I haven’t been able to sleep properly for 2 weeks bc of intrusive thoughts they always seem to get worse as soon as I’m getting ready for bed. Any tips on how to manage this? I drink a lot of caffeine but that’s never influenced getting to sleep before
I’ve found that caffeine tends to worsen the intrusive thoughts which is unfortunate cause I love a good iced latte and it tends to get worse during more intense episodes
My intrusive thoughts and anxiety rev up at night too! I’m still looking for ways to manage it, they say deep breathing or reading a book is good. I see people say if you can learn to sit with your thoughts and anxiety they won’t bother you as much. Tell yourself they are just thoughts. I’m going to be honest I’m still trying to figure out how to do that myself. I will say that my anxiety is heightened when I drink coffee so it is possible that could be a contributing factor.
Hello, the half-life of caffeine is between 4-6 hours. That means it takes approximately 8-12 hours before it’s completely out of your system. Possibly try cutting it out of your day by like 2pm. Regardless of if you’ve been able to sleep or not before, it’s possible it could be making symptoms worse. However, besides that (for me), working with a therapist and doing ERP has been the most helpful in regards to decreasing the impact intrusive thoughts have on me resting. It decreases the anxiety associated with the thoughts, and therefore leads to them being more easily disregarded. I highly suggest getting a therapist and trying ERP if you can! Also, I recently started putting my AirPods in and listening to an audiobook when I lay down. I just kind of build the world from the book in my mind. That’s more of a relaxation technique though, and more for enjoyment. I hope this helped in some small way!
@Anon. Currently on a waiting list for nhs but could take up to a year so just tryna find methods to help in the meantime I have been putting AirPods in to listen to anxiety asmr stuff and it does calm me down sometimes so that’s a good idea 💛
I totally understand where you’re coming from. My intrusive thoughts seem to be worse in the morning and night. It has taken a lot of practice to recognize when I’m having a thought and to just remember that it is a thought and I don’t have to ruminate on it. You got this!
Giving up caffeine ain’t gonna be easy 🤣
I have work at 4am tomorrow and normally am asleep by 9 or 10 at the latest to be up by 2:30. But the thoughts are so bad I’m afraid of even closing my eyes and lately I’ve been going to bed at 6pm to fall asleep by midnight. I’m so over this. Any tips for falling asleep without getting bad thoughts. I keep picturing imperfect things or reliving every event that triggered me throughout the day. Last night I literally tried falling asleep without closing my eyes (which is impossible) then had to work today running on 3 hours of heavily interrupted sleep. I’m so exhausted and just over this.
One more question for y’all! I’m sure this is many of us, but I literally cannot sleep. If I do fall asleep, I maybe drift off for an hour or two. Then, I’m startled awake….intrusive thoughts running wild, heart racing….and then I lie awake the rest of the night. Just stuck in panic mode until the sun comes up. Then I have to start the day…already being in the rabbit hole for hours. I’ve tried every natural “remedy” nothing works. I’ve tried the pharmaceutical route…that also doesn’t work! Sleep has now become the enemy and I’d rather just stay awake all night. Does anyone have anything that helps them?? I’m desperate. The body/mind can’t heal without proper sleep. Also…and maybe folks can speak to this too. I’m back on my SSRI (3.5 weeks in) after being off for a few months (mistake). It’s torture waiting for the effects to kick in.
Hi I haven’t slept in a week because I’m so afraid of my thoughts and not being able to control them or work through them by ruminating. I’ve slept a few hours here and there but I wake up with this really scary fear response/adrenaline rush because i feel like I know I was thinking something really disturbing in my sleep but I wasn’t conscious enough to remember it and the adrenaline is so intense that I feel like if I can’t remember what the dreams were I don’t know what I will do. Sometimes I run to the shower and turn on the water and just rock back and forth on the floor because I’m so afraid of my thoughts. I have such a hard time letting myself relax enough to fall asleep because I can feel myself losing control over my thoughts in my half asleep state and it feels like I’m tripping or something. Does anyone else feel like this? How do you get yourself to fall asleep? Any advice? Thank you
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