Quote:
Originally Posted by BirdDancer
Hi bpcyclist. I have never taken Thorazine, but wanted to send a few sheep to count your way, in hopes that you do get some sleep tonight. I have taken other 1st generations, but not sedating ones. Out of curiosity, can you put your finger on some of the main reasons you can't sleep? Racing thoughts and/or extreme energy levels at night, etc? Have you tried combining this new tool with other sleep hygiene tactics? I'm talking, really bombard the insomnia from all angles. Sometimes that is what it takes for me, when I'm manic or very hypomanic and even higher doses of my Seroquel XR (or added regular Seroquel or Ativan) don't fully help.
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Thank you, BirdDancer. Well, I really have no idea if everything I am doing is correct or not. Here is a totally non-ordered list of what I can remember:
1. Bedroom is basically silent about 90% of the time. I have very rarely been awakened by music, but really uncommon.
2. Bedroom is super-dark this time of year,
3. Temperature is easily controlled and seems comfortable. Not waking up on top of covers with shirt off or freezing to death beneath it all.
4. Invested in 2 new, good-quality down pillows and a quality 20-lb. weighted blanket. Sheets are fairly new and changed regularly.
5. No exercise or caffeine anywhere near bedtime.
6. Making sure I am not getting hungry before bed, because I have sometimes awakened hungry in the past.
7. Once in bed and comfortable, I do my prayers and then begin my Buddhist breathing technique. It helps with the racing or even if I'm a little psychotic, it can help a lot.
8. I try hard not to judge myself as to how well my sleep attempt is going. I just breathe.
9. The decision then becomes how long to give myself. I've tried making myself stay until I sleep no matter what--gave up after 4 hours finally. Nowadays, I tend to give it about an hour or so and if I am clearly still not remotely falling asleep, I just get up. Why beat a dead horse?
10. Am taking my lithium, Abilify, Depakote, and Thorazine 40ish minutes before alleged bedtime, as Dr. C suggested.
11. Once sleep attempt #1 fails, I stay up for a few hours, then, give it another shot, maybe 4 hours later. Rinse and repeat. This is what I have been doing recently.
12. Once I have a failed attempt, I make very sure not to judge myself and to watch any negative self-talk. I just accept it and move on.
13. If I do not try to sleep and just stay up until I basically pass out, that will take about 26 hours or so, and then, I may be able to sleep for as long as five or even six (once) hours. Importantly, other than last night with my first-ever dose of Thorazine, I am virtually never drowsy. I feel that kind of fried feeling I used to get when I was on call and up for 36 hours, but not drowsy.
I think that is about all I know. The only thing I have not tried that gets discussed a bit is melatonin. I did a lot of reading and concluded there is not enough evidence that it works and it is expensive here.
Thanks so very much for taking the time to read this overly long post!