# Please help



## Charus (May 31, 2017)

Basicaly my issue is that I didnt manage to sleep this night because the room was uncomfortable for me, I'm afraid that I will not be able to sleep again the next night, and this makes me very worried so far.

How do I cope with this stress about a sleepless night and my anxiety of the feeling of impending doom? What should I do?

To add more, I basicaly take sertraline (Medications) at morning and I take Rispond 2 mg before sleep, perhaps there is something wrong with my medications? Could also the issue for my sleepless nights be also because I drink tea before sleep?

Still, I'm very worried, I'm worried that I will not be able to sleep another night and basicaly this gives me that anxiety and feelings of impending doom.


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## Angry-Spaghetti (Feb 25, 2021)

Charus said:


> Basicaly my issue is that I didnt manage to sleep this night because the room was uncomfortable for me, I'm afraid that I will not be able to sleep again the next night, and this makes me very worried so far.
> 
> How do I cope with this stress about a sleepless night and my anxiety of the feeling of impending doom? What should I do?
> 
> ...


Calm down my man. You won't have a good night sleep if you're anxious. 

Practice relaxing all of your muscles (they're tenser than you think, the body won't rest until the muscles have relaxed). I listen to white noise in my ears, without the constant flow of quiet yet calming noise i'd be a restless sleeper. You have to relax your mind by focusing on the present moment, forget it all but what you're feeling right now. Is it cold? what do you hear/smell? how tense are your muscles? focus on the present with no destination in mind, just being present.

If those meds are prescribed I think you shouldn't stop taking them. ask your doctor, or atleast research the side affects to see if they do affect your sleep, and if they do by how much.


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## Eren Jaegerbomb (Nov 13, 2015)

Yes, if you haven't tried, try some meditation and maybe have a nice hot drink to soothe you.

Anxiety sucks, if you need to talk more feel free.


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## Charus (May 31, 2017)

Eren Jaegerbomb said:


> Yes, if you haven't tried, try some meditation and maybe have a nice hot drink to soothe you.
> 
> Anxiety sucks, if you need to talk more feel free.


I really want to get into meditation, I have been thinking about for a time, how do I do meditation?


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## xraydav (Jan 3, 2013)

Charus said:


> Basicaly my issue is that I didnt manage to sleep this night because the room was uncomfortable for me, I'm afraid that I will not be able to sleep again the next night, and this makes me very worried so far.
> 
> How do I cope with this stress about a sleepless night and my anxiety of the feeling of impending doom? What should I do?
> 
> ...


Try CBT and ACT therapy. 

There is a simple exercise in ACT which puts me to sleep. 

It basically is envisioning a stream of leaves. Every time you envision a leaf, you think "I'm having the thought that..." and place it on a leaf on the stream. Every thought that comes to mind you label it and simply accept it. 

The reason you cannot get to sleep is because of troublesome thoughts. Finding a way to challenge them could also help (this is CBT). Basically writing a thought down and asking the question "if a friend said this, what would I reply with?" or asking the question, "is there another way of seeing this?"


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## xraydav (Jan 3, 2013)

Charus said:


> I really want to get into meditation, I have been thinking about for a time, how do I do meditation?


Meditation can be done by simply focusing on your breath and being mindful with your breathing. If any thought comes up, dont fight it, accept it and focus on your breathing again.


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## Charus (May 31, 2017)

xraydav said:


> Meditation can be done by simply focusing on your breath and being mindful with your breathing. If any thought comes up, dont fight it, accept it and focus on your breathing again.


For some reason, when i attempt to meditate, rhe anxious thoughts just keep coming, i am doing something wrong?


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## Allostasis (Feb 2, 2021)

Charus said:


> Basicaly my issue is that I didnt manage to sleep this night because the room was uncomfortable for me, I'm afraid that I will not be able to sleep again the next night, and this makes me very worried so far.
> 
> How do I cope with this stress about a sleepless night and my anxiety of the feeling of impending doom? What should I do?
> 
> ...


You can try to suppress your anxiety with meditations. But I personally would suggest to understand and work with them.
When something keeps resurfacing, it usually means that it wants your attention, it wants resolution. All those anxieties may potentially provide a valuable information that may tell what exactly do you need to do in order to improve your life, if analyzed well.


Why not sleeping again makes you so very worried exactly? Yes, it is rather unusual predicament. But what is so bad and scary about it for you? How come this is an impending doom? If it won't be comfortable again, why bother trying at all?

Unless you have some special sleep disorder, if you will be really tired and worn out, your body will put you down regardless of how comfortable it will be, trust it.


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## Little Egg (Dec 26, 2010)

Charus said:


> For some reason, when i attempt to meditate, rhe anxious thoughts just keep coming, i am doing something wrong?


You are doing everything right! It takes time to quiet the mind. Keep at it! The rewards are so great!

It doesn't have to be focusing on your breathing. You can do this by concentrating on the feel of your footsteps, from heel to toe, slowly. You can stare at candleflame or listen to windchimes. See if you prefer doing one activity over another. Basically you want to get out of the internal world of your mind and focus on your senses and the external world. Eventually your mind will default to being more peaceful.


