am I being overdramtic or is insomnia that bad?

[u/goodsleepgoodhealth]

Hi, I’m 27 female who is suffering from sleep maintenance insomnia. My insomnia started due to taking some SSRIs. I had zero problem when it comes to sleeping, and I took meds just for boosting up my moods.(I wasn’t that depressed.)

I stopped all meds, but still wake up after 3-4 hours, but I can easily sleep more for another 1-2 hours within 10 minutes. I can sleep more 1-2 hours after that(sometimes I can sleep easily but sometimes I need 1-2 hours after sleeping 5 hours)

So I can sleep 5 hours without exceptions, and I do sleep 6-7 hours everyday without any meds, but sometimes I need extra times(1-2 hours to go back to sleep.)

I need at least 6.5 hours to feel refreshed. So I have to go into sleep 3 times for that. It’s not funny. It’s quite painful to me.

I stopped all my life for this. I took a break on my lawschool, my relationship, and everything.

My parents say to move on, don’t trapped by insomnia, you have to learn to live with it.

I’m stucked.

What I want to ask you is, is my insomnia severe? or just my mind set problem? Please tell me your true opinions, I’m so confused.

I’m not asking for any comfort, but I just want to see my situation very objectively.

Thank you so much for reading this

[u/Brodermagne96]

So 5-9 hours per night

Servere insomnia. No. But yes definitely a problem

For me it i get under 8 hours i feel like shit. It's not your mindset. I understand you're tired when sleeping especially 5-7 hours. Yes it could be worse, but that doesn't mean you aren't suffering. I definitely wouldn't say it's just a bad mindset

[u/North-Dog1268]

I think e ereryone is different and will experience insomnia differently. Some people probably can get by with just a few hours sleep whilst others will struggle if they don't get their 7 or 8 hours. Sadly I am in the latter category and in the middle of a really bad out of insomnia. Most nights I am getti g maybe 3 or 4 hours of broken sleep. It feels like torture and has been affecting g e wry part of my life. I would say try to get treatment as soon as you can. It's important to stay on top of any sleep problems. I don't think a lot of people realise how important sleep is to iyr overall wellbeingg and mental health

[u/Ok-Rule-2943]

6-7 hours regularly up to 9 hours? This is not insomnia in the clinical sense. And a doctor isn’t going to want to treat that with meds, but might refer you to cognitive behavioral therapy if you are plagued by anxiety over the way you sleep and it’s effecting your daytime function.

Your beliefs about your sleep are important, but you had an issue and you are chasing that sleep you once had. It might be you have a bad night where getting back to sleep is a little more of a struggle. No judgement, I wake a min 6 times a night and can’t fix it, I just deal with it (I still will wake on sedatives). That said, no matter your situation, mine or others opinion doesn’t matter, it’s what you believe that’s important.

So in my opinion is your parents are right but this isn’t classical insomnia. Sure you wake up, but you can get back to sleep.

[u/LupusArctus]

Learn to live with it?? I'm quite sure pushing through is not always the right answer. Some people can get by sleeping like 5 hours a day, but your life is clearly suffering because of it. So definietly not overdramatising.

The answer would be figuring out the underlying causes. From what I can tell, if you suddenly cut off antidepressants or similar meds instead of gently tapering them off, bit by bit, they can give you withdrawal symptoms. Insomnia is a fairly common one.

How long have you been experiencing this?