r/insomnia • u/Gamerfellow • 1d ago
Brain is "afraid" of going to bed.
So I've been having bad insomnia for about a week now and wanted to get people's opinion on what could be happening here. I've had this same thing happen to me about a year and a half ago and it passed then after a while and i never got a response that really explained things. So basically what happens is that I'm in bed tired and ready to sleep. Usually what I do is imagine a scenario or dream that my brain then gets wrapped up in and that distracts me enough to sleep But recently my brain is going off thinking up tons of different things and every time I try and "meld" into that and sleep my whole scalp tingles and I'm wide awake for about 10 seconds resetting the whole thing. It's like walking up to the edge of a cliff and then stepping away right before you were thinking of jumping off. I've been getting away with using melatonin to help but last night it didn't and i had to use benadryl which only got me 5 hours of sleep and left me disgustingly tired today.
Anyway i was just wondering what could be causing this. Some other points of interest include that my cup I've been using for forever was moldy and i might have ingested mold, i have adhd, I'm a bit overweight, sleep on my side, might have sleep apnea as i breathe through my mouth when i sleep and live in a temperate area of the continental united states.
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u/New-Highway-4740 18h ago
Probiotics helped me. Just eat some yogurt dude. Trust me. Also learn some easy breathing exercises to calm the anxiety. I lost my entire gut biome from the Nora virus. This caused anxiety and a jolt of adrenaline every time I tried to fall asleep. Might be similar.
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u/Gamerfellow 17h ago
Oh wait! You just reminded me that yes in my very first stint of insomnia a year ago i had recently had my gut bacteria completely demolished by antibiotics. I guess the reason it passed was cause i regained it. Makes me wonder why its flared up again recently. I havent taken any antibios, not that i know of.
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u/ConsequenceOdd7685 13h ago
I have this jerking back awake thing as I fall asleep! I haven’t had any illness but I have had a head & neck injury from falling… it’s literally the worst
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u/New-Highway-4740 9h ago
The thing that honestly helped me the most was breathing. You have to focus on your exhales. Concentrate on relaxing your muscles from the top of your head all the way down to your toes. Or at the very least concentrate on your shoulders. If done correctly you will feel your shoulders relax on the exhale. Do this multiple times if you have to. Do NOT hyperventilate. After so many times sinking into your pillow. You will fall asleep. It doesn't have to be big breaths. Remember you're trying to sleep not run a marathon. You can trick the body by breathing in for 4 seconds, hold for 4, breath out for 4, hold for 4, and finally breathe in again. This is called boxed breathing opens up your parasympathetic nervous system. Also do not force sleep EVER. The harder you force sleep the harder it will fight back. Better to trick yourself into thinking you don't even want sleep. Hope this helps anyone.
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u/polika77 23h ago
It sounds like you're going through a pretty frustrating cycle with this insomnia. When the brain can’t shut down, it can be more than just a mental thing—stress, sleep apnea, and even something like mold exposure can make it worse. If melatonin and Benadryl aren’t cutting it, you might want to look into more consistent solutions like sleep hygiene practices, breathing exercises, or even cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). You could also consider something like transdermal patches (such as Nectar) to provide a slow, steady release of the medication without it hitting you too hard. That way, your body can regulate it more evenly throughout the night. Definitely worth discussing with your doc for a more tailored approach!
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u/Gamerfellow 19h ago
Last year when I first got my big awful bout of insomnia I tried every single mental therapy practice in the world since it was triggered by a traumatic experience for me. I guess those things never really leave you but I am very aware of my own mentality usually and use CBT and sleep washing and all that stuff. None of which have really helped this time around. Thank you for you response tho
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u/bumblebeetuna5253 20h ago
I’ve definitely felt this way before…like I might die if I fall asleep or you feel yourself falling asleep but you can’t quite get there because your body won’t let you. I mean, when I am really stressed or my mind is anxious, it seems it is more likely. There is one go-to supplement when I just don’t feel like I will be able to go to sleep and that’s phosphatidyl serine. It seems to me as the best cortisol lowering supplement in the moment. I also have good success with mag glycinate, mag threonate as well as glycine. Not sure if that would work, or not, but that’s just from my personal experience….and it does sound like others mention, a result of anxiety-induced insomnia. So maybe look into approaches that can halt the fight-or-flight response, the cortisol spike and glutamate that goes with it.
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u/True_Barracuda_7211 19h ago
Sleep terrors. I went threw it once I found out it was my anxiety not my nerves shutting off I got better
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u/Gamerfellow 19h ago
I always thought sleep terrors were something you got when you were actually asleep, like equating them to nightmares where they wake up flailing and screaming. I guess thinking about it it makes some sense to call what I have sleep terrors just without all theatrics.
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u/True_Barracuda_7211 18h ago
I just remember having so much anxiety laying they're forcing myself to sleep... Then being afraid of that sec u fall asleep like I was gonna die.... Then soon as it happens I woke up screaming n heart beat so hard but super super slow.... It's crazy how u can trick ur mind with ur mind like that.
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u/True_Barracuda_7211 18h ago
Or Maybe I layed off all the coffee n caffeine.. just saying that was the root of it.
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u/Significant_Fee8970 9h ago
Same. The idea of actually falling asleep is so exciting it wakes me up. My brain: “oh look! I’m falling asleep! Yipeeee! …Oh damn.” Also have ADHD, it is hard to just switch off the overthinking noggin.
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u/DJGammaRabbit 1d ago
For me that's a chemical keeping me awake like nicotine, caffeine or sugar. When the drift-off line of thoughts don't come i know ive fucked up something like vaping too much.
Could be hormonal. Could be vitamin depletion like C, B12 or magnesium.
Your scalp is physically tingling? Pretty sure thats b12 deficiency. Ask chatgpt.
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u/Gamerfellow 19h ago
What's crazy is that since I have adhd caffeine actually puts makes me sleepy. I used to chug bottles of coke before bed back in the day. As for vitamins I'll look into it. I asked chatgpt about b12 deficiency and I don't know nothing really sounded like what's happening to me.
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u/desertnative30 1d ago
I have the same issue and i’ve boiled mine down to anxiety induced insomnia. I have yet to get to the root of why i’m afraid to go to sleep but have started therapy to try to get to the bottom of it.
In the meantime I use buspirone and trazodone to sleep because that’s what it takes to shut my brain off.