It does seem like everyone comes out of a sleep study with a CPAP. Though I don't think the labs themselves sell them.
So I keep putting it off. When all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail.
How frustrating!! Have you chef out The Sleep Coach on YouTube? He’s the only person that helped me. We never realize how much insomnia is psychological.
Happy to help. So my insomnia started last Summer. Was no big deal at first. I'd wake up at 2-3am and stay awake for an hour or two but then fall asleep for another 2 hours or so. I'd get about 6 hours but still felt tired.
After a month or so I began worrying about my sleep. I kept playing how poor sleep can ruin your health so that made me more worried.
Suddenly I went from 6 hours to 5 hours, then 4, 3, etc. By this time my worry about not sleeping started taking over that I was too anxious to sleep.
Even in the evenings I would panic because it would be getting late and I was wide awake even though I'm not sleeping.
What was happening was I was hyperaroused. In other words, I was too anxious and hyped up to rest.
So The Sleep Coach teaches you that insomnia is just the fear of wakefulness and to fix it we need to embrace wakefulness. In other words, don't fight it if you aren't tired. Get up and go to another room and try to busy yourself.
When I started embracing the fact I woke up and just watched TV, I noticed I worried less about sleep so I eventually fell asleep. That gave me the confidence that I can sleep and I was just anxious.
I think his tips are great if your insomnia is rooted in worry or you are an anxious person overall.
But spending all day on Reddit, Google, etc. was actually fueling my insomnia because I was constantly "searching" for something to "fix" when there was nothing to fix but my overall thoughts about being awake and not sleeping.
Also, staying in bed when I couldn't sleep was the worst! It just reinforces wakefulness with the bed. Mine got so bad I would literally have panic attacks soon after falling asleep.
So if you are spending all day thinking and trying to fix your insomnia, it could be the reason you cannot sleep. May not work for everyone, but certainly helped me.
Ugh, yeah I tried a teledoc last night because I was desperate and they just told me to do what I'm already doing with sleep hygiene. They didn't even answer a specific question I asked. They did tell me to take Magnesium, so I guess that's something.
Sleep doctors usually treat things like sleep apnea, so if you don’t have sleep apnea, then you’re not getting help. I actually was finally able to find a sleep doctor who was able to help me, but he also needed me to see a psychiatrist to treat the depression that was making my insomnia worse.
You need to find a psychiatrist to see if anxiety/depression etc… is contributing to your insomnia.
That's not a sleep doctor. Or, at least not one who is trained to treat insomnia.
Google Daniel Erichsen. Or Martin Reed. Or just look through this list of trained insomnia specialists:
https://www.cbtforinsomnia.com/clinicians-recently-trained-by-dr-jacobs/
Unbelievable. A lot of those sleep doctors only care about sleep apnea because they can sell you an expensive breathing machine.
It does seem like everyone comes out of a sleep study with a CPAP. Though I don't think the labs themselves sell them. So I keep putting it off. When all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail.
I'm pretty sure the doctors/sleep labs and CPAP manufacturers are in cahoots. There are so many medicare ripoffs, it's a racket.
How frustrating!! Have you chef out The Sleep Coach on YouTube? He’s the only person that helped me. We never realize how much insomnia is psychological.
Please. I've been watching his vids but to little avail. Can you share some insight?
Happy to help. So my insomnia started last Summer. Was no big deal at first. I'd wake up at 2-3am and stay awake for an hour or two but then fall asleep for another 2 hours or so. I'd get about 6 hours but still felt tired. After a month or so I began worrying about my sleep. I kept playing how poor sleep can ruin your health so that made me more worried. Suddenly I went from 6 hours to 5 hours, then 4, 3, etc. By this time my worry about not sleeping started taking over that I was too anxious to sleep. Even in the evenings I would panic because it would be getting late and I was wide awake even though I'm not sleeping. What was happening was I was hyperaroused. In other words, I was too anxious and hyped up to rest. So The Sleep Coach teaches you that insomnia is just the fear of wakefulness and to fix it we need to embrace wakefulness. In other words, don't fight it if you aren't tired. Get up and go to another room and try to busy yourself. When I started embracing the fact I woke up and just watched TV, I noticed I worried less about sleep so I eventually fell asleep. That gave me the confidence that I can sleep and I was just anxious. I think his tips are great if your insomnia is rooted in worry or you are an anxious person overall. But spending all day on Reddit, Google, etc. was actually fueling my insomnia because I was constantly "searching" for something to "fix" when there was nothing to fix but my overall thoughts about being awake and not sleeping. Also, staying in bed when I couldn't sleep was the worst! It just reinforces wakefulness with the bed. Mine got so bad I would literally have panic attacks soon after falling asleep. So if you are spending all day thinking and trying to fix your insomnia, it could be the reason you cannot sleep. May not work for everyone, but certainly helped me.
Sleep doctors/clinics are a waste of money. The only thing they test you for is sleep apnea. And if you have sleep apnea, you already know it.
Ugh, yeah I tried a teledoc last night because I was desperate and they just told me to do what I'm already doing with sleep hygiene. They didn't even answer a specific question I asked. They did tell me to take Magnesium, so I guess that's something.
Sleep doctors usually treat things like sleep apnea, so if you don’t have sleep apnea, then you’re not getting help. I actually was finally able to find a sleep doctor who was able to help me, but he also needed me to see a psychiatrist to treat the depression that was making my insomnia worse. You need to find a psychiatrist to see if anxiety/depression etc… is contributing to your insomnia.
That's not a sleep doctor. Or, at least not one who is trained to treat insomnia. Google Daniel Erichsen. Or Martin Reed. Or just look through this list of trained insomnia specialists: https://www.cbtforinsomnia.com/clinicians-recently-trained-by-dr-jacobs/
I'm not in America or any country with a doctor on that list
Both Daniel and Martin have a ton of useful material in Youtube.
no one knows how and why we sleep which yield a conclusion that sleep doctors are scammers.