Hey guys,
I've been suffering with generalized anxiety disorder for 11 years and last year was by far my worst one, because I went through about 8 months of chronic insomnia. Throughout those months I usually had trouble falling asleep 3/7 nights in a week and it felt like I wasn't living but just surviving. I couldn't sleep over at my friends', I couldn't go on a holiday and every day I feared not sleeping at all and being unable to go to work the next day or feeling shitty while there.
Thankfully, that's all gone now, mostly thanks to the mix of Buspirone and Cipralex (Lexapro), which really lowered my anxiety. And I also still take Mirtazapine before sleep, which didn't work then but now it works like a charm again, probably thanks to my lowered anxiety due to the other meds. Trust me, I'm not glad that I have so many meds but therapy does nothing to me, my anxiety seems to be rooted too much in my subconsciousness (I still have no idea why the insomnia started in the first place). And these meds are also better than benzos which I have only as a last resort if I can't sleep and which I had to use only 4 times this year.
But even though I'm really good now - I usually fall asleep within minutes - the fear of it all coming back in full force is still there, even after almost a year of being fine. One day when it takes longer to fall asleep or something stressful happens during day is enough to make me panic before going to bed. And I haven't been brave enough to sleep somewhere else than my own bed yet. But, I'm going on a beach holiday in a month and I'm really terrified I won't sleep there at all. And, most importantly, that it will cause months of that awful insomnia even when I'm back in the safety of my own bed.
So, I wanted to ask if anyone here has experienced anything similar and how long - if ever - did it take you to stop fearing some anxiety symptom coming back? And did it ever come back?
I've had insomnia once before, when my whole anxiety started 11 years ago (again, no visible triggers), but that was only a week before I got meds that worked like a charm. I've never had any anxiety symptom last as long and be as debilitating as insomnia, and judging by how I keep replaying those months in my mind almost every evening before falling asleep, it's got me thinking that it might have caused a mild case of PTSD, though I'm not at all sure if that's even possible.
I've been suffering with generalized anxiety disorder for 11 years and last year was by far my worst one, because I went through about 8 months of chronic insomnia. Throughout those months I usually had trouble falling asleep 3/7 nights in a week and it felt like I wasn't living but just surviving. I couldn't sleep over at my friends', I couldn't go on a holiday and every day I feared not sleeping at all and being unable to go to work the next day or feeling shitty while there.
Thankfully, that's all gone now, mostly thanks to the mix of Buspirone and Cipralex (Lexapro), which really lowered my anxiety. And I also still take Mirtazapine before sleep, which didn't work then but now it works like a charm again, probably thanks to my lowered anxiety due to the other meds. Trust me, I'm not glad that I have so many meds but therapy does nothing to me, my anxiety seems to be rooted too much in my subconsciousness (I still have no idea why the insomnia started in the first place). And these meds are also better than benzos which I have only as a last resort if I can't sleep and which I had to use only 4 times this year.
But even though I'm really good now - I usually fall asleep within minutes - the fear of it all coming back in full force is still there, even after almost a year of being fine. One day when it takes longer to fall asleep or something stressful happens during day is enough to make me panic before going to bed. And I haven't been brave enough to sleep somewhere else than my own bed yet. But, I'm going on a beach holiday in a month and I'm really terrified I won't sleep there at all. And, most importantly, that it will cause months of that awful insomnia even when I'm back in the safety of my own bed.
So, I wanted to ask if anyone here has experienced anything similar and how long - if ever - did it take you to stop fearing some anxiety symptom coming back? And did it ever come back?
I've had insomnia once before, when my whole anxiety started 11 years ago (again, no visible triggers), but that was only a week before I got meds that worked like a charm. I've never had any anxiety symptom last as long and be as debilitating as insomnia, and judging by how I keep replaying those months in my mind almost every evening before falling asleep, it's got me thinking that it might have caused a mild case of PTSD, though I'm not at all sure if that's even possible.
