried everything and still have many endlessly awake nights no matter where I sleep, so if you can fall asleep on the sofa that is probably better than stressing...

[mandie]

thanks everyone for your replies.

i think its back to the sofa for me, at least im getting a few hours anxiety free sleep on there

mandie x

[Anxious_gal]

maybe watch tv in your bedroom? if that doesnt work buy a sofa bed if you can afford it.
maybe try going to your bed when your really really tired.

[missacorah]

Theres no problem if you need to sleep on the sofa - whatever works for you hun!I agree that many of my negative thoughts arrive when Im in my bed and I once slept on the sofa for 6 months solid as a result lol. Just do whatever you need to to feel better x

[Onlyme]

The past week or so I have had awful troubles getting to sleep when I go to bed. Before going to bed I'm tired, the second I settle down I start getting feelings in my chest like my heart racing away and also a feeling that I can't breath. If I lie in bed reading a book I'm fine, the second I put the book down and attempt to get to sleep, it starts. Not had a wink of sleep last night due to this. I think tonight I'll just try and sleep downstairs on the sofa with the TV on, I have often, when having trouble sleeping, relaxed and nodded off whilst watching the TV.

[mandie]

i think thats wot im gonna do. im fairly relaxed when im on sofa watching tv, so for the time being gonna sleep there

love mandie x

[satjason]

i have the same trouble!

[Lissy]

I had problems like yours, what i would do was get changed into my pj's switch on my mood light (night lights for grown ups) go back downstairs and watch tv until i couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, go upstairs and straight into bed, at first it didn't work, i'd get into bed and then slowly feel more and more awake, i then used a relaxation cd which i'd switch on as soon as i entered my room, then get in bed, and i'd be out in about ten minutes, now i don't need any of these things, i stay downstairs until i'm tired then just get into bed and fall asleep, no mood light or music neccessary. I hope this helps any!!

take care

[reachersgal]

Hi,

I understand as well - the panic attacks I've had have been at night in my bed I get very wobbly at bedtime - I feel like that now, I had a panic attack in Oct then Nov and then at Christmas day night very strong anxiety but not full blown and then a week or so ago, same strong anxiety, my sleep is disturbed I waas sleeping better since New yrs eve but a night away last week has set me back.

I am not sure myself what to do - I have stopped drinking alcohol and caffeine. I try to find something to laugh at in an evening and to try to be activeish to see if I can banish the adrenalin but the aweful fear is still there that I will have another attack. I can't even wear the pjamas that I was wearing when I had an attack as I associate them with feeling aweful. I find myself clutching a teddy and feeling mighty silly.

I am taking trazodone at night to supposedly help me sleep but i still have difficulty getting off to sleep.

Sorry to not be much help, but I send a big hug because I know how horrible it is.

[~~ironbutterfly25~~]

Hi Everyone-

I totally empathise with this!! So I just thought I would share what has been working for me recently....

I've had anxiety for over three weeks now pretty much constantly but often worse when I have to go to bed (fast heartbeat, pins and needles, muscle spasms, tight chest etc)

Even though I share the bed with my husband I feel really scared everytime I lie down and find it hard to relax.

The thing that has helped me though is exercising! The other night I was dreading going to bed (!) so I went for a walk around the block and did some sit ups till I felt quite tired.

I then went to bed to read for a bit and found that I naturally dropped off to sleep and managed a whole 7hrs..blissful!!!

I hope this might help a bit :)

Just to say this web site is a god send and everyone seems really nice and supportive. It's good to know that you're not alone!

Becky xx

[mandie]

Thanks everyone for your replies and advice.

For the past few days iv been waiting till im so tired before iv got into bed, then i put the radio on, and have fallen asleep after bout half hour.

All i need now is to stop waking up few times in the nite!

love mandie

[Dafyddjohndavies]

Know exactly what your going through..

I've been through this many times, unfortunately its all to do with routines. If you get into a routine of sleeping on a couch with the tv on and being anxious in bed then this becomes a learned behaviour which you must break.

What i was told to do (after being awake for 5 days) was to use the bed for only sleep and sex. Those are the only things your bed should be used for. So no watching tv, or reading books, or doing work or anything. You have to limit the bed as just a place for sleep.

When you go to bed and you can't sleep, and you wait there usually getting slowly wound up and more and more anxious then eventually give in and go to the couch, you are making this couch dependency stronger in your mind. As an alternative I was told to try and sleep for 10 mins, if I didn't drift off or started to feel anxious then I should get up and go downstairs and do something e.g. read/watch tv etc and when i began to feel tired again i should return to bed. You will have to repeat this over and over again to re-condition your brain into associating your bed with sleep and not the couch with sleep.

Horrible the fact that your brain can work against you isn't it. Its almost like trying to train a dog to not piss in the house :o) But i assure you it will work eventually.

And as for the tv thing, i would reccomend you buy/download a white noise type cd that keeps a constant backround noise which helps to drown everything else out. It works like the tv being on, keeps your mind focussed on something else. I swear by these and use them every night. I have the sounds of the sea and a thunderstorm with heavy rain... Its so peacefull and relaxing that it puts me to sleep very quickly