Yet Another Insomniac
Question:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -mongoose wrote: > Hey, > In recent years I’ve had increasingly worstening inability to sleep, at the > stage now where I can go a night or several without sleep. I only manage to get > by as I have a more flexible wake-up time as a student. > I have a feeling that it may be a side-effect of axiety/depression > (self-diagnosed), although I doubt there is a causal relationship. It is not > usually anxious thoughts which keep me awake at night. I think it comes down to > a fundamental inability to rest my mind. > Usually when my mind is troubled by anxious thoughts, I toss and turn and get up > every 20-30 mins to distract my mind, and return to attempt to sleep when I am > again tired. This is sometimes succesful, but these nights were more frequent in > the past, and whose occurences are now more infrequent. > The common pattern now is that after lying down to sleep, I enter a > semi-conscious state, where thoughts rush through my head but I am not > completely conscious of my state of awareness. After a seemingly short-period of > time I wake/rise to find that many hours have passed, often waking to find it is > early morning. I sometimes can get to sleep at this time, and once I get to > sleep I can sleep for 6+ hours. > I know that people can drift into and out of sleep, and not be conscious of > this, but I’m usually aware when I have slept even for short periods of time, > although perhaps this is just deep sleep? When I wake/rise in the early morning > I feel as if I have not slept, and am mentally/physically fatigued. Less than > one hour of good quality sleep leaves me immeasurably more rested. > I have visited a sleep-doctor before, and only got the usual spiel about sleep > hygiene. I’ve not yet tried any drugs, with my parents reluctant for me to use > them, and the GP reluctant to prescribe them. I realise that this is obviously > only a short-term solution. > I’ve also tried meditative breathing exercises without much success. I guess its > the awareness of the intent to relax myself, and the need to be relaxed, which > can be a hindrance to the process. I can sometimes fall asleep watching the > television, when my intent is not to sleep. > If anyone has had similar experiences, or any advice to offer, it would be > appreciated. > Thanks, > mongoose
You need a different sleep doctor! And quickly. Regards Lee in Toronto ———–== Posted via Newsfeed.Com – Uncensored Usenet News ==———- http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! —–= Over 100,000 Newsgroups – Unlimited Fast Downloads – 19 Servers =—–
Response:
In article <pan.2003.02.09.14.23.08.433711.1…@bar.foo>, mongoose <u…@bar.foo> wrote: > In recent years I’ve had increasingly worstening inability to sleep, at the > stage now where I can go a night or several without sleep. I only manage to > get by as I have a more flexible wake-up time as a student. > I have a feeling that it may be a side-effect of axiety/depression > (self-diagnosed), although I doubt there is a causal relationship. It is not > usually anxious thoughts which keep me awake at night. I think it comes down > to a fundamental inability to rest my mind.
[snip] > I have visited a sleep-doctor before, and only got the usual spiel about sleep > hygiene. I’ve not yet tried any drugs, with my parents reluctant for me to use > them, and the GP reluctant to prescribe them. I realise that this is obviously > only a short-term solution.
Not necessarily. These days, there are drugs that affect both depression and sleep that aren’t addictive barbituates. What may help is an anti-depressant that has secondary sleep effects and/or secondary anti-anxiety effects. One I’ve used in the former category is Elavil (a tricyclic antidepressant, quite inexpensive) and one I’ve used in the latter is Serzone. Initially, I was put on both together, in part because I had severe symptoms and needed something that worked faster than the typical SSRI. — _Deirdre http://deirdre.net A: No. Q: Should I include quotations after my reply?
Response:
there’s another anti anxiety/antidepressant ssri drug called remeron that worked well for me. I have something called delayed sleep phase syndrome. In laymens terms my biological clock is switched around to a night oriented time. I can’t get to sleep till very late.Recently I’ve come off the remeron because I’ve been able to switch to an afternoon shift at work. Give your body signals that it is time to sleep using nightly rituals like relaxing music,caffein free herbal teas(some of which have ingredients beneficial to sleep). Try turning down the lights an hour or two before bed, believe it or not your body senses low light levels and that causes the release of chemicals in the brain that induce sleeping. Melentonin is one of those chemicals and can be bought over the counter as a supplement in the U.S. doing bedtime rituals must be done consistently over a period of time to teach your body when to sleep. Being a student is a disadvantage because they tend to keep irregular hours when trying to balance school, social life, and sometimes work. your life will be more relaxed if you look at simplifying your daily schedule,balance your life, and make time for your self — no matter where you go there you are "Deirdre Saoirse Moen" <deir…@deirdre.net> wrote in message news:deirdre-0902030102120001@10.0.1.5… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> In article <pan.2003.02.09.14.23.08.433711.1…@bar.foo>, mongoose > <u…@bar.foo> wrote: > > In recent years I’ve had increasingly worstening inability to sleep, at the > > stage now where I can go a night or several without sleep. I only manage to > > get by as I have a more flexible wake-up time as a student. > > I have a feeling that it may be a side-effect of axiety/depression > > (self-diagnosed), although I doubt there is a causal relationship. It is not > > usually anxious thoughts which keep me awake at night. I think it comes down > > to a fundamental inability to rest my mind. > [snip] > > I have visited a sleep-doctor before, and only got the usual spiel about sleep > > hygiene. I’ve not yet tried any drugs, with my parents reluctant for me to use > > them, and the GP reluctant to prescribe them. I realise that this is obviously > > only a short-term solution. > Not necessarily. These days, there are drugs that affect both depression > and sleep that aren’t addictive barbituates. > What may help is an anti-depressant that has secondary sleep effects > and/or secondary anti-anxiety effects. One I’ve used in the former > category is Elavil (a tricyclic antidepressant, quite inexpensive) and one > I’ve used in the latter is Serzone. > Initially, I was put on both together, in part because I had severe > symptoms and needed something that worked faster than the typical SSRI. > — > _Deirdre http://deirdre.net > A: No. > Q: Should I include quotations after my reply?
