November
22nd , 2009
My
Insomnia Begins:
I have made many
references to my own personal battle with insomnia on this site and
thought I would use this time to go in more detail about it. I am one of
the few insomniacs that can pinpoint with certainty when my insomnia
began. It was sometime in 1981. I was playing in band at the time. Not a
very good band, but certainly a loud one. I owned a small recording
studio called 'Creative Concepts'. It never made any real money but was
a good place to practice for my band and quite a few others in the area.
Occasionally I would take a jog in the mornings. One particular early
morning I ran past a building that made American flags. There was a
ditch that ran along side the building and as I passed it I noticed a
strong odor in the air. So strong in fact that it made my eyes water. I
realized I was in a toxic vapor 'cloud' and ran past as fast as I could.
I returned home and the itching began. All exposed areas of skin began
to break out in a rash within 24 hours. Off to the doctor I went. He
diagnosed a severe case of contact dermatitis and prescribed some
medication. That night I laid down to go to sleep and had my first
'episode'. As I drifted off to sleep I felt a very strong pressure in my
head. So intense was this sensation that I bolted out of bed in a kind
of 'fight or flight' state. I did not know it at the time but my sinuses
were also reeling from the effects of the cloud of vapor I had jogged
through. Back to the doctor I went and was prescribed some steroid nose
spray and some anti-inflammatory medication... but the weird insomnia
continued night after night.
About the same time as
all of this my ears started ringing. My tinnitus was due to playing in a
blues-rock band and not wearing ear protection. Between my ears
ringing, my deviated septum (from an accident in my youth) and the
damage done to my sinuses due the the caustic vapor cloud my sleep would
never be the same. The combination of all these conditions caused an
insomnia 'complex' that lasts to this day.
The journey to find
relief from my sleepless nights began back in 1981. I pursued the
usual remedies: sleeping pills, homeopathic herbs, hypnosis, even an
'out there' regressive hypnotherapy session (where I was told I drowned
in a previous lifetime). No help. Years turned into decades. Sometime in
2002 or 2003 I began putting audio recordings together that simulated a
real environment and utilized soothing natural or nature sounds to
promote deep relaxation.
Adding sounds that
complimented the nature sounds and enhanced the ability to visualize
seemed to be the 'magic dust' that my mind needed to fall asleep. Six
years later the innovation that helped me so much became this site...
and my passion.
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to Sleep
Thoughts
