Insomnia Forum Posting

Posted by Tom-N-Texas on May 20, 2005 at 17:21:57:

In Reply to: SR vs. CBT vs. Other Methods posted by DCTom on May 20, 2005 at 05:59:52:

(DC Tom, this post will get around to the subject I think we're talking about..but I'm going ramble just for a second.)

You know, when I started having my insomnia, I believed with 100% of my being that I had to do something. (I don't me "do something" as in an action verb. I mean it as in "fix myself.") I just had to DO something because I could not (and would not) physically keep going like I was going. Life was just way too hard. The torcher was just almost non-stop. Tears came way too easy. (And I'm not the crying type.)

My wife kept telling me to just relax, get off the computer, and put sleeping (or lack of it) out of my head. Of course, I thought she had just lost her mind! How could SHE tell ME how to get through this? She had no idea what I was going through. It was almost insulting to me.

So for months I put a mental wall between my wife and I. She couldn't understand me, and I couldn't understand her. She insisted that I stop obsessing, stop taking medications, and stop reading about it. Everytime she would walk by the office and see me on the computer, she would just shake her head.

Of course what I know now is that she was RIGHT. But at the time, I couldn't have been convinced of that in a millions years. The thing is, if I had actually heard from a real-life ex-insomniac that the aforemention protocol actually WORKED for them, then I think it would have made a world of difference for me. Sadly, It would have gotten through to me more than my wife ever could. Of course, in all my readings I had never heard such a ridiculous concept! Everyone had a tip. Every book had an outline. All the message boards were filled with possibilities and success stories using different methods. (My job was just to FIND it!)

Even now, I'm amazed that virtually no one else has latched on to this concept. Of all the brilliant psychologists in the world, it's incredible that this concept hasn't been thrown about. IwishIwasahibernatingbear said it correlated with some far-eastern philosophy, but I don't know.

So to bring this back around to the recent discussions. It may sound like I'm yelling at people or trying to win some kind of arguement. But it's really not that at all. I honestly believe that different things work for different people. But because what worked for me cannot be found anywhere else, I feel it is important to put my story out on a fairly regular basis.

I think DCTOm is right when he says a little debate is ok as long as we're civil. zzz and I like to throw a few jabs at each other occasionally , but I think it's all pretty light-hearted and I think we both know we're fighting for the same end result...which is to share our experiences and lend our support.

Anyway, I truly appreciate what everyone else's input on this board. I look forward to reading it and learning from it daily. Thanks, Tom

p.s. I was going to make this a new thread, but I thought better of it.

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