Hypnophobia and why it is ruining my life!

[crusf]

Hello everyone:) I am new to these forums so excuse my bad grammar as my English is not very good.To begin I would like to wish everyone a happy holidays and Merry Christmas! I created this thread to address a personal issue that has been bothering me since august and has affected my life in a Negative way. I am currently 19 years of age and recently moved to Texas. I had experienced a panic attack around august while I was attempting to fall asleep. I felt like I was going to die or get some sort of stroke it was a horrible experience! My parents had to calm me down as I was crying hysterically almost all night! I somehow managed to fall asleep that night and went through the next day putting that issue besides me. The next night I had begun to dread the thought of losing control while sleeping. I feared entering the moment where our bodies are fully asleep. I began to think this was a normal occurrence after a panic attack and simply accepted the fact that I could not fall asleep that night(I had faced several sleepless nights prior and was used to the idea.) Unfortunately this was not the end of it as I went through the week not being able to sleep at all for the same reasons. I began to panic and cry almost every night because I feared that I would die soon if I did not fall asleep! Even if I was dead tired my worries prevented me from falling asleep! 3 am then 4 am then 5 am the hours ticked by as they felt like days. It felt like hell:( When I did manage to sleep however I only manage to clock in about 3-4 hours max before having to wake up for class,job,appointments ect. I tried to get my parents to help me but they seem to think I am only being silly(Which I totally agree by the way!) Eventually I did some research of my own and discovered that I had something called Hypnophobia or Somniophobia which is the irregular fear of sleep or falling asleep and discovered that other people had the same issues as me. I felt relieved in a way that I wasn't alone and the fact that I was going to see my doctor soon assured me that I would find a soultion soon. My docter prescribed me Trazodone a anti depressent and sleep aid. At this point I was willing to do anything to solve my problem .even take meds. I took them the first night and it seemed to work and I had the best sleep of my life! But the next night when I decided not to take them so I would not get addicted I could not sleep. So obviously I decided to take them again last night only for it to give me a headache and make me break down in tears! >:( The very thing I was trying to stop came right back and hit me in the face! I managed to fall asleep however at 6am and woke up at 12 am to go Christmas shopping. I felt extremely depressed and anxious as I walked around the stores something that usually filled me with joy especially during the holiday season:( Now here I am righting my problems and issues here on this forum hoping to see if there is anyone who can relate to me and hopefully provide some solutions:) I am at the lowest point in my life right now and I am looking to regain control of it in anyway I can! Thank you for reading my extremely long post but I hope you had enough patience to read through it all:) Thank you!

[Lee Grant Irons]

HI crusf,

I am sorry that you are going through this. It sounds like you are doing the right thing in seeing the doctor and trying some medication. The reason for taking the medicine is initially to get you stable enough to start dealing with the possible cause of this problem with your doctor. You have taken the Trazadone twice, with one day in between. Try taking it consistently for a number of days to see if things steady up and get better. Work with your doctor if you don;t like the side effects. There are other medicines that you could try.

You should probably schedule an appointment with a therapist who will try to help you learn how to overcome this seeming phobia. A good therapist can really help.

Lee

[mikecole114]

Hello.
I've heard of it but never experienced it. But, like any other phobia (irrational fear) or anxiety (irrational worry) it is totally irrational. Easier Said then done remembering that I know. I suffer from insomnia so I can sort of relate in the terms of what it's like having 3-4 hours a night at best. Eg I'm up now (it's 6am Christmas Day I haven't slept yet) the problem is out bodies so need sleep to function and the less u get the worse you will get. I agree with the above stick to the medication and do exactly as the doctor prescribes it. Are you spose to take one every day as an AD or like before you sleep like a sleeping pill?
Have you tried mindfullness meditation I've found that well handy if u have an iphone search I the App Store "headspace" it's a free app and guide you through the meditation well and helps me relax. Another thing I've just started doing is drinking cammomile tea (I swear by it) I know when you have a worry in your head it's hard to sleep but the tea is a natural sedative and relaxes your body and stops you from figiting which will help.
I hope this is all helpful
Merry Xmas

[Applecherry]

Merry Christmas to you too. well, I can tell you Anxiety attacks don't just happen randomly and without reason. Perhaps the root for this happening is that you just recently moved, change can be quite stressful, even if you don't notice it right away, it takes some adjusting. Are you happy living in your new place? Do you feel stressed by school and work? Any of these could be factors. I'm sorry this attack hit you while you were trying to sleep, attacks can strike any time, anywhere when a person is under an unusual amount of stress, and especially when they sleep.

