Insomnia and lithium

I’m away at a work trip and have a terrible case of insomnia. The work is exhausting because it’s back to back meetings, presentations and events of which I’m facilitating and giving. I’m soo exhausted that I’ve been getting waves of nausea and dizziness. My anxiety is at a peak and my whole body is vibrating. Right now I’m in a different time zone than home so everyone is fast asleep and I can’t reach out to them. Right now I’m laying awake and need to sleep, my chest is tight as I feel anxious and I have a tonne of ideas about a design that I want to do and I can’t get my brain to stop designing in my head. It’s feels like a compulsion. I feel sooo trapped. I’m very confused about what is a side effect, what is stress related and if I’m experiencing mania still or potentially a mixed state

I’m too new at this to be helpful but wanted to say I travel a lot for work and go through this regardless of medicine. Hope things ease up

I had insomnia for about six weeks after starting Lithium. I took 25mg of Seroquel to help me stay asleep. After the six weeks, I tapered off Seroquel and was able to sleep without it.

Sounds like you're dealing with quite a bit of anxiety. Try to go for a walk, watch tv, or do other things to distract yourself and unwind before you try to sleep.

So it seems the insomnia is likely it’s own beast, unrelated to Lithium. Thanks for your comments. I do think a lot of this is due to anxiety and overstimulation. I am also being careful moving forward about which thoughts I engage it because anything that interests and is a creative pursuit will occupy my brain making it impossible to sleep. I find myself staring to think about a design concept I have and then I stop myself and choose to not engage at the particular time because there is no going back. My thoughts right now are like a wild beast that has to be tamed.

Maybe the points made here can also help you.