I've had severe sleep issues since coming back from Iraq, a long time ago. It has mildly improved, but not by much. It will contribute to your health issues. I say this, knowing it's 3:30 am and I'm not asleep - but - get help for your sleep if you can. Disturbed sleep will wreck all of your systems. Maybe a medication will help you sleep. I saw guys that I had to wake up in the middle of the night, that were on sleep meds. I resolved to never go on meds like that. They were zombies and I didn't like that look in their eyes while they held a rifle in their hands. That has kept me off of sleep meds. That said, it might be helpful to look at meds to help you sleep. You never know...something might be out there that is helpful.

In the past I would sleep about every other day, for about 3-4hrs. I can now sleep every day, but the duration is usually very short. When I can get 4hrs of continuous sleep it's like waking up as a new person. People without sleep issues have no idea what it does to you - it's devastating. For most of the past 15 years of so, the sun coming up or going down has had no significance in my life. My life is pretty much just one long day.

If you have the money, get to the doctor and see what can be done, as quickly as you can.

As for existing health issues, I'm sorry to hear that. This is probably not helpful, but all I can tell you is that when I went to Iraq I made peace with the fact that the end was coming for me, at some time, at some point. Since then I have not feared death very much at all. I've had multiple heart attacks. With one of them I just laid down, relaxed, and decided that if the end was approaching, then that's what would happen. It was a pretty significant amount of pain but it did eventually subside. Another time, the chest pain just lingered for a long time, got very minor, but hung around and I thought it might be a GI thing because it came on when eating. Finally decided to go to the ER, and ended up with 4 stents. I don't have a death wish and want to live to triple digits, but I have accepted death. What bothers me more is degraded health. I want to regain quality of life. That does sometimes add to my sleep issues.

I wish I had something better to tell you. Stay in the fight and make things the best they can be. That is so much easier to say than do. I wish I had something profound for you, man. The best advice I can offer for this minute is to do something positive that you know is good for you, or good for others, and let that be a first step of many - give yourself something positive, dwell on the positive, and know that you'll get some sleep and continue that path tomorrow.

I will add this, in case it helps. Write your obituary and see if you feel satisfied. If so, great. If not, follow up with a plan to get you to a point that you would feel satisfied with your life's work. Maybe this will sort of reset the window of your perception, or frame of reference, and help you chart a way forward that gives you some peace, and allows you to sleep and tackle the other issues.

Hope things get better.