I was diagnosed with insomnia several years ago.

I would lie down in bed and my heart would race.

My imagination would run wild, causing me to think of every terrible scenario that could happen.

And I would sweat so much that sometimes I would have to take a shower in the middle of the

night.

My doctor explained it to me in a way that compared it to someone with

arachnophobia, a fear of spiders. The same way they see a spider and panic uncontrollably

was the same thing that happened to me when I tried to go to sleep.

I tried everything from night time yoga, deep breathing exercises, a new bed, medication, and even started to get a little

dependent on narcotics.

I used anything at my disposal to counter my irrational fear of going to sleep.

Now let me be clear, I was never a drug user, never smoked or drank or popped pills to get high.

But when I started using drugs to help me sleep,

I knew that something serious needed to be done

before it spiraled into something worse.

I talked to a lot of people. spiraled into something worse.

I talked to a lot of online forums where people like me could connect and tried to see that

we are not alone.

It helps, having people to talk to, who understand that insomnia isn't

watching TV at night instead of sleeping, not staying up late on your phone and

being restless. Insomnia is a condition. As I scanned the sleepless forum

looking for some internet friends I had made I stumbled across a post with an interesting title.

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