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Originally Posted by Forgive77
Why did they take you off the Seroquel. Is that too nosy? If it was working why would they take you off of it?
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I've been trying to get off of Seroquel for 3 years.
Number 1 reason was the weight gain. Tried substituting Geodon for it 2x but the side effects were awful for me. At that point I still needed that type of med.
In the last few months I have made numerous lifestyle changes and have been very stable. My weight loss struggle has been something my pdoc has been well aware of for years and so she finally agreed that I could stop it without switching to something else and we tapered off of it.
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Can you try to go back on a low dose of the seroquel? I struggled with my sleeping when I tapered off too. You may want to go on 50mg/night until you return from your vacation.
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I look at those pills every night blueoctober, but I won't put it back in my body. I can't. I'm not going through the withdrawal again and I lost 3 pounds this week. i was so happy to see the scale move I started crying. I haven't lost 3 pounds in one week since before I went on Seroquel. It also was making me feel overheated and out of breath at the gym. Trying to lose weight has been a major factor in my mental health for many years.
Elana - i get weepy and fragile like that from being overtired - I passed that over a week ago - I have gone to hypomanic from over exhaustion before and it is a known trigger for bipolar. I have a great husband who is supportive, but he's not always that sensitive. I've been trying to get out of going on this trip for the sake of our marriage but he really wants me to go. We're supposed to be camping, which I've never done, and if you know me, i'm more of a hotel girl than an outdoors girl so I'm apprehensive about it already!
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1. do not eat anything heavy before going to bed
2. only use your bed for sleeping or intimacy - otherwise you'll be ok with paying bills etc and your mind will wonder to those things when you try to sleep.
3. have some sort of white noise in the room. They sell the actual white noise machine but anything like a loud fan would work. (this decreases the annoying sounds that you might focus on instead of sleep like husband snoring, leaky faucet)
4. about 20-30 min before bedtime take time to let out all worries. Write a to do list or talk to someone about your concerns etc and get it out of your chest. This will help clear your mind. (yea, I know ... I never had my mind be quiet ... but it does minimize the thoughts)
5. make sure the room is not too hot. it should be about 68-70 degrees for comfortable sleep.
6. make sure the room is not too bright - when you turn off the light and your vision adjusts, you should only be able to make out the shape of your hand.
7. last but not least do not do anything that will keep your mind too busy before going to bed - no tv, or books, etc - keep it simple and mindless.
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This is great advice -
My bedroom is only used for bedroom activities
The getting the stuff off your mind thing is something my pdoc had suggested and I was doing for a bit but stopped. Thank you for reminding me.
I listen to sleep music - it has delta waves in it and is very soothing for me - it knocks me out - it's the staying asleep I need.
The good news is that i slept a bit more last night!
My husband set the tent up last night in our yard.
i went to bed much later than usual and I took an extra xanax - so in total,.75 xanax and 3mg of Lunesta. Fell asleep very quickly.
He woke me up because it was very cold and he wanted to go inside (he didn't want me to wake up alone outside so i forgave him for distubing my sleep)
fell right back to sleep inside, and I think I slept 6 hours.
Tonight i'm going away with a friend for her birthday. I'm hoping that mixing up my sleep schedule will help to reset it.
Thanks everyone for the advice and support!