Developing a phobia of sleep?

[NoraB]

Hey there, lovely folks.

A little about me is that I'm a twenty-three years old female that has been diagnosed with PTSD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder in the past (though I think I have a strong case for OCD or OCD-related symptoms as well). Aside from that, I've been struggling to sleep as of late. This has been going on, on and off, for several weeks now and I feel as if I'm at my wit's end. I'm constantly exhausted with headaches or the inability to think properly, but sleep hasn't been easy for me. I can get in bed as early as I'd like, but I usually don't fall asleep until 6 AM at the earliest. Whenever I try to sleep, I'm usually jolted awake or develop unpleasant chest pangs. I'm no stranger to anxiety and I can definitely tell that this is anxiety. Sometimes I genuinely feel as if I'm dying though and have other symptoms too such as excessive dry mouth or a bladder that always feels full. None of this seems life-threatening, but I worry that I'll die without sleep.

Sounds a bit like you may be having nocturnal panic attacks?

When you get into bed and 'can't sleep' what are you doing? Are you looking at your phone etc? Are you worrying?

Also, going to bed early isn't all that helpful I'm afraid - even when you feel exhausted. You need to be going to bed around 10 - 11 pm and sticking to that time..

Excessive dry mouth and wanting to go to the loo is the fight or flight response and if, as I think, you are having nocturnal panic attacks (which is what the 'being jolted awake and chest sensations' sounds like - then this suggests that you are in ANS dominance. In other words, your fight or flight response is 'jammed on'. Do you understand me? In which case, you won't get restful sleep until you bring your stress levels down..

The most important thing with insomnia is not to fear it. You will feel exhausted and yes, GAD can make you feel like you're 'dying' - but this is just your body in parasympathetic dominance and that means that all those unpleasant sensations you have when you step out into the road and a car almost hits you (fight or flight) - you're having throughout the day and night because of all the fearful thoughts you are feeding to your brain. The brain is doing it's job perfectly. It's protecting you. However, it doesn't know the difference between a real threat and what's imagined..

You're not going to die, I promise you.

I had severe insomnia for years and I didn't die. Obvs.

I went into some detail with someone else re sleep the other day so check through my recent posts and you'll see some tips there..