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Does anyone have sleep anxiety?


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We have had a lot of stress this last year. At first I would only have an occasional bad night sleep, but lately they have been increasing. Now, it is to where I start to get anxious right about 9pm when I know I will have to try to go to bed soon. :confused: I am scared I won't sleep.

 

This isn't fun and it is affecting how I function during the day. Has anyone else been thru this? What have you done to help?

 

I have already taken all caffeine out of my diet. Am eating healthy and am quite active.

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Welcome to my world. Or at least a bit of my world.

 

Yes, you will sleep. Either tonight or when you crash in a few days.

 

You can take something to get you to sleep. There is a variety of OTC sleep aids available. I would only do that as a last resort because once you stop it can be more of the "I can't go to sleep and now I can't go to sleep without a pill."

 

Sorry you found your way into Insomniaville. :grouphug:

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Try Melatonin. It's a natural supplement. I only take 1 mg and it is just enough to take the edge off and let me fall asleep. I also read right before bed, which helps my body to relax without my brain being allowed to go crazy.

 

My friend sees a sleep doctor for insomnia and he actually said you are only supposed to take 1/4 mg!!! He says we are all ODing on Melatonin. :) It can cause vivid dreams, but I find I only have vivid dreams if I am taking too much.

 

I love the stuff. I had 30 years of tossing, turning, and stressing for hours before falling asleep. I wish I would have discovered this a long time ago!

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Yes, I felt that way when I was dealing with severe anxiety a couple of years ago. I eventually developed insomnia and I would dread the night because I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to get a decent amount of sleep (or even be able to sleep at all). It stunk! It was a very rough few months for me.

 

I hope your issues don't develop into full insomnia. Try to get more exercise. It does seem to help. :grouphug:

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Ugh. This is the most terrible thing. I just went through a year long cycle of insomnia that turned into the same sleep phobia. I wish I had an easy fix for you, but I ended up on a low dose anti-depressant (only because its main side effect was sleepiness), anti-anxiety medication, and Ambien for when the other two didn't work. I eventually ended up in therapy because I thought I was going to go crazy.

 

Mine had to do with an issue that was within my control, so once I removed that issue from my life I have been able to sleep soundly again. But it has been hard, hard, hard. I know exactly what you mean by the dread when night is on the way. Mine would start after dinner and slowly build-up to where I would be in tears by bedtime.

 

My best advice would be to see a doctor, pronto. Once it gets into a cycle it is so difficult to break free. Best of luck to you in getting past all of this quickly.

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Oh, and as far as it being addictive, yes, I always want to take it to go to sleep because the alternative is not sleeping! Could I sleep without it? Of course, but it's going to be awful and it will take me forever to fall asleep without it just like it did before I ever took it!

 

You are supposed to do 3 weeks on, 1 week off, I think.

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I've been dealing with this a lot and the only thing that helps is exercise. If I skip more than 2 days than I start sleeping less which triggers the stress and more anxiety.

 

For me, it has to be intense exercise -- a 1 mile walk won't do it. The worse the anxiety gets the more exercise I need to get in order to decrease symptoms.

 

Anyway, that's my experience. I hope you feel better.

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Yes. Turns out it's one of the many symptoms of celiac. I never thought my anxiety episodes and sleepless nights had anything to do with eating wheat.

 

Oh my goodness!!!! I have just been eating protein, veggies, a little fruit and yogurt for a couple weeks. I was sleeping much better than normal. Last night I cheated and had soft tacos. I do not remember sleeping at all.

 

Crud. This is something I have considered in the past. Hmmmmmm....

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Yes, but not in the same way as you. I let the stresses of my day (week, month, year) build up on me but I suppress it during the day only to find it in my dreams and teeth clinching at night. Some mornings I wake up almost unable to move my jaw from the all night clinching sessions. When the stress really has me down, I will dread waking up/getting up, but never going to bed. Depression/worry puts me to bed.

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I have a sort of that I guess. I only work 2 days a week and my first day back I.CAN.NOT.SLEEP!!!! I am afraid of missing my alarm, afraid I have my schedule wrong, afraid I will miss my phone and be put on call and still go to work, etc. I have stayed awake all night worrying about it. I have worked at the same place for 10 years, never missed my alarm, never got my schedule wrong and only a few times was on call and got to work but they forgot to call me. I have started taking Unisom the night I work the next day and it helps. My 2nd night, I am fine. Weird!

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I do not have insomnia, but every night for almost eight years my sleep has been disturbed multiple times. So even though I could sleep given the chance, I don't have the chance. I have started dreading the evenings, knowing that I will not be any more refreshed in the morning than I am now. It is really, really tough. I can't take any sleep medications so I just try to function the best I can with the circumstances that I have.

 

So sorry that you are going through this. Hoping you get it resolved soon. I would advise you to "treat" insomnia aggresively before irreversible patterns develop. Also, no internet in the evenings.

