Sleep Annoyance With PTSD

[anthony]

Many who suffer PTSD, as a common entity, suffer sleep deprivation at the same time, often from nightmares and flashbacks through dreams. Many ask the magic question, "How do I get better sleep now?" Well, you won't really like the answer to that question, because the facts of the situation are simply that your sleep won't improve drastically until such time as your mind and body are free from fear of your trauma.

People often get prescribed medication to help them sleep, though with the side effects, and generally finding out that their nightmares and disturbed sleep are still just as apparent as before the medication, is it really worth it?

Well, this isn't about the medication side of things. If you think it helps, then use it; and if you're happy with the results, then continue using it. Your choice, your decision. But now let me tell you how to get normal, undisturbed sleep once again. GET RID OF YOUR TRAUMA! Easy, huh? Yeah, don't we all wish.

There are lots of methods to obtain better sleep, i.e., relaxation before going to bed, medications (both prescription and naturopathic), mind techniques and lots more. The ironic thing is that all of these factors treat the symptom and not the cause. The cause of your disturbed sleep is your trauma. The trauma is not a symptom, it is the cause; thus treating it will in turn reduce the symptoms. The more you reduce your trauma, the more the symptoms subside. Pretty commonsense stuff, huh?

As you mind and body are no longer carrying the torment of your inner trauma, all kept bottled and secretive as we do, your mind and body can then relax. As you recover through releasing your trauma, your mind and body recover at the same time, thus your sleep slowly improves to the point where you're now having fewer nightmares, more hours of sleep, improved sleep cycles, and finally sustainable sleep with no nightmares at all.

As your trauma subsides, you will just notice that suddenly you're sleeping through the night, waking up saying you had no nightmares, night after night.

Sleep apnea, disturbance and nightmares are all symptoms of your trauma. Treat the trauma, and you have no symptoms to affect you...or very minimal effects, anyway.

 

[Jade-]

It just seems like a vicious cycle. My symptoms are increased due to lack of sleep, and my sleep is decreased due to an increase in symptoms. I don't know how to get out of this cycle. And since I started therapy I haven't slept much at all.

 

[Jade-]

This lack of sleep is taking its toll on me.

 

[betterdaysahead]

I understand how your feel. I have trouble as well with sleep.My biggest problem is when I do sleep I wake up feeling more tired than when I first fell asleep. Its like its a never ending process.

I find when I go to therapy that when I lay down that im still going thur the motions. Its been a long road,but a even longer one ahead.

 

[Shelley_S]

There are lots of methods to obtain better sleep, i.e., relaxation before going to bed, medications (both prescription and naturopathic), mind techniques and lots more. The ironic thing is that all of these factors treat the symptom and not the cause. The cause of your disturbed sleep is your trauma. The trauma is not a symptom, it is the cause; thus treating it will in turn reduce the symptoms. The more you reduce your trauma, the more the symptoms subside. Pretty commonsense stuff, huh?

Since a PTSD sufferer's response to trauma therapy and their ability to cope with other symptoms of distress is often adversely affected by poor sleep quality, wouldn't it make more sense to try and repair the sleep system through whatever means available, concurrently with trauma therapy, in the hope that it might facilitate, enhance, or maximize therapeutic outcomes?

 

[Abstract]

In some ways this information actually gives me hope that I may at least improve it in the future.
I barely sleep and for almost as long as I can remember.
And I have recently realised that I actually fear sleep.
I fear being "unconcious" and I fear nightmares. Recently I wake up in a start. I practically rise above the bed.

Its much easier (note not easy) for me to stay asleep than to decide to go to sleep or to get to sleep.

I am actually accepting of it and barely give it a thought these days. Too many years of two your sleep sessions.

Thanks for the information. More motivation for the hard stuff.

 

[Shelley_S]

It just seems like a vicious cycle. My symptoms are increased due to lack of sleep, and my sleep is decreased due to an increase in symptoms. I don't know how to get out of this cycle. And since I started therapy I haven't slept much at all.

