Insomnia Forum Posting

Posted by Cecilia on October 13, 2003 at 04:59:42:

In Reply to: Re: combating stress posted by MadKnight on October 10, 2003 at 15:32:38:

wow madknight, thank you for the reply!

i agree with you, everyone is different and there are just those who must take meds to control their anxiety that is environmentally related, heritable, etc. i also agree that with anxiety, insomnia, intense stress and hectic lifestyles comes wear and tear on the body which can eventually result in heart attacks, lowered immune system....death. i definately agree with you there.

however, bad things and events in our lives will eventually kill us all. i mean, we are all going to die some day. obviously severe chronic insomnia isnt going to lengthen your life. so when i say insomnia wont kill, i mean i know its not going to take me down next week or next year. there are posters here who say that they have suffered for decades with this. everyone is different. i hope you understand what i mean. im not talking about 'fatal insomnia' which is a rare condition.

i suppose what i originally meant was in all other cases where insomnia wasnt the result of something phyically wrong with the body. im talking about stress induced insomnia. i believe that our bodies have coping mechanisms to deal with the resulting lack of sleep, so long as one is able to eventually learn to relax and find peace with their unfortunate and uncomfortable situation. my mom, for example, is a sensitive sleeper and instead of getting really upset about it, she has always been like 'so what'(if she cant sleep some nights). i know THAT is the reason why it never got out of hand. if she began really stressing it, she would probably develop conditioned insomnia and her sensative sleeping habits would become no sleeping habits and then she would have to suffer through it until she got back to the frame of mind of 'so what' again so she could sleep again. its the conditioned insomniacs that im speaking about.

when my insomnia struck me, my resulting anxiety was very intense!! i just wanted to die!!! insomnia is such a monster. i never felt anything like that before in my life (im 28 yrs old). Fear is Toxic! my body was in a lot of pain due to the stress i was putting it through and yet i didnt know how to stop stressing. i had developed conditioned insomnia and didnt know it, i just thought i was dead meat! (i read posts where some folks lay awake sometimes terrified that they are going to go insane due to there lack of sleep, thats intense, no wonder they dont go back to sleep) i know that during that first month of little to no sleep for me, the stress i was creating was FAR WORSE for me than the lack of sleep. i needed proof that my body was capable of a normal nights sleep. well, i learned eventually how to semi-relax myself and my sleep did return, THANK GOD! i believe though that insomnia will always be apart of my life during times of stress (it returned here and there in the months following). once your introduced, insomnia likes to keep in touch apparently, its very mental for me. my approach to it now is more like i am trying to get comfortable with the idea of HAVING insomnia instead of worrying about when it will strike next. i also dont think there is anything wrong with taking meds, no way! when you have to, you have to.

so insomnia has my attention now and even though i am not currently suffering from it (i should watch what i say), i feel comfortable hanging out with this forum to help with advice on my experience (and the experiences to come). i too have inherited the anxiety gene and it can be no fun. i like this forum b/c there are folks like yourself who keep posters like me in check.

i do enjoy stories like yours also because they provide a ray of hope for people who cannot truly relax and need help. you have a happy ending with meds though i have read many posts where the meds arent helping and that to me is upsetting. i read some posts and i can almost feel the desperation in the persons words. i really do pray for them. you never realize how strong you are until you go through something like that. i want to help them find ways to calm themselves down so the damage isnt as severe.

have a great day madknight :)

Cecilia

Follow Ups:

• Re: combating stress MadKnight 10:31 10/13/03 (0)

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