Ideas? Suggestions?

[sf_guy]

I originally posted this in the anxiety forum, but thought I'd get some perspectives here, too. Thanks!

 

I suffer from pretty severe anxiety--GAD and some social. One of the side-effects (I think) is severe insomnia, though there may be a genetic component to this since my mom suffers from severe insomnia, too.

Anyway, by "severe" I mean most nights I go to bed at 10 (I have to get up at 5 for work) and don't fall asleep until 2:30 or 3:00 a.m. and then have to be up about two hours later.

 

I got tired of mucking around with GP's and went to see a real psychiatrist, who put me on Brintellix, which seemed an odd choice but it's helped reduce my anxiety by about 60% and he says that he may increase the dose if it doesn't get lower than that.

 

The problem is that my sleep is still pretty terrible. It's definitely a bit better--about three nights a week now I'm falling asleep within an hour and sleeping 4-5 hours, which is more sleep than I've had in years, but there's still the other 3-4 nights a week when I'm not sleeping.

 

I was on Ambien for four years about eight years ago, and it worked great but the psychiatrist says that it can cause some memory problems. I also took Diazepam for awhile but that made me groggy all day long and, again, the doctor thinks it causes memory problems.  My dad recommended Benadryl, which knocks him out. I tried it but it felt like I'd had two double lattes--I was running around with all kinds of energy and not sedated AT ALL.

 

I've been going to an anti-anxiety group, doing meditations, breathing exercises, exercise, etc. but I'm still not sleeping and although the Brintellix is activating and keeping me awake, I can feel my body is wearing down from lack of sleep.

 

Anyway, thanks to whoever reads this. If you've got any ideas on how to get some sleep please let me know. I'm starting to feel like my job and to some extent my relationship is in jeopardy because I'm just not at 100% (or even 80%).

[CeremonyNewOrder]

Have you tried trazodone? It's commonly prescribed for sleep. I personally need klonopin to sleep.

[melissaw72]

Have you tried melatonin?

[Angeni Mai]

Ask your doc about melatonin first. It's over the counter and is pretty cheap. Take it an hour before your bed time and you should have no issues getting to sleep but if you do, ask about trazodone. 

[sf_guy]

I tried both melatonin and Trazadone and even together they don't do squat. The Trazadone is worse in that it makes me SUPER alert and awake.

[lysergia]

right now i'm using zopiclone to sleep.  i think it has a bit of a reputation for messing with your memory too, but not as badly as ambien (somebody correct me if i'm wrong).  i fall asleep in about an hour after taking it, and i sleep approximately eight hours.  i don't have a hangover the next day like with trazadone, and it's not hard to get up in the morning like with seroquel (which is also another alternative, a LOT of people use it to sleep without any problems at all).  seroquel also has the added bonus of helping anxiety even at small doses for sleep (so sayeth my pdoc, dunno what the research says about that).  i guess i believe her because i've used seroquel PRN for anxiety during the day before (in very tiny doses) and it worked.

 

best of luck finding something that helps.  sleep is so very important!