Not Sleeping...I Guess

[Hopeful1989]

So I have been up for 24 hours and I am not even tired. I have been trying to sleep for 12 hours now and I can not sleep!! I have tried everything. Hot tea (caffeine free), music, sleep mask, air on, air off, deep breathing, meditating, I have not even eaten in 20 hours and I am not hungry, I just forced myself to eat some Ramen Noodles. My eyes hurt and now my anxiety is kicking up and I am having issues breathing. Help?

 

[Michel]

I realize that this is not a very imaginative response, but: I was having a terrible problem with sleep for quite a while - even sleeping pills wouldn't keep me from waking up after 3 or 4 hours. Now I take xanax at bedtime and generally sleep well and through the night. Adding a hot bath might help. I need pretty strong tools to reduce my anxiety, and anxiety is just not consistent with sleep.

Hope something works soon!

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I am another one of those whom sleeping pills don't help.

I have horrible issues with insomnia. I have a set of relaxation skills and self soothing skills that I work with, however, I've found that I need anxiety meds to quell the anxiety before I am able to sleep. I have taken Klonopin in the past, but stopped taking it due to dependency issues. Now I take Geodon at dinner time, and by bedtime it has kicked in, thus allowing me to sleep. (Yes, it is an antipsychotic, but at lower doses works wonders on my anxiety). Before I started taking the Geodon I went for a month+ with only being able to sleep for an hour at a time.

 

[TLight]

I've had horrible sleep issues all my life. It is the worse. Trying to sleep and trying to relax just doesn't work for me.

I take 50 mg Seroquel one hour before bed and sometimes a 0.1 mg klonopin if I still not sleeping. That usually.......not always, but usually does it.

If you aren't sleeping consistently, you will physically hurt your body and mind even more.
It is imperative you sleep.

 

[Hopeful1989]

shortly after my first post...i passed out and slept until 2pm today....I hope this isnt a cycle.

 

[blackemerald1]

Hello Hopeful 1989 I know exactly what it feels like to not sleep. I can go days without sleep then crash, wake feeling like I have been rolled on by a truck and the cycle starts all over again. I do not get hunger pangs either, I have to remember to eat and cooking for one isn't much fun so it's a bare essential diet. I take medications all of which should help me sleep but do not tip me over the edge. I cannot take sleeping pills because they stimulate night terrors in me.

When I do sleep, I have relentless nightmares and as I said wake feeling wasted. I am going to have to go back to hospital at some stage because it and my other symptoms are so out of control. So. small comfort I know to tell you I share this problem too. People just do not understand this type of cycle and oh how I wish I could wake with the birds, jump out of bed and go for a walk or something. Feel tired at night and be normal and go to bed because my body and brain tell me they want to unhook me from my ptsd and anxiety for a while. I day dream about having a normal sleep cycle.

I have tried listening to my mp3 player with headphones on to really relaxing music, the jury is still out on that one, but I think it did help a little. It switches itself off after a few hours. Maybe that might cut through to your problem.

Be careful if you have had no sleep, driving, doing stuff around the house, I get a little off balance, bump into things and put things in strange places! Hope for your sake it is a passing phase, if not see your doctor about it.
Kind regards

Blackemerald1

 

[dharmaBum]

What kind of treatment are you getting for PTSD? This sounds like me before I started treatment. But then, I just went through an intensive set of EMDR sessions and went right to the same place as well. I could not eat for 48 hours without thinking much about it.

In my life before PTSD awareness, I just went with these stringing out cycles- was super productive when I wasn't sleeping, and had occasional crashes- like ridiculously intensely emotional fights w/my partner over nothing, or retreating to my apartment for days of sleep and isolation.

It was certainly easier to manage it all if there was no caffeine or alcohol consumed during these sleepless, sustenance-free binges. Now it seems like it is primarily an adrenaline response to triggers (for me) which are often memories & unobserved anniversaries. Like if I have a dream about the trauma or a memory gets stuck in replay for days- then I am more likely to go into this cycle. I can feel the adrenaline response in my body. Exercise, meditation, maybe herbs or meds if that is a choice for you. There is an OTC magnesium supplement called "Natural Calm" that might help, melatonin, etc.

On nights when I'm stuck awake, especially if there are trauma thoughts on my brain- I just go into it, maybe doing some writing or other documentation of the connections that arise. I think the writing part helps me move forward, because there are many nights when I've been awake w/trauma flooding, had some new understandings, didn't write anything down, and then didn't consciously remember what the insight was later because I was so exhausted.

 

[blackemerald1]

Not Sleeping...I Guess - Hopeful 1989 I am on Seroquel, Xanax, Rivotril, Panadeine Forte and Nexium and I do not indulge in any alcohol or drugs of any kind and also regular GP and specialist contact. But, that reference to feeling an adrenalin rush is similar to what I get except I am in a wakeful nightmare (s) and my drug regime has been reviewed, withdrawn, reinstated and so on. It's the best I can be for now and if I don't take my drugs, my life is just a mess or more of a mess. I also take vitamin suppliments and yeah hot drinks and so on but my brain has no off switch. I am well supervised by my doctors, it's just the way my life is. I exercise regularly and try to keep a positive attitude but I have not had EMDR. It's good you got some sleep Hopeful 1989.
Kind regards
blackemerald1

 

[stacey]

So I have been up for 24 hours and I am not even tired. I have been trying to sleep for 12 hours now and I can not sleep!! I have tried everything. Hot tea (caffeine free), music, sleep mask, air on, air off, deep breathing, meditating, I have not even eaten in 20 hours and I am not hungry, I just forced myself to eat some Ramen Noodles. My eyes hurt and now my anxiety is kicking up and I am having issues breathing. Help?

Welcome to my nightmare. Sometimes I can't sleep but a few hours for weeks. I wish I had something helpful to say, but I can't even help myself! Good Luck.

 

[tryingnottosleep]

I hate sleeping. I try to avoid it. Before I confronted my PTSD I thought I slept well, though I often would run around, trying to confront threats, I never recalled it in the morning.

Now that I am open to my PTSD I sleep terribly and am aware of it. I wake up trying to save people long dead, and trying to fight people I fought long ago.

insomnia is my friend, a bad influence, but the only friend I have late at night.

 

[Srain]

I really understand hating to sleep, being afraid of it, and/or avoidance. However, it can play great havoc on the mind and for me, let the demons come out and play. I have a little more than PTSD going on so it's vital I have I some kind of sleep schedule going on with medical help but even then I find it very difficult. I often find not eating feeds into the insomnia and without some sort of physical activity early in the day (later revs the body), my body doesn't know how to 'get' tired.

I've had to try to whip myself into some sort of an idea of a schedule. Everyone has one, mine just got messed up years ago. It's a process. I'm glad you finally got some much needed rest.

Sometimes it seems opening up those PTSD doors stirs things up and all H*** breaks loose but I have found in my case it's just the ghosts pounding on the pots and pans in the kitchen trying to scare me. This time I'm not alone so they can damn well sure put those pots and pans back this time!! Or better yet take them out with them because I'm tired of being afraid, I just want the truth!

Hugs and peace to you,
Rain

 

[lostinlife67]

I hate sleeping. I try to avoid it. Before I confronted my PTSD I thought I slept well, though I often would run around, trying to confront threats, I never recalled it in the morning.

Now that I am open to my PTSD I sleep terribly and am aware of it. I wake up trying to save people long dead, and trying to fight people I fought long ago.

insomnia is my friend, a bad influence, but the only friend I have late at night.

Can totally relate to your thoughts. Hate to say this but I am glad I am not alone.