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Sleeping Well During Anxious Times
Sleep Health | Last Active: Apr 24, 2020 | Replies (8)Comment receiving replies
I've been sleeping terrible for the last 7 weeks.
I got sick (fever & wet cough) 8 weeks ago but apparently I'm now clear. CRP showed no infection. Doctor thinks it might have been the Coronavirus.
Since I got sick I've been sleeping absolutely terrible. Doctor thinks it's all anxiety. They checked my lungs twice including this week and said it was all fine. Trouble is I can't sleep more than 2 hours a time. Often I wake up and I feel I'm breathing quite fast. Also some days I wake up at for example 2am and can't go back to sleep until 4-5am, even then I sleep for one hour at a time.
Also I'm constantly dreaming. One dream follows another. I can even remember most of the dreams quite clearly.
Replies to "I've been sleeping terrible for the last 7 weeks. I got sick (fever & wet cough)..."
@mkqq I have somewhat similar problems with sleeping, although recently it has not been as bad. These days the worst for me is that I get up at @6:30 to take my medications and then can't get back to sleep -- I tend to go to bed late so I want to sleep at least until 7:30. It may sound as if the solution is to go to bed earlier but that hasn't worked for me. When I go to bed earlier I lie in bed awake and end up falling asleep later than I would if I had delayed my bedtime.
I have gotten a little help from melatonin, 3mg, which is better than nothing. I have also tried most of the things in the link that @johnbishop provided.
If it is anxiety, perhaps your doctor can give you a small prescription for lorazepam (Ativan). It is habit-forming or addicting, but my PCP gives me a very small prescription for it, 10 .5mg, maximum once a month but I generally go for two months. He says if you have a few nights of sleeplessness that can help to break the cycle or at least let you have one night of good sleep. I never use it for consecutive nights due to its addicting possibilities. Only your doctor can decide if it's right for you. I don't think it's good to take anything on a regular basis, not even melatonin though.
JK
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Hello @mkqq, I'm sorry to hear you've been having trouble sleeping. You mentioned the doctors think it's all anxiety. How do you feel about that? I think it might relax me a little but then I can understand how it's easy to worry about the diagnosis. Did they give you any suggestions to help with the sleeping? Here's something I found that may give some ideas...
Tips for beating anxiety to get a better night’s sleep -- https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/tips-for-a-better-nights-sleep