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When I said “I know I’m really stable” I was talking about my sleep stability. Emotionally I’m already at a good place.
Yeah, that’s just it Deb. The anti-depressants they gave me all jacked up my anxiety. My doctor finally stopped giving them to me because I was becoming hyper and on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Almost had one at work. And the sleeping pills he gave me never worked. I stayed up all night after taking an Ambien. Decided the meds aren’t worth it.
I am in an emotionally good place as well. I just can’t ditch the insomnia as it is so programmed into me.
That’s makes sense. Sounds like the meds had the opposite effect on you than they were supposed to.
Hi Steve,
I second your preparations for when you get out of bed! I find that if I have it all arranged, then it eases the frustration quite a lot. You just get out of bed and move to the new phase for awhile. I also find it useful not to ‘disturb’ my body too much – I got this from my restorative yoga teacher. I basically move slowly, do not leap out of bed, I try to keep myself as quiet as possible. I even go to the bathroom in the dark, I know my house so well now I don’t really need the lights, and in the dark it’s easier to remain calm.
I also second Deb’s info about meds for temporarily reducing the anxiety. I’m going to talk to my Dr this week about this. I just need to remove some of the anxiety around bedtime. I know I can get better sleep, I’ve done it before, it’s a matter of gaining the confidence to be able to do it again.
I am a big believer in taking something to get you a couple of nights a sleep in the beginning of all of this. When your anxiety is simply too high, it is really beneficial to have a small boost to give you a head start and a small bit of sleep confidence. Tylenol PM or ZZZquil, something like that.
This morning for me it happened for the first time in my near week of my second wave of SRT. I laid in. My window during the week was 11:30pm-6a and I stuck to it. On the weekends I would set my alarm for 6:30am instead and treated myself to an extra half hour. Figured it wasn’t the absolute end of the world since I consider myself at least half recovered in general and my anxiety is significantly lower than where it was during my first wave of SRT. But anyway, I awoke at 6:30am today and was simply too exhausted to pop right up. The next thing I knew it was 7am. I got right out of bed, but I wonder just how much damage was done. I guess I will find out for sure tonight when I see if I’m sleepy around 11:30
Strange SR night last night. I was really exhausted before my third night of doing SR and was looking forward to a relatively good sleep like I got on Night 2. All through the day if I sat in a chair I had to watch it as I might have dozed off I was so tired. Then, when I was watching TV in the evening around 8 or 9 o’clock, my sleep drive just disappeared. It was there and then it wasn’t. I don’t know what happened to it as I didn’t take any naps. I was just watching TV. It was just like I was exhausted and then I wasn’t.The beginning of my SW is 11:45pm. However, I used to go to bed around 9:00pm. I’m wondering if my body still thinks that is my bedtime and the “Sleep/Bed Anxiety” kicked in and made it vanish. Because of that, I didn’t get to sleep until 2:15 and only slept 2 and a half hours. Plus, it was a very fitful sleep with lots of awakenings. I ended up getting up at 4:45 because I couldn’t sleep any more. (My SW ends at 5:15.)
Has anything like that happened to anybody else who did SR? I hear a lot of people telling me how exhausted they are because of SR and I was like that for the first two days. But starting with that incident last night, I don’t feel exhausted anymore. Can a person get used to SR that fast? I’ll see what happens tonight.
Don’t beat yourself up over it Mac. It happens. Today I came home from my Mother’s to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day and started reading a book. Next thing I know, the book is falling out of my hands. I probably lost some hard earned sleep drive there. I don’t know how long I was so sleepy. I should have gooten up out of the chair but was so tired, I just didn’t think of it. Live and learn.
Hey Deb, do you find that the anti-anxiety medication has made the anxiety lessen at all? I’m debating whether I should be taking one. I’ll go through a few good days, but then one bad night will set me off again. Then feel incredible anxiety, verging on panic attacks
You have to be careful Dragon. Many anti-depressants have a side effect of actually causing insomnia. That’s why many doctors prescribe two drugs. The anti-depressant and a sleep aid, like a Benzo, to counteract the insomnia that the anti-depressant causes.
My anxiety has gone way down since I started SR and taking an antidepressant three weeks ago. It’s hard to tell whether it’s from the antidepressant or from the fact that I started sleeping so much better at the same time. It usually takes 2 or 3 weeks for antidepressants to kick in. My husband swears it’s the antidepressant that has made me so much calmer, but I swear it’s the sleep. Just in case the antidepressant is contributing, I’m going to continue to take it for a few months until I’m completely over the insomnia.
Anyway, yes, I would recommend taking something for your anxiety. Anything that helps with the anxiety is worth it since the more your anxiety is reduced, the better you will sleep. And the better you sleep, the more your anxiety will go down – a positive upward spiral of improvement. Most people respond positively to anti-depressants, but sometimes it takes trying a few different ones before you get the one that works for you. I took one earlier that had the negative side effect of lousy, shallow sleep, which was the very last thing I needed! So I switched to something else that worked better.
Mac – how was your first week? Are you sleeping through the night, in other words, not waking up in the early morning?
Hi Deb thanks for asking. Yes it’s been a week now and I’ve been doing extremely well so far. Not even one bad night like the first time around in my first week. Not jinxing things though. I’m just rolling with whatever punches might come. I am sleeping through the night, yes, but let’s not forget that’s only 6 hours. (I get into bed around 11:30p and usually nod off by 12a). Alarm is 6am. When I can get into bed at 10:30p, crash at 11 and THEN make it to 6a routinely, well that’s when we’ll have true success.
Glad you’re doing well. So it seems that your sleeping in of 1/2 hour the other night didn’t hurt your sleep. I find that to be true for myself as well. A little sleeping in now and then doesn’t mess things up.
I’m doing well also this second time around. Last week I only had one bad night, but that was last Sunday, so now I’ve had 7 good nights in a row since then. I’m beginning my fourth week and have added on 1/2 hour, so my window is now from 11:30 to 6:30. Last night I slept a luxurious 7 hours!
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