Hypnophobia/Somniphobia

[Aoami]

Does any suffer from this? It's the fear of sleep.

I've had sleep problems for a while now, probably around 3 years, i think they set in just before i first started uni.

Anything between 1 & 4 times a week when i go to bed, i can't sleep until it's light. I suffer anxiety attacks when i lie down, and often think of dying, or that i'm going to die if i fall asleep. I don't suffer from depression or anxiety during the day (actually, i do have the odd anxiety attack in the daytime, but very very rarely, usually they happen when i'm in a car or smoking weed).

The anxiety attacks take the form of not being able to swallow. I feel like i'm going to swallow my tongue, and that makes me more anxious and panicy. I don't even know if it's possible to swallow your tongue, but i'm scared shitless of it. I also occasionaly have rapid heartbeat, and other classic anxiety attack symptoms.

The reason i'm posting this is because i had a particuarly strange episode tonight, which led me to do a bit of research into insomnia, which in turn led me to hypnophobia. I was lying in bed about 5am trying to sleep (why 5am? why not like 1am like normal people, i'd been in bed watching tv/playing games since about 11pm) and kept drifting off for a few seconds and really noticing myself slipping out of conscieousness, and it was really frightining me. It was like i was watching very vivid videos on the back of my eyelids, i felt like i had my eyes open and i was watching my dreams even though they were shut tight and nothing of what i was seeing was going on around me. This has happened a few times before, but believe me, it gets no less wierder with time.

I've been to the doctors about my issues a few times, and been diagnosed with all manner of bollocks. Caffeine Allergy (after coming off caffeine i had the best week of sleep i've ever had, but then the symtpons came back, even though i took no caffeine for a year, apart from that 1 week of great sleep my symptons were still there.), Depression (I told the doctor he was an idiot because i'm clearly not depressed, i'm perfectly normal apart from this sleeping bollocks), and one doctor just said 'you've got a bit of insomia, it'll pass' - cheers son.

I've recently started taking 5htp (Seratonin Supplement), which hasn't made much of a difference, apart from making me well happy during the day, so i might keep taking cos i quite like it. It makes me feel like i'm high on E and really stoned at the same time

So yes, anyone know anything about this? I've never been overly concerned about it, because it doesn't impact on my life much, it just means it's hard work getting out of bed sometimes cos i've had like an hours sleep when i'm expected to get up, but most of the time it just means i'm a bit tired for a couple of hours, or when i worked a 9-5, I usually had a crash around 3pm.

It's a bit grim though, all the same.

GOOD MORNING FH!

 

[tierk]

Still smoking weed? If so how much and how often and also what type? Any other drugs?

 

[Thorwyn]

Keep taking the Seratonin for a while. It takes up to 6 weeks for them to hit in, so be persistent. There are a couple of different active ingredients and it´s important to find out the right one for you. If your symptoms are not getting better after that, ask your doctor for another type of AD (trycycle, tetracycle.. whatever works for you). You´ll eventually find the right one and this will help you to get rid of the symptoms. Depending on the real cause of your problem, that´s all you need and you don´t need to start searching for the real cause, which is usually very well hiddden.
Whatever you do, don´t take it lightly. Symptoms like this are warning signals of your mind and the mind doesn´t heal itself.

 

[tierk]

Keep taking the Seratonin for a while. It takes up to 6 weeks for them to hit in, so be persistent. There are a couple of different active ingredients and it´s important to find out the right one for you. If your symptoms are not getting better after that, ask your doctor for another type of AD (trycycle, tetracycle.. whatever works for you). You´ll eventually find the right one and this will help you to get rid of the symptoms. Depending on the real cause of your problem, that´s all you need and you don´t need to start searching for the real cause, which is usually very well hiddden.
Whatever you do, don´t take it lightly. Symptoms like this are warning signals of your mind and the mind doesn´t heal itself.

If he isn't suffering from depression - as he states in his post - he shouldnt be taking any sort of anti depressants. The reason i asked about drug use is because it is probably the real cause of all his issues. They work in different ways on different people and the symptoms can be completely different for different people.

Your last statement is spot on - the signals part - and shouldn't be ignored. Stop smoking weed and all other drugs - if you do take others.

 

[Thorwyn]

ADs are not designed to cure/counter depressions. They´re designed to fight the symptoms of a depression. And in many cases, fear or panic attacks *are* the main symptoms of a depression. He might not be aware that he is suffering from a depression because the clinical picture is often completely diffuse. At any rate, depression or not, ADs are helpful to get rid of the symptoms (that´s why his doctor gave him the Seratonin).

