As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I had an idea to write a letter each day to a person, or group of people that have had an impact on my own personal health. The first portion of the month has been delayed, however I hope that I will catch up and there will be a daily post. Thank You for taking the time to read these and I appreciate any comments or support you can provide on each post.

Please remember that if you are struggling with your health, both physical or mental, there may be some triggers in these letters-please seek support if you find these letters trigger any distress. Look after yourself!!

Letter 18 – Dear Insomnia,

Sometimes insomnia can be useful, for example when rushing a final assignment for Uni because you realise you have not finished it – so choose to stay up for 2 days and nights straight to get it finished, because you cannot sleep anyway!!

But overall I Hate you insomnia!!

I use Netflix to fall asleep too, or that is the plan, often enough I keep watching until I realise it is 6am and my wife will be up for work soon-many times I have stayed up until she has gone to work and then my body is so tired I eventually fall asleep (until the postman/woman knocks like they are trying to break in or I get non-stop calls from work, sales calls or random stuff.)

You can tell when I really cannot get to sleep as I will update this site or start writing, for example, I am proofreading, tagging and adding images to my Mental Health Awareness Letter that should all be uploaded by now but aren’t.

I was given “advice” from one of the GP’s at my surgery a few weeks ago, which made me feel like a child because I was told about how my “sleep hygiene” needs work.

• No Tea/Coffee (I don’t drink them anyway)
• Get up in the mornings, even if I have had no sleep what so ever (easier said than done if I am having a pain flare-up).
• No napping.
• Tire myself out in the day, exercise, walks housework (I do what I can, quite often some activity that would usually make me tired like everyone else will knock me for days with sore joints and extreme tiredness, I do what I can)
• Relaxing bedtime routine.

Well did I feel like a child!! I do the best that I can and have suffered from insomnia since I was in my early teens, if not before. I get very tired lately but have always been able to cope with limited sleep. Maybe it is creeping up on me.

If you have any (sensible) advice I would be grateful, but I will not be buying any miracle cures, tablets or vitamins mainly because I cannot afford these and also most of the time they don’t work.