OCD anxiety and waking up feeling trashed

[Simond]

I thought I'd give you an outline of the issues I've tried to combat for at least 5 years now. Generally my OCD is a lot better, I'm checking things like the front door, kitchen etc maybe three times but it's fairly managable. 

 

The issue is around sleep. Not getting to sleep or back to sleep but how my mind/anger/anxiety seems to affect how I feel after sleep regardless if it's 5/8/10 hours sleep. This seems to be especially surrounding weekends or times when I want to enjoy myself. Though I seem to have little trouble getting a calm sleep before actual big events like speaking infront of large groups, the day before I proposed to my girlfriend infront of an audience, meeting government on a project, being on TV etc (only local).

 

- If I check things 3 times with OCD, my anxiety handles it, but as soon as it hits a fourth I start panicing, telling myself my next day is ruined or something along those lines

- Same happens if I'm awoken by anything exterior like the neighbours, but for some reason have no problem with having to get up to the loo or Diana my partner waking me up.

 

When these one of these 2 things happen like for at least 5 years, I wake up heavy eyed, which doesn't pass, dizzy and hazy head, sick, hating daylight, water, no energy, almost chemical like, falling asleep at random times and don't want to socialise which has made holidays and social time quite unenjoyable. 

 

I came off all medication over the summer to see if this was the issue.

 

Doctors aren't sure what it is. And these disturbances only seem to affect me on days I deem important for my social life.

[dksea]

Hi Simon, sorry to hear you are struggling.

While I can't exactly relate to your situation, I do know that anxiety and stress can affect ones sleep.  While it sounds like your situation is particularly troublesome, that its linked to days where you have important events makes it sound like it is probably stress related.  In a way it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  You know the next day is one where you particularly don't want to wake up feeling bad, but you know you've woken up feeling bad on days like that in the past, so you worry it will happen again.  That worry in turn makes you have poor sleep, and as a result you wake up feeling bad.  Next time it happens, the cycle repeats.   You worry, you sleep poorly, you feel bad, so you worry again.

Unfortunately I can't offer a quick or perfect fix (I wish I could, for all our sake).  If you aren't seeing a qualified mental health professional I would definitely recommend that.  CBT would definitely help you to break out of any OCD spirals that are contributing to your issues.  Additionally perhaps speaking with a sleep specialist could help, they might be able to recommend techniques to help you get better sleep or possibly medication.  Another option that you might consider that helps some people with anxiety is mindfulness meditation, or other relaxing techniques.  

I'm sorry I couldn't offer more first hand advice, but I didn't want your post to go unanswered. Best of luck in your recovery.