Postnatal insomnia - want to stop sleeping pills now - anyone been through this?

[BeckyBendyLegs]

Hi, not sure whether to put this in 'general health' or 'mental health' but basically I had my third child in November and started having sleeping problems (hard to get to sleep and waking early wide awake) after Christmas. After four nights of this in a row GP gave me some sleeping pills which the health visitor told me to take for 1-2 weeks. I took 2 tablets for 3 nights and then since only take 1 tablet a night and it works but now I want to get back to myself again as sleeping pills make me feel groggy next day and basically I want my own sleep back. I have been diagnosed with mild Postnatal depression but am not taking anti-depressants but going the non-medication route with diet, excercise, family, friends, going out, etc and that side of things is working a treat as I am sooo much happier than I was at Christmas (partly helped by better sleep - albeit chemically induced). Has anyone been through anything similar and come out the other end sleeping well without resort to medication? Any tips for ditching the evil sleeping pills without getting in an exhuasted state again? I didn't take one Monday night and slept 3-4 hours. Took one last night. GP suggests taking diazepam tonight and go from there but I don't want to take that either!

Thanks for reading... sorry long story.

I suffer from terrible insomnia. This year I have set out to get fit and have been to the gym every day doing 30 mins of cardio 30 mins swimming. After three days I found myself sleeping through to a reasonable hour. It has been like a miracle.

I know it is not easy to exercise with a small baby and it is certainly not easy to exercise when you have PND. It has worked so well for me, and I can't believe I have been suffering for the last couple of years when the answer was this easy.

trice...i play badminton three nights a week and its made no difference,in fact the nights i play ,i am worse

I walk to my son's primary school / other son's nursery three times a day.

My main problem is anxiety over getting enough sleep. It is self-pepetuating I know but I don't know how to get out of it.

have you tried Paul McKenna's sleep like a log CD? I stole downloaded it from the internet onto my ipod, and if i am unable to sleep, I listen to it...lasts half an hour...have only ever had to replay it once..but it works for me...I now have my ipod beside bed (with tiny earphones that I can wear while asleep) ...good luck

i know exactly what you mean,you lie there at night worrying that you cant get to sleep and the worry stops you sleeping . Also everything at night seems over exaggerated when everyone else is asleep too. MY fiend makes it worse as he keeps telling me i will die if i have so little sleep. Aint dead yet and im 20 years down the line., but am still nevious of those who can sleep. Do you find you have 5 minute poer naps when you are watching Tv

that was supposed to say power not poer

Becky hello! Congrats on number 3, so glad it all went well.

I am very similar in perfectionist tendencies. When DD3 was born 13 months ago, I really struggled with sleep. I have never been the sort of person who can just cat nap and I struggle without a good night's sleep.

I found it very hard to get to sleep whether it was a nap during the day if someone was around to help or at nighttime when DD3 had conked out. I think as others have mentioned, all the anxieties I had been carrying round all day finally got processsing time at night. The longer it took to get to sleep the more I panicked about not sleeping and how on earth I would cope the next day. And then I'd worry that I'd wasted all this time I should be sleeping - it was a vicious circle.

It did eventually settle down. Like you, I would try and get out as much during the day. One thing I found helped was to wind down in the evening - DD3 was nowhere near sleeping through at 9 weeks (you lucky thing!). But DH would take her for a cuddle at about 9pm and I would go up and read. Even if I felt that was wasting sleeping time, it helped my brain to switch off and wind down.

It's very hard to suddenly relax after the massive adrenalin rush that is running around after 3 children including a tiny baby all day. I did eventually start to calm down and the sleeping came back. I'm sure it will happen for you too. Don't forget that you are still on adrenalin really and still adjusting to a new situation of balancing 3 kids. I used to think "okay what's the worst that can happen if I don't get to sleep? I will have to try and find someone to help me tomorrow, maybe a friend can help take the big girls to nursery." As soon as I switched off that "what if, what if" panic - I would be asleep in seconds!

Good luck - hope you have a better night tonight.

Oh Hattyyellow hello stranger!!! I remember you from Due Dec 08!!!

It's hell isn't it? I need to switch off the 'what if' panic as it is keeping me awake and DH too as he has to lie next to me. It's been spiraling since Christmas this sleep issue I have developed. I've got some herbal tablets to try tonight but still wary about them too - I took them on Friday night and slept like a baby (a good baby that is).

