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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by janejj on August 29, 2002, at 14:50:50
Hi,
I am so tired today. I have been finding it hard to get to sleep recently. The trouble is when I don't sleep my anxiety and depression get severe.
I was previously taking Trazodone for sleep. It helped, apart from the annoying fluttering heart side effect, but I decided I just wanted to take one drug at a time. So currently I am just taking Prozac and the occasional Lorazepam.
The thing is I am going to be travelling with work alot soon, for up to 6 months and i'm not going to be able to get into a proper sleep routine. I hope i don't have some kind of anxious break down. I don't understand people who can get 3 hrs sleep a night and feel great. People don't understand why i am so moody and withdrawn when I'm tired and it stresses me out so much.
Right now I have chronic heart burn and most annoyingly I have had to listen to construction for the last 2 yrs starting at 6.30 am every morning. I am at my wits end right now. Why can't they just take their stupid cranes and get lost. There should be some legislation about construction in densly residential areas! I am sure its contributing to my depression.
Sorry for my rant I am just so anxious, i look like crap, I feel like a faliure and well I wish i could just escape all of this !!!
Janejj
Posted by jay on August 29, 2002, at 16:10:26
In reply to lack of sleep , posted by janejj on August 29, 2002, at 14:50:50
> Hi,
>
> I am so tired today. I have been finding it hard to get to sleep recently. The trouble is when I don't sleep my anxiety and depression get severe.
>
> I was previously taking Trazodone for sleep. It helped, apart from the annoying fluttering heart side effect, but I decided I just wanted to take one drug at a time. So currently I am just taking Prozac and the occasional Lorazepam.
>
> The thing is I am going to be travelling with work alot soon, for up to 6 months and i'm not going to be able to get into a proper sleep routine. I hope i don't have some kind of anxious break down. I don't understand people who can get 3 hrs sleep a night and feel great. People don't understand why i am so moody and withdrawn when I'm tired and it stresses me out so much.
>
> Right now I have chronic heart burn and most annoyingly I have had to listen to construction for the last 2 yrs starting at 6.30 am every morning. I am at my wits end right now. Why can't they just take their stupid cranes and get lost. There should be some legislation about construction in densly residential areas! I am sure its contributing to my depression.
>
> Sorry for my rant I am just so anxious, i look like crap, I feel like a faliure and well I wish i could just escape all of this !!!
>
> JanejjOK...I have had the same problem..many times for a long time. I hope some of my experience can help you.
Much of our worry about sleep is what causes our insomnia. I have found you could gulp back sleeping pills, and still no sleep. There *is* a way to survive this..and this is coming from one of the worlds major insomniacs! One thing I have learn't..this may take a bit of 'short-term' pain..and the 'short-term' may hurt, but it won't kill you...far from it. You will have lots of support with my med ideas below.
About your heartburn...can you either get Zantac or Rolaids to take PRN? (Zantac just tends to work longer.) Zantac taken in the evening can keep your digestive system feeling nice and, errr, 'relaxed' for over 12 hours...of course including while you sleep.
Second, can you get a good amount of benzos to take say in the early part of your evening? An hour or two after supper helps wind the body down.
You can then taper slowly down as you get a bit better adjusted.Next..say for even a week...try and get yourself out of bed earlier and earlier. The trick is not to make yourself too over-tired, and that is where a benzo would help say just after supper. (You honestly might want to consider a few glasses of wine also..as many people in Europe drink wine every night with a meal.)
If you always have a hard time getting out of bed...I found a good combo is both Welbutrin WITH a small benzo. Reason being, the benzo might do away with some of the 'fears' of getting out of bed.
Try and keep the same schedule...no late nights and early mornings. You can get by on 7 hours of sleep if needed, so if you miss an extra hour, it is ok.
Also, I have found PRN (*not* everyday) melatonin is good if taken a bit earlier in the evening. Like, say an hour-two before you plan to go to bed. Do some reading..relaxation...keep yourself 'cool' (I find lots of fans, even in the winter, needed...)
Let me know what you think..ok?
Best..
Jay
Posted by janejj on August 30, 2002, at 16:26:14
In reply to Re: lack of sleep » janejj, posted by jay on August 29, 2002, at 16:10:26
Hi Jay,
Thankyou for your response.
My doc is very 'benzo happy' ! I have been prescribed enough for 6 months in one go.
As a European myself, I can say i often have a glass of wine, but unfortunately I find it disturbs my sleep, rather than aids it.
I am not sure about melatonin, i will have to find out from my doc if they will prescribe. Thanks for the suggestion though, its always good to be informed about various drugs.
