Not sure where to put this, since I don't know whats going on.

[witchywoman]

All of a sudden, in the past week probably, I've been having more anxiety. But, also, trouble sleeping. Normally I'll sleep about 10-12 uninterrupted hours. I'll use last night as an example: I went to sleep around 10-10:30, which lately is early for me. Slept uninterrupted till 5am, when my husbands alarm woke me (very rare for that to happen). From then on, I started having very weird dreams, which kept waking me up with anxiety. Kept trying to sleep, but everytime I would doze off, the dreams would start again, and therefore, the anxiety. Finally gave up about 8:30. This sucks so much. I love my sleep. Pdoc is on vacation another week or two. Ugh, what do I do??

[gizmo]

When I told my pdoc about my weird sleeping (getting up between 3-4 am and staying up about 2 hours, then going back to bed for a couple hours) he told me that sometimes we just get into sleep habits that have nothing to do with our disorder. He said that sometimes they will work themselves out on their own, and sometimes they need steps taken by us to resolve (like in my case, to not get out of be when I wake up).

And in my case, my weird habit eventually resolved itself after about 3 weeks with no medication intervention and without effecting my mood.

[Indigo 'n dye]

While my sleep habits are just that: mine, if I went to bed at 10 I would be up and ready for the day by 5. I realize that we each need different amounts of sleep, but I too find myself having strange dreams and bizarre thoughts when I try to sleep after once being awake/awakened.

Allow me to suggest that when you awaken and/or are awoke, get up and get ready for the day...have breakfast, shower, go for a walk in the cool of the early morning, work in the yard, or simply sit with a cup of coffee and watch the morning awake around you...

FWIW...Indigo

[sorrel]

I agree with Indigo. Sleeping 7 hours instead of 10-12 is not a sleep disorder or a problem -- it's that you are aiming for an amount that is too much, or that's what it sounds like. Sleep needs and tolerances change.

[witchywoman]

Im thinking the change in my sleeping habits may be due to going off the lithium. Maybe it was making me more tired, therefore needing more sleep. The Pristiq is causing the weird dreams, no question there.

[The Emperor]

I've been having VERY vivid, weird dreams that are also very disturbing, and I'm on Pristiq as well, and, like you, it will happen after something has woken me up and I've gone back to bed. The nightmares suck. Sorry I don't have any suggestions. I'd rather not dream at all!

[celestia]

Geez, I would love to sleep for even 7 hours in a row.

[rowen]

I get funky ass dreams from Effexor. They seem to have decreased in frequency over the last few months. But man, when I first started - the dreams were so vivid, but so hard to describe. I told someone one of my dreams once, and she said it sounded like I had dropped acid.

There's not a lot you can do about the weird dreams, if they're due to a med. The best you can do is try to change your perspective on them. Sometimes I have woken up with dreams that greatly disturbed me, but when I took a deep breath and thought about the content of the dream, it's usually has a zany component. Which would make me laugh, and the anxiety would go away.

I'd still tell your pdoc - they like to know about side effects.