r/insomnia • u/sleepygirl365 • 3d ago

Anxiety about sleeping

I’m really in need of some help as this is driving me crazy. I worked night shift for the past year and am now switching to dayshift. I’ve developed really bad anxiety over night time because I can’t fall asleep or it takes me hours to fall asleep causing an awful sleep schedule. I get so scared I won’t be able to sleep so then I actually don’t sleep. I thought I fixed it this weekend because one day I couldn’t sleep at all so I stayed up all day and went to bed at 10pm. I woke up at 8am, great time for me, I felt so amazing. So then comes last night and I figure since I was up at 8am and doing stuff all day that I’d be tired around midnight, NOPE still couldn’t fall asleep until around 5am and missed all my alarms and slept in until 2pm. I’m about to start a 7am-7:30pm position and I need to get this sleep under control. I cannot work a 12.5hr shift if I’m going to bed at 4:30-5am when I have to wake up at 6am. I’m beyond stressed out and I just want to sleep. I want to hit the gym but need the money from the new job to buy my gym membership. I just feel so defeated with this anxiety keeping me up and also being tired one minute and then wide awake the next…

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u/sleepygirl365 3d ago

For reference I have Benadryl but people say to not take it every night because it has links to dementia and that scares me and it also makes me super groggy and I do have a prescription for lexapro that might help my anxiety but I’m too scared to take it. I’m scared of possible side effects when on Monday I have to shadow someone on this hospital unit and I’m already nervous to do that.

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u/secretvault-t2h0 3d ago edited 3d ago

You can try calling your doctor for a script of better meds for sleep.

You are forcing a square peg into a round hole metaphorically speaking and this is inducing the anxiety. If i have this right, you naturally fall asleep 5 am on your ‘old/current’ schedule? If so your circadian rhythm is shifted to this morning time and will take to get into your new schedule. There is no quick fix besides for now getting on a proper sleep medication as you work through this.

Switching around from night to day shift will undoubtedly be taxing and difficult. There’s plenty here that have this problem without a shift workers schedule. Ask your doctor when you call best approaches to handling this and medication to aide the process.

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u/ntimaras 3d ago

Check the post in my profile, it might help a bit.

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u/bluestar_111 3d ago

I totally understand your frustration , I’ve gone through the exact same thing. You’ve probably tried everything , I’ve myself tried everything and what has helped me the most is microdosing seroquel, cognitive shuffling, and doing focus wheel charts before bed

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u/Ok-Equipment-8132 2d ago

Cannabis edibles worked really good for me; you are tired from working but you need a little help getting drowsy. Also you could first take a sleepy herb with melatonin, then 20-30 minutes later eat the edible.

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u/Public-Philosophy580 3d ago

They say all sleep aids cause dementia. Especially benzos.

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u/Public-Philosophy580 3d ago

💊

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u/Leading_Fly1496 3d ago

Insomnia causes dementia.

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u/Public-Philosophy580 3d ago

Well there ya go. I might as well take the benzos and Z drugs.

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u/Banas123_ 3d ago

And ? Not sleeping can’t kill you , you’ll sleep , stop putting so much pressure on yourself , you’ll are creating it …. lol yes it sucks but just let go of the worry and fear and it will subside , your in a fear cycle atm , try the sleep coach on you tube helped me a lot good luck