Finally the cooling down idea has really, really helped!
Thanks
Janejj
>
Posted by BarbaraCat on September 3, 2002, at 1:13:00
In reply to lack of sleep , posted by janejj on August 29, 2002, at 14:50:50
Dear Jane,
I also suffer from insomnia, a lifelong problem that comes and goes. Melatonin helps me alot, however, only the liquid kind by the dropperful. I too realize that much of my depression/bipolar swings have much to do with my level of anxiety and amount of sleep. So, therefore, I've finally thrown in the towel and am now taking lorezapam 3 times a day (along with my other neuro meds). It's been a big struggle because I'd like to be able to do this on my own, especially since I'm a meditator and yoga practitioner. But since taking my benzos like a good little complient patient, lo and behold, I'm not walking around feeling like a frayed electrical wire, and I'm not wound up and unable to drift off into sleep. I hope someday I'll be able to summon up my own stores of soothing neurotransmittors, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. And in the meantime I say why live with the continual acid drip of anxiety when there are perfectly good chill pills out there? I truly give thanks to all those men and women of science who have given me a chance to simply let go and let be. You say you take lorezapam infrequently. Why not take it on a regular basis for a few weeks to see if it makes a beneficial difference? It would be a simple temporary (or not) solution until you get to the root of it. - BarbaraCat
Posted by Bill L on September 3, 2002, at 9:03:49
In reply to lack of sleep , posted by janejj on August 29, 2002, at 14:50:50
There are 2 things that have helped me with noise. One is putting a noisy fan near my bed to drown out noise. Another is ear plugs. Go to a sporting goods store to the gun section to get the ear plugs.
Posted by Bill L on September 3, 2002, at 9:03:58
In reply to lack of sleep , posted by janejj on August 29, 2002, at 14:50:50
There are 2 things that have helped me with noise. One is putting a noisy fan near my bed to drown out noise. Another is ear plugs. Go to a sporting goods store to the gun section to get the ear plugs.
Posted by BarbaraCat on September 3, 2002, at 13:03:37
In reply to lack of sleep , posted by janejj on August 29, 2002, at 14:50:50
Hi Jane,
I just re-read your post where you say that construction is going on. That has got to be the worst and insidious stress going. You feel like you're constantly invaded and on alert. The body thinks it's under seige and continually produces fight/flight hormones from the adrenals. This totally screws up your cortisol/dhea tidal balance and it's no wonder you're not sleeping. It becomes it's own vicious circle. Can you get somewhere for a few days (a long weekend?) where you can just rest in quiet comfort? I ask this because I've just recently been in a similar situation with caterpillers and tractors crunching and destroying our beautiful wilderness starting at 8 every single morning. I was a wildwoman for weeks and started in with the frantic pacing mind racing insomnia, feeling like a trigger waiting to spring all day. I said 'hell with this' and during a holiday lull I knocked myself out with benzos and ambien and slept for 2 1/2 days. It seemed to heal over the open wound by getting restorative sleep. I then just kept up a high dose regimen of lorezapam, invested in a high-speed air cleaner to provide white noise, and also went out there and chewed the guy on the caterpiller's butt out (that was more for my own frustration, but work stopped right then and there).You might want to find out from your city hall what the noice ordinances are. In a residential zone they're generally 8am 6pm. It might help to find out who your representative is and lay on a little pressure. At least it will feel like you're putting some of that frustration back where it belongs and not just being at the mercy of the intrusive chaos you're stuck with. But doing that kind of righteous civic assertion can really rev you up and you're back with insomnia again.
As far as travelling to other time zones, you have good reason to be concerned, especially while in a current sleep/wake upheaval. It doesn't take much for sensitive folks like us to get all cattywumpus in our sleep cycles. I just about died when my job took me on the road. I never, ever slept the first night in any hotel, no matter how sumptuous it was. And once the pattern was established, it just took on from there - poor sleep, getting revved up in the day to compensate for it, too revved up to sleep, etc,etc. There are many good articles on the internet about adjusting to time changes and about sleep cycles and their role in depression - I don't have them at my fingertips. One thing they do all mention is using Melatonin rather scientifically to adjust things. It does help me. The brand I use is Source Naturals Sublingual orange flavored. It seems to work better than the others, probably because of bypassing the stomach and liver.
I hope you get a handle on this, Jane. I absolutely know the hell it can be. Noise pollution is crazy making. Blocking it out with noise machines, curtains, meds, whatever certainly help, but you still know it's there. Maybe silly question, but can you move?
BarbaraCat
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