I agree that he should stop smoking weed. Some people are reacting very strange to this stuff. There´s a significant ammount of schizophrenia cases amongst regular weed smokers, so it might be a hint.

 

[gohan]

man up and stop bitching

 

[Marc]

I would seriously suggest stopping all drugs now. Judging by what you have said you already have a mental condition of some sort judging by your anxiety. Drugs will fuck you up even further im telling you

 

[Garaen]

Are you taking the piss?

 

[megadave]

omg aoami you could have told me you were crazy before you moved into my house

 

[Everz]

Aoam man up you fuggin pussy

Spoiler

seriously kill the drugs bro

 

[CorNokZ]

seriously drugs kill the bro

 

[gohan]

bro the drugs seriously kill

 

[Aoami]

i hardly take any drugs. and i had this issue before i started using drugs regularly. but maybe i'll try it. i think i might give up smoking tobacco as my new years resolution.

also thorwyn, thanks for the advice re. seratonin.

 

[gohan]

Are you taking the piss?

omg aoami you could have told me you were crazy before you moved into my house

Aoam man up you fuggin pussy

Spoiler

seriously kill the drugs bro

seriously drugs kill the bro

man up and stop bitching

...

 

[Aoami]

Actually 5htp isn't an anti-depressent. It's seratonin, but not an SSRI like anti-depressents are. It's not perscribed by a doctor, it's bought over the counter.

 

[Jupitus]

Indeed - I think SSRIs actually inhibit the uptake of seratonin in the brain... my comments would be to make sure you find a constant in anything you are taking, preferably without any dope, and try bit by bit to find a remedy that works. Many of these things are cumulative in nature, meaning you actually have to try them for several days/weeks before getting a balanced and positive effect from them, so work from a base level and don't change much at once. Good luck.

 

[Everz]

and i wasnt serious btw.

<3 you baby.

 

[yaruar]

It's not directly related, bus as someone who has suffered from similar things and form insomnia for a large part of my life the following applied to me.

The main thing was that trying to sleep never works, it just makes it worse, if sleep doesn't come and i start to get stressed about it, it just spirals into a worse and worse state. Lying in bed is the worst thing i can do, the only way i can break the cycle is to get out of bed and do something else for a bit and then try again.

I find a large part of my insomnia was caused by stresses in life which became amplified and often transmuted into something else.

One of the things i do now is have quite a strict wind down routing at night, it annoys my wife sometimes, but it does mean that i consistently get a reasonable nights sleep.

 

[Marc]

Are you taking the piss?

Is this aimed at me?

 

[Job]

Tamazipan man, you will sleep like a sleepy baby on baby Tamazipan.

 

[Garaen]

Is this aimed at me?

Nah it was aimed at aoamim8, the crazy fuck.

 

[Garaen]

I'm not really sure I can offer any advice other than see a different GP. If you are actually having trouble sleeping then I would suggest less mental stimulation before bed (such as watching TV in bed or playing on the computer).

With regards to the anxiety you're gonna have to get that looked at as it will seriously affect your health in years to come if you're not getting sufficient sleep.

 

[gohan]

personaly i won't change my tune ^^ i still recommend a big bowl of man the fuck up

 

[Bugz]

i agree with gohan.

fkin people class anything as a problem now-a-days!11

 

[Thorwyn]

fking people class nothing as a problem until they´re affected.

 

[gohan]

fking people class nothing as a problem until they´re affected.

i love that people still take me srsly xD

 

[Thorwyn]

Sorry about that, my sarcasm-sensor apparently failed me.
Mabye it´s because this topic is too serious for my tastes.

 

[fettoken]

i love that people still take me srsly xD

Sure we do *pats on head* ...*sigh*

 

[old.Tohtori]

fkin people class anything as a problem now-a-days!11

fking people class nothing as a problem until they´re affected.

Both actually right in a way, fking people are ignorant about problems

Too quick to jump on depression trains, not jumping on them early enough. (depression being an example)

About your problem Aoami;

I have a friend who suffers from ze fear of sleep death, it's really up to the doctor to take it seriously, you keeping to your stance and getting the right meds. IF...note...IF you're 100% sure that's the problem.

Take apart your life, check areas especially close to sleepy time, see if you can strain yourself more, lessen caffeine/computer time(activates brain really) etc etc. Then when all else fails, pick your poison and stick to your guns even if the doc tries to diagnose you with horsepoon.

 

[CorNokZ]

You can see Tohtori has been away from the computer for a few days by the massive amount of posts he is spitting out atm!

Had a good Yule?