To ask about anxiety and difficulty sleeping.

[tiredtedsanxiousmoments]

What does anxiety feel like? I'm feeling worked up all the time and stressed with life etc. Sometimes I can't breathe properly and feel like an elephant is sat on my chest. Needless to say it's affecting my sleep too. I am getting less than 3 hrs most nights and feel so down with it all. This has been ongoing for some time.

Does anyone take medication for this? And it so does it work? My doctor hasn't been very good so far with just generic advice and the usual exercise more etc. I have done all of this and it hasn't worked.

I need to go back really but feel like they aren't taking it seriously. I find lack of sleep is rarely taken seriously by anyone other than fellow sufferers.

Are there any other sufferers with this insomnia/anxious feeling. I sometimes think I am going mad.

Valerian root can be helpful for sleep. The anxiety and insomnia I suffered from after my dh died (specific cause, I realise) was helped by: counselling, zopiclone (only when really desperate), valerian root, chamomile tea, Epsom salt baths/magnesium supplements, walking in nature, lavender essential oil, adult colouring books before lights out... One single thing made no difference - chucking everything at it did.

Oh, and my ds also had insomnia at the same time and was prescribed antihistamines by the doctor, which worked.

There are so many different types of medication used to treat anxiety, I have tried quite a few different ones over the past few years, but one called quetiapine literally knocked me out so bad that I had to stop taking it. Within an hour of taking 10mg I passed out on the sofa and don't remember my partner taking me to bed. It's an antipsychotic but is used to treat anxiety with a very low dose.

Speak to your doctor and try to find something which will suit you, sometime medication is the best way to make you feel well enough to tackle the causes of your anxiety or depression.

Thank you so much. Plenty of food for thought.

I had Insomnia for over a year and at one point I was surviving on an hours sleep every couple of nights...I actually thought I was going insane.

GP told me it was anxiety but the only reason I was anxious was because I knew I wasn't going to sleep that night.

He eventually agreed to try some medication and put me on Mirtazapine. Without being melodramatic they have saved my life. My children have their mum back, Ive got a job and started a college course. Im only on 15mg but its enough to make me sleep every night. I feel awake and refreshed when I get up and not like a zombie.

Is the insomnia because you can't stop mind from thinking? I suffer from insomnia when anxious. I find breathing techniques like the ones you use in medication or yoga really good, plus I also do a bit of silent mantra chanting in time with the breathing as I find it calms my mind. Sounds a bit wacky maybe but it really helps me. I went from lying awake for two or three hours to being able to be asleep in fifteen minutes. I've tried meditation and mindfulness lots but never got on with it till I tried the chanting. It's something to do with occupying the language areas of your brain so that there is less room for thoughts.

I suffer with bad health anxiety. It's worse at night. I can spend hours feeling a slightly raised white spot on my boob convincing myself it's cancer. Also obsessed about other conditions.

I often take Piriton or nytol to help me sleep. They usually work after about 45 minutes.

I also take propranalol when needed for anxiety in the day.