Can't stay asleep, feeling desperate

[Mezzanin 0]

Hi 
I have been having strange sleeping habits since March 2013 which literally developed overnight.
I can fall asleep most nights very easily, in fact often I am very tired. But then I wake up anywhere between 2-5 hours, and still feel tired (I often need to pee). I can then sleep another hour or so depending on how many hours I slept in the first block. Usually I cannot sleep more than six hours in total. On good nights it is 4 hours plus one on bad nights it is 3 hours plus three. Sometimes I wake multiple times. 
I was very anxious when this problem started and my doctor says I am suffering from generalised anxiety but I don't think he is right.
If it was anxiety, why can I fall asleep ok?
If it is anxiety why can I fall back asleep afet my first awaking ok?
If it is anxiety why can I not fall back asleep after I have had five hours sleep in total? 
I think I have a sleep disorder or CFS. I have spoken with many suffers of anxiety and there problems seem to be a troubled mind that prevents them falling asleep and/or waking up and not beeing able to return to sleep. Or waking up and sleeping many more hours.
Does anybody else suffer from this. I am desperate to hear from people who suffer from a similar problem.

I am not on any meds

[emj 0]

Hi, 

 

Sometimes I can fall asleep easily (depends if I've been doing anything during the day) and even if I'm really tired, I can never stay asleep for longer than 2-5 hours. When I wake up, I try to get back to sleep because I'm usually still very tired but I never stay asleep for longer than a couple of hours.   So I end up waking up in the night, and spending a lot of time trying to go back to sleep, usually to no avail. This leaves me feeling lethargic during the day. I've been to the doctors, where I've had a blood test and nothing's came up, so I plan to go back again soon. It's really frustrating!

[jonathan123 2367]

Hi. As I said in a previous post sleep is one of the first casualties of GAD. This is mainly due to the 'racing mind'. Thoughts stick when we have anxiety and it is difficult to stop them. So don't try! If you constantly try to stop the thoughts you create more anxiety because you can't so let the thoughts come but do not give them so much importance. I know, sounds silly, but it is the visciuous circle of 'thoughts, fear, thoughts' that keeps you awake. Dr. Weekes suggests something I found useful and that is to listen to outside noises. Like distant traffic or any other outside sound. If you live in the country then this can be difficult at night! But the main thing is to stop trying to stop the thoughts. Difficult? Of course but so is any real answer to our problem but it can be done. Very best wishes.     J.

[Ellebel 67]

I have this exact same thing!!! I fall asleep easy but wake up at 2.30/4,30/5,00 and so on.. i do believe it is anxiety and have a pretty logical explaination for it, i hope sincerely i am right about it. For me it also started overnight and not a full sleep night so far (6weeks later!)! My theory is: everyone wakes up after their full sleep cycles (fact) but normally you are not aware of any of this. With anxiety/high stress levels you are more aware and sensitive so we notice more! Also we are aware when waking up instantly, but if we dont start panicking right away we fall back quite easily. Sound familiar/reasonable?

[Pistol Star 18]

I have similar sleep pattern and I have GAD. It's sometime hard to accept mental health diagnostic but maybe it's part of the process of acceptance.

[Pistol Star 18]

On ‎2018‎-‎01‎-‎06 at 3:43 AM, Ellebel said:

I have this exact same thing!!! I fall asleep easy but wake up at 2.30/4,30/5,00 and so on.. i do believe it is anxiety and have a pretty logical explaination for it, i hope sincerely i am right about it. For me it also started overnight and not a full sleep night so far (6weeks later!)! My theory is: everyone wakes up after their full sleep cycles (fact) but normally you are not aware of any of this. With anxiety/high stress levels you are more aware and sensitive so we notice more! Also we are aware when waking up instantly, but if we dont start panicking right away we fall back quite easily. Sound familiar/reasonable?

I think you are 100% right.