Up at 3am can't sleep.

I've had the same probkem for the last month or so. No matter what time I go to bed I'm awake at 4am tonight I woke up a 3am. Got alot of work done in my officevgoing thru emails and stuff. It's peaceful during the earlybmorn. No one to deal with. It's dark outside and I don't have tp pretend to be happy. Except for the fans it's very peaceful.

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Yeah I don't mind the being up so early. I don't like not getting a good nights sleep. I do alot of journaling and mood logging and meditation and posting on here. doing emails and stuff

I'm beginning to that depression is worse than I'm letting on when I was at my worst I would let anything in and allwas kept in except my anger and lashing out and hitting my kids...I know that's bad ad they grew up walking on egg shells but I didn't know why back then. They're ok today and realize it was my disease that caused it...but my guilt is strong even today.
Anyhow maybe my depression is showing itself from a different form. Not sleeping. Possible ?

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Sleep disturbances it definitely one symptom of depression.

Zinco, I started these meds around the same time that I stopped drinking alcohol. I think that the sobriety has something to do with it. I know that I used to sleep well with a "night-cap"...I'm at the point where I want to trash the meds and start drinking again. Not sure what to do, but I don't see the difference between taking ambien or drinking three beers a day...

regretful, that is weird I started these meds the same time I got sober when I was 32. Before that I slept like a baby. My problem is I am an alcoholic so I would start out drinking three beers a night but that would turn into twelve. Usually, not always, when I drank three beers a craving would take over and I would just keep on drinking. It is to risky for me. I don't see the problem with it unless you are an alcoholic. You must have stopped drinking for some reason.

I stopped drinking because of the meds. I was usually a three beer a night guy. The craving never took over to the point that I had to go out and get more. By the way, I was on meds before and kept drinking. Cymbalta actually made me crave alcohol. When I stopped that medication the cravings stopped. I don't know if I am an alcoholic in denial or just a casual drinker...but I do know that I cannot sleep anymore.

I actually started the meds two months before I quit drinking. I was taking Effexor. that never stopped me from drinking and i didn't have any bad effects. in fact any pill i ever took that said do not drink with this never stopped me. I am an alcoholic though.

What meds are you taking now? Are any of them known to cause bad effects with alcohol? I know if I could drink three beers a night and that was all I would do it and still take my meds and just get rid of the ambien. That is very odd that Cymbalta made you crave it.
Kind of the AA definition of an alcoholic is a physical craving once you start drinking coupled with a mental obsession. I was self medicating for depression and using it to escape from all my other problems. Also I could not quit on my own. I could only go so long and then the obsession would take over and I would have to drink. Also how has drinking effected your life. It caused alot of damage in mine.

I'm on effexor. I just might chuck the ambien as it only gives me very limited sleep. Thanks for the AA definition. I have not had anything in over three months, and quit because of some digestive trouble that turns out to have been related more to depression and unemployment (voluntarily left a job). It's complicated, but thanks for your input. Three pints tonight sounds like a plan for me.

Me too. I can't sleep. People say that with time things get better but for me they are getting harder. things got to get better for all of us

Let us know how it goes. They gave me a months supply of ambien once and I had to take three for it to do anything. I was having a ton of anxiety at the time though. I drank alot on those first two months of effexor and didn't have a bad reaction, before I got sober. I know a girl who is bipolar and on 6 psych meds. She told me she drinks 6 to 12 beers a night. She is probably an alcoholic but I don't think it has reacted with her meds.

Effexor and Alcohol / Food Interactions - Drugs.com

Not to high a risk with alcohol according to that site. Raising blood pressure is the highest risk not with alcohol though. I know that effexor raised my blood pressure alot when I first started taking it. The doctors didn't believe me. It went away though. I bought a blood pressure cuff at wall greens and would check it all the time. I made a chart and checked it when I was on effexor and when I was off it and there was no difference. I have changed meds alot. I take a blood pressure med now anyway. I am 50. Maybe check your blood pressure is what I would worry about. And then see how it goes with the beer.

Ambien (10 mg) does put me to sleep, but not predictably (meaning that it doesn't always work, and when it does, I don't know how long I'll sleep - 2 hours to 4 hours, never more). I think my BP is high, but the doc says it is not. I feel jittery with the effexor. Before that I was on lexapro, which resulted in major anxiety. Before that mirtazapine and that just didn't work - it was supposed to be sedating. I'll see how it goes with the beer. I'm tired of meds. I was off of them for a full year, and was doing well...now I'm on meds and feel worse than I did before. Thanks for your input zinco.

I'm not commenting on the alcohol...but my sleep pattern is still the same...I stayed up til 11pm just so I might sleep later. Once again up at 4am per usual for last 2 wks. I decided I wasn't going to be depressed...I'm trying very hard and now it's spilling over into my sleep. What to do?

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I actually slept pretty good last night. I slept me 3 and woke up every two like usual but got better sleep. The problem in I slept in till noon and my mood took a big nose dive.

Sleep came for me but only because of ambien, and as a result, I feel like crap today. Probably should have had the beer...

I'm up at 3am today. I can't seem to break this cycle. I'm not getting anything accomplished. I yry not to go to sleep early evening. If I sleep a couple hours I get up and go right to bed and right to sleep. I've had sleeping problems before about 25 years ago but that was bc I slept all the time and just sat their staring into space when I eas up. Don't know what triggered this but I pray that it stops and I get on an even keel like very soon.
I am sorry that you're going thru this too.....it's a real downer.

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I went to bed at 10pm and actually made it to 3am before I woke up and had to get up for awhile. I always have to get up for a bit before I can go back to sleep. I am up at 6:30 this morning. I did toss and turn alot but it is better than it has been. Doesn't seem to matter if I sleep during the day or not. I slept alot yesterday during the day but yet I did better last night then in awhile.

What meds are you taking Donna?

i know how you feel. i can't sleep either and then i start to really trip out. Feel like im floating and sometimes a terror comes over me and i believe i'm deceased and not really living at all. It's anxiety. I just found out my dad's really unwell and that he'll need the tripple bypass. I've beem pretending to feel ok for months and now my dad needs hel. He's always been my best friend in the world and i want to be supportive but i'm so empty and so terrified. These pills aren't working very well either. I hope you just sleep like a baby again like magic. I hope i will too one day.

My dad went through a triple bypass. He came out better than new. Of course it is very major surgery but they do so many of them nowadays. I hope you can get some sleep and some self care and can be there for your dad.

I slept really good last night. Still slept 4 hours and woke up every two hours. But I slept good. That means I am adjusting to the meds that were causing it.

Hi zinco...sounds like my sleep pattern last night and the night before. When I don't take ambien I get four hours of interrupted sleep. When I do take it, I get three hour of uninterrputed sleep. So, it's a toss up. I have been going without for the past three days.

Up at 3am again. tossed and turned all night. I don't know what happened. I have been sleeping much better.

My sleep goes in weird cycles...just when I thought it was coming back to 3-4 hours without interruption, last night happens, and I'm up for half the night...It's this depression. It screws up everything...

Going off of Effexor and starting Fetzima. Had horrible dreams last night. I normally don't sleep that good the second half on the night, wake up alot and dream like crazy, but they are usually good dreams. I hope these horrible dreams don't continue. Had to escape through a structure filled with black widows and got stuck, then I woke up.