Jump to content

Issues with sleeping


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 51
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

49 minutes ago, kaheath80 said:

And thanks, snowbear! I just hate feeling tired, but I slept 9 hours last night and I still feel exhausted, so I guess at least part of it is mental exhaustion...

Yes it will be mental exhaustion. Constant rumination and mental distress is extremely sapping and debilitating. 

But don't worry about that - if you work along with myself and the two bears you should be able to cut down on that high mental activity and start to feel better. 

Link to comment
1 hour ago, taurean said:

Yes it will be mental exhaustion. Constant rumination and mental distress is extremely sapping and debilitating. 

But don't worry about that - if you work along with myself and the two bears you should be able to cut down on that high mental activity and start to feel better. 

Thank you for all your advice ? I will certainly work on it, although I have so many issues and I think I need to work on others before I can make too much progress with the OCD. Waiting for therapy.

Link to comment

kaheath80, hope you've had another good night of rest, and low anxiety more importantly.

On my side, I just did my first night without a sleep aid in 6 weeks.  Slept crappy but I was calm all night.  This morning on the other hand I'm suddenly stricken with major anxiety about if I'll be able to do it again.  Most of the anxiety is because I'm starting up the meds again and thinking they'll have a different effect on me the next night causing a spiral of insomnia again.  It's so stupid, yet so terrifying to my stressed out brain.

Thanks to Taureen and both Bears ;>) for your great advise.  I've had a bad relapse and your help is very much appreciated.

-Jim

Link to comment
22 minutes ago, kaheath80 said:

Thanks everyone. Jimangie, I wish you the best of luck with your struggle.

I slept well again last night, so fingers crossed. I tried my best not to stress about it and to think about something else. 

:)

Link to comment

It was the same for me last night : focusing on my breathing made me totally  panick. What I explained is my previous post didn't work at all.... I'm exhausted : blinking obsession all the day long and no escape during the night. I try to accept all but it's really hard. 

Sorry for this pessimistic post.

Caroline

Link to comment

I'm sorry both of you had a rough night.  I resumed my Seroquel for sleep last night so I slept fine.  It also seems to help my anxiety during the day, as I found out yesterday with massive anxiety after skipping it.  I really don't want to stay on this med but right now I'm a total mess without it.

 

Link to comment

One more very hard night with the breathing obsession, I felt asleep around 11pm but I woke up at 3am and I started to panic. Impossible to go back to sleep. I'm so tired and so anxious, I don't know what to do... I don't want to take sleeping pills because I think it's not the solution and I'm afraid of the addiction but I will return to work next week and I wonder how I will be able to manage !

Link to comment

Hi Caroline,

Very sorry to hear about your struggles.  Try not to blow out of proportion how you felt when you woke up in a panic.  It's normal when you're in a high anxiety state to wake up extremely anxious.  I've been doing it every morning.  This is not how you'll feel after a full day of wakefulness.  Hang in there and do all you can to enjoy your day.

Also, not that i'm advocating it, but there's always sedating antidepressants that are non-addictive that help with sleep.  I've had good luck with Seroquel in my latest struggle.  I plan on getting off it as my therapy progresses.  The simple message is that your never out of options.  It WILL get better.

-Jim

Link to comment

Sorry to hear that, Caroline :( 

I slept fine last night, for a change. I will have to see whether it lasts.

Wishing you a better night tonight. What helped me in the end was to think about something else as I fell asleep.

Link to comment

Right so I've slept fairly well 3 days in a row. But now I feel when I wake up I have to say 'thank you God for letting me sleep' and before I go to bed I have to say 'please God let me sleep well'. I'm not religious in the slightest but I worry that if I don't say these things then I might not sleep. Is this a compulsion?

Link to comment

It's a ritual with magical thinking (unless I do this......)  so OCD compulsing. See my signature block below,if reading on a laptop not mobile, for what carrying out compulsions does in OCD. 