Hi Jadebear,

Have you considered speaking with your therapist about the possibility of introducing Image Rehearsal Therapy (IRT) into your sessions? Incase you are unfamiliar with it, IRT is a brief, well-tolerated treatment that appears to decrease chronic nightmares, improve sleep quality, and decrease PTSD symptom severity. The treatment assumes that: (1) nightmares may be caused by uncontrollable and traumatic events, yet may serve a beneficial purpose immediately following trauma by providing information and emotional processing; (2) nightmares persisting for months may no longer serve useful purposes and may be viewed more pragmatically as a sleep disorder; (3) nightmares may be successfully controlled by targeting them as habits or learned behaviours; (4) working with waking imagery influences nightmares because things thought about during the day are related to things dreamed about at night; (5) nightmares can be changed into positive, new imagery; and (6) rehearsing new imagery ("new dream") while awake reduces or eliminates nightmares, without requiring changes on each and every nightmare.

Having been a PTSD sufferer myself for many years, I have found IRT extremely beneficial in decreasing my nightmares and improving my sleep quality. I have also found that, as a result of consciously directing my dream imagery while I am awake, I am now able to exert more control over my dreams while I am asleep as well. I still have nightmares, but the outcome is always under my direct control.

To give you an example, I recently had a nightmare where an unknown assailant was threatening to shoot me with a gun at point-blank range in my face. At the moment when he was about to pull the trigger, I realized I was dreaming, and at that instant, my partner (who in real-life is a black belt first dan) appeared at my side, as per my daytime image rehearsal practice. I immediately felt in control of the dream and, now smiling confidently at my assailant, I hissed at him, "See this woman? She could get that gun off you quicker than you could blink! So put it down slowly, because there's no telling what she might do if she gets it!" Needless to say, he did what he was told and I had a good chuckle about it as I related it back to my partner when I woke the following morning. It took me about 6 months of constant practice to get to the point where I can consistently control my dreams, but the results have been so worth the effort.

Take care,
Shelley

 

[cat]

I agree with Anthony, the only way to better sleep is healing your trauma. I've had insomnia for the last 5yrs, but through trauma therapy its greatly improved. During therapy I also learnt that dreams are just our minds processing stuck information they are not going to happen & that watching the pattern of them can show us how we are recovering. Try talking about your nightmares with your T, discussing them helps to take the fear away. I tried taking meds but didnt feel much benefit as i was drowsy during the day. I think sleep patterns become ingrained, you dont want to sleep because of the nightmares, you cant sleep because you are over tired & then you develop a poor sleep routine. For me winding down an hour before bed was really helpful, no tv, a warm bath & meditation helped me go to bed more relaxed.

I currently sleep well with no nightmares (unless i have a trigger during the day) but for 10hrs often falling asleep before 8pm & still feel tired, i'm not sure if my body is just catching up or there is another reason for it.
My next challenge is develop a good sleep routine, to stay awake until 10pm & to get up at 6am.

 

[anthony]

Since a PTSD sufferer's response to trauma therapy and their ability to cope with other symptoms of distress is often adversely affected by poor sleep quality, wouldn't it make more sense to try and repair the sleep system through whatever means available, concurrently with trauma therapy, in the hope that it might facilitate, enhance, or maximize therapeutic outcomes?

Yes and No. There is a fine balance, and what people do is exactly what they should not be doing, being; they get on sleeping tablets or some other form to try and sleep, they even over-dose medications until they work for them, often then the medication itself causes a side effect. So whilst trying to treat a symptom, adversely another side effect or effects has arisen, the cause is still quite present because so much effort has gone into treating the symptom, and suddenly the process is derailed, you become dependent upon symptom treatment, and if it works, you then avoid the cause because the symptom has been treated.

This is the very typical scenario when you start treating symptoms vs. treating the cause.

The only real danger is depression and anger. The body will sleep regardless whether you want to or not at some point, your brain will force it to sleep. It is not uncommon during trauma therapy / uncontrolled PTSD, that your sleep patterns are all over the place, and if working, very normal you get yourself into a routine of minimal sleep, ie. 4 - 6hrs tops per 24hrs, then sleep lots on weekends, day and night.

These are minor issues, and especially if you are used to them already, compared to deviating too far off-course from the problem, being the trauma. The ideal person with PTSD to treat, is one who isn't working. That's it... kids, no kids, family, single, doesn't matter, it can all be accommodated to suit, but work is the biggest independent stressor in a PTSD sufferers life usually... there are obvious exceptions, ie. still living in an abusive environment, DV as an example.

