re: Insomnia. What can I do about this? Will I die?

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I can't really figure out what's going on with me but if I have another night where I get 2-4 hours of sleep, I'm gonna lose it. For reasons I cannot explain, I wake up around 2:30, 3 am every single night and then I lie there thinking about everything imaginable. Then I start to feel some general anxiety because of fear of no sleep, and then it's just off to the races. I'm wide awake and sleep is just something I'm going to have to do without.

Anybody here ever experience long periods of insomnia? If so what did you do about it? I'm worried about prescription sleep aids because you always hear about these nightmare scenarios, but honestly at this point I feel like the pros would outweigh any cons. I know I may wake up in the back yard at 4am cutting the grass or something but if it gets me 8 hours of sleep, I'm game..

What would the OT do?

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2-4 hours is not ideal but many people live for years without sleeping longer than that at a stretch. It is not healthy but people do it with no overt negative side effects.

I slept 2-4 hours from about the 10th grade until I was in my early 30s so about 15 years. Never knew it was strange until my wife mentioned it when I was about 22 or so. I have had periods of several months to a couple of years since where 2-4 was about average. I can not sleep more than about 7 under any circumstance and never have been able to...my son and daughter can sleep 20 hours straight LOL...I have never been able to...no matter what time I fall asleep as soon as the sun is up I am up.