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I’m 63, and am currently recovering from a bout of Winter Flu virus that has now kept me off work into this third week.

The physical symptoms of the flu are now, happily, receding, but I picked up an immensely worrying set of side symptoms along the way that are threatening to completely cripple me emotionally and mentally as well as completely wearing me out.

The flu - as well as being the worst I’ve ever had - left me very tired, with the result that I would often want to sleep at any point during the day. This was, I believed, quite normal, and just something that came along with the flu, but then I started to develop some very frightening disturbances to me sleep, that have now become even worse than anything I experienced with the actual flu.

The main problem is that I will decided to have a nap, and whilst all seems fine at first, any background mental images I have will suddenly distort into entirely random things, or any mental chatter that I might hear will suddenly become totally illogical with random words being dropped into my mind and causing me to suddenly wake again and struggle to try to control back of my mind.

I’m now in my second week of this and have been back to the doctors, who have simply put it down to anxiety and stress from the flu virus. I have been given Zopiclone to help me sleep at night, and was also given a low level (2mg) course of Diazepam, too, to try to calm me down throughout the day. However, although the Zopiclone has helped in every respect, the Diazepam didn’t seem to work at all, so I’ve stopped taking it completely now.

It shouldn’t be the case that sleep is something that I fear instead of looking forward to each night, and I am desperate for this to end, and to again have control of my mind. My fear now is that as I have lost control of my mind during sleeping hours I may now see the condition slip over into my waking hours, too, and render me completely insane.

Does anyone have any direct, recent or current experience of anything that sounds like this, and is there anything anyone can say to me that might help.

Any help that anyone could give me would be very gratefully received.

Kind regards and thanks
Graham

Hi GrahamB8, I can understand your problem because I have also gone through with the same condition...but now I am relieved............I had some sittings of hypnotherapy with my psychologist and try some meditation it really works on me...If your really get tired of your sleep disorder then consult a hypnotherapist who can help you out by resolving you issues don't take any medicine because they have side effects too on your body and mind......hypnosis, exercise and meditation will help you to take sufficient sleep....

Hi GrahamB8,
I read your post, I can understand your problem.
In my opinion, hypnosis is the best option for you.
Regular exercise and medication will also help a lot.
Thanks..

Consult a therapist, which is common, start exercises and medication.

How are you today, Graham? Did you see your doctor in the end? I hope you're OK and got the treatment you needed.

Also, are you sure it wasn't COVID-19? Your symptoms could've been COVID-19.

If you're reading this, Graham, I hope you're OK.

if you obsess about them so much that it interrupts your day-to-day life, this can be a sign of an underlying mental health problem. Intrusive thoughts can be a symptom of anxiety, depression, or obsessive-compulsive disorder

I suffer terrible nightmares, yet still sleep at night. I have learnt to step away from my nightmares: I view them from afar. I know - deep down - they are only dreams and can't hurt me. Even at their most frightening, I am glad to be asleep.