Recovering from insomnia?

LegacyUser

hey, i've had insomnia for the last 4 years, but it's got pretty chronic over this last year, to the point where it's difficult to do a days work and live life in general.

just wondering has anyone actually recovered from it or have any experience with it that might be helpful to share??

I've gotten by fairly okay, but it's beginning to suck pretty thoroughly, seems as it's not going away.

I'm 24 years old.

martyoo

I feel your pain. I'm 26 and have had problems sleeping for years. Just can't switch off. Its starting to effect my work life as well.

I really should get it checked out. Dont want to have to go on sleeping tablets.

LegacyUser

I suffered from insomnia all my life and still do (im 27 now), to the point where I can go several nights in a row without a wink of sleep, and I find it incredibly debilitating. I was given various sleeping tablets (prescribed as well as 'alternative/natural' products) and had to listed to several years of people telling me old wives tales about how they themselves get to sleep, everything from counting sheep to getting more exercise, eat better etc.

The problem was, none of these people were insomniacs, and certainly none of them could even comprehend chronic insomnia and the problems it can cause. The importance of sleep cannot be over stated. Consider for a moment, you can go weeks without food and live, but ten days without sleep will kill you. I find myself that only 2-3 days is needed to take a massive toll on your well being. You cant work, you cant think straight, even basic communication and relationships suffer dramatically.

I will tell you what has worked for me, but bare in mind this is only me. Im certainly not advising you to go down this road, in fact i'd discourage it. The chances are there may be other avenues available to you that suit you better than they did me, and a GP will be able to point you in the right direction here. For me, sleeping tablets were worse than no sleep. I'd wake up groggy the next morning, and for the whole next day i'd be in a worse daze than if id been awake all night. By coincidence I found smoking a small amount of hash before bedtime to be a miracle cure. Make of that what you will!

But I guess the basic conclusion i've come to myself, in my completely uneducated way, is this: After long periods of insomnia you become obsessed with sleep. Going to bed becomes a huge deal because you are absolutely terrified of lying there frustrated for the whole night unable to sleep. You need to remove the conscious attempt to sleep from your thoughts because thats whats keeping you awake. I guess everyones got to find their own way of doing that.

BabyBirch

I had insomnia for years and finally had coginitive behavioural therapy for it about 2 years ago. It really worked for me, every so often I have trouble sleeping but my life doesn't revolve around it anymore. It's such a relief, insomnia is just horrible.

iPlop

user121 wrote: »

hey, i've had insomnia for the last 4 years, but it's got pretty chronic over this last year, to the point where it's difficult to do a days work and live life in general.

just wondering has anyone actually recovered from it or have any experience with it that might be helpful to share??

I've gotten by fairly okay, but it's beginning to suck pretty thoroughly, seems as it's not going away.

I'm 24 years old.

I have chronic insomnia ,I have had it for years ,since early childhood although it's far worse now.Sometimes when I come home from work ,I will fall asleep for about 20 mins on the couch and then wake up and then thats it ,a whole night from 11 until getting up at 06:00 of no sleep! and I mean no sleep.A good night is 4 hours which only happens about every 10 days.I don't think there is a cure for insomnia ,if there is I haven't found it yet.Although I find having a really hot bath with some of the radox bath therapy range do help relax me.

iPlop

SkinnyPotential wrote: »

I had insomnia for years and finally had coginitive behavioural therapy for it about 2 years ago. It really worked for me, every so often I have trouble sleeping but my life doesn't revolve around it anymore. It's such a relief, insomnia is just horrible.

I must try this!

BabyBirch

Sink The Banana wrote: »

I must try this!

It was the best thing I ever did, seriously. I had 6 sessions over about 4 months and that's it.

iPlop

SkinnyPotential wrote: »

It was the best thing I ever did, seriously. I had 6 sessions over about 4 months and that's it.

What is it exactly?

BabyBirch

Sink The Banana wrote: »

What is it exactly?

It's a talking therapy, my therapist discussed my sleeping problems and challenged a lot of the assumptions I had about sleep (like that I would never sleep properly again..) and also looked at what was going in my life to spark the insomnia in the first place. It would be different for every person I guess.

iPlop

SkinnyPotential wrote: »

It's a talking therapy, my therapist discussed my sleeping problems and challenged a lot of the assumptions I had about sleep (like that I would never sleep properly again..) and also looked at what was going in my life to spark the insomnia in the first place. It would be different for every person I guess.

Ahh in my case it's hereditary I think ,it runs on one side of the family

curlzy

I only rarely get it but when I do I find concentrating on my breathing really helps, you know slow deep breaths yoga style.

Pebbles68

Have you considered hypnosis? I went to see a hypnotherapist in Ballsbridge a few years ago. One of the things he did was teach me self hypnosis which is great to be able to do. I use it when I can't sleep and for good measure also when i go to the dentist.

LegacyUser

woah, affects alot of people seemingly!

In my case it's seemed to vary in intensity from time to time.

One poster mentioned getting maybe less than one hour sleep a day.
It was like that for a short period.

Sometimes I can get to sleep early, say 12, but i'll wake up almost exactly 4 hours later, and be awake as can be.

I tried using melatonin - which actually helps me to get to sleep, but it doesn't keep me asleep - I just can't get beyond 4 hours.

I've heard of people who have it all their life and never get over it - I don't know how these people get by, perhaps they just adapt their lifestyle to it.

With my job demands however, this is simply not possible.
I've basically had to put my profession on hold this last year, in the hope of recovery - made numerous lifestyle and lifestyle approach adjustments, but still no solid improvement, and that "get up and go" feeling, which I had in considerable proportion when I was a little younger, is almost completely dissipated.

Sucks...

iPlop

I have even got up at 6am on days off just so I will be tired by bed time.I would be absolutely exhausted going to bed after running around after the kids all day then I get into bed and BAM!!! The body is wreaked but the brain want's to keep going!

I read on another website that there was a hypothesis among some researchers that the reason so many people have it was because of technology.Eg mobile phones ,wifi and anything that is sending out a signal or EMF.They had no evidence to back up their arguments but an interesting thought.I even tried switching off the modem ,mobile phone ,un plugging the skybox etc...I don't think it improved my sleep pattern tbh