Insomnia friends - Monday morniing!

[BeckyBendyLegs]

Hi everyone! Just a quickie to say I think my Sundaynightitus is getting better. I'm not 'cured' yet but hopefully 'recovering'. I had everything stacked against me last night for a 'bad' night:
DH working until 1am - I am so worried about how much he is working at the moment.
Watching Lovely Bones - a lot of emotion before bedtime.
No cheeky glass of wine to relax me before bed (trying to resist this particular sleep remedy).
Worry about DS1 who said he felt sick Sunday evening and DS2 who had felt 'poorly in my stomach and neck' earlier in the day (I get really anxious about sickness / health).
It being Sunday night.

I didn't sleep brilliantly, was very restless, tossing and turning, etc and was very anxious all night but I did sleep. A restless night on a Sunday is good!!! So whey-hey go me!!!

Thanks for reading

So glad to read this Becky - you richly deserve it with all the hard work you are putting in.

I slept too - took a while to fall asleep even with Nytol but I got about 5 hours deep sleep in a row which is more than I've had for a while.

well done becky - i was thinking about you this morning wondering how your night went as i know sundays are the worst for you.

i think we can safely say that you are recovering as (am i right in thinking this?) really you've only had two proper 'bad' nights in a month.

so pleased for you. x

Thanks both! I'm averaging about one bad night in ten days which is much, much better than I was so I would like to think I am recovering. I'm trying to take it slowly though and be kind to myself, not put too much pressure to be 'better'. DH is working stupid hours at the moment so life is really stressful so I need to take it easy. Last thing he needs is me having a wobbly.

WillSurvive glad you slept well. It's such a cruel thing that when depression or anxiety and stress affect us sleep goes belly up, and what you need to cope with these things is sleep.

Hi becky
Glad to hear last night was better. Was thinking of you.

I went to bed feeling a bit anxious and it did take me a while to fall asleep, but did sleep in the end - thank goodness!

Was rudely awoken to the sounds of DD shouting "help, help, I need a wee!"

at your alarm clock!

Hi Becky glad to hear that you are doing better and also glad to hear that you are not being so hard on yourself about having to be completely better straight away! I think that's one of the keys to it.
I'm still a bit up and down. Probably much better than I was but I just want sleep to not be an issue at all in my life now, which is not going to happen for a while!
We had a bad night due to neighbours last week which set me back. Was awake in the night for a couple of hours last night, and this morning I was in tears telling DP I 'couldn't do it' when he was leaving for work but he struck the right balance of sympathy and briskness and I ended up having quite a nice day (and didn't actually feel that tired)!
I'm trying to come off the Nytol now but it's difficult. I admire the fact that you haven't succumbed to sleeping aids as I now feel a bit dependant on them.
I'm also trying not to 'use' alcohol but just have my usual glass on a Friday/Saturday (as I would have before).
Well done and hope it continues to go well.

Well I'm down to a third of a Nytol tablet and sleeping 7 hours on it, which is a vast improvement for me.

I also admire anyone who doesn't give in to the drugs!

Hi MelonCauli well done! Are you on a third of the one a night ones, or the lower dose ones? I went without last night but gave in and took half one at about 3 am.
How long have you had insomnia?
I don't think they're physically addictive, just (!) psychologically . In fact, if you've taken them continuously for more than a couple of weeks they supposedly have no effect any more so it must be psychological. But psychology is everything when it comes to sleep, unfortunately!
I'm just trying some CBT too, but haven't really started yet.
Hypnosis helped for a while but not permanently.

MelonCauli that sounds really great! You're doing really well Arcadia I did succumb to sleeping aids right at the beginning when doctor gave me zopiclone which are heavy duty knock-you-out perscription pills. The health visitor told me to take them for at least two weeks so I did. I only took them for those two weeks though as I googled them and frightened myself reading websites about people addicted to them. The first night I stopped I didn't sleep, and then I took smaller doses of diazepam for four nights, then herbal tablets for 2 weeks until I finally stopped and survived on crap sleep for a while (I then tried homeopathy which did help but not cure). So I am sure you can stop taking Nytol easily enough. As you say it might be just as much psychological as physical. Have you tried using hypnotherapy (Paul McKenna or there are others) on an ipod? It sounds strange but it really does work. It takes a few nights in a row of listening to it before your sleep is improved (and you don't necessarily fall asleep while listening) but I swear by it. My insomnia wasn't just not getting to sleep it was waking all the time and feeling rubbish the next day even if I had slept. Now I feel more normal after a 'goodish' night's sleep. It has really helped me. I have to keep 'topping up' after a bad night but I am sure it has helped me.

What annoys me about the wine thing is that in the past as glass of wine on a Friday and Saturday (and Thursday as it is 'nearly the weekend') used to be a lovely treat to look forward to and now I think 'oh my god what if I can't sleep without the glass of wine?' which just ruins the pleasure. But I can literally only have one glass or my sleep gets worse (it takes DH and I two nights to drink one bottle of wine between us - my PILs would be horrified as they are big wine drinkers!).

I am sure we will all get better at this sleep lark. My DS3 is six months this week and I am sooo happy at the mo. as I am back to work and enjoying life again (this must also be helping with my sleep).

Arcadia your bad night and in tears to DP rang so true with me. I've had so many mornings like that, in floods to DH saying 'I can't do this, I can't get through today' and he has always been quite brisk with me and it does get me out of bed. I too have had some really 'good' days on lack of sleep. I think you make the most of it somehow.

This has turned into a bit of an essay. I'd better go make my coffee and read my book for 10 mins before seagull boy wakes me up

I hope everyone slept well last night.

had another fairly bad night I just seem to get to sleep OK but be wide awake between around 2/3 and 4/5 a lot of nights. I then get really drowsy again around 5 or 6 and go back to sleep but it's hell when it's then my turn to get up for DD (between 6.30 and 7). Was DP this morning and I went back to sleep for a while but am really heavy headed.
Where do you get the Paul McKenna download? Does it cost anything?

Spoke too soon . The third of a tablet didn't work last night (it's a third of the one a day ones).

I completely agree they are addictive psychologically. It's the taking them that makes me think I'm going to sleep OK. Perhaps I need a placebo?

Sorry about your bad night arcadia.

Thanks MelonCauli. I had taken a whole pill last night so it didn't really work either.
I don't know the answer about coming off them. You could try herbal ones?

I got the book and CD from Waterstones: about £12.99 and uploaded the CD on to the computer and then on the ipod.

I found herbal tablets helpful in coming off sleeping pills.

Sorry about your bad nights both of you. Arcadia the CD talks about getting back to sleep when you wake in the night and the book has some exercises you can do in your head when you wake in the night. I find one of them really good (it is so boring you just go back to sleep).