I’ve been awake for 48 hours

[Annemarie]

I’ve had ptsd for a long time but I didn’t come to terms with it until 4 years ago. Ever sense my trauma occurred I have had trouble sleeping and staying up all night. Sense I’ve entered college it has gotten worse especially sense starting emdr. Now I’ll be up for 48 hours unable to sleep. I’m getting nervous that I may need inpatient treatment if I keep going down this road
My question is: is this normal or should I get inpatient treatment

 

[Survivor3]

Have you thought of speaking to your doctor?

 

[Sideways]

is this normal or should I get inpatient treatment

Major distress as a result of EMDR is normal, and the reason therapists typically ensure patients have a strong catalogue of distress tolerance skills before embarking on a course of EMDR.

There's a lot of other options before needing an inpatient stay. You may need an inpatient stay, but as @Survivor3 suggested, you should speak to your doctor and therapist about options. One of the simplest short term solutions may be to pull back on EMDR for a while and refocus on stabilisation (which is something you can do throughout EMDR treatment).

 

[MnM]

What everyone else said: talk to your health care team. Sleep is critical to healing, and necessary for the EMDR to work properly.

 

[Friday]

Ditto seconded… increased symptoms / symptom spikes are a natural byproduct of all kinds of trauma therapy. Which is why stabilization is so durn important before starting trauma therapy, as well having a badass “tool belt” of skills on board to manage those symptom spikes. But? Even though normal/expected, those spikes can also get out of control, so it’s really important to be keeping your T up to date about how you’re managing… as slowing down on the trauma therapy, or increasing one’s skill set, may be needed to actually process through rather than spin out.

Hospitalization is always an option, but not all options are created equal. So it’s ALSO a really good idea to look into trauma programs with your T in advance of when you might need them, as I don’t know of any that are walk-in, like general psych admits through the ER. Instead, they’re a lot more like 30-90 day rehab, where one has to apply to them in advance, as opposed to 3-7 days of detox.

 

[whiteraven]

here's a lot of other options before needing an inpatient stay.

This.

The longest I have been awake was 56 hours. And that was in a hospital (not a psych admission) with sleeping pills. It was awful, and I am sorry you are struggling with sleep.

Have you talked to your therapist about the effects of EMDR on you? It's essential to begin getting a restful sleep; hopefully your s/he can help you come up with some things that might work for you to help you stabilize some before continuing.