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What has helped you "accept" your insomnia the most?


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I'm very much trying the accept my 2-3 hrs of sleep a night, going on 4.5 mo with no improvement.

For those of you that have accepted that this is your reality for a while, what is the one (or more) thing that has helped you to accept it? Thanks!

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It’s no competition but I went 0-3 for at least a year, if not longer. I honestly got to a place where I knew it wasn’t going to kill me, and I just thought “oh well if it does kill me, at least I never gave up”

Then I just started acting like a normal person, got a full time job, started excercising, and also never cancelled any plans no matter how tired I was, or how crap I felt. I’m 13 months off now and I just started to get around 30 hrs a week perceived. Last week I had 33hrs.

 

My advice and u have to be in a place of acceptance to be able to do it, is stop waiting to get better. Stop limiting urself because of ur bad sleep. Ur giving it oxygen. Most of this is wd insomnia but I think spending too much time thinking about it contributes too. I know it’s hard, I do. But this is ur life, the only one uve got. Just accept the insomnia, it is how it is, and carry on.

 

There’s lots of people in the world who have terrible insomnia not related to Benzos. We aren’t alone in this. Also, another thing that helps me is gratitude. I can run, I can work, I can read, I’m not dying of a terminal illness, I have a family who I love and who love me.  There are so many reminders daily to be greatful for what u can do, and what u do have. All u need to do is look around. So much suffering in the world.

 

Fighting it, crying about it, stressing about it sure never helped me. It just made everything worse. X

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Thanks for the replies, sleepyjo- that is actually a concern of mine...will it, or is this just my normal state now?  I had insomnia prior to taking the benzo's, so maybe this is as good as it gets w/o taking anything?  I hope not but I do worry about that.

 

You are right Shayna, so many positive things to be thankful for.  The one positive thing that is actually weird/scary to me if that I can function pretty damn well on such little sleep.  This didn't used to be the case, so I think it is hyper-arousal attributed to benzo w/d.  I workout of for 1.5 every morning either running or riding my bike, then work, then 2X a week do weights in the afternoon and never feel sleepy again until about 9-10pm.  It's mainly the middle of the night loneliness that gets to me.  I lay in bed and rest until 5a and sometimes listen to audio-books.  If I get up and do things in the middle of the night then I am tired and sluggish feeling the rest of the day, but that doesn't equate to better sleep the next night. 

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I sometimes think the same, that maybe it’s as good as it gets, but honestly after where I have been, I’ll take it. I agree it is hard to be alone in the night. But when I wake up in the night I just think oh well, I got some, better than zero. Sometimes I go back to sleep, sometimes I don’t. When things were very bad if I woke up I never fell back to sleep so I know I am slowly getting better as I do fall back to sleep half the time. I go to gym every day too. I work, I do things for my family, drive my teens around to work and hangouts. Sometimes I’m amazed what I can do on so little sleep too. That’s why I’ve let go of being afraid of it, because I’ll be ok. I’m always ok.

 

Of course when someone “normal” tells me how bad they have slept I always want to punch them in the throat coz they really have no idea  :laugh:

 

It will get better, u just need more time. Keep doing what ur doing.

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Yep. If I had a dollar for every time people have said they have insomnia too. Ugh

 

I just want u guys to hold on to hope. I am finally seeing improvement and I swear I thought it would never get better for me.

 

Get up, get moving, keep busy and distracted, relax. Try to take it as it comes. Change ur thoughts about it as much as u can. Sometimes I say, well tonight will probably be a shit show but I slept ok last night so I’ll be ok whatever that bastard the universe throws at me. Because u will be. Xx

 

Plus, we are all here to validate that it’s not psychological. It’s physiological. X

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That is another thought I've had lately (is it physiological?) because I've had that voice in my head telling me I'm a shitty sleeper and I am an insomniac.  Like when you tell yourself something for so long you become that thing.  I'm trying to quite that voice and say "I'm a good sleeper", but since that's a flat out lie it's hard to say it without laughing
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Well I know for sure in my case it is physiological..Unless it’s on some deep subterranean psychological level. I don’t even think about it most days now and I still wake up for no reason whatsoever after a few hrs. I’m not hot, I’m not needing the toilet, I’m not cold, no nightmares no noise, dark room yada yada. I just wake up. I can absolutely flog myself all day long, and still only sleep a few hours.
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I try and do the same, get out every day to walk, or go and play pool, gardening, crazy golf, anything to try and tire me out, but it doesn't seem to work most of the time. My problem is pain, when I do fall asleep the pain wakes me and it's extremely difficult if not impossible to fall back to sleep, no painkillers help. Wouldn't it be lovely if there was something we could take that was non addictive and didn't mess with our CNS but let us sleep. A dream I know.
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Well I know for sure in my case it is physiological..Unless it’s on some deep subterranean psychological level. I don’t even think about it most days now and I still wake up for no reason whatsoever after a few hrs. I’m not hot, I’m not needing the toilet, I’m not cold, no nightmares no noise, dark room yada yada. I just wake up. I can absolutely flog myself all day long, and still only sleep a few hours.