I've just fallen asleep, strangely, while feeding DS3 on the sofa. Woke up with a start when he finished. At least I can fall asleep sometimes

I have a Paul McKenna CD - it did relax me but his voice is a bit smarmy! My mum is a hypnotherapist and she's given me two sessions which were wonderful - felt fantastic afterwards - as if I'd had two gin and tonics! I need more sessions though I think. They are great at getting rid of the anxiety. It is sad how common this problem is... and how hard it is to get over it.

hows the sleep been?

Crap - last night I just had a cup of herbal tea and although think I slept 4 hours or so it was all dreams and broken up into little chunks and it was horrible and feel today like I've had no sleep. Is that normal? When will my sleep get back to normal. I feel like I've lost the ability to deep sleep. Didn't help that DS3 was awake on and off 12-5am. Bloody hell. Is there an end to this horrible feeling of depreviation?

are you actually tired or is it just annoying you because you cant gey a deep sleep.

I find i have the most refreshing 40 winks when football is on and im so bored i just fall asleep[grin

I think i thrive on power naps. But when i go to bed i feel wide a bloody wake and everyone else is asleep..grrrrrrrrrrrr

I am exhausted. Another bad night last night. I am at the end of my tether I used to have 8-9 hour nights. I can't deal with 3 hour nights. I am the walking dead.

whats going on in your mind when you hit the pillow....something must be upsetting your normality. it might only be something small or something mildly annoying

Going to try hypnosis on ipod tonight. Desparation here. My mum is a hypnotherapist but she hasn't done a CD yet!

hope it works for you

The thing that is stopping me sleeping, ironically, is the fear of sleep deprivation the next day. When I am sleep deprived I feel seriously down. I rant and rave at poor DH about how my life isn't worth living if I don't get enough sleep. So the fear of what will happen makes it happen. Stupid, eh?

hi i can't help much but have the same problem. Had first baby end of November and sleep problems since she was born (traumatic 30 hour labour in hospital, then week long stay there with health scares) which carried over to coming home. GP gave me antidepressants and temazepan - I am tapering off the ADs because I think the depressed symptoms are actually sleep deprivation and I reckon the ADs actually make it worse. Also l haven't wanted to take the temazepan too much as I know it can be addictive, plus not very practical to take when you have a baby. I have good (only a few) and bad nights (lots); have tried various things. I am just hoping that eventually I'll get bored of worrying about not being able to sleep and that will break the cycle. Am thinking of trying hypnotherapy so let me know how you get on with that. It is awful though, so I really sympathise with you.

I've just replied to your other post! Funny! We are in the same boat right now, hell, isn't it? Last night I gave in after two really crap nights I took a zopiclone. I feel 'better' today but shit about giving in and taking a sleeping pill. The bad nights are awful, aren't they? I did try the hypnotherapy CD last night and it really worked as I felt myself nodding off but the problem is that after two bad nights I was so exhausted I couldn't sleep and when I took the headphones off, I woke myself up. Vicious circle. I used to sleep 8-9 hours a night every night. I feel like I've lost myself. What is worse DS3 is going through a bad phase at night and poor DH has been looking after him at night and is getting 4-5 hours a night. He's been a star but I need to get myself better so I can take over again. It's been a month now since I first sort help.

Hi, I had the same post-partumn insomnia for DS1. What ended up working for me was a homeopath. She 'prescribed' two pills for me and I take them religiously every night - it might be placebo or it might actually work but since there's no side effects, I plan on sticking with them. (It's Kali Phos for winding down and Gelsemium for anxiety but I think it varies by person what you need). I also used earplugs with DS2 when DH was in charge. It took away the responsibility that I needed to listen - which I think was keeping me up and making me anxious. Good luck - after a seven month stint of insomnia, especially from 1am to 4am, I thought I'd never sleep again and it was horrible - but I'm back to sleeping normally (albeit with earplugs if DH is home, my boys don't normally wake at night but the earplugs are a comfort ritual now).

ooooh i hate giving in to the tablets tooo

Becky and Aly - I've read about half the thread but don't have time to read all of it (am off to bed now ) but just wanted to assure you that it is possible to get back to good sleeping patterns after postnatal insomnia.

I put up with my insomnia for a long time (months) before going to the GP. She prescribed temazepam. I took half a tablet when I woke in the night, usually at around 3am.

But, of course, as soon as I knew I had that little tablet which would get me back off to sleep, my sleeping problems started to ease and I found myself not waking up some nights ...

