Sara,
How did your appointment go? When I read that you took 7 (2mgs) pills of a benzodiazepam, I thought oh no, that's really a high amount. I know what it means not to sleep even with taking high amounts of drugs including Klonopin. I stayed up for 8 days straight once and then crashed and burned. I was so miserable!!! I couldn't understand how I could be so alert at 3 am like it was 10 am. It was alarming.

I also understand about psychiatric hospitalizations, the worst of them and the best (which saved my life). I, too, have an abuse background. I've done Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and it didn't work and it wasn't going to work. I had to work out my abuse background which was pretty extensive and rough. I had a Dissociative Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Syndrome. Eventually, I got to work with a wonderful psychiatrist who was a traumatologist. She specialized in PTSD and Dissociative Disorders. I didn't have a choice. I wasn't functioning at all or if I was, I was being self-destructive. It's really hard to find the right doctors but all it takes is one good one. At least the (right psychiatrist) is a medical doctor and should work WITH any reputable sleep doctor.

Do you have a diagnosis of Insomnia? You said that your sleep study showed that you didn't enter REM sleep but that the office dismissed it. I hope that the other center that you just had the appt. with was able to get that record.

Perhaps you know about the Sidran Foundation which offers resources for abuse survivors. Here are some links to them specifically and a listing of treatment centers in Florida. There's no reason why a good trauma specialist (psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse therapist) won't help medically with your sleep diagnosis and treatment. It could all be linked so instead of looking at one piece of the puzzle that the sleep doctors alone aren't helping, why not look at it comprehensively and think of the insomnia as part of a larger picture? I had incredible anxiety but it was just a symptom of so much more.

I'm sorry if I've overstepped my boundaries here. It's just that I've been there and if any of these suggestions help you from having to travel the decades of misery I did, then that would give you the answers that took me so long to get.

BTW, I hope your wedding planning goes well. At least it's an exciting time for you.

Did you appt. at least go well or did you learn anything that might be useful?

Some links:
http://www.sidran.org/sub.cfm?contentID=62&sectionid=4


http://www.sidran.org/pdf/traumatreatmentcenters.pdf

Gayle

Quote Originally Posted by SleepyGirl View Post
You're lucky you could get off those. It's pretty tough especially if you take Benzos. I took 7 2 mg tablets last night and still barely slept. I know that's too much medication. Any suggestions?

I have an appointment April 26th at UHealth Sleep Center for Neurology. Hope they can help! My doc here in Stuart was another let-down. He apparently only likes shooting Botox in women's faces and not really dealing with sick people. Again, his staff referred me to a shrink. I am otherwise a very happy person who is planning a wedding in a few months and I would really like to look good and not feel sleepy and refreshed for that!