[gagrl]

I have Bipolar II and BPD. I haven't slept through the night in three years. I have tried many sleep meds and none keep me asleep. I was averaging three to four hours followed by being up about three then sleeping again for two. Now I am getting two hours before waking up.
I am currently taking:
40 mgs of Latuda
1.5 mgs of Vrayalar
90 mgs of Cymbalta
Klonopine as needed.
My pdoc wrote a script for a sleep study but they are booked until February.
I haven't tried Melatonin. I am afraid to take Ambien. My insurance doesn't cover Lunesta.
Any suggestions?
Thank you!

[Skeezyks]

Hello gagrl: I'm sorry I don't really have any useful suggestions for you. I have had difficulty sleeping when I have been on some psych med's in the past. (I was on Cymbalta, though, & it was not one I had problems with.) When I did have problems, I took Trazadone for sleep.

I still have difficulty sleeping sometimes. But it is unrelated to psych med's since I no longer take any. When I do have difficulty, I typically get up & do sort-of a walking meditation... walking slowly around-&-around our dark & quiet house. I focus light attention on each foot as it touches the floor. Thoughts come-&-go. I don't dwell on any of them... just let them arise & fade at their own pace. After an hour or two of this, when I go back to bed, I usually fall asleep. I've tried Melatonin. However, I found that if I wasn't going to be able to sleep, taking Melatonin didn't help. Plus it always made me groggy the whole next day.

[yugh]

Hi,
The reply below is a good idea. Have you learnt to meditate? Many people try and don't succeed because they try to not have any thoughts. In practice, the idea is to occupy the conscious mind. On my website, Learning From My Dreams | Dream Interpretation ? Learning, there's a section devoted to different way to meditate. You might want to take a look.

Another non-drug idea is to consider using hemi-sync. This is a technique developed by a man named Robert Monroe. He discovered that if a frequency is put into one ear and a a different frequency is used in the other, the brain interprets the difference. He found that it was easy to help people get into the theta state and have out of body experiences.

This technology is used in hospitals as well as by people who have sleep problems. If you go here, Alternative Therapies for Insomnia Help| Binaural Beat Brainwave CDs| Hemi-Sync patented technology - Hemi-Sync -, you'll find information about different products.

With best wishes,
Guy

Originally Posted by Skeezyks

Hello gagrl: I'm sorry I don't really have any useful suggestions for you. I have had difficulty sleeping when I have been on some psych med's in the past. (I was on Cymbalta, though, & it was not one I had problems with.) When I did have problems, I took Trazadone for sleep.

I still have difficulty sleeping sometimes. But it is unrelated to psych med's since I no longer take any. When I do have difficulty, I typically get up & do sort-of a walking meditation... walking slowly around-&-around our dark & quiet house. I focus light attention on each foot as it touches the floor. Thoughts come-&-go. I don't dwell on any of them... just let them arise & fade at their own pace. After an hour or two of this, when I go back to bed, I usually fall asleep. I've tried Melatonin. However, I found that if I wasn't going to be able to sleep, taking Melatonin didn't help. Plus it always made me groggy the whole next day.

[LadyShadow]

Gentle hugs to you as you struggle with this. I have somewhat of the same problems as well. I may sleep for 4 hours after the Klonopin wears off (have you tried that?). It's a hard plight that many people with bipolar face.

The only suggestion I have is try to get yourself in some sort of routine. I used to be up at all hours of the night and day, and now I have finally gotten my sleep down to some sort of routine where I can have an afternoon job for a couple of hours a day.

I am sorry that wasn't helpful, but I know how tough it is. Even now writing this I feel drowsy after sleeping almost 9 hours.

[ElizaD]

Natural Calm 30 minutes before bed, with some Magnesium supplements, and 1/2 Costco Sleep Aid. I use to have issues with sleeping but I stick to this protocol. For a while I took Ambien but that just became habit forming. And only provided 6 hours. Now I sleep 8-9 hours. YAY!