How To Cope With Nights?

[Recovery4Me]

There aren't many help lines, and I don't know how one would help me.

and...

I know about that one, but I am afraid of calling it.

IF you need it at some point, be more afraid of dieing.:hug:

Over and out of the thread, I go.

 

[Still loving]

Can you drown out the thoughts until you can get just a little more sleep? I personally find massive attack something that pulls my mind away. Sleep deprivation + nightmares + severe anxiety is very tough. Just a thought, but something in your ears, a sound to practice focussing on long enough to get some sleep..
Please be safe. This world needs more survivors ~

 

[Justmehere]

Well, pretty hard to find something that won't interest me. I read all kinds of stuff.

Me too. But I bet you can find something that would be at least calming to read.

I try mindfulness, but it doesn't work on me as I get to various logic errors. Grounding skills? Well, my back is woundful due to mine being pain.

I'm not sure I understand. Mindfulness is not counter to logic. It's just noticing and being very present in this moment. With PTSD, mindfulness helps put brain slow down and not be so much in alert mode - which is what leads to anxiety. It is things like looking around the room and noticing 5 green things, 4 blue things, 3 red things, 2 white things, etc. There is a lot more information on mindfulness at dbtselfhelp.com and other workbooks and websites.

Grounding skills can be done from even a hospital bed, and we're actually taught to me along with mindfulness skills by a pain medicine doctor. Grounding skills help signal the body to relax. There are strong techniques like holding a frozen water bottle or ice cubes or anything very cold, or doing 4 square breathing (and ER doc taught me this one.) It is where you take 4 breaths in, hold it for 4 counts, and breath out 4 seconds and then repeat 4 times. It gets your body to produce its own anti-anxiety neurotransmitters.

Mindfulness and grounding techniques work best when practiced before the anxiety gets really bad - and then when the anxiety comes, it can help even more.

 

[Deleted member 28403]

Read my newest thread. FULL STOP.

 

[Justmehere]

I know they are taking away your phone. This will not last forever. It is the more reasons to use the resources above to STAY ALIVE even if you have to borrow a friends phone to call a crisis line or walk to a hospital.

 

[Deleted member 28403]

I don't really have a friend nearby, one of my supportive friends was a guy who I could only contact over the internet.

 

[Justmehere]

You live in very tough circumstances. It will get better once you get older and can move away. You also will have some therapy sessions which hopefully will begin to be a support to you.

You have many reasons why you won't call the crisis line. You have already deemed that they will not be helpful to you before you have ever tried calling them. It's your choice to pre-emptively deem that they are not helpful. There are online crisis-chats too - that you can find online. If you deceide they won't be helpful to you before you even try, then you are right, they won't be helpful to you.

So then you must find a way through relying on your own resources. This is hard even for adults to do, let alone teenagers with sh*t parents. But you are very bright and very resourceful.

Things can get better. You can make choices to improve the hell you are in. You seem unwilling to make any of those choices and yet you consider an extreme choice as viable - causing your own death.

I have lost people to sucidie. I have struggled with suicidal thoughts myself. When people choose to cause their own death, it leaves behind pain and trauma for others. You may think that no one will care or miss you - that's what my friend thought when he died. Yet myself and many others were very deeply wounded by his act to choose to die.

You did not chose your family or your terrible circumstances or to have PTSD. You have made good choices in the midst of it all. You learn to be more assertive and stand up to bullies. You chose to learn martial arts as a good outlet for some of what you feel. You chose to reach out for help and support here.

You can keep making good choices that will help you endure this horrible time of life you are in and because a very successful adult who gives a lot to the world. Please don't give in to your PTSD symptoms and let the suicidial thoughts overcome you. Focus on the good choices you can keep making, and you will get through this to a much better time.

 

[Still loving]

Very well said Justmehere, I agree in so many ways.
Please remember that things always change and get better too, you will gain more control over your circumstances ~*

 

[Alivia]

Nights are bad for me that's why i'm still awake, I know many dreams are waiting. I get major anxiety at night but when I lay down the neg thoughts find me. But I have to for my own sanity push them out and deep breath and count now i'm at a point where I can deep breathe myself to sleep. I learned this type of breathing in a program Attacking Anxiety & Depression you don't fill your chest up you fill your stomach when u inhale hard to explain take a bit to get used to. I hope this info will help some :)

 

[Karen12]

@Justmehere
Well, pretty hard to find something that won't interest me. I read all kinds of stuff.

Nights are grueling for me, too. What sometimes helps is books of lighthearted or whimsical newspaper comic strip collections: Peanuts, Marmaduke, Garfield, The Far Side, B.C... those might be before your time but you can look them up and get an idea. Look for strips that are not overly engaging, political or triggering.

Or a visual distraction of collections of works by your favorite artists, if there are ones you find soothing? I like calm seascapes, for example, Monet's La terrasse de Sainte Adresse, and sleepy sunsets like Vernet's Night: Mediterranean Coast Scene with Fishermen and Boats (but not storms, battles, or shipwrecks, obviously).

 

[Deleted member 28403]

@Karen12 Thank you for suggestions, but in this country only Garfield exists in libraries, and before my time it surely isn't, I read all of Garfield strips, and there is the problem, it doesn't get me to sleep, it's interesting.

 

[joeylittle]

@otakujome, have you tried any guided meditation before bed?(search YouTube for Jon Kabat-
Zinn)

How is your sleep hygiene? Are you getting off computer/phone screens at least an hour before bed? Creating a bedtime ritual?

Have you looked up the dbtselfhelp website that was recommended?

I hate to see you getting stuck in all the reasons why nothing works for you - which has been every response you've given in this thread. Lots of us struggle with sleep intensely - and I think we could all agree that finding a way to help the situation first takes committing to a plan, even if it hasn't worked before, and even if it doesn't work right away. You need to give things about a fortnight before you decide they don't help.

Can you re-read this thread, do some forum searching, find three things that you are willing to try for two weeks?