I havn’t been able to sleep on my own for about two years- and no, I am not talking about a relationship! I mean that I can’t sleep without sleep meds. This is a concern as my body is eating up the dose I’m on now and I’ve had to increase my amount.
When I say I can’t sleep, I mean that my eyes simply won’t close. It’s not insomnia. I’m not rolling around in bed getting upset that I can’t sleep, instead I just lie there and have the thoughts, “I’m not going to sleep tonight am I? It’s very worrisome, so I take the meds.
I know that there are many things I can change to help myself get to sleep naturally:
1. Stop ALL caffeine – and that means all: tea, chocolate, cola, etc etc. I rarely have regular coffee, so that is not a problem, but I sure do drink tea during the day.
2. Stop eating late at night. The body is trying to process the food and this takes energy and keeps me awake.
3. Make sure my meds aren’t affecting my sleep. I’m on Lamictal (700mg!) and I know it doesn’t affect sleep.
4. Be careful with relationships and make sure you keep stable. I’m defintely doing this the Health Cards keep me as stable as possible. (You can read about the Health Cards from the menu link)
and finally, go to be earlier without reading police procedural murder mysteries! 😉
Do you have sleep problems with bipolar disroder- outside of mania? What do you do to get to sleep?
Julie
PS: Make sure you check out the comments on this post. They are great. I didn’t know others said the same thing I say. Terry said, “I’m simply not going to sleep tonight.” I agree with that sleep meds help me so much. I’m doing a combination of Ativan with some over the counter melatonin products- they work. But as Fenny says- our bodies adapt and we have to talk with our health care professionals about our options. This is where a naturopath can really help!
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Since I can remember I have been a light sleeper, hearing every sound, bothered by light etc. But most of all, my mind NEVER stopped, really, NEVER! My thoughts went on 24/7 ~ I could ‘hear’ my thoughts during the night, which obviously doesn’t give a good nights sleep. So when introduced to sleep meds, after my diagnosis in January 2007, a whole new world opened up for me! And I have been on them ever since. Down side: body gets used to it, so I have been thru quite a number of them. Up side: I sleep! Priceless 🙂
Hi Julie,
I can relate! There are nights when I lay in bed and think about things – what’s happening in church, I’m looking forward to my cruise, etc, etc. These are not bummer or depressed thoughts, and they are not “bubbling up” from some unresolved anxiety. I’m wide awake and finally I say to myself “you are not going to sleep tonight.”
If I go more than 30 – 45 minutes this way, it’s Klonopin time.
Some keys for me:
* Bed time is consistent.
* Avoid caffeine after 12:00 (I can still safely drink it up to that point).
* Take my meds no later than one hour before going to bed.
* Realize if I have some outside activity going on before bed – like I’m out to a church event – use the Klonopin immediately because there is no way I’m going to sleep.
This is how things work for me.
Terry
I have found seroquel great to be able to sleep. I do find I still have to go to bed at the SAME time every night and take my meds about 2-3 hours before bedtime.
I am not on a big dose and do not like the side effects but I sleep and therefore I can handle things better during the day.
any others who use seroquel?
I have used Seroquel and positively hate it! Once my pdoc tried to use it as my mood stabilisor but boy, what a drama! Feeling like a zombie, hormones flying all over the place, got off of it as soon as possible.
I still use it when needed, as it works real well to get my manic side down.
A new pdoc gave me 25 mg to start instead of 50 mg and that helps me feel a lot less like a zombie.
Downside of Seroquel: (for me immediate) weight gain and even worse: proven to speed up development of diabetis.
I am battling onset diabetis for nearly a year now. No fun 🙁
Unfortunately, this type of med, anti-psychotics, have nasty side effects all around. Bleh!
Fenny
could you tell me how you got off of it. I would like to decrease my dose because I do have the “zombie effect” but did not dawn on me that it could be the seroquel. I just can’t seem to feel much emotion anymore. Went to a church women’s retreat and everyone was all happy, hugging and interacting and I was a loner in the back. I am sure alot of them thought I was a snot.
I am on 250 mg and was on 300mg. In the beginning the 50mg did just great for me, someone said that is what happens; you need more and more to get the earlier desired effect. I cannot take benzos; (ativan, lorazapam, klonpin) as they cause a deep depression and I get addicted.
thanks Fenny, you help me not feel so alone
I use Seroquel. It does help me sleep. I do have some side effects: muscle spasms. I usually have the leg spasms before I get to sleep. Sometimes, though, I have been getting hand and talking spasms throughout the day. But it has been the one medicine that I can tolerate. I keep asking if there is a new medicine without side effects; and knowing all of my medicine allergies (about 20), my doctor and I just laugh.
Seroquel is the best thing that ever happened to me. I used to lie awake every night while my mind raced. I always described it as a jukebox that someone had filled with quarters. They weren’t bad thoughts or worries, just stupid things, like trying to remember the name of my second grade teacher and stuff like that.
Since I have been taking Seroquel that never happens. I am sleeping well for the first time in my life and I’m loving it! I’ve been lucky, too, since I haven’t noticed any side effects at all. Whoo hoo!
Have been on a low dose of Klonopin for about 20 years (.5-1 mg) for sleep as anxiety symptoms (physical symptoms such as crushing chest pains) kept me from sleeping, but then went through a 5-month hypo mania–have bipolar I (not realizing it was dangerous to sleep only 2-3 hours a night & it felt so good & had been stable for about 5 yrs. so didn’t notify pdoc). Then suddenly crashed into a dangerous depression that led to a suicide attempt so pdoc wants to make sure I sleep.
She wanted me take Seroquel but I refused as I already had gained weight & now have metabolic syndrome from being on Abilify. So she has me taking Trazodone (50-150 mg per night; having chronic pain issues so I sometimes need to take the higher dosage due to that).
Hi Bonnie,
Sorry that you are feeling this zombie effect so much, it down right sucks! Not feeling part of life isn’t a good thing.
Whatever “someone” said/says (including me!) is not sound medical advice. You must have someone who prescribes your meds, I presume? Do you feel ok about discussing it with that person? Because really, I deal with my meds ONLY with my psychiatrist as he knows what he is dealing with, medical wise.
Changing meds by yourself is never a good thing as we are taking powerful drugs that can come with powerful side effects
Olanzapine does the trick for me. Only ever had 1 psychosis & one voluntary admission for severe mania over the years I know it might not be the most recent or so-called best in the US (I’m in Australia) but I have no aftereffects at all. Also limit coffee to my necessary morning hit. Usually only get hypomanic when producing academic writing (part of my job). Recently had an article accepted so can have an acceptable high over that 🙂
Sleep problems can be also attributed to anxiety and depression. ;
My current blog
foodsupplementdigest.com/fucoxanthin-side-effects/