Sleep?
 

My sleep's messed up; basically I am sleeping the right amount and stuff but I'm still tired all the damned time. I don't sleep properly basically I'm asleep but not, I move around a lot and I don't think I ever really get to the stage of deep sleep.

I know it could be cause I have a lot of things on my mind right now (things that can't be resolved yet). Also because it's near the end of my course and I have a lot of stress from that going on but with this lack of sleep and me feeling **** I can't do my coursework, no motivation. Also my medication used to make me sleep way too much I'd fall asleep in lessons and stuff. So I took myself off of it because it wasn't really fulfilling its purpose anyway. I don't want a lecture on how I should have waited for my psych to take me off them or change them because I waited 6 months for him to do that and he wouldn't so I felt I had to take it into my own hands.

Basically how can I get the sleep I need because the only thing making that happen at the moment is when I don't sleep for a few days so I desperately need it. Gahh.

Hi,

Well, your right in that you should have waited for your psych to take you off the pills gradually, but thats done now.

You could go to see a doctor and tell them that your having trouble sleeping. You might be given sleeping tablets, but not very many, l think they usually give them out in 7's. But they are VERY addictive, because you use them to sleep, and if you cant sleep you begin to desire them.

However, what l think would be the best (And long term) solution would be to speak to your psych about going onto a type of pill called a tricyclite (l think thats how its spelt). These are the old type of anti depressant drugs (the new ones being SSRI's l think, prozac, citalopram etc). They perform roughly the same function as the new SSRI's but make you sleepy when you take them. So if you take your tablet on a night, you'll feel tired and want to sleep.

I hope this helps, feel free to message me if l can be of any more help

Jonny.

Thanks, I've been on citaloparm already and mirtazapine and sertralin, not sure if they're spelt right but yeah none of them really worked for my depression for some reason. It's the mirtazapine that made me sleep a lot and i don't want to spend my life sleeping I just want to sleep properly in the hours I want to sleep heh.

Maybe a change of meds? Ask ur doc about it

It could be a sign that ur getting sick again? who knows..let's hope u don't
Take care of urself..all the best there

Well citalopram and Setralin are SSRI's, meaning they wont really help you sleep that much (however one of the side effects is drowsiness). The Mirtazapine is a tricyclite which is why it made you sleepy, although if it made you sleep in class then maybe you were taking it at the wrong times? Tricyclites should really be taken an hour or so before your regular or desired sleep time. Also you may want to ask your doctor if you could be put on a lower dose?
The short term solution would be to ask for sleeping tablets, but l must stress they are a bad idea, only ask for them if you are desperate. You do not get 'good' sleep from them. You'll wake up groggy, and after you've taken them the fall into sleep is awful, especially if you dont really want to sleep.

Mirtazapine is my wonder med for sleep! Its never made me over sleepy. Just... asleep at night. I have read that its less sedative at higher doses, so your dr may want to fiddle with the doses to find one that works for you.

Other than that, plenty of fresh air, eating enough of the right kind of things, doing some deep breathing and self soothing talk when you get to bed....

I saw a psychologist a while back and one of the things we discussed was my insomnia. She suggested I keep a sleep journal - this does two things: firstly it allows you to monitor how much sleep you're getting and what affected it
secondly it gives you a chance to get down on paper what you're thinking about (even just stupid stuff like a tv program you just saw) so that you process it before going to bed, so you're not lying awake thinking about it.

The format is:
Date What you did today [eg. went to college / stayed in bed all day]

What you're thinking about [could be anything... lists of stuff to do the next day/ stuff you're worried about... sometimes I used to do wee doodles/sketches - but whatever you want really]

Time you get to sleep

Waking Up [times through the night or time you woke up in the morning

Time Up [when you actually managed to drag yourself out of bed]

Quality of Sleep [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - ten being great, one being rubbish]
..............................................
Thats the gist of it... fill most in before you go to bed and the times and that when you get up, and adjust the format to suit yourself

Hope that helps
Sarah x

That sounds really good Artychik I might try that :)

Katie (~ longing tears ~) right? I was on the highest it could go and he found it strange after so long I still kept getting drowsiness so he suggested I split the dose and call him in two weeks if that worked, it didn't work and I called but he never got back to me. He also sent a letter to my doctor which I got a comment which basically said I must be lying. So that left me losing faith in the mental health team so I stopped going to the appointments and he hasn't cared enough to ask why so *shrugs*

I'm the same - I sleep from (usually) 10pm - 5/6am and wake up alright then by about 7pm, am shattered. I have finally stopped falling asleep on the sofa around 3pm now, thankfully.