[Blue_Bird]

How do you deal with insomnia? I haven't been tired or slept in about 4 days now. Have tried benadryl and it isn't helping. Normally this wouldn't bother me but it's making me have more frequent panic attacks which I hate

[Travelinglady]

I take Trazodone. I have also done things like take a warm bath before bed and drink milk. Seroquel really would put me to sleep when I was taking it, but I really think it shouldn't be prescribed just to help people with insomnia.

You don't by chance have bipolar, do you? Not being tired and not sleeping could be associated with mania.

Hope you can sleep soon.

[Blue_Bird]

Hi PAYNE1, No I'm not bipolar, I have depression and anxiety. I just have phases where I feel like I have way to much energy and can't calm down or actually get tired. After about a few days I finally start getting tired then I can't get my mind to relax enough to let me sleep. I tried the bath and drinking milk last night and was able to get a few hours of sleep which is a lot better than none, thanks for the reply

[Travelinglady]

Blue Bird, I suggest you talk to your doc about your insomnia to see what he/she says.

[Blue_Bird]

I'm starting to think it might be related to the medication I'm on, I was wondering if it would make any sense to call my psychiatrist about being up that long and ask if the medication would cause it? I mean, at the moment it's not bothering me because I don't get tired but even if I'm not tired I know it's really unhealthy to be up that many days. I could wait till my appointment but that's weeks away from now

[healingme4me]

Originally Posted by Blue_Bird

I'm starting to think it might be related to the medication I'm on, I was wondering if it would make any sense to call my psychiatrist about being up that long and ask if the medication would cause it? I mean, at the moment it's not bothering me because I don't get tired but even if I'm not tired I know it's really unhealthy to be up that many days. I could wait till my appointment but that's weeks away from now

Depending on what meds, you are on, they can be the culprit. Have you checked with the pharmacy to make sure Benadryl doesn't have adverse reactions to whatever med(s) you are on currently?

Also, if your appointment, is weeks away, if there are troubles, I know my pdoc can be reached by phone or an appointment can be squeezed in between the next appointment.

I do have insomnia, and my pdoc prescribed a med that works for me.

[sunrise]

Originally Posted by Blue_Bird

I'm starting to think it might be related to the medication I'm on, I was wondering if it would make any sense to call my psychiatrist about being up that long and ask if the medication would cause it?

Yes, that definitely makes sense to contact your psychiatrist. Some psych meds are stimulating and could contribute to insomnia. Which one are you taking? RE Benadryl, it makes me jittery and unsleepy, so in some people this can act in a different way than it is supposed to.

[avlady]

Benadryl makes me hear voices and hallucinate. It probable doesn't mix with me other meds, but sometimes i took it to sleep, and that is when i hear the voices.

[H3rmit]

Originally Posted by Blue_Bird

I'm starting to think it might be related to the medication I'm on, I was wondering if it would make any sense to call my psychiatrist about being up that long and ask if the medication would cause it? I mean, at the moment it's not bothering me because I don't get tired but even if I'm not tired I know it's really unhealthy to be up that many days. I could wait till my appointment but that's weeks away from now

If it's possible to talk to the pdoc, do it, but you can always ask your pharmacist, too. At least here in Canada they are qualified to answer such questions and often more knowledgeable than the pdoc, even.

[Blue_Bird]

I stopped taking the benadryl, it was neither helping nor making things worse since I'm still not sleeping with or without it. I did talk to a pharmacist about it, they said it was safe to take with the medications I'm currently on, Citalopram and Abilify. I think I'm going to hold off until my appointment and let my psychiatrist know what's going on when I get there and ask him if it could be the medicine

[healingme4me]

Originally Posted by Blue_Bird

I stopped taking the benadryl, it was neither helping nor making things worse since I'm still not sleeping with or without it. I did talk to a pharmacist about it, they said it was safe to take with the medications I'm currently on, Citalopram and Abilify. I think I'm going to hold off until my appointment and let my psychiatrist know what's going on when I get there and ask him if it could be the medicine

Citalopram, I couldn't fall asleep, kept me up late, when I was on it. That's how I ended up with sleeping pills.

[Blue_Bird]

So I was able to ask my doctor about it the other day and was told I'm having a manic episode

[secretk]

Sorry about your problems. Insomnia is just awful. I used to suffer from this. I was diagnosed with depression, I took the prescribed pills and the result was lighter insomnia with vivid dreams that made me wake up. So in the end it was the same.

I got frustrated and started wondering why the usual therapy doesn't work for me. I also stopped the therapy and the pills. Now 5 years later I feel better, but I can't claim that what I did would work for you. It just really depends. It also depends how severe your problems are. Mine were severe at first (not the insomnia, but the depression), but after about 6 months therapy I felt better. Good enough to start on my own.

