Terror falling asleep

[Nick80]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here. I've had a history of anxiety through my life even since I was a kid.  Recently it's gotten worse after some bad experiences with SSRIs.  I will go into detail more about that in the future but currently my main issue recently has been insomnia.  I can get tired enough to fall alseep but as I'm about to dose off, I get this wave of nervousness that jolts me awake again.  Almost as if my body is unconsciously scared of falling asleep. I was wondering if anyone has ever experienced anything like this and could give some suggestions as to what worked for them.  I do have a prescription for Ativan which works, however, I am determined to beat this condition without medication.  Of course I'm also paranoid about long term effects of being on medication so I don't what to be addicted to something that is only supressing my symptoms.  I have just gotten into the therapy for Anxiety about 3 weeks ago. 

[apple]

I understand this problem all too well. 

However I found a better way.  Melatonin, found in your health food store is a natural remedy that helps your body produce more natural melatonin in your body which in fact puts you to sleep.  It is safe for children too.

[apple]

I think the anxiety becomes so natural that your brain causes this and jerks you or whatever because you are relaxing, something your body is so not used to.

[Jitterbug]

Hi Nick

I had problems sleeping a few months back - I used valerian root (1600mg at night) which worked well for me. Its a plant herb extract and worked on the GABA receptors (same ones your Ativan does) but obviously its a herb prep not a pharmaceutical.

J

[Nick80]

Hey, thanks for the replies.  I actually went out and bought all those herbs last week.  Valerian, Kava Kava, Melatonin, St. Johns Wort, etc....plus I've been loading up on the Vitamins (C, B Complex, Calcium, Magnesium, etc). For the last few nights I had not gotten more then 2 hours of sleep per night, and last night I was exhausted at around 12pm so I thought I would be able to sleep and i did in fact fall asleep, however I woke up at 2:00am with the same feelings of anxiety and couldn't get back to sleep.  I took 1 mg of melatonin and a 250mg  kava pill but those didn't help.  In the end, I needed the .5 mg of Ativan to get back to sleep around 6am...and I just woke up now at 1:00pm.  I gotta get my sleep schedule back on track before returning to work Tuesday.  I did try Valerian also a few nights ago to no effect (the dosage was no where near 1600mg however) but maybe ill try it again.   The only thing is, from what I've read, its not good to mix high dosages of those herbs with benzo's like Ativan so If I take the high dose of Valerian for the night and it doesn't work then I guess I'm not going to be sleeping 

[Jitterbug]

Good luck Nick, the Valerian can take 2-3 weeks to get to full effect, hopefully sooner for you.

I'm not sure if you're US based, here in the UK Boots sell a good product called Valerina Night which is a combo of (cut and paste here):

Valerian extract (Valeriana officinalis radix)
Equivalent to 400mg
Hops extract (Humulus lupulus flores)
Equivalent to 382mg
Lemon balm extract (Melissa officinalis herba)
Equivalent to 162mg

You take 4 tablets 1 hr before bed.
Each of the ingredients is supposed to be good for sleep.