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It is both. :glare:

 

:grouphug: That's rotten. I'm sorry.

 

I had a terrible bout of stress paired with major health anxiety last year and, for the first time in my life, had problems going to sleep at night. Thankfully, once I was out I was out. It was DH who finally gave me my cure by telling me to "let the crickets come." He made me turn on the TV and watch non-stop sitcoms. No thinking. No worrying. No nothing but mindless entertainment in a brain so empty you could hear crickets chirping in there. It did help the sleep come. I don't know if you have a TV in your room but it was a big help to me.

 

Another thing that helped was just accepting the sleeplessness, odd as that sounds. By not mentally fighting it anymore (those times when you get angry, looking at the clock thinking 6 hours, 5 hours, 4 hours), I stopped getting even more worked up by the additional stress of any feeling that I could control my sleeplessness. I told myself this was something I was going through and something I would come out of.

 

I hope you get some rest soon. A good night's sleep is a great example of one of those things that you don't know what you've got until it's gone. You know, it's a form of torture to deprive people of sleep. So give yourself some grace as you go through your days while you are dealing with this. :grouphug:

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Oh yes, I have most definitely experienced that. I'm an insomniac and frequently dread going to bed because I know I won't be able to sleep (which is why you'll find me posting here much later than I should be :tongue_smilie:). Exercise sometimes helps, but there are still times when, despite my exhaustion, I just can't sleep. I only take medication when things get really bad because if I take it too often I have even more trouble sleeping.

Hope this doesn't last long for you. :grouphug:

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Go to the pharmacy or health food stop and have a sniff of majorum essential oil. You'll know if you don't like it, but if you do, try it out. Put a drop on each side of your pillow in case you turn over. It's not a failsafe measure, but it reduces anxiety and smells really nice so you might decide to lie there long enough to nod off instead of getting up.

 

Rosie

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Yes, but not in the same way as you. I let the stresses of my day (week, month, year) build up on me but I suppress it during the day only to find it in my dreams and teeth clinching at night. Some mornings I wake up almost unable to move my jaw from the all night clinching sessions. When the stress really has me down, I will dread waking up/getting up, but never going to bed. Depression/worry puts me to bed.

 

I have this exact same problem. I can't fall asleep because I can't shut my brain off. When I do fall asleep I only sleep for maybe 3-4 hours and then am wide awake but exhausted. I clench my jaw so bad when I had my wisdom teeth taken out I ended up with an infection in my jaw because my jaw clenching wouldn't let it heal. The clenching, lack of sleep and muscle tightness I have has caused me to have 6 or more migraines a month.

 

I also suffer from depression. I went to the doctor just this week about all of this. he is changing my depression meds and also but me on xanax temporarily for relaxation to sleep. He also said to continue taking Melatonin which I have been taking for years because of my sleep issues. I am up to 5 mg of Melatonin now. I take the time release capsules to help with sleeping longer. Last night is the first night I have slept from 11 pm until 6 am without waking up since I can remember.

 

You should really visit your MD to discuss your symptoms. My MD also recommended a diet since I have about 40 pounds to lose as that could be a contributing factor (not that it is for you but for me)

 

Hope you get relief soon!

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Having been awake for as late as 4 or 5 am recently, yes, I understand. Too well.

 

I stopped taking melatonin because it works too well, and then I can't wake up for the next 10-12 hours (or if I'm forced to, I'm in a fog for awhile afterward).

 

I've always had a bit of insomnia, but in the last several years, it's gotten so much worse.

 

I doubt I have celiac, but I have been considering removing wheat from my diet anyway - it's just awfully hard! And exercise...my downfall. I'll have to renew efforts to do that, which is hard when I'm always tired; sounds like it might help quite a lot, though.

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Do you have any problem with congestion? My sleep issues went away when I finally got my allergies under control with a nasal spray and air purifier. The air purifier's hum is very soothing as well, so it might help even without nasal allergy symptoms.

 

Would you recommend your air purifier? I'd love to hear about how it's helped your allergies. I'm out of denial... :D

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My 13yo has had sleep anxiety for the past 2 years or so. Right now I am staying in the room until she falls asleep. That works, but it makes her very dependent on me.

 

I took the oldest to college last week and my dd had to go to sleep without me just one night. It messed up her sleep for a full week.

 

She has prescription for an antihistamine that is also prescribed for anxiety and for insomnia, but she is terrified to take it. She really didn't like the psychiatrist (have an appointment with a new one scheduled for next month) and just can't bring herself to take the medication he prescribed. He prescribed it for her to take on an "as needed" basis.

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Well I got some sleep last night. Went to bed about around 11 having had a glass of red and 1 tylenol pm. It still took about 3 hrs for me to fall asleep. :glare:

 

I have to deal with some stressful hurdles today and am hoping I can at least "put to bed" ;) one of my big stressors.

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