[musikcrazy]

Some nights I fall asleep about two hours after taking my meds, but lately I have nights where I just cannot sleep. My pdoc prescribed Lunesta (in addition to my arsenal of meds) and it does nothing. It doesn't make sense to me that some nights my meds make me pass out and other nights I'm just wired. Do you think it has to do with mania? My husband says I have been on the manic side, but I don't think so. Thanks for any suggestions, etc.

[leah0306]

Originally Posted by musikcrazy

Some nights I fall asleep about two hours after taking my meds, but lately I have nights where I just cannot sleep. My pdoc prescribed Lunesta (in addition to my arsenal of meds) and it does nothing. It doesn't make sense to me that some nights my meds make me pass out and other nights I'm just wired. Do you think it has to do with mania? My husband says I have been on the manic side, but I don't think so. Thanks for any suggestions, etc.

hi (((musikcrazy))) ive done that as well... for me i would forget a med. and stay awake all night, sometimes my mind is just racing!!! Are you able to catch up on lost sleep, with naps?? That is what i usually do, sorry i dont have advice, take care

[Shadowboy]

I have been having sleep problems for a long time, It sucks.

[grizmom]

Originally Posted by musikcrazy

Some nights I fall asleep about two hours after taking my meds, but lately I have nights where I just cannot sleep. My pdoc prescribed Lunesta (in addition to my arsenal of meds) and it does nothing. It doesn't make sense to me that some nights my meds make me pass out and other nights I'm just wired. Do you think it has to do with mania? My husband says I have been on the manic side, but I don't think so. Thanks for any suggestions, etc.

I have always had severe insomnia...my pdoc told me that lunesta is the mildest prescription sleep aid available so he didn't even have me try it. I was having trouble with other meds quitting on me after a few months, so now we have this set up: I take 100mg seroquel every other night, and I take 10mg Ambien + 8mg Rozerem on the other nights. I take 1mg clonazepam every night also. It's been working well for over a year now; I only have a sleepless night about once a month. I hope you and your pdoc can figure something out...I know how awful it is to not sleep!!

[yutzman]

Well, my manic episodes do have sleep issues....So maybe your Psych can help....though not that much ( I depend on her to prescribe a good choice)....just the usual...and I have addiction probs. so I get nothing good like Lunesta..
If your not doing good talk to your Psych...there are many gooder things to help you sleep....so until then Please Snooze with all abandon....Y .......

[WendyAussie]

I take 800mg Seroquel (I've never heard of anybody higher on that, it's huge), Imovane, which is a sleeper and sometimes I use some of the Valium I am allowed. That would knock out a small horse. But not me. And still, like others have said, I can have a crap night's sleep. It's happening at the moment.

And I have Severe Sleep Apnea as well, which is a distinct but related condition. I have a CPAP machine for it, but it's on the blink and I was sent up the garden path about how to get it fixed so it's been going on for weeks. Now I've sent it away and it'll take ages to come back serviced.

Both sleep problems leave me with sleep deficit, which just throw my Bipolar and panic and anxiety disorders right into play as well as poor functionality and I end up hopeless and having suicidal ideation. It's just such a bugger of a thing to deal with.

[IndigoRose]

I too have found all of those sleep aids do nothing for me. I don't even bother trying anything new on that front. I do have chronic insomnia at times, and I can go days without sleep. But when I finally crash, I need about 12 hours of truly restful sleep to bounce back.

Like grizmom, I too turn to klonopin when I'm having a regular night sleep issue. I never wanted to take it, but after several extremely hard years, I had no other choice. Sometimes I'll get a migraine if I skip it for a few days, which sucks, but it generally does help me sleep.

If you are able to nap and sleep when you can, as opposed to only sleeping at night, I highly recommend that as an option. I know that's not possible for everyone.

Wishing you the possibility of sweet dreams.

[musikcrazy]

Thanks for all of the replies and suggestions! Last night I was out at the Magic Kingdom with friends and I almost passed out on them! Of all the nights for the meds to work! I was pretty funny stumbling around Winnie the Pooh and Buzz Lightyear!LOL!!

[WendyAussie]

musikcrazy, I so relate to that. There are times when I just don't know whether my meds will kick in sooner or later in the evening. Sometimes, like you experienced last night, when you were out, they just floor me, and as I'm the only person to drive myself around it can be a really sticky situation. I don't have friends or activities to do at night on a regular basis, except AA on Friday nights, which finished at 9.30pm and then people chat a bit before going home. But I have to leave in the middle of the meetings sometimes if the Seoquel hits me earlier rather than later, as driving becomes very dangerous. I only live in a town on 30,000 so there's not much traffic around, but still, I don't want to be a danger to myself or others on the road.

We have a really good entertainment centre here that puts on all sorts of theatre or muscial acts - even from overseas, but again, it's a sticky situation for me as if the Seroquel hits earlier, I'm in trouble. I take my night meds at 7.30pm, which is earlier compared to a lot of people, but I have to do that to have it kick in around 11.00pm to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. It's a really ****** thing - and I feel even more limited about my participation in things at night because of it.

But I might try to have my meds after evening events rather than before, although that does mess with my sleep hygiene. Catch 22, buggered one way or the other.

[sugahorse1]

I am interested in monitoring if insomnia is related to mania phases. I usually pass out terribly early - with or without drugs. But recently I've had problems falling asleep, or waking up at around 3AM. I take a benzo to help me sleep, but on the weekend it did not help. Yes, it was the weekend, but I try be in bed by 10PM to keep a rhythm going. At 1 AM i was still wide awake and had to force myself to go to sleep. Same on Saturday and Sunday night. And I still wake up in the middle of that sleep.
Yet other night's I'm like a log.
Think I'm going through a bit of hypomania over the last few days though

[WendyAussie]

sugarhorse, I think my Insomnia is related to my Bipolar, but in my case not specifically Hypomania as I am like this in terms of sleep all the time and I don't often have hypomania or mania these days as my meds prevent that, which is great.

But I do definitely believe that hypomania and mania affect sleep. I suffered terribly from those parts of Bipolar for years and my sleep was just ridiculous. Ironically the only way I functioned at work in a high powered job was the hypomania and mania themselves, even though they were the things stopping me sleeping. I hope that makes sense.

[sugahorse1]

I work for a multi-national company too (The equivalent of Walmart) and I can see how badly the depressive phases affect my work. I tend to have no concentration span, regardless of which phase I'm in (Mostly depressive) and don't get a heck of a lot of work done. E.g. it is 14:15 here now, and I've sure has hell got enough work to keep me busy, but I'm here.

I used to just close my eyes, and not move until my alarm went off the next morning. Now I need to take Benzo's to go to sleep, which I only take when I get into bed, which in turn I only do when I'm tired - recently it's been late.
Then when I'm going thro my depressive phases, I tend to sleep an awful lot, always feel tired, sleep in my car during lunch breaks, fall asleep at 8PM at home, snooze for most of the weekend...