My Support Forums - View Single Post - Bipolar check-in #67

Nammu · Jul 03, 2022, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Beth*

Sssss, I so feel for you. I do believe I know exactly the type of so-called "sleep" you are describing. It is withdrawal sleep, and it leaves one feeling - as you've said - leached of energy, unmotivated, and even depressed. You've had that "hovering" sleep, but not a true, deep sleep. Horrible.

I wish I had a great answer for you, Nammu. I've come up against withdrawal sleep many times. I've either gone back to the original sleep med (although I've tried not to do that), substituted it with a different prescribed sleep med, or - that's when I take otc sleep aids. ZzzQuil, melatonin, valerian, Tylenol PM, Simply Sleep, etc. Many times I've found the otc's just as good as the prescribed stuff, but without the next-day hangover.

Because the otc sleep meds tend to lose their effectiveness after a few days I switch them around. Or, I take a prescribed sleep med once in a while, but take the otc's more often.

For example, at this time I'm taking one of the otc's for 3 nights, a low-dose Seroquel the 4th night, a different otc for 3 more nights, and so on. Some nights I don't take anything, but that's rare.

I don't know how else to deal with sleep issues.

That’s it exactly. It’s hard with mum expecting me to do the normal everyday chores. The leaching of energy also drains me of healing sleep that keeps my back pain at bay. Hauling water around to the flowers was almost too much. In some ways it’s much easier to do this alone. If the floors go un vacuumed so what. It’s not a disaster. They’ll get done sooner or later it’s not as if we have dogs or children dragging in the outside. Mum rarely goes out and I always take my shoes off when I come in, so it’s just dust.