Anxiety/Depression/Mental Illness Support

[Whateverist]

Last night, I almost had a panic attack. I am up much, much earlier (only a few hours later than I usually go to sleep) than usual for work. A good friend of mine smoked me out just a little while previously, so I was tired enough to sleep. The problem was... I couldn't stop thinking about how horrible my day would be if I couldn't get enough sleep. It was maddening because all I really needed was to relax to drift off, but every time I tried, my brain went, "Wouldn't it be just terrible if you couldn't get to sleep?" My whole chest would tighten up. I tried to remind myself I was in the most comfortable place I could be. I cut off the panic, go some sleep and I feel pretty good right now (in terms of sleep).

Just coming in at the end of a very long thread so probably anything I say has been said before. I discovered many years ago that I have sleep apnea. I was napping all through the day and still fell asleep at night and apparently got up at the usual time. But a sleep study showed that I was getting no deep sleep and no dream state. Using a CPAP machine has been a 'godsend'.

Then, several years ago, I went through a lot of personal stress in my work and would go days without sleeping. Aside from working out the issues with work I also came to a solution to worrying about sleep.

I'm convinced that I can drop one night of sleep anytime and pretty much get through my day. What was killing me was stacking up several consecutive sleepless nights. So now my policy is to take an Ambien for sleep the night after a shitty night of little sleep. I never think about whether or not to take medication the first night. That takes the agonizing what to do out of it. Works for me.