So then I decided to replace the temazepam with herbal sleeping tablets (mine had Valerian in, I think they may even have been called Valerina). I gave myself permission to take some, whatever time I woke up in the night, and I did have them by my bed for several years.

Now I take nothing. If I am woken in the night I find it incredibly difficult to get back to sleep, so I wear ear plugs. But luckily I wake up rarely now and generally get 7 hours sleep a night.

I am just saying all this to promise you it is possible to be cured and that things can get better.

Forgot to say that several months sleeping alone without dh also helped me get back on track. He was very understanding about it.

bibbity ,ive had it 21 years now and its no better

I had this too and it's just so maddening - you want to sleep as at last your babe is gone asleep, but you can't - it's like you're waiting for him/ her to wake so that you can 'go' again.you're totally revved up and wired to the moon.

What i found helped for me was to take three months of St John's wort one a day in the morning,(it's a herbal anti depressant - non addictive) and to take two valerina tablets (non addictive valerian and hops) at night and to get my Dh to promise me that he would look after things and do the night feeds. He would lock up and turn the oven off - I absolutely did not have to worry about this.

When i knew positively that DH was going to look after DD, and i had taken my valerian tabs I knew i could just switch off. I did eventually go asleep easily enough, and was rested by that sleep - I used to get from 12 till 5am 'off'.

it took a few years before i was just able to drop off easy peasy lemon squeesy as i had done pre DD.

Apparently it's adrenaline as well that keeps you wound up to ninety so exercise and a low sugar diet can be of huge benefit as well.

Good luck with it - i banned my DH from the bedroom as well at times as he was snoring and tossing and turning too much for my liking.

is there any way you could get the bedroom absolutely to yourself for a night a week?

Remember you sleep patterns change radically when you've just had a baby - scientists have noticed that mummies brains 'scan' for any unusual noises - baby cries, predator walking in the undergrowth etc every 40 seconds, awake or asleep - it's no wonder that we wake up - it's part of being an alert / good mother - awake or asleep we scan for danger and are more sensitive to our environment to ensure our baby's survival.

congrats on your new baby! hope something here helps you.

Hi Becky - I think we may have meet on another thread about insomnia. It's the pits isn't it.

I've never been a good sleeper, it started when I was around 20 and I finished university and began a really stresful job. I vear between taking valerian and nytol but with not much success. However when I was 26 I went travelling for a year and slept near enough every single night without any trouble and no pills. I came back and the insomnia returned for another few years. Then someone suggested hypnotherapy, within two sessions I was 'cured' again. I then slept beautifully for another two years.

Cue motherhood, a very traumatic birth and severe PND with DS2. I lost the ability to sleep yet again but this time it was ten times worse as it was couple with PND, PTSD and an overwhelming sense of failure. Eventually I was put on AD's which helped and got me some sleep I guess but it was more a case of soldering on night by night. It wasn't until things started coming to a head when DS1 was 2 that I went back to the GP and asked for counselling for DS1's traumtic birth. I had CBT and within around eight weeks I was 'cured'. I then slept well for over a year until DS2 was born.

So that brings us up to the present day and since DS2 was three months I've stopped sleeping. I've had another eight sessions of CBT and this time it hasn't worked. I vere between thinking I've got PND again to thinking it's just plain insomnia.

But like you, I lie awake for hours thinking I SHOULD be asleep, both DS's are fantastic sleepers and I'm an absolute idiot for being awake myself. I'm permenantly on edge and I would go so far as to say that I'm obsessed about sleep. I can't stop thinking about it and it reaches a peak just before I'm due to go to bed. Then I get a kind of mild panic attack and start sweating and my heart is racing.

I'm now at a stage where I'm going to the GP's tomorrow. I've been trying to sort this with CBT for nine months now and I'm bored, bored, bored of worrying about sleep. I've even resorted to taking some of DH's Zopliclone three times in the past few weeks. (he doesn't get insomnia but was prescribed them ages ago when he had back pain and couldn't sleep)

I want my life back and I want to enjoy DS2's babyhood. I missed out on DS1's babyhood through being utterly depressed and this time it's happening again with bloody insomnia.

I guess if any positives are to be taken from my rather rambling post is that one, you are not alone and two, I have had LONG periods in my life when sleep HASN'T been issue. So I do know in the back of my mind that this is just a phase, just a ridiculously long phase.

I wonder if when I go back to work it will help. Although the days are so busy looking after DC I find I have too much time to think and too much time without adult company.