[OnEdge]

I just started Effexor XR and haven't been able to sleep for the past two nights. I have this weird thing happening where my brain is on overdrive. It's not like I'm hearing voices exactly but weird conversations and events are taking place while I'm trying to get to sleep. Sometimes a song will stick in my head as well. I've tried to count as a diversion but it doesn't work. Whatever this is just makes me more anxious. It's really hard to explain. I'm also weaning myself off of Ativan. Does anyone understand what I'm talking about? It's driving me crazy and preventing me from sleeping!!

[Lexicon78]

I get that sometimes, too. A lot of the time I'll hear these loud sounds...like white noise. In the summertime I'll be laying in bed, listening to the crickets chirping and then total silence except for the noise...it will be so loud that it drowns out the crickets. I get those racing thoughts a lot, too. And then thinking about a song over and over and over drives me insane!

I really do wish our brains did have an off button. I think that we'd be much better off!

[OnEdge]

Is this a symptom of anxiety? It's like I have this constant chattering of some type going on in my head but only when I try to fall asleep. It's going to drive me nuts!

i think it is anxiety. i have to take a xanax at bedtime or i'll never sleep. my mind races 90 miles an hour. at least now i have the ranch to think about and i've quit being so obsessive over things i have no control over.

[OnEdge]

I'm afraid that when I run out of Ativan (and am getting no more) that I won't be able to ever sleep again! Of course, worrying about sleeping prevents me from sleeping. It's a vicious circle. In the meantime, the bags under the eyes get larger.

[jmo531]

I know what you are talking about. I explained it to my PDoc once and told her it sounds like a "busy lunchrrom or subway" in my head when I lay down at night and try to sleep. At that point I was taking the Effexor at night and she switched me to morning and it really helped me.

I also got some nature sound CD's for the night time and they really help ease the chaos in the brain. I know how incredibly annoying and frightfull it is. I have posted about this very same thing before. I just remember crying one morning on the bathroom floor because my brain would not SHUT UP. It was horrible. So I totally understand where you are coming from.

Hang in there.


Jen

[sujunew]

I too can understand where you are coming from. Only it is not just at night but any time. I take so many different medications, but because I am a mother of 2 and have so much running around to do with them I can't take the sedative-type pills during the day as they make me too sleepy. The ones I am on are Quetiapine (Serequel) and Clonazapam. The clonaz I now use as a sleeping tablet but the quetiapine I take morning and night. The quetiapine is the least drowsy one but its the clonaz that helps to shut my brain up. The non-medicine way I use also is just to thing of 'emptiness' and as soon as that 'noise' starts to come in concentrate on that empitness again. If nothing else it passes a bit of time!! good_luck: :

[Ally_Angel]

I can understand what you are going thru here too. Its so annoying... kind of going thru this too at the moment with the whole conversations and songs in my mind etc... It really does make you wish that the brain could be switched off for a moment of peace, just enough to have at least one good sleep....

[wi_fighter]

I find the nature sounds CDs help too.

I bought a CD for sleeping that has delta waves in it, but I actually sleep worse with that. It's music and there are long gaps between songs. I start to relax and then the sound gets louder or quieter or just stops completely. Argh!

The nature ones are a constant loop, and if you set the player for repeat, it'll play all night. I found a clock at a thrift shop for $1 that has a bunch of sounds on it too. It gives my brain something to focus on besides thinking about not being able to fall asleep or what I want to take care of the next day.

Another thing I find totally odd is that I sleep better with really dim light in the room.

[OnEdge]

Thank you ALL so much for your posts. I feel so much better knowing I'm not alone.

Coincidentally, a friend told me last night to try the nature CDs (which I had) and it did help. I fell asleep for about 4 hours. When I woke up, I couldn't get back to sleep. Does that happen to you? Do you wake really early in the morning? I also feel very shaky and weak this morning and don't know if it's a side effect of the Effexor (which I take in the morning) and/or the .5 mg of Ativan I take at night or the simple fact that I haven't had much sleep for the past 3 days. Argh. So frustrating.

[wi_fighter]

I wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time falling back to sleep, yes. I tend to start dozing off right about the time the kids have to get up for school.

I haven't slept very well the past two nights myself. Not sure why. When I have fallen asleep, I've had some really bizarre dreams.

[OnEdge]

I usually go to bed pretty early but I'm finding if I do that these days, I'm pretty much guaranteed to not fall asleep for hours and then continue to wake up. Lastnight, I took my headphones off at midnight. I'm the type of person who needs a lot of sleep and I just hope this doesn't last too long. I feel pretty keyed up all day long and don't even really feel tired - which I assume, is a side effect of the drugs.

i am not sleeping well and i'm having really bizarre dreams. last night i had a date with that wilmer va????? who is on "that 70s show"......