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## Red Panda (Aug 18, 2010)

Charus said:


> Basicaly my issue is that I didnt manage to sleep this night because the room was uncomfortable for me, I'm afraid that I will not be able to sleep again the next night, and this makes me very worried so far.
> 
> How do I cope with this stress about a sleepless night and my anxiety of the feeling of impending doom? What should I do?
> 
> ...


Try making a cup of chamomille but use triple the dose (like 3 bags in 1 cup). I did this on my doctor's recommendation when I was taking sertraline too, along with a liquid magnesium supplement in it, especially at first when insomnia can set it for the first 2-4 weeks and it worked really well. She told me to try this instead of a sleeping pill which is often prescribed along with the SSRI. 

Definitely no caffeinated tea before sleep, actually anything with caffeine you better stop it asap at least until you are better.


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## ImpossibleHunt (May 30, 2020)

If it’s a mental health problem, the best solution is toto find the source of the problem and confront it head on. Therapy and visiting a counsellor/ psychologist will help you when it comes to guiding you through it the process; and they’ll help set goals.

In terms of medication, I usually don’t recommend Ativan unless it’s serious and you need immediate results (because it has addictive properties). You can look into anti-depressants with your doctor to see if that might allieviate symptoms. Do be aware though that you’ll feel worse before it gets better, antidepressants take a while to kick in and they can cause side-effects. Again, don’t take my word for it and go see a doctor. You could have some sort of melatonin deffenciency too for all you know that’s been undiagnosed. It’s worth checking on in any case.

In the meantime, maybe try better sleeping habits? For example, don’t use your bed for anything else besides sleeping if you can help it. Keep your room clean, make your bed, etc. It may not sound like a solution, but being proactive in things like that signals your brain that it’s time to sleep, and to not think about anything else besides that objective.


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## islandlight (Aug 13, 2013)

I was tortured by insomnia for most of my life. Warm milk and other things didn't help at all.I tried many times to learn to meditate (courses, groups, tapes), but couldn't. 

A few things that did help somewhat:


Realize that worrying about it (tomorrow I'll feel like crap, what's wrong with me, etc.) won't help. You survived it before and will survive tonight also.
Turn off the light and close your eyes, so at least your body will get some rest. If you need to get up and turn the light on again, that's okay. Try again later.
If it's chronic, consider changing your schedule. Try working afternoon shift instead of mornings. Or get rid of your alarm clock.
Allow extra time for falling asleep. For me, this means turning everything off, going to bed at 9 pm, and reading in bed until 11 or 12.


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## bifurcations (Jan 31, 2021)

Charus said:


> For some reason, when i attempt to meditate, rhe anxious thoughts just keep coming, i am doing something wrong?


Thoughts will keep coming, but I think you're supposed to just acknowledge the fact that you're having a thought, and then bring your attention back to your breath and releasing tension in your body.


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## Charus (May 31, 2017)

What are the chances of dying from sleep deprivation? Is this a very, very extremely rare occurance?


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## Flabarac Brupip (May 9, 2020)

Charus said:


> What are the chances of dying from sleep deprivation? Is this a very, very extremely rare occurance?


Unlikely. Its usually next to impossible to stay awake for that long. Missing only one night is a long way from that.


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## Angry-Spaghetti (Feb 25, 2021)

Charus said:


> What are the chances of dying from sleep deprivation? Is this a very, very extremely rare occurance?


Your body won't let you die Charus. You'll start micro-sleeping if you can't sleep properly. 

Charus, you'll be fine, trust me.


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## islandlight (Aug 13, 2013)

There is a rare prion disease where people really can't sleep. A few months or a couple of years after onset, they die. But we don't have that.


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## xraydav (Jan 3, 2013)

Charus said:


> For some reason, when i attempt to meditate, rhe anxious thoughts just keep coming, i am doing something wrong?


No. You just need to say "I'm having the thought that.. <insert thought>" and let it pass like a leaf on the stream (the visualization I was talking about)

Accept the thought that comes to mind and just notice it


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## gravityfalls (Jan 1, 2021)

Sleep deprivation is not ok. But the mind is efficient. For example, you don't have to look or think about typing on the keyboard, you just do. People lack sleep or have poor sleep from now and then because of worries, caffeine, nuit blanche, jet lag, sick baby, too much sex, work shift, pests in the room, grief, bad circadian rhythm, danger, restless leg, sleep disorders, drug withdrawal... One time we worked through sleep deprivation and my peer told me to wake him up in case he sleeps, he didn't want to embarrass himself, but I let him nap because everyone skipped sleep so this isn't strange and it was a break, so I let him sleep but I waked him up after like 15 or 20 mins so he doesn't go into a deep sleep and wake up groggy, we watched the sunrise, I left in the afternoon the next day, it was unpleasant but done.


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## Charus (May 31, 2017)

This has been common problem for me, I pretty much have sleep problems, from like my younger ages.

I remember during my 2016 summer, I would only fall asleep at morning and stay awake for the entirety of the night, pretty much watching Random Battlefield 3 videos and drinking tea (Yeah I know that tea is very bad to drink during the night, it might be the reason why I had difficulty dozing off at night)

Still, the problem persisted where I would get random nights without sleep for whatever reason, and this caused me sleep related anxieties, especialy irrational thoughts about impending doom if I wouldn't sleep, I'm not sure if It's true or false, but I do hope It's not.


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