What helps you sleep?

Hello all! I am weaning off of Seroquel, down from 300mg to 50mg, gradually lowering the dose by 50mg at a time. I've been slowly lowering the dose for the last 6 weeks or so. At 50 mg dose, which I've taken for the last 2 nights, I am not sleeping well. I can go to sleep but cannot stay asleep. At this point, I'm using Seroquel only for sleep as it is no longer at a therapeutic dosage. I also take Clonazepam .5mg and Melatonin 10mg at night. What would be a good alternative sleeping medication? I would really rather not be on Seroquel as I've gained 25 pounds in 6 months. Unisom, Benadryl, etc. do not work for me. Thanks so much for any advice.

Hi chels. I went through something similar about 6 months ago when I weaned off Geodon. I had trouble staying asleep and my dreams were very active. It was a phase and it passed. I didn't add additional medicine to my regimine. I did drink a cup of Sleepytime tea before bed each night. That helped to calm me and sleep a bit better.

Your brain needs time to get used to processing chemicals and data without the extra Seroquel. I hope it gets better soon. Hang in there!

Hi chels. I don't have any good suggestions for other medications, besides Seroquel. Instead, I'll go the route fern went and suggest non-medication ideas that may help with sleep. All of them below have helped me get good sleep frequently, in the past.

* Cut caffeine after 3 pm (just a suggestion)

* Play around with different temperatures in your bedroom, during sleeping hours.

* Perhaps make your bedroom darker than usual, or a little lighter, if that's better for you.

* Steer clear of electronic devices, especially TV and laptop/PC, at least one hour before wanting to fall sleep.

* Would opening your window a crack perhaps help? That's helped me.

* A sound machine has helped me with sleep IMMENSELY. I remember putting it on for the one to two hour setting (going off after that) and it would help me fall asleep much easier. But then in cases where I would wake up in the middle of the night, I found that putting my sound machine on to stay on all night long, helped prevent early morning (3 am) wake ups. I love rainfall, brook, ocean, and burning fire modes.

* I find eating a little bit of dairy product soon before bed helps me sleep. Yogurt is my go-to.

* This may sound strange, but when I can, I can sometimes tell myself to "stop thinking". To actually get myself to shut off my thoughts. That works very well for me, when possible.

I think dairy products, milk etc before bed can be helpful

Most anyone on a psych med that has sedation effect, which so many do. (Which is why half the Pdocs use it for , and Ill not rant about that ) There is almost always a problem with sleep as tapering down or comping completely off one, Its just typical. Are you being switched to a new medication?

BirdDancer as always has wonderful advice. I certainly agree with her

Hopefully things will settle down soon

Thank you Fern. It's good to know you had a similar experience but it passed with time. That makes sense what you said about my brain adjusting without the Seroquel. I hope it resolves itself soon. Not sleeping well is very scary as I don't want to possibly trigger mania. Thanks again fro the encouragement.

Hi Bird Dancer! I appreciate the wonderful advice. I already adhere to most of it, but I will try the dairy. I know I should probably put down electronics and TV. The problem is I read on my Kindle and I'm sure the blue light coming from it isn't helping. On the other hand, falling asleep isn't so much a problem as waking up in the middle of the night and having intermittent, restless sleep until I finally give up and get out of bed. Hopefully my body and brain will adjust and learn to live without Seroquel sooner than later. Thanks again for your helpful advice!

Hi Christina. It's good to know this is a typical reaction. I do hope it settles soon. No, I'm not switching to a new med at this time. This time last year was my first manic episode. My NP thinks it's possible that the large amount of marijuana I was smoking at the time may have caused the mania. I'm tapering off Seroquel to see if perhaps antipsychotics and mood stabilizers aren't necessary for me. I'm still taking Clonazepam and Wellbutrin and my current Seroquel dose of 50mg (which I hope to stop completely in the next couple of weeks). Due to our horrendous experience last year, my husband now knows the signs of mania, so even if I lack insight should it happen again, he will see the symptoms so we can hopefully address them early on. This is very scary and somewhat risky, but I am hopeful.

You're welcome. I understand that concern completely. I felt the same way. I did a lot of research before weaning and it was one of the top symptoms of adjustment.

Yes it is a scary process.. Its good you are doing it under a pdoc's care..

Its good that your husband will be on the look out, we often cant see things ourselves.. My husband has pointed out some things over the years and I would adjust my coping skills or if on meds there were possible changes in dose etc...

Hang in there with the Sleep problems, it does just take time