I personally started reading about serotonin and dopamine because those are the neurotransmitters that have impact on the sleeping patterns. I was on SSRI before and it didn't have any positive effect on me. Like none. I asked myself why. And I found out the answer for myself. I obviously didn't have enough tryptophan to synthesize enough serotonin. So no matter how much this serotonin would stay in my brain there will be no results because I just simply don't have it.

So I implemented changes in my diet and routine to help this out. I removed the fast carbs (like chocolate, cakes, candy bars) because serotonin depends on the insulin levels and once the insulin is low the serotonin is too. And my insulin gets low pretty fast after eating of such foods. Yes it gets higher first, but then rapidly goes down and 30 minutes I'm hungry again. As you could guess I have this carb hunger that caused me in the end to gain weight.

Anyway back to the Insomnia. This is what I did and I could totally say that right now I go to bed around 10 pm and I wake up 5:30 without problems. I'm not sleepy at all and if I do wake up during the night it's because it's too hot right now, not because of the insomnia.
1. Like I said changes in my nutrition - I totally removed the fast carbs and replaced them with fruits, dried fruits and nuts (love me some raw nuts, they are good for the brain and the serotonin as well). I don't drink coffee, but if you do you could try do it only in the morning or remove it. I drink teas now - Roiboos particularly is really good tea that is even recommended for depressions and such.
2. Having diary helped me too. Whenever I'm frustrated over something I write it down to the diary. I don't even need to share it with someone. It's just important that is there and I wrote it.
3. At first I still needed about an hour to fall asleep. And not being able to fall asleep right away is quite frustrating. So I started thinking/dreaming about something super farfetched. It was like writing my own story where I'm the main character. At some point I usually was exhausted enough to fall asleep.
4. Having sleep regime is always helpful. No matter if it's weekend or week day I try to wake up and go to bed in the same time. Otherwise it's chaos and my body does whatever it wants and it's not what I want.

Have you had before manic episode? Mine are usually no longer than 2 weeks luckily for me. Then I have the insomnia, but it's not that bad. During manic episode I just don't need sleep at all so I try to drain myself as much as possible and this way I will want to sleep to get my energy back.

I hope that soon you will be back on track.

[Blue_Bird]

Originally Posted by secretk

Sorry about your problems. Insomnia is just awful. I used to suffer from this. I was diagnosed with depression, I took the prescribed pills and the result was lighter insomnia with vivid dreams that made me wake up. So in the end it was the same.

I got frustrated and started wondering why the usual therapy doesn't work for me. I also stopped the therapy and the pills. Now 5 years later I feel better, but I can't claim that what I did would work for you. It just really depends. It also depends how severe your problems are. Mine were severe at first (not the insomnia, but the depression), but after about 6 months therapy I felt better. Good enough to start on my own.

I personally started reading about serotonin and dopamine because those are the neurotransmitters that have impact on the sleeping patterns. I was on SSRI before and it didn't have any positive effect on me. Like none. I asked myself why. And I found out the answer for myself. I obviously didn't have enough tryptophan to synthesize enough serotonin. So no matter how much this serotonin would stay in my brain there will be no results because I just simply don't have it.

So I implemented changes in my diet and routine to help this out. I removed the fast carbs (like chocolate, cakes, candy bars) because serotonin depends on the insulin levels and once the insulin is low the serotonin is too. And my insulin gets low pretty fast after eating of such foods. Yes it gets higher first, but then rapidly goes down and 30 minutes I'm hungry again. As you could guess I have this carb hunger that caused me in the end to gain weight.

Anyway back to the Insomnia. This is what I did and I could totally say that right now I go to bed around 10 pm and I wake up 5:30 without problems. I'm not sleepy at all and if I do wake up during the night it's because it's too hot right now, not because of the insomnia.
1. Like I said changes in my nutrition - I totally removed the fast carbs and replaced them with fruits, dried fruits and nuts (love me some raw nuts, they are good for the brain and the serotonin as well). I don't drink coffee, but if you do you could try do it only in the morning or remove it. I drink teas now - Roiboos particularly is really good tea that is even recommended for depressions and such.
2. Having diary helped me too. Whenever I'm frustrated over something I write it down to the diary. I don't even need to share it with someone. It's just important that is there and I wrote it.
3. At first I still needed about an hour to fall asleep. And not being able to fall asleep right away is quite frustrating. So I started thinking/dreaming about something super farfetched. It was like writing my own story where I'm the main character. At some point I usually was exhausted enough to fall asleep.
4. Having sleep regime is always helpful. No matter if it's weekend or week day I try to wake up and go to bed in the same time. Otherwise it's chaos and my body does whatever it wants and it's not what I want.

