Insomnia & anxiety

Avatar for ready2go2000
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Insomnia & anxiety
8
Mon, 01-01-2007 - 5:08am
Its past 2am right now, and I am sitting at the foot of my bed on the floor listening to nature sounds. I am unable to sleep which really makes me want to cry. I am angry and frustrated. I tried the whole alcohol thing, and well I cannnot get into it. I hate the taste of it. I thought I would get some sleep. I have been wired for so long. I tried relaxing in bed with only a nightshirt, I tried putting cream on to make me feel fresh and maybe easier to fall asleep. I also obsess. I really am hating it. All I can think is God I have some problems. I am too embarrased to share the rest. I am sitting on the floor bouncing up and down, literately. My eyes are hurting from tiredness but my mind won't let me sleep. These late nights have been since I ran into someone visiting mom at the hospital a few weeks ago. And I will tell you, I am tired of it, literately. Sometimes I feel so foolish, I want to curl into a ball and scream. And I really feel like I could clean, if I cleaned maybe it could loosen some of this anxiety.
Im sorry, I need help and I am tired.

Photobucket

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Mon, 01-01-2007 - 7:05am

(((Kristina))) I am sorry you can't sleep. As Sheri Ann suggested, maybe getting up & cleaning will help. @ least it will make better use of your time, give you an outlet for frustration, make you tired & most of all break the cycle of worry.


Have you tried the belly breathing? What about playing a relaxing cd? Sometimes wearing the headphones

 

 


 



iVillage Member
Registered: 03-05-2006
Mon, 01-01-2007 - 12:42pm

Hi there! Your story sounds like a clip into my past!!

When I divorced my ex after 10 years of marriage and took the 3 kids, I fell into this depression. I didn't label it as depression though b/c I couldn't sleep! I thought it was insomnia and I too tried the alcohol, and yuk!! I don't like the taste of it either, but once the kids went to bed, I tried it to make myself go to sleep. NEVER worked. I started to deteriorate more and more everyday. Crying, loss of appetite, the only function I was performing was taking care of my children's needs but afer days with no sleep, that was becoming more difficult.

Anyway, one night I started having horrible anxiety and the ambulance was called. I was taken to the hospital for difficulty breathing and before I was discharged I was admitted into a mental health ward for depression, not insomnia. I had never been in a hospital like this before nor did I ever think I would ever belong there, but I did and I did everything I could to figure out what the heck was really wrong with me. I felt like I existed but I was not really living. I HATED it!

Anyway, I was treated for depression and it helped me. I only had to take the meds for a short time and I did some counseling and I recommend that you look into some help for possible depression. There is a core to your insomnia and you must get right to that before you can fix the insomnia.

I wish you the best and hope you recover soon!
HUGS,

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-28-2004
Mon, 01-01-2007 - 12:47pm

Insomnia sucks. I've been through similiar problems and still not sleeping well.

I went to bed around midnight last night. Had one beer earlier...which I know alchohal does not help me sleep, usually the reverse. I sort of tossed & turned until 1am & fell asleep, then was woken up around 2:30am by our pets. I was ready to make myself some canine & feline fur blankets!

I will say that at my worst, when I was wired and absolutely could not fall asleep. Getting up and just doing something until I felt sleepy worked better for me. I would also try sometimes taking a sleep aid or I use herbal valerian capsules and wait for them to "kick in" and make me sleepy before lying down.

My problem lately has been late nights, waking early am & then being so absolutely "under" in the morning that I sleep then & not getting up. DH has covered with DD the last few am's. I was up "early" yesterday @ 8am, but today slept until 11am! (I was woken about every 3 hours though)

Warm bath or shower, sleep aids, avoiding hours late night on the computer (the light from the screen seems to "wake up" my brain) etc. do all help me somewhat, but sometimes you just have to "go" with it.

Hugs & I hope you can get some sleep soon.

Dee

Avatar for ready2go2000
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Mon, 01-01-2007 - 1:38pm
I managed to fall asleep at around 3am, and slept until 10am. You know, I would like to say thank you for your support, and yest I do realize I problably am having some serious depression problems. That is what is probably not helping me at all. So, tomorrow is the day I see my dr, and I get to talk with my case worker.
I think I will take today slow, clean my room, take care of my piggies, maybe work on some math, and use my exersice bike. I think it would be best that I don't come back on the computer until tomorrow, since I am concerned I may be "OCD" about the computer. So I will let you know tomorrow evening how my appointments go.
Thanks,
Kristina

Photobucket

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-28-2004
Mon, 01-01-2007 - 1:45pm

Hope your appointment goes well Kristina.

Hugs,
Dee

Avatar for peoplearenuts
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Mon, 01-01-2007 - 8:29pm

Insomnia is the worst! I had wicked insomnia when I first came down with my panic and anxiety disorder a couple of months ago. And unfortunately a lot of antidepressants have insomnia as a short term side effect so it got worse before it got better. I have been taking a drug to help me sleep in addition to my antidepressant, and I'm just weaning off it now, after a month of using it.

One thing that helped me calm down, and even sometimes helped me drift off, was listening to books on CD or tape. You could check some out from your library. I figured at least I was lying in bed with my eyes closed, and the stories got my mind on something else besides my insomnia.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2003
Mon, 01-01-2007 - 9:01pm
Kristina, you're doing good, despite the insomnia.

Sheri Ann

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-01-2007
Mon, 01-01-2007 - 9:11pm

Hopefully by the time you read this you will have had some sleep and feel a bit better about things. All I can really say is I know how you feel and your not alone in your suffering.
I have only just joined this forum and although it's awful to read others going through the same torment as myself I also get a great deal of comfort that it's not just me. That I'm not crazy and neither are you. Try and rise above your problems, a good idea is to go to the top of a hill and look down at all the busy roads and people, it puts things into great perspective I find.

Good luck and all the best x