At present it's 2:30 am, can't sleep, even with prescribed sleeping meds. Any experience with this?
Hi Ty P. I too did wake up to my tinnitus, though I do not feel it is as prominent as your situation. I was using a tinnitus sound therapy web site (the ones that go for 8 to 10 hours) when I was sleeping. My doctor gave me some Nortripyline to help with sleep/anxiety, and I found I was able to go to sleep. However, I was using wifi for my computer to play the sound therapy during the night. What happens when you combine wifi, Bell Cananda and technology? What happens is that the wifi would cut out and the web site would stop. As soon as that happened, I would wake up from my t., realize that wifi was down, restart my computer, and start all over again. Fortunately, I was still able to go back to sleep. I have overcome the problem by going out and getting 100' internet cable and connecting my computer into the internet that way. Since then there has been no intermittent sound therapy at night.
I know that this is not a severe as your situation, but at least you know you are not alone in dealing with sleep anxiety. For the first 2 to 3 weeks, I did not want to go to bed, because it would be there at night, and in the morning. I am a nighthawk and so what has also helped me is that I have been going to bed between 2 and 4 in the morning. I wake up around 9 to 10 or so. The day is not so long, and when I go to bed I am tired, which I feel also helps me sleep.
I have also found that realizing that it can get better, and does for so many people, why not me, and why not you? Stress and stressing over your t. is a great way to keep beating yourself up. You know how you can show compassion and understanding for someone you care about? Well, how about you start showing that patience and understanding and support for yourself. It starts with hope, that tomorrow one thing will be better. What you have to do is notice it. When you expect it to be bad, usually that is all you see and recognize and acknowledge in your head, even WHEN SOMETHING GOOD HAPPENS, YOU WON'T SEE IT. So, start tomorrow by noticing 1 good thing, even something not that big, a good parking spot, a good seat, that last copy of a dvd you wanted is there, and you got it, someone said something funny and made you laugh or smile. Acknowledge it, and realize more can come along. Sure the t. is still there, but you know what, something good happened, feel good about it, and then the t. starts to lose its grip on you. You notice 5 good things when you go to bed, the t. may start to lose its grip on you and your anxiety starts to lessen, don't focus on the t. don't give it that power over you, you have the power over it to look somewhere else. Something good happened in that you found this website. A lot of people don't and are left in the dark with not answers and support and understanding.
Today, I had a good day, got lots done and felt I had accomplished a lot. A lot that is, except for the t. ringing in my right ear loud and constantly throughout the day. It was angry for whatever reason today. At times I didn't notice it, but that was rarely today. The rest of the time I have decided to ignore it, more on, and not let it take away the good stuff of today. It is ringing now, and rather loudly. Was it easy to get here. NO. I got here because I started to have hope that it will improve, and I started to appreciate 1 good thing, and remembered it, then 2 , then 3, and then I realized I could look past this and not let it run me. Sure, I still have hard times, I won't lie where it does bother me, and I still describe my improved attitude as fragile, but each day it seems to be alittle less fragile. Do I want this to go away, and wish I never picked up my phone which gave this to me. HELL Yeah!! But I have it, and blaming that moment won't change anything, only make me angry, and feed the t.
Well, for whatever it is worth, I hope this gives you some ideas or thoughts. If you want to chat more, and I found this out only after a while, the best way to let someone know you responded to their post is to highlight a portion of it, and no will notice that at the bottom of the highlighted section a pop-up will appear and it will say "Quote'. Click on the Quote, and in the area at the bottom of the page where you type in your reply, the quote will appear. When you hit post reply, a notice will appear in the top of the page that alerts people to your message. Otherwise people might not always followup and you are wondering why.
Anyway, hope this helps, and best of luck.
JohnCC
Member
