Insomnia and rumination

@Seekingsleep I lived what you are currently going through.

The insomnia lasted almost 4 years.

Rumination that lasted 9 - 12 months.

Insomnia - needed the help of my psychiatrist and GP.

Rumination - stopped when I realised there was nothing I could have done to change the outcome.

It was always going to end the way it did.

Victim blaming from my family was the worst thing, I experienced.

Hugs

G

Hi @Seekingsleep

I've had the same issue for the past 8 months. A couple of things I've found that helped me get to sleep. One is listening to an audio book or podcast. This can also backfire though as sometimes I get engrossed in it and it keeps me up, but mostly I find myself falling asleep while listening.

The other was a weird one when I heard it. I was told that when I can get to sleep because I'm thinking about something. To say to myself "I can feel myself starting to think about..." and finish with what it is that you're thinking about. I tried it out of desperation and was laying there thinking there's no way this is going to work... and I feel asleep. The same thing happened the next couple of nights as well. So I cant explain it but it worked for a little while.

Hi @Seekingsleep After many years of problems with sleep, I tried the minimum dose of melatonin. It works great for me because regular sleep medications are too powerful for me. Good luck.

Hi @Seekingsleep

Welcome to the forums! Well done on making your first post. It never easy sharing such personal things that are going on in your life, and it takes great courage to do so with people you don't know. I hope you find the support you need here 💙

I'm sorry to hear about your sleep issues and rumination that is going along with it. I had (and occasionally still have) similar issues to you and have tried a lot of things to help me get to sleep. I found a lot of the things that were supposed to help didn't. Something that did help me though was listening to "sleep stories". Someone with a nice voice tells you a story with quite a lot of detail about the environment the story is set in so it makes you focus and build a picture in your head and it really helped me take my mind off the thing I kept thinking about over and over again.

Also I find that if i can't get to sleep in bed that the longer I stay in bed the harder it is to get to sleep. I usually get up and sit on the couch until i feel sleepy and then try to go to bed again. I think the change in the room I'm in helps to break the rumination cycle too.

I hope you get the rest you are needing and that some of the ideas that members have shared here are useful for you.

Warm regards

SkySeeker22