Have you had before manic episode? Mine are usually no longer than 2 weeks luckily for me. Then I have the insomnia, but it's not that bad. During manic episode I just don't need sleep at all so I try to drain myself as much as possible and this way I will want to sleep to get my energy back.

I hope that soon you will be back on track.

Hi Sekretk, Thank you for the reply I have had one other manic episode before but wasn't aware of what it was until recently I was in appointment with my psychiatrist (I made an early appointment because I was afraid I was never going to sleep at that point) while it was happening and he noticed I seemed manic and asked how I was sleeping, I said not in 4 days and still have tons of energy and he asked if it happened before and I said yes, it usually lasts for about 2 weeks, like yours, that's when I found out what it was. I guess insomnia wasn't the best word for this, because when I'm not manic, I really don't have much of an issue getting to sleep. It's just when I am I'm up for days and sleep doesn't even cross my mind because I don't get tired and can't calm down.

I definitely need to work on having a certain sleep regimen. Whenever I have one I always feel a lot better. Nutrition also, I can definitely cut back on coffee and only have it in the mornings from now on. I used to journal, haven't in a long time but I was thinking about starting again. It helps get down my thoughts when they're racing and try to organize them.

I think one of my problems is not sitting s till for a long time, if I can't fall asleep within ten minutes I get right back up and start doing stuff. I never really give myself a chance to fully relax.

Thank you for those tips! I will try to start doing some of those things and hopefully be able to improve my sleep

[secretk]

Originally Posted by Blue_Bird

Hi Sekretk, Thank you for the reply I have had one other manic episode before but wasn't aware of what it was until recently I was in appointment with my psychiatrist (I made an early appointment because I was afraid I was never going to sleep at that point) while it was happening and he noticed I seemed manic and asked how I was sleeping, I said not in 4 days and still have tons of energy and he asked if it happened before and I said yes, it usually lasts for about 2 weeks, like yours, that's when I found out what it was. I guess insomnia wasn't the best word for this, because when I'm not manic, I really don't have much of an issue getting to sleep. It's just when I am I'm up for days and sleep doesn't even cross my mind because I don't get tired and can't calm down.

Do you feel like you are brainstorming everything and nothing in the same time? Like you think thousands things in a second, you have great idea after idea and you don't even have time to implement them? Truth to be told I was never diagnosed for manic episodes, but I diagnosed myself. I started to get them later when I didn't even go to therapist. That's why I'm asking.

I definitely need to work on having a certain sleep regimen. Whenever I have one I always feel a lot better. Nutrition also, I can definitely cut back on coffee and only have it in the mornings from now on. I used to journal, haven't in a long time but I was thinking about starting again. It helps get down my thoughts when they're racing and try to organize them.

Yeah I think that if you write some of those ideas and feelings you have you won't think about them when you have to sleep. And you will exhaust yourself more just in attempt to write them. I don't always write in the journal too. Just only when I need it.

I think one of my problems is not sitting s till for a long time, if I can't fall asleep within ten minutes I get right back up and start doing stuff. I never really give myself a chance to fully relax.

It's really frustrating when you can't fall sleep. What if you exercise when you can't sleep? Like aerobics or something like that. Does this help?

Thank you for those tips! I will try to start doing some of those things and hopefully be able to improve my sleep

No problem . I hope that it will help you at least a little bit. It's better than nothing.

[Blue_Bird]

Originally Posted by secretk

Do you feel like you are brainstorming everything and nothing in the same time? Like you think thousands things in a second, you have great idea after idea and you don't even have time to implement them? Truth to be told I was never diagnosed for manic episodes, but I diagnosed myself. I started to get them later when I didn't even go to therapist. That's why I'm asking.

Yes this is exactly how it is, it's like my mind is going 100mph, I get a lot done when I'm like this but I also start a lot of things and don't finish because my mind is just going so fast and coming up with so many ideas at once

It's really frustrating when you can't fall sleep. What if you exercise when you can't sleep? Like aerobics or something like that. Does this help?

Exercise does seem to help when it's regular insomnia, I have been thinking about joining a gym and getting more physically active

[secretk]

Originally Posted by Blue_Bird

Yes this is exactly how it is, it's like my mind is going 100mph, I get a lot done when I'm like this but I also start a lot of things and don't finish because my mind is just going so fast and coming up with so many ideas at once.

Yep I've had the same. It's quite exhausting.

Exercise does seem to help when it's regular insomnia, I have been thinking about joining a gym and getting more physically active

That's great idea. I myself started recently hitting the gym. A month and half ago. It was really hard at first to find motivation and I feel a bit tired the first 10 minutes during the workout but then I feel energized and totally fine. Not to mention that during the week I go after work and come home around 9 pm where I basically have time only for shower and going to bed. And I do sleep just fine. So yes to this idea! I think that sport is always good for the health.