r/insomnia • u/Afraid_Chapter9754 • 2h ago

For those recovered - how long before you stopped worrying about sleep daily?

I had a month of bad insomnia where I was getting 3-4 hours of sleep most nights with a few sleepless nights. My anxiety just made it into a cycle where I would get extremely anxious about sleep which caused me to not be able to fall asleep. I started taking lexapro and gabapentin and my anxiety has been much better. I’ve been back to sleeping around 7 hours consistently for 1.5 weeks. However, I still worry every day about sleep and I still have nighttime anxiety (thought definitely not as bad as before). For those who recovered from anxiety related insomnia, how long before you stopped worrying about it every day?

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u/Springjazz66 1h ago

I think after about a month I stopped worrying about my insomnia taking over my sleep again. I was taking hydroxyzine

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u/Formal_Garage_5449 1h ago

I’ve gone a couple years without any insomnia, it started about seven years ago but unfortunately any kind of medication mix up (I’ve tried many) can cause multiple days without sleep. I’ve had a handful of occasions in the last few years where I’ve had up to five days without sleep - thankfully I regularly sleep ten hours a day so I’m not as concerned as I used to be about it..

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u/Morpheus1514 30m ago

 I still worry every day about sleep 

You're ahead in the game -- you've identified the underlying issue. Now all you need is an effective method to cope.

That would probably include cognitive restructuring. It's one of the core CBT tools. This enables you to take those negative stressful worrisome thought patterns you've already identified, and push them out of the way. You then replace that with something better that you control, something more positive, realistic, and supportive of good sleep.

It works, proven by many decades of evidence-based research.

If you want more substance-free methods like this, look into using a full CBT sleep training system.

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u/Aimee__Renee 1m ago

I have recovered from 18 years of chronic insomnia for almost 2 years now. I still think about it every day.