Disturbed sleep Australia

[stormyseas]

Hi guys,

I have just started reading about sleep problems and it seems like people actually have a "sleep doctor' and can get sleep studies done. I would like to ask particularly for those on CB from Australia any advice regarding this. I live in a regional area but am willing to go to a city if need be.

I know this may stupid but i am only just realising that the way I sleep ( which is crap) is not normal.

And I am learning that this is part of my illness or would definately be exacerbating it.

I go to sleep between 9 or 10 and have to set my alarm to get up at 8am for work, I am always tired/exhausted. If i didn't have to get up I would quiet happily sleep till 10 or 11 am. and then sometimes even have a nap in the afternoon.

I can fall asleep pretty easily these days but am constantly waking up throughout the night like between 10 and 20 times.

Most nights I have nightmares and I have found out that I also have night terrors- my boyfriend tells me that I will wake him up with me sitting up and screaming and sobbing and he has since decided not to sleep in the same bed as me,

I have night-time hallucinations both visual and auditory which can be horrifyingly terrifying.

In between I have very exhausting vivid dreaming.

Somtimes I have sleep paralysis.

When I am in the depths of depression I have early morning waking which leaves me terribly exhausted.

When I extremely anxious or hypomanic or in a mixed episode or coming off zyprexa I hardly sleep each night ( like about 1 hr)

I practice sleep hygiene.

And I have been heaps of different psycho eds over the last 2 yrs which I realise can exacerbate sleep problems. But i also had these sleep problems before the meds.

Really it is an issue because i am just so very tired all of the time.

I have a GP and psychiatrist and they have asked me previously how my sleep is and I always say 'not good' but they never go into it any further than this.

I think they have been concentrating on trying to get my depression sorted out and hoping the sleep would sort itself.

The sleep meds I have tried are phenergan ( an antihistamine) helps me sleep but i am very drowsy through the next day

and about 1.5 yrs ago I was on low doses of seroquel which bombed me out at night but I was still very drowsy the next day.

And also was on zyprexa 10mg which did the same thiing- amazingly i would sleep a lot at night but I was still very sleepy during the day.

Sorry this is such a long winded post

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[ninetynine]

First of all, I think you need to sit down with your GP and your psychiatrist and tell them what's happening with your sleep.

I am aware of a sleep clinic at the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg, Victoria: http://www.austin.org.au/Page.aspx?ID=455 I don't think you said what state you live in. I haven't been to the Austin sleep clinic, so I can't tell you much more.

Hoping you get some answers and relief.

[Bernard]

My husband has been to a sleep clinic, attached to the Neurology section of our local hospital. They plugged up his head with electrode-type things, monitored his brain patterns, breathing etc while sleeping, over two nights. Maybe something like that would be helpful? We went through our GP, and from memory, I think it was covered by Medicare (we're in NSW) ...