Bipolar Disorder Support Group

Bipolar disorder is not just a single disorder, but a category of mood disorders marked by periods of abnormally high energy and euphoria, often accompanied by bouts of clinical depression. This is the place to talk about your experience with bipolar disorder, learn from others' experiences, and find support.

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anyone suffer from insomnia?

aquarius33
aquarius33
Ugggghhhhh its 2am n im wide awake. Brain goin in circles w all my stress I got goin on. Yesterday I was up at 4am for couple hrs. I had to take my lorazapam n wait for it to kick in before I could get back to sleep. Guess since that worked yesterday I do again tonight. I hope this dont start happenin every night. Im gonna try n get my referral for goin to providence hospital behavioral health tomoro cuz doc says im in a bipolar deppressive episode n after cryin n sobbin at my appt she wants me to go to hospital while they get me off of lithium n abilify n on lamotrigine n wellbutrin n lorazapam. Rt now im takin all. She wants to build up the new meds n then slowly go down on the old. Im just tired of the negative thoughts n just wanna wake up feelin well rested n hopeful. Anybody have any tips for dealin w insomnia? If I take lorazapam now I will prob feel groggy in mornin cuz I gotta get up at 7. Im so tired but brain goin goin goin.
HannaHana
HannaHana
What about maybe splitting the lorazepam in half and taking it? I'm sorry you're suffering from this right now. It really sucks. That's a lot of meds. Just follow your pdoc's orders and hopefully you'll become more stable. Good luck!
aquarius33
aquarius33
Yeah I was thinkin the same thing. I just split one so hopefully its enough to get me to sleep. I got a big day tomoro. Have u taken lithium before? That med made my symptoms worse n now im stuck in this episode. Im gettin tired of this fight. I miss my old self. She was fun n busy n helpful n had energy n had a drive to do things. Now im lucky if I get in the shower n get dressed. Its so much work for me. Wish I could rewind life sometimes or fast forward. Jan sucked. I hope feb better. My bday on 16th so hopefully by then I feel better.
spacekat
spacekat
I have terrible insomnia. I take gabapentin (600mg) at night to help me sleep. I also take Prazosin (4mg) for nightmares. It usually keeps me asleep for at least 4 hours and then I'm up again. I take another 300mg of gabapentin, and I can sleep another 2 hours. It's not great, but at least I'm getting my Zzzzzs.

On the nights where I just can't sleep, I try to do productive things like clean, journal, read, etc. Whatever you do, don't fight it - try not to think about how you're "Not sleeping" and - if after 20 minutes you're still awake, get out of bed and do something. Some people find meditation really works - or guided relaxation.

Hope this helps!! I'm sorry you're dealing with this right now -- hopefully, it's just a transient thing with med changes and all. That can do it, you know?

Big hugs!
whales86
whales86
I struggle with this too. I take 300 Trazadone and 45 Tresapam it's usually works pretty good. It alto ok a while to get the mex right be I'm sleeping 6-7 hrs only waking up 2-3 times for a couple mins

Spacekat dose the one for the nightmares work ? My nightmares just came back but I'd give anything to get ride of them
Community LeaderSunCloudJD
SunCloudJD
Ditto with me!!.. I split my meds over the night as well.... There are books written on BP and sleep... I think it's something a lot of us do unfortunately... I hope getting into the Centre today will start to help you Aqu.... Big hug...x
SensitiveHoboLady
SensitiveHoboLady
Sleep is my biggest issue managing this illness. If I take the Ativan, like you, I'm so groggy. After trying many things over the long years, I have ambien that I take as needed. I don't take it every night, just when I know I need to get solid sleep to deal with the next day, which averages to taking it about once a week, sometimes twice a week if my brain is really racing.

I also take seroquel, which used to help with my sleep, but it no longer does anything. I just take the seroquel as a maintenance med right now.

Best wishes.
aquarius33
aquarius33
Well...I woke up at round 230am n I did take half a lorazapam Instead of a whole one cuz I had to get up at 6 to get kids ready for school n I couldnt go back to sleep so I just got up. Day two of gettin up in middle of night n gettin bout 4 hrs of sleep. Thank u SunCloudjd again for kindwords. Im gonna call doc at 8 when they open n get them to get started on it. Im nervous bout goin really cuz of my anxiety n bein round strangers I dont like big crowds of people n idk what to expect its scary to me! Im kinda wanna stay home but know I need to go to hospital n just have them care for me since im havin hard time doin it myself.
raylen1981
raylen1981
I usually take a warm bath before bed-time, or have a hot mug of chamomile + milk + honey, and I'm able to drift off rather quickly.
irishwriter
irishwriter
yeah - an insomniac for years - seems to go with the territory for a lot of us - but as spacekat said try not to stress out about it. these days i at least rest and relax when i am unable to sleep so that i am not constantly exhausted and that seems to work well for me. meditation works well. I don't like to take too many meds (am already taking plenty!) but if I need more sleep I take some phenergan and that will give me a couple of hours. (i think it is like benadryl). if i get four hours in a row i feel amazing! hugs
raylen1981
raylen1981
I used to take a benzo for sleep, but they're addictive, so I decided to stop those.
raylen1981
raylen1981
It helps to exercise, even for a little bit during the day, so that you're body gets tired and requires rest at night.
dobiedots
dobiedots
Carbohydrates. I eat some if I have trouble sleeping. It works in 30 minutes.
MayB
MayB
What I learned from my sleep study:
1) Try as much as you can to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time.
2) If you can swing it try to give yourself an hour before sleeping as a cool down, no computer screens, read, calm down, meditate etc.
3) Keep your sleeping area dark and cool and as much as reasonable loud noise free...
4) Take your meds in the cool down hour before sleeping

Easy to say hard to do but after years on insomnia this actually helped me. ...if I stick to it.
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