 

[Reclusive]

I've had insomnia my whole life, and only had nightmares after my trauma. What I've found to combat the lack of restfulness is to concentrate on areas of physical health that you have more control over - making sure you're getting the right nutrition, exercise, relaxation, etc. The body can rest while the mind is awake, it's just not AS rewarding as sleep. So I think concentrating on health and learning to meditate (moving meditation is good, too) can really help a lot until sleep improves.

 

[Abstract]

and if working, very normal you get yourself into a routine of minimal sleep, ie. 4 - 6hrs tops per 24hrs, then sleep lots on weekends, day and night.
.

Good grief!
Thank you Anthony. This thread has been a revelation. I am working a minimal amount but sleep on average three hrs a day and then sleep almost the whole weekend.. I slept seventeen hours yesterday but only got to sleep at four am.
Its driving my husband crazy and he said to me today that he does not believe it is insomnia as how come I can then sleep on the weekend.

I am relativly stabil at present and when I am not I go down to one or two hours and can't sleep any more than that on the weekend either.

The pieces of the jigsaw just keep popping into place.:eek:

 

[TEL]

Well, its 2:18am...been having nightmares lots. Reading the things shared on this thread is good.
Yes, its true that having a fulltime job is difficult while coping with ptsd. Since I was diagnosed w/ptsd (delayed onset) in 1990, I've rarely had fulltime jobs. But then, its pretty miraculous I'm sane at all really. I try not to compare myself with others who haven't been through stuff. I think that is the hardest thing for me; remembering I'm not them.
Anthony, you mentioned addressing the trauma that the nightmares are telling a person is the way to stop the insomnia. (still haven't figured out how to quote without doing the entire writing even though I just read Nicolette's advice on this, guess my brain is operating at half mast at the moment)
I agree with you. Yet at the same time, I'm pressed for looking for a job and stressed about money. Darned inconvenient for dealing with traumatic memories. Yet I KNOW by experience that I must address it.
Sometimes I'm so tired and fed up with addressing memory after memory after memory, ad nausem. Sometimes I yell at God, "Darn it, I already know enough that these kinds of things happened. Do I really need to remember all the details????"
And still being quite new at this forum, I don't know if I'm doing this right here on this post or not. But since its on my mind and I'm not sleeping, I'm taking this moment to share some stuff..hope its okay...
Since I'm out of money, I don't see a T right now. Would love to be able to. But I'm going to trust that everything I need is provided, nonetheless. Hummm..maybe that's why I found this forum? (yes, I KNOW its not a replacement for counseling...) I haven't gone into the diary area of this forum yet. I'm a bit scared of it.
I'm stalling...okay, here goes.
Nightmares about being drugged and becoming conscious and furious that I couldn't remember a darn thing that happened. I'm wearing different clothes when I become conscious and yelling at my older sister (10 yrs older than I)about it. She denies any wrongdoing, but I keep saying, "I don't remember what happened!! I don't remember changing my clothes!!" while she's acting like nothing is wrong at all. But in my dream, I'm certain she knows, she knows alright. Then I'm trying to get home (current home, not childhood), but in my childhood area in my dream. Dangerous areas and I see a girl in need of help. So I take her by the hand and I fly up into the sky. Constantly fighting not flying high enough to avoid getting pulled down by monsters. Then I remember how I deal with this in past nightmares and I do what I need to do in order to take power over those monsters (spare you details, but its a healthy learned behavior that I've used for years. it stops me from being overtaken and tormented in my nightmares).
So I'm suddenly back at the hotel room where I'm still furious at my sister over not being able to remember what happened and my clothes were changed how? and she's still pretending to know nothing. Back to dangerous street again...good grief...then I start to wonder if I'm dreaming. I'm asking people if I'm dreaming or am I awake? No one answers. I say, "But my face hurts, I must be asleep and in a position that is hurting my face", but not so sure I'm asleep. Then I wonder, "Or am I dead?" I try to shake myself to see if this is the case or if I'm awake/or asleep.
Then I wake up and am relieved to realize it was a dream.