Response:
Mongoose From my experience I found the anti-depressants to be non-habit forming. It is important to note that there are lots of them available, so if you have side-effects on the medicine please talk to your Dr so they can try a different one for you. (In fact I think finding the right anti-depressant is about as hard as finding the right CPAP mask!) After my Loramet (sleeping tablets) lost their effectiveness, I can remember being given Tryptanol in a low dose (think it was 5 or 10mg tablets) for insomnia. It made me so constipated that after about 3 weeks the Dr swapped me to Surmontil. I had to break the 25mg tables in half to use them for insomnia but they worked well for me for a number of years. Where are you? Could you find a sleep specialist who is also a psychiatrist? They might be the best person to help you solve this problem? HTH Karen PS this table that might be helpful in converting international brand names of drugs: http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~rmottare/drugs.htm "Deirdre Saoirse Moen" <deir…@deirdre.net> wrote in message news:deirdre-0902030102120001@10.0.1.5… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> In article <pan.2003.02.09.14.23.08.433711.1…@bar.foo>, mongoose > <u…@bar.foo> wrote: > [snip] > What may help is an anti-depressant that has secondary sleep effects > and/or secondary anti-anxiety effects. One I’ve used in the former > category is Elavil (a tricyclic antidepressant, quite inexpensive) and one > I’ve used in the latter is Serzone. > Initially, I was put on both together, in part because I had severe > symptoms and needed something that worked faster than the typical SSRI. > — > _Deirdre http://deirdre.net > A: No. > Q: Should I include quotations after my reply?
Response:
Hey Karen, Thanks all, for the help offered so far. "Kit" <ksm…@nospam.com> writes:
[...] > Where are you? Could you find a sleep specialist who is also a psychiatrist? > They might be the best person to help you solve this problem?
I’m located in Sydney, Australia. The sleep specialist I’ve visited (mentioned in the original post), is a qualified psychologist and member of the Sydney Sleep Research Group. — mongoose
Response:
Mongoose Thanks for that info on the Sydney Sleep Research Group – didn’t know it existed. Beth – maybe another link for our Aussie section? http://www.sleepsydney.org/ A lot of good work seems to come out of the Royal North Shore Hospital Sleep unit. Maybe we could trade contact names for helpful people – off the newsgroup of course. Cheers Karen to reply replace nospam with kamuzz – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -"mongoose" <u…@bar.foo> wrote in message news:87bs1k4n2a.fsf@bar.foo… > Hey Karen, > Thanks all, for the help offered so far. > "Kit" <ksm…@nospam.com> writes: > [...] > > Where are you? Could you find a sleep specialist who is also a psychiatrist? > > They might be the best person to help you solve this problem? > I’m located in Sydney, Australia. The sleep specialist I’ve visited (mentioned > in the original post), is a qualified psychologist and member of the Sydney > Sleep Research Group. > — > mongoose
Response:
Hey, In recent years I’ve had increasingly worstening inability to sleep, at the stage now where I can go a night or several without sleep. I only manage to get by as I have a more flexible wake-up time as a student. I have a feeling that it may be a side-effect of axiety/depression (self-diagnosed), although I doubt there is a causal relationship. It is not usually anxious thoughts which keep me awake at night. I think it comes down to a fundamental inability to rest my mind. Usually when my mind is troubled by anxious thoughts, I toss and turn and get up every 20-30 mins to distract my mind, and return to attempt to sleep when I am again tired. This is sometimes succesful, but these nights were more frequent in the past, and whose occurences are now more infrequent. The common pattern now is that after lying down to sleep, I enter a semi-conscious state, where thoughts rush through my head but I am not completely conscious of my state of awareness. After a seemingly short-period of time I wake/rise to find that many hours have passed, often waking to find it is early morning. I sometimes can get to sleep at this time, and once I get to sleep I can sleep for 6+ hours. I know that people can drift into and out of sleep, and not be conscious of this, but I’m usually aware when I have slept even for short periods of time, although perhaps this is just deep sleep? When I wake/rise in the early morning I feel as if I have not slept, and am mentally/physically fatigued. Less than one hour of good quality sleep leaves me immeasurably more rested. I have visited a sleep-doctor before, and only got the usual spiel about sleep hygiene. I’ve not yet tried any drugs, with my parents reluctant for me to use them, and the GP reluctant to prescribe them. I realise that this is obviously only a short-term solution. I’ve also tried meditative breathing exercises without much success. I guess its the awareness of the intent to relax myself, and the need to be relaxed, which can be a hindrance to the process. I can sometimes fall asleep watching the television, when my intent is not to sleep. If anyone has had similar experiences, or any advice to offer, it would be appreciated. Thanks, mongoose
