Wednesday, May 6, 2015

IWSG: High Anxiety

When I'm stressed or I feel unbalanced, I suffer from high anxiety. So much that it can be crippling. My behavior becomes erratic and a sense of hopelessness consumes me. Cue sleeping problems.
 
I know myself enough that if I go without good sleep for a few days it'll start to become a problem. I'll want to sleep so bad, but the stress of trying to fall asleep will keep me up. In college when I dealt with a bout of depression, I used OTC sleeping pills to help me and along the way became addicted to them. After that I haven't touched them since.
 
I feel like this whole year so far has been a complete whirl wind. I can't seem to catch my breath. There's always something next to do. So these past two weeks (going on three), I've found myself in a rut of being unable to sleep. I'm not sure if it's the early rising sun in combination of not having blinds (manufacturer issues), but I was desperate. So I've been using melatonin this week and I think it's helping.
 
I cant wait until I am well rested again. I feel like focus and clarity is missing in my writing, so hopefully I can return back to normal.
 
How do you deal with stress?
 

This post is in participation of IWSG, created by Alex J. Cavanaugh. And special thanks goes to this months amazing co-hosts,  Eva Solar Melanie Schulz, Lisa-Buie Collard, and Stephen Tremp! 

14 comments:

  1. I'm a no-sleeper too, and it does only make things worse. I didn't know one could get addicted to those pills (but then I steer clear of medication anyway). Usually, I force myself to calm down but it's not easy. If you find a solution, I'm all ears. And until then, breathe and get some sleep!

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    1. Not sure if you can get addicted to them, but for some reason I did. I think I tricked my brain into believing sleep was not possible without it, and it usually gave me dreamless sleep which I really wanted since I suffered from nightmares. No solution yet, but I really think the melatonin is working so far.

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  2. It's so true that stressing out about not being able to sleep renders you incapable of falling asleep. I have had problems sleeping for the greater part of the last year. I feel quite crazy and unfocused most of the time. I take melatonin off and on. It helps a great deal as long as it's not my brain going around and round in circles, oftentimes over nothing. I take quite a few herbs for anxiety to control my OCD. Once I can shut my brain off, falling asleep is easy. It also helps if I can get up really early and stay up all day, which isn't easy for me to do. I've been in a horrible cycle for the last couple of months, I totally feel your pain. Sometimes when I super stressed, I can do some free-writing in my journal before bed to clear out my head, and it helps a lot. Yoga helps sometimes.

    I hope you get to sleeping well soon! It's so important!! And I feel like I'm having a super hard time writing right now, too, because of sleep issues.

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    1. I'm so sorry to hear that you've been suffering too. I feel the exact same way, like I'm incapable of controlling myself. Melatonin makes me feel drowsy so if I try to think too much I get headaches, so I just ride the drowsy wave I guess. What kind of herbs do you use? So far I just use lavender oil. Well, I'm really glad that someone can relate and I truly hope things get better for you too. I'll try journaling at night instead of the mornings to see if that helps. Hopefully we both get some sleep soon!

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    2. I diffuse lavender oil a lot! I cycle different things. Sometimes I use homeopathics for stress or insomnia. Sometimes they work great. Sometimes just enough to keep me from screaming at someone. Right now I'm taking some amino acids, l-tyrosine and gaba, and some vitamin D and calcium with magnesium, because that is supposed to help, though I'm not sure how. But I changed to a different lower dose of calcium and magnesium for a few months and that made things worse, so it's obviously doing something. Mood wise, the past month or so, I've been a lot better, but I'm probably not going to feel really good again until I start sleeping.

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    3. Yeah I'll take Vitamin D during the Winter months, but other than that I don't use much else. Let me know how all this works for you. Maybe I'll give it a try. I'm always iffy about supplements since I used to take an iron supplement for my anemia and it just made me feel sick to my stomach all the time. I hope you get some good sleep soon Krystal!

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  3. Yeah, I have an anxiety disorder and every so often, it gets out of whack. Plus, I've had some allergy issues in the last week and it makes it harder to fall asleep. Once I'm asleep, though, I tend to sleep through. I used to wake up every few hours in the middle of the night for no reason...sometimes my brain doesn't want to shut up when I need to sleep. I tend to read before bed. It calms me down.

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    1. OH MY GOSH. Allergies. I feel your pain. My whole head hurts, so maybe it's also attributing to my stress. I always wake up in the night due to like a runny or clogged nose, so it's like even when I do fall asleep I can't even stay asleep! Hope everything's in balance with your anxiety. I totally feel out of whack.

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  4. Gosh, dealing with stress... I love sleep, but lately have not gotten much of it. And I probably won't for another few weeks. :/

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    1. Oh no :( I really hope you do! It's definitely no fun being sleep deprived. Get some rest!

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  5. I'm sorry to hear that you're not getting enough sleep. Usually, my problem isn't so much not getting enough sleep (which I really don't) but not wanting to get up. I just wish I could burrow into my bed when the sun comes up. And not have to fly around like a chicken with its head cut off, getting the kids ready for school and getting myself ready for work. But as a de-stresser, I find it best to catch up on your interests or hobbies. I like to binge/marathon on anime, manga and Asian dramas.

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    1. Maybe that's what I name Lidy! I've been binging off on Netflix which helps. But yeah, I feel ya. I never want to get up. It's like thank goodness I finally got myself to sleep... but I need to get up now? Urrgghh.

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  6. Sorry to hear your'e not sleeping :/ I know from personal experience how damaging that can be so get a glass of warm milk and read something boring. Like a textbook.

    I deal with stress by listening to good, calming music. It helps!

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    1. A textbook? haha it's so interesting it just might work! Sadly I can't drink milk due to lactose intolerance, but some almond milk with cookies sound good!

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