Second Night In A Week Without Sleep

[Lonelythroughout]

I don't know what it is exactly that's bothering me this time. I mean I have always had trouble sleeping, but the last month has been especially hard on me. I lay awake until four A.M most nights and end up waking up sometime around ten. When I finally do sleep its either a peaceful dreamless sleep or filled with nightmares and waking up sobbing. I normally end up crawling into my mother's bed. I'm not allowed to take sleeping pills so I do rely on my biological clock telling me its time to shut off and recharge, but the last week (I say week but it's longer than 7 days) I have gotten a grand total of around twenty hours and I am exhausted. I was unable to sleep last night and I'm running on nothing really.
Anyone have any advice on how I can just get like two consecutive good nights? cause I really am in need here. :banghead::sleep:

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

I used to wake up at 4 am every day for months. I still wake up around then I think but I am more able to go back to sleep most days. It was the time I finally got to bed on the "night" of my car accident. I didn't know why it was four o'clock until I started processing with my therapist.

I get scared to sleep when there has been a lot of nightmares. I get scared to go to sleep because I don't want them. Perhaps your body is just too scared to sleep. Is there anything that can comfort you into sleep. I will leave a light on or cuddle with a stuffed animal sometimes. I also have a weighted blanket and that helps sometimes. Anything to help you calm.

I hope that your body will let you rest soon and get the sleep you need.

 

[Justmehere]

I had bad insomnia for awhile. It comes back at times. The best thing I did was to see a sleep medicine doctor. He did tests, but they confirmed what he already guessed - I had PTSD fueled "learned insomnia." He gave me a lot of info on "proper sleep hygiene" as well as a few things to try specific to my off kilter sleeping patterns and lack of sleep.

Exercise early in the day, avoiding caffeine, and avoid watching TV or being on the computer before falling asleep. Studies show watching electronic devices tend to wake up the brain more.)

My doc taught me when I lie in bed awake for a long time (more than 20 minutes) then my can insomnia come back stronger. My brain basically learns that my bed is for being awake. He said that after 20 minutes, I should just get up and do things until I am closer to falling asleep.

Reading really boring vocabulary workbooks helps - it can put me to sleep on the toughest of nights. It also seems to help me avoid really bad nightmares sometimes - instead I will dream about the vocab words.

Not getting enough sleep wears me down really fast. My heart goes out to you. I hope you find something that works for you!

 

[KwanYingirl]

I have sleeping pills and they get me to sleep but don't keep me asleep. For instance, it's 3:00am and I'm wide awake. For some reason I wake up at 2:30 every night. I am fairly certain that's the time I would be abused.

After I started getting reiki my sleep was normal for three months. In the past week it's back . In a book about highly sensitive people, the author claims we should just stay in bed and get rest.

I hope you can get back on a good sleep cycle. Do you stay up late? I am usually tired at 8:00. My shrink suggested I stay up til 11:00. That was helping but I've gone back to going to sleep at 8:00.

 

[Cassey]

I was the same, wide awake at 0330 am every morning. In the end I use mindfulness apps now that get me off to sleep. I still awake in the early hours and it doesn't work every night if my anxiety is high but worth trying.

 

[tired of the fight]

@All

I started listening to tibetan bowl music on pandora, it seems to help some, as I am also afraid to sleep , afraid of bad dreams. This morning I woke up during the dream and it shook me, all shaking and feeling scared. Again! I'm trying to flip the day around, but it's hard when the ptsd is hard a work and I think about the dream. Ugh. I feel for all of you , as I know that getting proper sleep is difficult and wears you down. I was in bed for a few days because my mind and body had gotten so tired. The daily fight and worries burned me out. This has happened a couple of other times, where I just don't have the fight in me, then I go into guilt mode. What's the matter with me? Beating myself up for having these conditions.

Hope you all find ways and if you do..Please let me know. ((hugs))

 

[KwanYingirl]

Well I hope it makes you feel better to know I haven't accomplished one thing today. Some days I just can't get out of bed. I listen to the bowls too. It helps but nothing is 100% unfortunately.

Can I ask do you have random dreams or do you have a recurrent dream. I hate it when you can't shake one. It always passes that much I know.

 

[Brokensoul88]

I know the feeling, I take sleeping tablets every other night, it's the only way my dr will allow me to have them as I've been on them longer than the month they say is the max. I take the top dose but I only get a few hours & wake up around 2am. On the nights I don't take them I'm awake until around 4am then sleep until about 6.30am and just drift in & out for a while after. I end up getting to a point where I'm so wired but exhausted I have to also take my Diazepam. My trauma happened at night, so the dark is frightening to me not to mention the worry about the nightmares I'll have each night. I'm due back to work Tuesday, my dr is reluctant to let me go back but I need to try something else before I go crazy. "Lonely throughout" - I used to read a comforting book in bed when I couldnt sleep before my repressed memories came back, I'd read in dim light until my eyes were heavy & then I'd just drift off. Maybe something like that is worth a try? I'd have to re-read a few pages from the night before as I didn't take them in at the end but it used to help. Nothing exciting, just something comforting, like a summer beach read type book.