Hi @Former-Member and welcome to the forums. Thanks for the tag @Zoe7 . Some really good advice being given here, as well as a deep level of understanding and acceptance.
First let me say sorry for the delay in responding. I'm not on the forums every day at the moment, tho' I've been around since 2014. The forums have helped me enormously at times and I've made some really solid friendships and met some very interesting people. Wishing the same for you @Former-Member . I have bipolar 1 along with complex and chronic PTSD (which impact on and trigger each other at times) that started as a child and has been reinforced many times by subsequent traumatic events over 5 decades.
All that results in me having long term sleep difficulties. On a good night I get around 5 short sleeps, on a rough night it's more like 7 or 8. So even if it adds up to what most people think is a good amount, it's very rarely refreshing. I could give a long explanation of everything I've tried but will try to keep it shorter. For many years I was having what I call 'jump starts', where I'd be standing and ready to run before I even realized I was awake. And very traumatic nightmares. That has changed most of the time since getting onto a med (p.......) which is not a sedative, but is indicated in chronic PTSD nightmares. We're not allowed to mention med names here, sorry. The effect which is most nights now is that even if I do become aware of a nightmare, I wake more gently and forget the details quite quickly. I don't have a full-on flooded adrenal response and get into a flight/freeze state. My psychiatrist has explained that I am dreaming when not in REM sleep phase and that this is common for people with PTSD. I also get anxiety around taking sedatives and not being able to react if I need to (relating to being hypervigilant in many ways), so even quite strong ones don't make a lot of difference. I still use them occasionally and manage at least to get one 4 or 5 hour sleep which is a significant improvement on my usual 1-2 hour naps. But it's easy to develop a tolerance and dependance with them so I try to do it infrequently.
Something I have found quite recently is that I get a deeper sleep in the early part of the night in a recliner chair I bought a couple of months ago. I wonder if this might be worth a try for you too. I rarely take more than 10-15 minutes to fall asleep in it.
What I've found is best for me is to get up for a little while each time I wake and go into a different room if possible. This contradicts 'sleep hygeine' guidelines (you can google that) but I think I get back to sleep easier after being up briefly than if I try to stay horizontal in the bed. I also had a sleep study done some years ago and the specialist said that even if you can't sleep, lying down in the dark with eyes shut is almost as beneficial. I don't know if that's true or not. So sometimes when I go back to lying down that is what happens, but with the p... med I'm not dwelling on the nightmare content and more able to do some breathing exercise or visualization. (again many types can be found by googling, but the simplest is very slow deep breathing, counting in to at least 4 and out to at least 6). Sometimes I also visualize myself in a capsule of light, going through the colours of the rainbow.
I am also currently doing EMDR some sessions with my psychologist, whom I see most weeks. We spent nearly 2 years laying down a 'trauma map' and developing trust and rapport, interspersed with talk sessions around current managing issues and strategies, NDIS etc, and started the EMDR maybe mid last year. She had around 8 months maternity leave since and we started doing it again a couple of months ago. She is highly trauma informed (and a Dr - 'clinical psychologist) and also an EMDR trainer. Also a very compassionate listener and good question asker. Before we started with the EMDR we spent some time developing a safe space for me to anchor in before and after, with one visualization of a vault to lock things in between sessions (I see a shipping container) and one of a soothing place to go to if distressed (I use a purple waterfall and take myself into a cave behind it). It's true that we can become 'flooded' with trauma responses during a session, but I know I am safe with her by now and my safe space is actually her office. I also plan my week around having time out for a few hours after an EMDR session as we often have a down phase after the flooding passes, an exhaustion after an adrenal rush.
For me it is working well. I can actually feel that when I get triggered it's not as primal a response from the back of my brain; I am able to respond at times rather than simply react, and the flooded feelings of adrenalin etc pass more rapidly and less intensely. And it happens less often. I am more able to move to a safe space and not just freeze or flee.
Hoping some of this is helpful for you. I must stress that we can only speak from our own experience in these forums and I'm not making recommendations as such.
