|
I'm sorry you’re going through this, I recognize it.. actually it's the first time I see someone else explaining the sinking and lack of 'click'. I’ve struggled for 2 years, but am slowly doing better now. I can tell you more if you'd like but I don't want to flood this thread. [shortened backstory] - Always had normal sleep, even in stressfull times
- 2 years ago, over the span of a few days my sleep went away: from 5 to 3 to 0 hrs. I then was awake for 2 days. And after that only slept max 3 hours for ages (nearly a year).
- I couldn’t take naps
- I lost all my energy (could hardly walk for 15), thinking etc
- had to chase after specialists to check things, and correct them on their assumptions... which was emotionally exhaustive.
- It led to them seeing symptoms of an endless list of possible causes, but they never found a culprit.
- One hypothesis was that I was struggling with the results of a virus, and basically was left with all kinds of damage.
- I was constantly asked about / advised on bed / food / daily routines, even though mine were identical to their advice (perfect) going into this, and I had been stress free. [ on improvement ] + It’s hard to say if it helped me improve my sleep, since I continued to struggle, but a very strict (though fairly standard) bed routine did make me feel more in control:
* same time to bed every day, pre-bed routine of stretching the body, cooling my hands and feet, while in bed stretching the face muscles and ‘yawning’
* no exciting media or social meeting / discussions in the evening (or close to bed time)
* using an app to play the same comforting / funny podcast every night, and having it fade out after a set time (the Ricky Gervais show / pilkboys yt channel)
* For a while I developed my own meditation routine in bed + asked people to not ask about my sleep, just how I’m doing
+ be very open, forward, non apologetic about your condition
+ there might have been an influence of some gut problems I had, which were eventually treated by antibiotics
+ I’ve been prescribed temazepam and diazepam to at least calm my body down, and it made me feel closer to sinking into sleep – but never really went all the way. I got semi addicted to them, and hated the desperation I had to at least have some control over my body. After I got off them, and my twitches had declined, I only used temazepam if im on my way to a second sleepless night in a row. So I don’t reach for them on th occasional setback, but I’m glad they are there if it escalates. + I focus on daily activities, and excused myself from existential worries
+ I’m now up to 5 / 6 hours on a night, not necessarily of quality, but I don’t feel terrible every day |