 

Yes, I am the exact same, last night went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep easily, woke at 2 for no reason at all- up for the day at 5 (but never fell back asleep, just listened to an audiobook) will now go for a run and then to work. It wouldn;t matter if I ran all day long, sleep would be the same  :-\

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Yes me too. For instance on my days off work I get up at 5:30 go to gym, then do school run, do laundry, go back to gym, go do laps at the pool, go for a Long Beach walk, school pickup, then home to do more chores or take my kids to work hangouts or after school activities. I might get 3 hrs after all that.

 

So it’s absolutely not psychological. It’s just the brain injury. But it gets better. I never thought I’d get better but I am. 6 hrs last night after only a 30 min walk during my work lunch break yesterday. See…. Nothing to do with how much u do during the day. It’s very strange

 

I keep very busy because I need the distraction. Plus after being inactive for so long it’s amazing to be able to do so much again, sleep or no sleep. It’s a celebration. I was so unwell that I had severe muscle wastage. I’d turn to the side In the mirror and almost disappear. So thin. I was so weak my father had to take me for walks to the end of my street. Now I’m lifting weights and running again.

 

Don’t give up. Never give up. U will get there. I never believed it would happen but it is.

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I try and do the same, get out every day to walk, or go and play pool, gardening, crazy golf, anything to try and tire me out, but it doesn't seem to work most of the time. My problem is pain, when I do fall asleep the pain wakes me and it's extremely difficult if not impossible to fall back to sleep, no painkillers help. Wouldn't it be lovely if there was something we could take that was non addictive and didn't mess with our CNS but let us sleep. A dream I know.

 

Have u tried mj for pain? My hubby had a stroke a few years ago so gets bad neurological pain and it helps him. He gets an oil of indica with thc

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It’s no competition but I went 0-3 for at least a year, if not longer. I honestly got to a place where I knew it wasn’t going to kill me, and I just thought “oh well if it does kill me, at least I never gave up”

Then I just started acting like a normal person, got a full time job, started excercising, and also never cancelled any plans no matter how tired I was, or how crap I felt. I’m 13 months off now and I just started to get around 30 hrs a week perceived. Last week I had 33hrs.

 

My advice and u have to be in a place of acceptance to be able to do it, is stop waiting to get better. Stop limiting urself because of ur bad sleep. Ur giving it oxygen. Most of this is wd insomnia but I think spending too much time thinking about it contributes too. I know it’s hard, I do. But this is ur life, the only one uve got. Just accept the insomnia, it is how it is, and carry on.

 

There’s lots of people in the world who have terrible insomnia not related to Benzos. We aren’t alone in this. Also, another thing that helps me is gratitude. I can run, I can work, I can read, I’m not dying of a terminal illness, I have a family who I love and who love me.  There are so many reminders daily to be greatful for what u can do, and what u do have. All u need to do is look around. So much suffering in the world.

 

Fighting it, crying about it, stressing about it sure never helped me. It just made everything worse. X

 

Hi all

I just happened to pop in here when I saw the subject.  I was someone who thought I would never have sleep issues...hahaha...I don't know why I thought I would be special. :idiot:

But I have started down that road and yes, Shayna, I fight it, cry about it and stress about it!  Thanks for all you encouragement and sharing your coping skills. I will try to be more of a warrior!!  :smitten:  :thumbsup:

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6 hrs must have felt amazing!  Congrats on that!

Thanks for giving me hope, I feel like I will never get better, but this is encouraging!

Happy to hear you're doing so much better.

 

Yes me too. For instance on my days off work I get up at 5:30 go to gym, then do school run, do laundry, go back to gym, go do laps at the pool, go for a Long Beach walk, school pickup, then home to do more chores or take my kids to work hangouts or after school activities. I might get 3 hrs after all that.

 

So it’s absolutely not psychological. It’s just the brain injury. But it gets better. I never thought I’d get better but I am. 6 hrs last night after only a 30 min walk during my work lunch break yesterday. See…. Nothing to do with how much u do during the day. It’s very strange

 

I keep very busy because I need the distraction. Plus after being inactive for so long it’s amazing to be able to do so much again, sleep or no sleep. It’s a celebration. I was so unwell that I had severe muscle wastage. I’d turn to the side In the mirror and almost disappear. So thin. I was so weak my father had to take me for walks to the end of my street. Now I’m lifting weights and running again.

 

Don’t give up. Never give up. U will get there. I never believed it would happen but it is.