But I have to tell you, don't worry about an attack happening as you are falling asleep, that kind of attack has happened to me many, many times, and the reason for it I really believe is due to a few things you're doing wrong when it initially happened..

1. possibly you're attempting to sleep when your body is not tired enough to sleep. It's as simple as that. you're just not tired enough yet, and you're sort of forcing your body to do something it doesn't want to do yet, forcing it to lie there and sleep, so a panic attack waking you up is the only way your mind can communicate this to you while you're in sleep state.

2. Hunger can cause big time problems too, if you're going to bed hungry, you will have some anxiety and uncomfortableness.. so it's really good to put a little something in your stomach just before bed. Personally I wouldn't resort to sleeping pills, I mean, if your anxiety is too much, too overwhelming, go ahead, but I don't think it's good starting a habit with that stuff when you really can get yourself to sleep naturally by just changing a few things.

3. napping can really mess with you sleeping well at night, I don't know if you nap or not in the day, but if so, that could be a huge factor in trouble sleeping at night.

All these things, plus the fact you're anxious about sleeping now has made the problem snowball out of proportion, and now you have it on your mind causing you more stress when that's not necessary. The best way to deal with anxiety is to accept it's there, let it run it's course, get out of your system and move on with your day.
I would honestly try doing a good amount of exercise during the day so you're tired at night so when you're ready for bed, you just go out like a light.

I can't say this will solve your problems, but I can tell you this is knowledge from dealing with painfully awful anxiety for several years now and methods I've used to cope with it better.

[JLBnole68]

I agree with Applecherry. Very well said.

[SamC]

Merry Christmas to you too. well, I can tell you Anxiety attacks don't just happen randomly and without reason. Perhaps the root for this happening is that you just recently moved, change can be quite stressful, even if you don't notice it right away, it takes some adjusting. Are you happy living in your new place? Do you feel stressed by school and work? Any of these could be factors. I'm sorry this attack hit you while you were trying to sleep, attacks can strike any time, anywhere when a person is under an unusual amount of stress, and especially when they sleep.

But I have to tell you, don't worry about an attack happening as you are falling asleep, that kind of attack has happened to me many, many times, and the reason for it I really believe is due to a few things you're doing wrong when it initially happened..

1. possibly you're attempting to sleep when your body is not tired enough to sleep. It's as simple as that. you're just not tired enough yet, and you're sort of forcing your body to do something it doesn't want to do yet, forcing it to lie there and sleep, so a panic attack waking you up is the only way your mind can communicate this to you while you're in sleep state.

2. Hunger can cause big time problems too, if you're going to bed hungry, you will have some anxiety and uncomfortableness.. so it's really good to put a little something in your stomach just before bed. Personally I wouldn't resort to sleeping pills, I mean, if your anxiety is too much, too overwhelming, go ahead, but I don't think it's good starting a habit with that stuff when you really can get yourself to sleep naturally by just changing a few things.

3. napping can really mess with you sleeping well at night, I don't know if you nap or not in the day, but if so, that could be a huge factor in trouble sleeping at night.

All these things, plus the fact you're anxious about sleeping now has made the problem snowball out of proportion, and now you have it on your mind causing you more stress when that's not necessary. The best way to deal with anxiety is to accept it's there, let it run it's course, get out of your system and move on with your day.
I would honestly try doing a good amount of exercise during the day so you're tired at night so when you're ready for bed, you just go out like a light.

I can't say this will solve your problems, but I can tell you this is knowledge from dealing with painfully awful anxiety for several years now and methods I've used to cope with it better.


Very well said :)

I actually had this for quite a while and the weird thing was my dad told me that when i was 5 years old and he would put me to bed, i sometimes asked him will i wake up in the morning, so maybe it stemmed from somewhere when i was a child i dont know BUT good thing is i got rid of that fear and without sleeping tablets, by all means use if you need but i would recommend you try the homeopathic/herbal route .. kalms nights, rescue remedy night, argent nit, these all helped me immensely and now i am pretty much back to my old self obv still have worries that creep up but im in control now, so it does get better and i am still here 6 years on so if that helps put your mind at ease my fears didnt come to light.

I always tried to do plenty of exercise at night, dont eat to late, do not watch tv straight before bed if you can avoid it as it keeps your mind to active, when you get to bed you want to be winding down, so a kalms tablet, a hot drink (camomile tea), a nice book and if you want some relaxing music in the background and you will drift right off to sleep, everyone is different so what worked for me might not work for you but its worth a try :)

Main thing to remember you will get better in time, applecherry hit the nail on the head it just needs to run its course and for you to take control of it :)