Link to comment
47 minutes ago, kaheath80 said:

Thank you- only view this on a mobile, will try and look at the computer at the weekend. 

Thing is I don't understand why it's a problem to say these things in my head? I only do it once.

The problem is doing it at all - these rituals become a rule and the disorder uses rules to exert more and more restrictions over us and our daily lives. 

I was carrying out a compulsion in, otherwise quite rationally, checking my kitchen. I had to check from a certain viewpoint and in a certain way that the oven switches were off, otherwise... 

The otherwise hadn't got filled in, but I stopped carrying out that compulsions before my OCD could decide what should fill the gap! 

Link to comment

Sleep is among a number of things that the brain controls automatically and our conscious self don't have any control over it. You can go to bed, lay down switch off lights but you can't just start sleeping. It is not in your control. To sleep faster you need to keep your mind free of anxiety and relaxed. To do that the first thing you need to do is to stop trying to sleep. Just lay down and say "my brain, it is your time, do according to your wish and let me sleep when you are pleased to allow." To relax your mind you can hear calming music, medication CDs etc. You can learn and practise mindfulness. That works great for me. Switch off your active doing part of brain and just "be" in the moment and relax.

Link to comment
7 minutes ago, worriedjohn said:

You can learn and practise mindfulness. That works great for me. Switch off your active doing part of brain and just "be" in the moment and relax.

This is very beneficial for me too. 

My therapist - whom I have not now needed to consult for 16 months -  has a PhD in clinical psychology and teaches mindfulness-based CBT for OCD. 

I am not a great one for advocating positive self-talk for OCD sufferers - because It is too easy for their OCD to manipulate it into an unhelpful compulsion - but eliciting the relaxation response through meditation relaxation creative visualisation and mindfulness is definitely enormously helpful.

Tip - what is the easiest way to slip into a state of creative visualisation and mindfulness?

Answer - put on some soothing classical music or mellow jazz, and read a fascinating - but not distressing - book :book:

Link to comment

Oh boy I empathise 100%.  You're NOT the only one.  

It's so so frustrating.  Luckily, mine has been pretty good of late but I do occasionally still have a bad night, and 2 years ago there was a period where I felt like I was going out of control! I thought I'd never sleep again! 

The thing is though a rough night's sleep really isn't the end of the world.  It sucks and it's really, really unpleasant.  Especially when it makes you feel like sh!t the next day.  But it happens to everyone and it by no means makes you 'odd'.  I always feel like I'm losing my marbles and like I'm the only person awake if I'm still up at 4am.  I also get thoughts like 'if I don't sleep now I'll be a wreck tomorrow then i won't sleep the next night and I won't function etc. etc.' and then before I know it sooner or later I have myself believing I'm going to die or literally lose my marbles.  It can feel that way sometimes but that's 100% anxiety and it's not grounded in any truth.  

Stopping the thoughts in their tracks feels impossible but you have to try to train yourself to do it.  It's what I've been doing with the help of a psychologist which I can speak really highly of if you haven't already sought treatment.  I can't tell you a quick fix though I wish their was one.  Sometimes if I anticipate a bad night (sometimes you can tell) I'll do something like write a list of nice things about myself, or positive things that happened throughout the day, etc. and that actually seems to help.  I read in bed, I listen to audiobooks, anything that makes me feel like things aren't so bad and I'm not totally on my own.  I also get obsessive about checking the time (though in the opposite way, i'll freak out if I see it's getting "too late").  If I find myself freaking out, I try and stop myself in my tracks.  what my psychologist told me to do was use my name to get my own attention, so to speak. Thinking something like "Poirot (not my real name haha), nothing is wrong, you're worrying for no reason.  You're fine" is very reassuring.  Sometimes I even say it out loud to myself! 

But yeah this is a horrid one.  As someone who really used to scoff at the idea of mindfulness and meditation I can actually speak highly of them now that I've tried.  I think it's great to keep an open mind to these things and be optimistic that no matter how bad it feels, you can get a handle on it! 

 

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...