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Reading posts by members who had lived through benzo-related insomnia but were on the other side of it and now slept well got me through my year of insomnia.
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Shanya what is mj? If it's what I think it is I wouldn't know where to get it here in UK. Don't know what oil of India is or thc either.
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Thanks antibenzo. I don't think I'll be using that, wouldn't know where to get it anyway. Tried it when I was younger and it made me feel manic and suicidal, wouldn't touch it again.
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Thanks antibenzo. I don't think I'll be using that, wouldn't know where to get it anyway. Tried it when I was younger and it made me feel manic and suicidal, wouldn't touch it again.

 

MJ didn't agree with me either!

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It’s no competition but I went 0-3 for at least a year, if not longer. I honestly got to a place where I knew it wasn’t going to kill me, and I just thought “oh well if it does kill me, at least I never gave up”

Then I just started acting like a normal person, got a full time job, started excercising, and also never cancelled any plans no matter how tired I was, or how crap I felt. I’m 13 months off now and I just started to get around 30 hrs a week perceived. Last week I had 33hrs.

 

My advice and u have to be in a place of acceptance to be able to do it, is stop waiting to get better. Stop limiting urself because of ur bad sleep. Ur giving it oxygen. Most of this is wd insomnia but I think spending too much time thinking about it contributes too. I know it’s hard, I do. But this is ur life, the only one uve got. Just accept the insomnia, it is how it is, and carry on.

 

There’s lots of people in the world who have terrible insomnia not related to Benzos. We aren’t alone in this. Also, another thing that helps me is gratitude. I can run, I can work, I can read, I’m not dying of a terminal illness, I have a family who I love and who love me.  There are so many reminders daily to be greatful for what u can do, and what u do have. All u need to do is look around. So much suffering in the world.

 

Fighting it, crying about it, stressing about it sure never helped me. It just made everything worse. X

 

Hi all

I just happened to pop in here when I saw the subject.  I was someone who thought I would never have sleep issues...hahaha...I don't know why I thought I would be special. :idiot:

But I have started down that road and yes, Shayna, I fight it, cry about it and stress about it!  Thanks for all you encouragement and sharing your coping skills. I will try to be more of a warrior!!  :smitten:  :thumbsup:

 

Oh honey I’m really sorry to hear u have joined us! It’s the pits. The way gave me some great advice once. “Give it the middle finger” so that’s what I do. It helps. Give it a go xx 💋

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Thanks antibenzo. I don't think I'll be using that, wouldn't know where to get it anyway. Tried it when I was younger and it made me feel manic and suicidal, wouldn't touch it again.

 

Yes it’s difficult to get here in aus too. I have tried it and it doesn’t agree with me either, but it does help a lot of people here.

 

I got it from an approved dr here. It had to get tga approval, I tried it, and I woke up stoned a couple of hours later and had to lay there for hours of my trolley. Not fun.

 

But, my hubby has had major pain issues since his stroke and it really helps. I took cbd oil for a long time when I was in acute and that really helped too. It’s not psychoactive.

 

Anyway I totally respect u not wanting to try it. Just an idea xx

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6 hrs must have felt amazing!  Congrats on that!

Thanks for giving me hope, I feel like I will never get better, but this is encouraging!

Happy to hear you're doing so much better.

 

Yes me too. For instance on my days off work I get up at 5:30 go to gym, then do school run, do laundry, go back to gym, go do laps at the pool, go for a Long Beach walk, school pickup, then home to do more chores or take my kids to work hangouts or after school activities. I might get 3 hrs after all that.

 

So it’s absolutely not psychological. It’s just the brain injury. But it gets better. I never thought I’d get better but I am. 6 hrs last night after only a 30 min walk during my work lunch break yesterday. See…. Nothing to do with how much u do during the day. It’s very strange

 

I keep very busy because I need the distraction. Plus after being inactive for so long it’s amazing to be able to do so much again, sleep or no sleep. It’s a celebration. I was so unwell that I had severe muscle wastage. I’d turn to the side In the mirror and almost disappear. So thin. I was so weak my father had to take me for walks to the end of my street. Now I’m lifting weights and running again.

 

Don’t give up. Never give up. U will get there. I never believed it would happen but it is.

 

Sometimes I don’t like to say how much better I’m doing because I know it’s hard to read about when ur struggling. But please have hope. It took a long time for me, but I’m definitely starting to see it through the review mirror now. But it didn’t just happen, I fought for it. I made it happen x

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[7f...]

Honestly the insomnia is something I couldn't deal with. I've been taking Promethazine for a while now and it does help. However I am still in withdrawal and every small cut will cause insomnia at least for a few days.

 

I'm very much trying the accept my 2-3 hrs of sleep a night, going on 4.5 mo with no improvement.

For those of you that have accepted that this is your reality for a while, what is the one (or more) thing that has helped you to accept it? Thanks!

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