Ok, my first reason for posting is just to see if any one has tried CBT-I?
This is a specific therapy for insomnia, considered to be actually more effective that sleep meds for insomnia.
So, my first question is just on that. Did you have insomnia that maybe spiraled from PTSD and have you tried this?
My second thing is just to bring up the PTSD/insomnia connection for me and how it may make my treatment tricky.
I am set to go into a CBT-I group mid Jan.
I have been doing research that why this therapy is effective is that it increases sleep time and quality sleep by giving you good CBT thoughts and by helping to lower arousal that can get tied to a bed.
This is totally my problem. From having poor sleep after child birth, I get wide awake when getting into bed (it's that whole Skinner/Pavlov association thing.)
I had a baby, post partum insomnia, bad reaction to an SSRI, and then high cortisol all played a role in this "wide awake assiciation" with bed time.
I am working on all of these initial causes of poor sleep and being wide awake. It has been 6 years.
So, I am ready to try this therapy, but it uses sleep restriction and that is so triggering to me.
It relies on sleep deprivation to improve your sleep actually.
My thing is that my post partum insomnia and bad reaction to lexapro was traumatizing. I stayed awake for a week straight, hallucinated, felt like I was in a waking nightmare, felt like I was going to die or go insane. My post birth time was terrifying and it was made worse by drugs.
Now, I feel like I cannot just practice sleep restriction as then it would be a repeat of that post birth week, which is honestly probably why I have insomnia.
CBT-I relies on the belief that your worries on sleeping are actually unfounded. But sleep deprivation taught me that you could go insane and potentially die. So I don't know.
I hope this makes sense.
I appreciate your thoughts.
This is a specific therapy for insomnia, considered to be actually more effective that sleep meds for insomnia.
So, my first question is just on that. Did you have insomnia that maybe spiraled from PTSD and have you tried this?
My second thing is just to bring up the PTSD/insomnia connection for me and how it may make my treatment tricky.
I am set to go into a CBT-I group mid Jan.
I have been doing research that why this therapy is effective is that it increases sleep time and quality sleep by giving you good CBT thoughts and by helping to lower arousal that can get tied to a bed.
This is totally my problem. From having poor sleep after child birth, I get wide awake when getting into bed (it's that whole Skinner/Pavlov association thing.)
I had a baby, post partum insomnia, bad reaction to an SSRI, and then high cortisol all played a role in this "wide awake assiciation" with bed time.
I am working on all of these initial causes of poor sleep and being wide awake. It has been 6 years.
So, I am ready to try this therapy, but it uses sleep restriction and that is so triggering to me.
It relies on sleep deprivation to improve your sleep actually.
My thing is that my post partum insomnia and bad reaction to lexapro was traumatizing. I stayed awake for a week straight, hallucinated, felt like I was in a waking nightmare, felt like I was going to die or go insane. My post birth time was terrifying and it was made worse by drugs.
Now, I feel like I cannot just practice sleep restriction as then it would be a repeat of that post birth week, which is honestly probably why I have insomnia.
CBT-I relies on the belief that your worries on sleeping are actually unfounded. But sleep deprivation taught me that you could go insane and potentially die. So I don't know.
I hope this makes sense.
I appreciate your thoughts.