Posted by jay on March 19, 2004, at 11:41:50
Things have just been plain *horrible*...a nightmare...turning into decades. I have found something, though, that can treat both depression and anxiety very, very quickly...but the effect is not long- lasting...and I wouldn’t suggest doing this long term.
After a week of sleeping 14 hour days...usually asleep by 5 am, awake at 5-6pm, last night I slep’t what I could...2 hours..12 to 2 am, and I have been awake all day (it is know 12:30 PM..just after lunch.) I feel a weird mix of awful, but also feels like a bit of a very nice drug rush...and I am coherent and have gone about morning tasks nicely. I have read that sleep deprivation is this *jolt* that whacks the body back into feeling better,,,but I don’t know how. One theory I have heard is that during sleep your dopamine activity drops, hence the ‘hangover’ feeling of us depressives. So, keeping the dopamine system nice and active all night (mind you...with little stimulation), the morning doesn’t feel so “groggy”. Maybe this will help me get a normal sleep pattern, where 6-8 hours are max, is best for me. I have even gotten midly hypomanic, in a nice way, with sleep deprivation, and my mind suddenly thinks and feels so much more calmer and focused. For a person with major depression and deep social phobia and GAD, I would suggest to try. (Do it when you are not working...or have something important to do, until you test it out.) You won’t believe how *WELL* you actually feel. I might caution against this with bipolars, though, as it might really switch you to hypermania. Having burried myself under the covers for so long, days, weeks, months on end, this really is a very fast and useful quick-fix (just temporary though). The idea being...if you can pull yourself out of a “funk” this way, better things may come. I also see it as a medicine, a treatment with likely the most powerful antidepressant around.
Anyhow...think about it...prepare for it (i.e. least stressful day...a non-working day..), and give it a whirl. I have a feeling many will be surprised.
Best,
Jay
poster:jay
thread:326021
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040319/msgs/326021.html