[OnEdge]

Hey, lucky you! At least you are dating in your dreams! I'm not dating in real life OR in my dreams! Just teasing...

Not getting a good nights sleep is a real problem for me and you can see it in my face. I hope as the days go by and I get used to the meds, it will get better...I hope?

[gossamer]

It will get better. The first week i was on the zoloft, I took xanax nearly every day. This past week, I've taken it maybe twice. When I'm at my most anxious, I usually fall asleep for 2 hours, then wake up. Try to fall back asleep but can't and get more and more anxious. Or I'll fall asleep for an hour, wake up, fall asleep again. It's terrible. Luckily that hasn't been a problem lately. Take the Ativan if you have to or ask the doc for xanax while your waiting for the effexor to kick in.

[OnEdge]

Thanks, Gossamer. I do still have a small supply of Ativan but the doc won't give me anymore when those run out. I hope that I will have enough to get be through until the Effexor takes hold.

I've been on .5 mg of Ativan for about 5 weeks and for the last 3 days have cut out the mid-day dose. Does anyone know when I can safely eliminate the a.m. dose and just take the one for sleep at night? I'm so paranoid about this drug as I've heard so many horror stories about it.

[jmo531]

Yes, when I wake in the middle of the night it gets hard for me to get back to sleep. Since my trip from TX to VA it has been worse, sleepwise but I know it will ease. Take Ativan for a long period of time and them weaning down can cause some uncomfortable side effects that will go away. Even with the Effexor, those unpleasant effects will go away also, it just takes a little time. I always found Tylenol PM to be very effective in getting me to sleep and staying alseep. It is pretty powerful, well, to me anyway but I am sensative to medications anyway.

Your gonna be ok. This is a rough patch your going through now but just hang in there. We are here for you.

[OnEdge]

Thanks, JMO. I had a particularly bad day today - started mid-day when I normally would have been taking an Ativan. Then I went for dinner to a friends place and it was really noisy and lively (I had a mini anxiety attack). Then I had to drive home on icy roads so I sure hope I can sleep tonight. I hadn't really been out of the house much in the last few days so maybe it was just overload.

Thank you so much for your support. I sure need it right now.

i had a similiar day. the "girls" in my class wouldn't stop talking, loudly, and telling more info than i needed to know about their lives. (we have a pole dancer.but i got a little more info that i wanted about sliding up and down that pole..she's nice and i have no problems with her..she's very sweet) it's the who had sex and who's getting some and who got the drunkest. SO, i just upped and had a panic attack and totally screwed my CPR exam!! i couldn't get my brain slowed down enough to remember that i was in class...much less trying to save a life.

it's times like that that i wonder if we even have brains...much less trying to control them. love, pat

[OnEdge]

Ya, it's amazing how something can trigger those anxiety feelings. (I could do without the pole dancing and drunken/sex stories as well!!)

It took a really long time for me to fall asleep lastnight and I got about 5 hours in total. I have used those relaxation CDs for the past two nights and it really seems to be helping, thank goodness.

[SerenitysWave]

<font color="purple"> I too wish my brain had an "off" switch. I can totally relate to what you are saying. I have constant chatter and nosie in my head and sometimes depending on my swing or cycle they are very deafening and sensitive, everything gets exaggerated or amplified times 100... I hate it... What I have found that works best for me is playing my ocean sounds cd while I fall alseep. There is something about it that makes all thoughts and sounds dicipate and relax me.... I hope that you find something soon that works for you! </font>

[OnEdge]

Yes, I tried 3 different sound CDs and the ocean one seems to be the best. I am sleeping better but I'm dreading the end of the week when my meds get increased....

[wi_fighter]

I'm glad to hear you're sleeping better. Lack of good sleep, for me anyway, seems to make everything else seem at least a little bit harder.

My sound clock hasn't been working for me. I've slept like doodoo the last week.

[OnEdge]

Sorry to hear the clock isn't working anymore. I know how frustrating it is when you can't sleep. I couldn't believe how much better I felt this morning with at least a little more sleep than previous nights. Today, some friends convinced me to meet them on their lunch hour and have a good brisk walk so I did. I hope that will help me sleep even better tonight (I'm not working right now so I tend to sit around quite a bit - I know that isn't good).

Sure hope you have a better night tonight. Sweet dreams to you...