[jbug]

I am sleeping wayyyyyyyyyy to much for any one person about 16 hours a day. I see my therapist tomorrow and hopefully he can give me suggestions for getting me out of bed. Last night I went to bed about 10:30 and woke up around 2:30 just to go potty then on to the couch to watch T.V. I would like to have energy to actually do something but I don't. I called my pdoc today to ask him if I could stop my seroquel because I think that is causing some of the problems but he said nope keep it up. I also find myself when I'm sleeping having nightmares of me cutting myself and actually feeling it but when I wake up no cuts on my arms and the doc thinks maybe that's the prednisone so we will see what the GP says tomorrow.

Do any of you have any suggestions as to how to get some energy to get up at a reasonable hour?

Don't Blame me I just do what the Voices Tell me to do

[dexter]

Hopefully your therapist will have some suggestions for working with you to break the cycle of oversleeping. As you may know I've had a huge amount of difficulty with that myself, and I still am.

You also know that sleeping to much is bad for depression, it can make it worse, so it is also a very bad cycle.

But there are ways to help it. Some suggestions I got are to stay out of the bedroom all day except for sleeping. Don't read or eat or watch TV in bed, so that you don't have a brain connection between those other activities and sleeping. try to keep on a schedule, bed same time, wake same time. Once out of bed don't succumb to a nap, try to get out, stay active, and do something instead (that's what I'm having difficulty with right now). Don't watch TV right before bed, don't eat right before bed (some of these are suggestions for people having trouble sleeping, but in some ways it is all the same "cycle" that has to be fixed.

Keep in touch with you pdoc about this too. he is trying to balance other things with your meds in addition to sleep, so stick with his recommendations unless you feel he is not being responsive to what you tell him (if it is that bad it may be time to find a new pdoc). At some point they put me on Wellbutrin to help with my depression and it is also an energy booster... if I take it too late I can't sleep at all. That does seem to help me quite a bit, but it also made me overanxious so they started me on something else to help with that.

So there can be some medicinal adjustments that may help. I think the best thing is to make sure you keep telling your therapist and your pdoc about the status of your sleeping so they can help you break the problem.

I'm not no longer sleeping long hours at night, so I've made reasonable improvement. I still have trouble napping midday though.

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--http://www.idexter.com

[Starbuck]

Hi jannie.

Well, it isn't strange if you're feeling sleepy. Medications of any type tends to do that, to my opinion.

Bye

Starbuck

Born in 1963 of French mom and Canadian dad.

[kelbelle65]

Exercise! If you can get out and walk briskly for 15 minutes a day, you'll increase your energy levels. Then increase to 30 minutes and maybe add some swimming or Yoga. Yoga works wonders. You can heal yourself from the inside out with yoga. I do Bikram, which is done in a hot room, but if that doesn't sound appealing to you, there are all kinds of yoga. You don't have to be a pretzel to do yoga. You will get 80% of the benefits by just following the instructors dialog and going to your own personal edge.

I also recommend changing your diet. I don't know what your diet consists of but I would think about giving up wheat and dairy for a month-- see if that helps. And don't eat anything that comes in a box-- preservatives can affect your health. Eat more fruit and veggies and leafy green salads. Eat a good breakfast too-- oatmeal or fruit.

I think there's a book called Energy Boosters about foods that you can eat to get more energy.

And, yes-- it's good advice to stay out of the bedroom except for 8 hours of sleep per night.

Keep busy doing things for others (volunteering is great medicine) and you'll soon forget about how tired you were.

Good luck!

-k.

By the way, cats sleep for about 16 hours a day... maybe you were a cat in a past life? ;-)

[Butterfly_Faerie]

Depression can do that, I use to sleep along time, actually still do because my meds make me feel so groggy, I can sleep 10 hours and still feel like crap.

What about setting an alarm, loudly, you need to get your sleep pattern back on. Set it , and then set another one on the opposite side of the room so you have to get up and force yourself out. Once you are back to normal with sleeping patterns you'll start to feel better.

<font color=red>~Sundance~</font color=red>

<font color=blue>"Never react emotionally to criticism. Analyze yourself to determine whether it is justified. If it is, correct yourself. Otherwise, go on about your business."</font color=blue>

<font color=black>Norman Vincent Peale</font color=black>

[nowheretorun]

reading makes me drowsy....

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rising every time we fall." Confucius