Anxiety and sleep problems, any help is appreciated!

Mental health
1

Hi, so ive started a few threads now over the last week or so, due to the crisis im going throught. So maybe its confusing to people who have read previous threads but here i go again,

About 2 weeks ago i started worrying slightly about a few things. This escalated over the days and concern turned into full blown anxiety/disasterthinking. I know i myself am responsible for making this happen due to my thinking. It might not have gone a long time, but still this has been one of the worst things i have ever had to endure (and to think im doing it all to myself). I dont think a person who hasnt suffered this sort of anxiety can ever fully relate to what a NIGHTMARE it is. I know people reading this can however.

My biggest problem right now is the effects this has on my sleep. I work with quite a varied schedule, which makes going to bed the exact same time every day not possible. I try to maintain a good sleep hygiene, read in bed, wind down and the sort. But i still wake up every night long before the alarm clock goes off. I am to tired to move out of bed at this point and desperately sleepy, but i cant go back to sleep! This is like a wake nightmare somehow, cause i can "hold out" for a while, but then i get anxiety over not being able to sleep! And then its impossible. Id like to state that i normally sleep really well and have zero problems with either falling asleep or going to sleep. I went to a doctor and was prescribed a sleeping medication, however its addictive and cannot be taken daily. I dont feel that it has helped all that much either, so i try to go to bed unmedicated. But this has taken such a toll on me! I cant be my normal self and get better when i dont sleep.

How long can this go on for really? I have had it in the past when it endured about a month, and then one morning i awoke only to realize i had slept fine all throughout the night. Now i worry that there wont be any relief and that this will go on. I cannot work or see friends when i feel this way. Every morning my partner (who is currently) in another city texts and asks how i have slept. I start crying and say that its been the same again. This feels especially hard cause i cannot control it! I have gotten better at maintaining my anxiety in the daytime, and today i actually saw a little lighter on the matters. But then my worry comes back that i wont be able to sleep.

I need some comforting words. Anything! Im just so afraid i will die, and never get the chance to be happy again, have children, all the things i have dreamt of :´( I have saved a whole lot of money in the past, planning travels ahead and such, now i just feel like i could go throw it all in the sea. Nothing matters anymore, if i cant just feel like the normal regular me! 

I try to relax and go through each body part thinking im safe and sound in my bed and nothing can harm me. But its like it doesnt help and then i lose hope. Im trying to do good..

Is this some "phase" that the mind has to go through when you have acute anxiety? I have never suffered before for months on end or any such thing. If i were to know that for example in 2 weeks time- you will sleep fine, then i could endure ANYTHING. Its just the doubts and the fears that things wont ever feel normal again. A sidenote too is that when i have anxiety i dont "feel like myself"? Is that normal? Its like i have this totally different outlook on things i never had before. Like i have "gotten lost" in my own mind, I do find this so scary! What if i cant find my way back? 

Just ask me if there is anything unclear. Im not currently seeing somebody to talk to, so this forum is all i have more or less.

Thanks/ Sam

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Hi Sam

I am so sorry to read your post, It is a confusing thing anxiety, one minute I'm doing fine and the next I'm a total mess.  Sleep was a problem before I started meds.  So I'm not tired now and I think anxiety can work both ways in making you tired and making you wide awake.  There is no time frame with this and as you will read in other posts it varies from people to people.  I wish I had better news for you... Just try and deal with it and relax, normally anxiety has a root cause so do you know what caused this.  It can be anything that the subconscious throws up from the past.  Joyce xx

 

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Hi Joyce, what medications do you take? If ur comfortable saying that. I know there cant be a fixed timeframe, i just want to know one day it will end (and not with my death that is). I know there are root causes, but not ones so big that the anxiety is rationally "called for". When i have had anxiety for a while, i become scared of the anxiety. Does this happen to other people? Its like its "too good to be true" that you could conquer it. This sounds so foolish to "sane" people around me..

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I don't know how to start a new thread so I hope you won't mind me asking my question here.

I am 70 and live alone in the country for 15+ years.  Lately I've talked with someone I believe is in bed with me and even tried to touch them, only to wake up knowing there's no one there.

Am I losing my mind or what ?

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No Sam its not foolish...all in this boat wonder when it will end, I'm told that it is time that needed but I want it NOW. I am on Metazapine 10mg. Your comment about root problems and side of problem, the subconscious does not deal with size it just is! so anything can set it off and my therpist said to deal with it  as it will keep coming around again if I do not put it where it should be.  Crying is a great tool for both men and women and also a release.

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You have started a new thread, i have answered your question on there. 

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Hi Joyce, u seem so kind. Thank you. Yeah i have found before that when im "too anxious" its so deeply rooted that i cant even cry, i feel stunned sort of and detached from my emotional life, as if my mind is trying to protect itself from this "monster" i made with my thoughts. But earlier today i found myself crying, i think that is a good sign actually, cause it means that ur emotions are up at the surface and can be touched so to speak. It felt like a relief to cry. 

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Hi Sam I agree when too anxious you cant cry.  All the best 

 

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Omg. I could have written this myself. It's exactly how I was last Week and I tried everything.  I'd even text my mum at 4am crying that I'd had no sleep. Eventually the doc introduced mirtazapine at night which has been a god send. Go back to your docs and tell them how desperate you are xx

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Hi Sam, I'm currently feeling the same pain as you. Not being able to sleep over anxiety is the worst, I sit up and panic all night and I also have the fear that I will die! I've only recently as of January developed anxiety and I feel it is taking over my life, I don't feel like I'm the same person. Reading on here is really helping me tho, and reading people's stories about how they have overcome anxiety is making me feel a lot better and is giving me a sense of relief- I'd defiantly advise you to do the same! It also gives me relief to know that I'm not the only one having these fears- so know that you aren't alone and that you will eventually get through this. It can only get better!

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Hi gil

 ed that you are on Mitaapine, can I ask what dose youare taking andis it still woking, I am on15g and on or4 weeksbut now wears off.   I sleep ok but anxiety bad in mornings

 

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Hi Coop24

I have only had anxiety for 5 weeks so dont know how you have dealt with it since January   Do you know root cause of it

 

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Hi joyce

i take 15mg but also take 2x Prozac In the morn which help. Have you tried bachs rescue remeddy for daytime anxiety. I find that helps. Xx