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.
So I'm stopping my sleep meds just to see how I do with out them. No I didn't tell my doctor about it, but there is no requirement for me to absolutely take them 100% of the time.
I can't really tell if I'm doing better or worse to be honest. I sleep just as much on them as I do off them the only major difference is that now my sleep schedule is slowly shifting towards being awake at night again and asleep during the day. Wait that was already happening with the sleep meds any how I forgot.
The reason I decided to stop taking them is because they were barely working any how. Hours would pass before I would fall asleep and I kept sleeping all day any how. So why take meds that aren't working?
Soon I will have a Cpap though so hopefully that helps and I wont need the pills.
I can't really tell if I'm doing better or worse to be honest. I sleep just as much on them as I do off them the only major difference is that now my sleep schedule is slowly shifting towards being awake at night again and asleep during the day. Wait that was already happening with the sleep meds any how I forgot.
The reason I decided to stop taking them is because they were barely working any how. Hours would pass before I would fall asleep and I kept sleeping all day any how. So why take meds that aren't working?
Soon I will have a Cpap though so hopefully that helps and I wont need the pills.
I did my own little sleep med test too. Before meds, a long sleep for me would be 3-4 hours.
With meds, I sleep 8 hours regularly. So I decided to see if I had learned how to sleep. I guess I thought maybe once my body was shown how to do it I could do it on my own.
That's a big "No."
Your case is different though if your meds aren't really helping. Good luck with your experiment.
I have tried melatonin and I can say I don't like it as when it does work it makes me drowsy well into the next day.
I agree I've built a tolerance to sleep pills. I've been on them for over a year now and they just aren't cutting it any more.
on another note... try talking to the doctor and get either another med or an increase in dose for the one your on