Re: adrenal exhaustion and insomnia

I understand what you're going through. I've been there. I will not list the whole history, but the panic attacks hit me everynight between 11-12am. They were severe and left me totally wired. After the attacks, I could not sleep. After 4 months of this I cried at the doctor's office. He put me on Ativan. It has been my savior.

I do all the healthy things that all of these posts mention, but being sleep deprived complicated everything else. Ativan relaxed me and I was able to sleep and the attacks stopped. I still had attacks during the day for some months, but I could sleep to recover.

At this point, I've been recovering for 11/2 years. I'm still having heart palpations so, taking magnesium is important for me. I don't think I could have made it this far without the Ativan. I had alot of guilt over taking it. I agonized over needing it. Some nights I needed to take 11/2 tablets instead of 1 and then I agonized over that too. Just take something to get to sleep and move on to rest. Then, one aspect of your illness will be addressed and you can concentrate on other parts of your recovery process. It is too hard to try to be in control of every aspect. Ativan made me let go of one part.

It does get better over time. I wish someone had told me to get a grip on the fact that I would not be well for at least that length of time. I kept struggling with, "maybe I can do that next week" kind of thinking as I was planning my schedule or organizing family life activities. If I had only really understood that resting and reading is all I should do for months, then I wouldn't have struggled so hard with the WHEN part of the illness. I hope that makes sense.

Now, get some sleep!
Tweet