Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone has some advise for me..
My sleep has recently become disrupted. I am usually a great sleeper and have never had any problems until November last year, after we found out we will need ICSI IVF to concieve (we are commencing our first cycle in a few weeks).
Now it's become the norm for me to have trouble sleeping. I have had a couple of times when I have had very limited sleep for up to four nights straight. It's kind of settled into a pattern of every second night. My trouble is that I struggle to go to sleep, even when I'm very tired. I have now realised too that my anxiety over going to sleep is making it worse...and I have no control over it. Sometimes, even though I am so tired I feel my body anticipating any sound or movement that will keep me awake. And I often drop off only for my body/mind (?) to jolt me awake again - just when I'm falling asleep. My DH snores slightly, and when I sleep well it doesn't bother me at all, but when I'm having trouble it's like I am waiting for the first sign of him snoring.
Usually valerian or sleepy tea has helped in the past, but now even these don't. When I have a bad night, I usually end up falling asleep about 2 or 3am, and have to wake up at 6am for work.
I know it's because I'm stressed and anxious. So far I have come up with some ideas and have banned myself from TV, internet, phone, and other stimulating things (including interesting books can you believe) in the evening as I am finding the slightest bit of "excitement" (gosh can you even call that stuff excitement?) tends to stimulate me! I have even declined evening out with friends as I have found that the excitement of that keeps me up~! Even then, I am still having trouble every second night.
I have gone to speak with a doctor, however she was so useless, and suggested sleeping tablets or anti-depressants to help me sleep, but then said it's not good to do if you're about to start IVF.
I don't know what to do or what I can do treatment wise because we are about to start IVF, and I want to give it the best chance to work, seeing that it's the source of my stress. It would be nice if I could just sleep in in the morning however I can't. I have a busy job which isn't very forgiving if you come to work after having no sleep.
Has anyone else experienced insomnia due to stress/anxiety around ttc? What should I do???? Do the counsellors at the fertility clinics help with this stuff?
Hugs. I'm going through something similar. Last night I went to bed at 10.30 and I was still wide awake at 1. Then up at 3 for a while. Again at 5.30 and now 7.30 and I'm up getting ready for work. By lunch time I will want a nap at work (and of course not get one)
My bad sleeping stemmed from having to wake 2 hourly to check on my DD but it got better over time. Now it's up ***** creek again!
I can't take anything to help and have also seen the dr with no recommendations.
The thing for me is it every night and when weekends or days without DD come I just spend them napping! (not a good habit but I'm so exhausted)
I used to take an over the counter drug called restavit (doctors advice) every so often and it would give me a decent sleep but I would wake up feeling like I had a hang over.
The one thing the gp told me was go to bed when I was tired, phone/tv/books etc no where near bed (I wake up and start playing games on the phone) and ignore the clock.
I hope you get some answers from the bb ladies (and I'm definitely going to be watching too!)
Hi. I will have stages like this and it gets really hard because when I am doing a cycle I often have to be up at five to get into the clinc for bt/us. Something I have found helpful is to practice mindfulness when I am lying in bed. Now technically you do mindfullness activities and should not be aiming to fall to sleep but I find it relaxes me and I drift of to sleep. Its not for everyone but for me it helps to stop my mind racing and add some calm. The idea is to stop and just focus on the one thing. Generally I pick my breathing (how it feels as my diaphragm goes up and down) or the sound or the aircon. Of course, staying on this is hard and the mind drifts but you note that you have drifted and come back to focusing on the original point. This is just a brief discretion but if you go to dr google you will probably find some good examples. It's not for eceryone but it could be worth a shot. There is research behind the use of mindfulness for anxiety and it's a natural option. Hope the insomnia improves for you hon.
Me again......I get/understand this one too. What keeps me awake at night is things going around and around and around and around in my mind with no resolution - questions to ask, things that aren't right, things I should be doing - or not, things DH has said or meant or must have and so on and so on and so on and on and on.........what helps me is getting up and writing it all down - it doesn't matter how or if no-one reads it or whatever but at the end of it, I can sleep
Have you thought about acupuncture? I've suffered stress-related insomnia and acupuncture was amazing, really helped me. I also used it during my IVF cycles too, so you might want to consider it for that purpose too. Good luck
Insomnia
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