So a little history about my anxiety, I was diagnosed with GAD back in 2011 actually as the dr called it psycho-sumatic-rumination or a variation of ocd but more like hypochondria mixed with ocd. my biggest problem with my anxiety is sleep. When my sleep gets bad my universe turns upside down. I go into bad habits, I browse the internet for reassurance, and my insomnia returns. Not sleeping I feel is the biggest problem when my anxiety returns and it just gets worse the less sleep I get. Does this happen to anyone else? Right now I'm on Zoloft only and when I'm getting sleep and everything is good in the world my anxiety subsides. I try an explain it best to my GF and she has sleep troubles as well but when I try and relate about my anxiety thoughts/feelings I don't think shes fully understands. She's supportive but I just don't want to become a burden. I know time heals all but like most, I just want to feel good instantly. I'm just looking for some positive feedback or to at least know that others are going through the same thing?
Here we go again
- Thread starter Grambo88
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Hi and welcome Grambo. Sounds like you need a go to medication that knocks you out without feeling groggy the next day. I'd only use it on those really tough nights but lack of sleep is one of the biggest anxiety-producing factors. Many of us have the same difficulty with getting our minds to slow up enough to sleep. I personally pay a steep price the next day if I've had a sleepless or semi-sleepless night.
Both, when my anxiety is flared up. When my anxiety is low then I have no problems and can sleep forever.
Hello Tricpes, I'm glad you reached out. This isn't my first rodeo with dealing with this sleeping problem. I just sometimes need to vent to individuals who understand.
One trick I have to fall asleep is to count backwards from 300 and visualize the numbers as I do it. If my mind starts to race I pull it back to the numbers. It works most of the time. Some nights it won't though if my mind is really racing. Those night I have to start over a few times to get it right.
When I am having sleep disturbances, waking up in the middle of the night, I find that the anticipation of the waking up at a certain time causes me the anxiety. So I learned a trick from a book called The Worry Trick and what you do is set an alarm for the time when you usually wake with the disturbance. So you know you will wake up at that time and you can trick your brain into stop anticipating it. You will wake up when the alarm goes off and you won't flush yourself with the wave of anxiety that you would if you woke up naturally bc you knew it was coming. You will shut the alarm off and fall right back to sleep. It sounds weird but it works like a charm.
Yea, I'm that way as well. I think it's a wiring issue honestly. and our brain is sending all these thoughts at once which can sometimes be intrusive and that's what keeps us up.