Insomnia OCD/Health concern OCD

This year the quality of my sleep decreased, resulting into chronic insomnia, lack of sleep and heavy dependence on sleeping medication. Quite recently I managed to regain control over it, though last week my insomnia returned and subsequently my OCD thoughts increased. From now own it circles around fatal insomnia and risk of having it. I know that it's irrational and the illness is very rare. However, I can't help thinking about it over and over. And it really disrupts my sleep, causing serious panic attacks.

Username: JeanneJeanne

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 26w ago

Get up and get out of the bedroom. Find something that keeps your mind busy. Don’t go back to bed until you haven’t thought about not sleeping. Sometimes that means being up the entire night. That’s uncomfortable but okay. The next night have a routine that calms your mind and do it at the same time. Repeat each night and eventually you will sleep. If getting busy doesn’t work get on NOCD and do your homework. You may do it several times. The goal is to feel empowered and confident and to remember what ocd is doing and what you can do to stop it. The therapy steps work. Also have a glass of milk or something to eat if you are up a long time. When I get back to bed I go through my regular routine before bed. It may be 4 am but do it anyway. Get your brain used to a bedtime routine

Username: Nannawel26Nannawel26

Date posted: 26w ago

Thank you a lot for the valuable advice! Insomnia and sleep OCD have been a major obstacle for me since the early childhood up to the moment when I got very anxious before going to bed fearing not been able to sleep.

Username: Patrycja Patrycja

Date posted: 26w ago

Oh dear how I get you! I was going through that few months ago, I was waking up all night, I was tired all the time because I thought if I was to get sick IT would happen at night. IT was nightmare. Now I'm on meds and that helped mi get my sleep back. But it is awfully hard to break the cycle when you're in IT :( For me it was helpful sometimes to put a thermophore on my stomach and getting to bed like relly really tired. I also drank loads of sleeping Herbs. But dear that was the hardest! Sending love! I Hope you'll get Hood night sleep soon

Username: Nannawel26Nannawel26

Date posted: 26w ago

Thank you a lot for your kind words! I really hope that you managed to cope with it and now have a good night sleep! ✨

Username: Rodrigo Gier

Date posted: 2y ago

OCD is so sneaky - Need help with ERP

Finally, after 2 months,after a long tak with my therapist this morning, I identified my true demon. I was hitting the scarecrow all along. Now I need help identifying the compulsions in ERP. I'm that dude you probably have seen around here complaining about sleep. I am constantly afraid I wont get to sleep at night. Now, I didnt really understand why I have that fear. I mean, I'd be totally fine If a doctor said ''ok, you should stay awake for 3 days for an experiment. The real problem for me is the uncertainty about my sleep, in which I never know if I'll be able to sleep or not. I thought it was just sleep anxiety. However, I used to work night shift a couple of years ago, and sometimes I would skip a day of sleep on purpose, to have more free time to enjoy ( I used to sleep from 6 am to 3 pm). I never felt scared at all. Even when I would try to sleep and failed, I would feel frustrated, but not terrified as I find myself nowadays when I have a sleepless night. So I started questioning: What happened lately that made me so concerned about that? Why do I have to be 100% sure I will get to sleep every single night, and why do I get terrified when I don't? So I remembered that last year I was reading about Familiar Fatal Insomnia. I learned that there is a very rare similar disease in which a person may develop Sporadic Fatal Insomnia, without the need to have a genetic link to FFI. It is extremely rare - only 24 cases registered so far. Now I dont know whether I really believe I have it, or may develop it. I'm more afraid of having this fear at night and fail to sleep, thus ''confirming'' my diagnosis. That's why I feel so terrified when I don't sleep. The thing is, never changed. The fear is the same as I had all these weeks: Failing to sleep the next night. Regardless of what condition is causing it.Anxiety, OCD, or fatal insomnia.. This fear of Fatal Insomnia had already popped up other times through these weeks, but never got my attention for too long. Somehow I realized this is a never ending cycle, in which I'll never know how my next night will be. I don't know how to practice ERP here. What should I expose myself to? How can I practice ERP with a fear that can kind of come true ? (Not necessarily developing such condition, but failing to sleep and thus believing so). I'm sorry for the long post, but I really dont know what to do:(

Username: ma1352

Date posted: 2y ago

Ruminating

I have always suffered from OCD. It keeps changing from one thing to another. I take medication and I used to see an OCD therapist who helped me tremendously. My new OCD is that if I wake up around 4 am, I can’t go back to sleep. I have been fighting it for two months. My psychiatrist wants to increase or change my med. I’m not sure about that. Do you have any suggestions how to deal with this? Lack of sleep has interfered with life in such a horrible way.

Username: stantheman69

Date posted: 1y ago

Ocd and sleep

Does anyone else worry and going to sleep so much that it's hard to go to sleep and stay asleep. Or how does ocd affect yalls sleep. I just found out that I had it after years of battling thought about my health and other things in my life now I'm obsessing over sleep.what makes it worse is when I have a clear mind after distracting myself I revert back to the slave mind and it feels again like a weight is in my mind.

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Insomnia OCD/Health concern OCD

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