Ahhh i need sleep.

[Asil]

Hi there, about 3 months ago now i started to stay awake, feelings of trapment inside my own home when i put my roller shutters down. Anixety and hopelessness feelibgs kick and id stay awake some nights without even going to sleep. Not a wink. Sleeping was great prior to 3 months ago, so this feelings of anxiety only at night is sending me bat crazy. Ive decided to pull the pin and do a sleep study. It concluded i had very severe sleep apnea. Ive been on the machine for 4 nights. Ive been struggling to come to terms that i do have sleep apnea and have to where a mask to bed. The first night sleeping with the mask i only slept 3hrs all night. Though at least i did sleep with it. Second night i slept 4 hours, 3rd night night 5hrs. I went to see docs and they said by wearing it i dropped from 106 AHI to 2. I should be happy right???? Last night didnt sleep a wink... omg. Sooo frustrated. I tried using it from about 9pm till 1am, though the anxiety and feelings were overwhelming and i slept nothing... not a wink.. youd think good news would relax me!! Im such a mess. No sleep and now this morning i have to get my 2 boys up ready for school and go to work 5 days a week? How am i going to drive? So tired? I only have anxiety at night. Not during the day cause im so busy with kids n work. Night time rolls in and bam... so does Anixety. Docs a month ago prescribed tablets. I was on them for about a month and since starting the cpap treatment for apnea last week, i stop all tablets... well now its anxiety town again since stopping tablets. I am battling getting use to the idea i have a sleep disorder and have to wear a mask attached to a cpap machine. I do have support. I have my parents ans family. Friends. Lots of support, though i just wanted to ask another professional who gets my craziness and lack of sleep at night. I have a doctor helping me, plus the sleep lab team so support is all round me. But i syill feel im strugglibg. Struggling at night. In the dark. Ive tried Everything to rest... when i say everything i mean everything from middle of the night baths, sleeping pills, mood apps everything. Tring to loose weight so maybe i can get off this machine. Can you recommend good other help instead of the mask? What do you think about laser help surgey i looked up tou can have or s mouth piece? I need help for nights to come to terms with this anxiety and depression. Thank you

[Dreamwish]

Hello Asil

I too know the vicious cycle of anxiety and depression. I go from sleeping days on end when I'm very ill with depression to suffering terrible insomnia like yourself for weeks when my anxiety is bad. Lack of sleep is one of the most torturous things in life! I love my sleep. Are there a lot of stressful issues in your life that your mind can't stop obsessing over? If this is what's happening maybe a talk with a professional counsellor might help you deal with the stuff that you're worrying about? I'm not an expert at all but a couple of things in my experience that have helped me with sleeping better are -

-thinking about nice things before I try to go to sleep, if I feel negative things start creeping in I try ignore them straight away and go back to thinking about something nice

-reading something that is not very interesting (sometimes works, sometimes not)

-sleeping with a lamp on so its comforting and not scary when I have a nightmares, even though light does wake the mind up a soft lamp light is cosy and reassuring (for me anyway)

-could try herbal remedies for promoting sleep

-try getting up and doing a bit of exercise until you feel exhausted

-having the room a little bit colder than you like actually scientifically helps with sleep apparantly.

-keeping to a sleep routine every night has helped me the most, I find even a small 1 hour difference between sleep patterns really affects my mood

Not sure what else to say but I hope you are feeling better with using the cpap machine, it might be still taking a bit of time to get used to it and so happy for you that you have so much support from family, friends and drs that is really great to hear. Persevere and hopefully in time sleep will come as easily as lying in bed and closing your eyes then dreams will wisk you off into the wonderful world of nonreality 🙂 Best of luck Asil! Happy to chat whenever.

Regards

dreamwish

[BballJ]

Hi Asil,

Firstly, welcome to the forums and apologies about not getting a response back to you sooner, normally responses come pretty fluently however sometimes they can get caught up in the mix off every post.

It is an interesting one you have regarding the triggers for your anxiety, what symptoms do you get at night, heart racing, hot and/or cold sweats, shortness of breath? I understand you are seeing a doctor, are you also seeing a psychologist to try and see if there is an underlying issue to maybe sort through to work with the sleep team you are seeing? I don't have any advice unfortuntly on the other alternative methods to help sleep apnea, my father is on the machine and he is out like a light when he uses it. Were you waking up and couldn't breath during the night before you were diagnosed with sleep apnea? I can see how anxiety would play a part in this, more so accepting that you have to be on a machine etc.

It's been a little bit since you originally posted this, has the sleeping got any better in the last couple of weeks?

My best for you,

Jay