Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hey Tommy, wow that's a long stint of no sleep, hope you managed to get some not too long after your prev post.Just a thought as I've been on and off citalopram quite a few times and can definitely confirm that in my case it is v stimulating for the first 3-4 weeks during which time it actually worsens my insomnia significsntly before the therapeutic effect kicks in. As with all the SSRI's insomnia cam be a common side effect -I haven't once managed to cheat it!- and can make you feel like giving up on it but persevering for at least 6 weeks might just be worthwhile, (esp. If you struggle with anxiety issues) until the side effects have had time to subside. I really hope you get somewhere with it soon and you start to see some improvement.
Hi Robskie, thanks for all that. Sorry you've been having such a tough time the past few years. Hormones are an incredible bummer aren't they?! I'm under no illusion that progest cream will be a cure-all but i' m hoping it may just alleviate my insomnia pre-menstrually if oestrogen dominance is a factor. It certainly sounds preferable to artificial hormone treatment which i'd rather avoid if at all poss. I know it can be difficult to get an accurate or meaningful hormone profile as levels do fluctuate so much (even hrly as you say) but i'm hoping that taking levels every few days over a whole monbth should be quite revealing, just in case progesterone isn't an issue at all and i've been misinterpreting alot of my symptoms. However,I'm turning 40 and am, i think, in peri-menopause at the mo, so chances are i'm not ovulating every month which is causing an imbalance. No doubt as things progress and i hit actual menopause low oestrogen will become an issue too so will have to address that too! Fun and games hey 🙁
The two are linked without a doubt and i think it's always going to be a circular pattern. It's a fact that prolonged insomnia depletes serotonin levels and depleted serotonin levels contribute to insomnia. I too have found GPs v ready to prescribe anti-d's as a first line treatment when i tell them my insomnia is bad, which, for years, i have gone along with becasuse my insomnia does ease up on SSRI's like citalopram ( after several weeks of even worse side effect insomnia hell of course!) I guess if anti-d's break the chemical cycle by boosting serotonin etc then they are a valuable tool although by no means a complete solution as we all know. I think gp's/the NHS could make other non-drug treatments, that address how to manage and live with insomnia, more accessible. I, like many others i'm sure, have had to spend a fortune on seeking help privately, with managing the impact insomnia has on my day to day life. To date the mose effective treatment that i think is slowly helping, has been a therapy called ACT (acceptance and committment therapy) which i think a few of you have referred to in other posts. For me, it works where other approaches like CBT fall down, because it doesn't encouarage you to devote time and energy to the problem, by indulging and challenging the insomnia – one good analogy it uses is of tug of war ie. the more you pull against insomnia the stronger it pulls/fights back,. Instead it encourages you to”gently” acknowledge and “welcome in” all the negative insomnia thoughts and emotions that are experienced every day in order to lessen their improtance and make them less scary. It also helps you to sit with insomnia at night without freaking out, using mindfulness techniques, which i do think can help.
Sorry, lots of blurb but if anyone is interested i can let you know more details. I attended a one day workshop about ACT run by a really nice guy (called Guy!) and have had a couple of one to one follow up's with him since then. He does skype calls so you don't have to trek to London each time for appt's. not cheap tho')
sorry to hear the Traz edone didn't work out for you Roseleb but clearly not viable if it zombifies you to that degree! (i was on mirtazapine for a while and found a similar thing.. hated the way i felt during the day hence quit it, tho probably not quite as extreme as trazedone?) Hope the sleep study throws some light on things for you. How do you get referrals for these kind of studies? Seems to be virtually impossible in the UK unless you have a condition such as sleep apnea. V frustrating.
Thanks for all the links Martin,. I'm def. being converted to the idea of natural progesterone cream for pre-menopausal insomnia and PMS insomnia. i'm reading a book by some Dr. Lee who's spent his life reseaching, treating and listening to women with hormonal problems (poor bloke!!). So many of the discussions lead back to the use of this cream to help balance out hormones and reduce oestrogen dominance (which is pretty inevitable as you age because progesterone becomes depleted) which is a massive culprit for poor sleep amongst other pleasant symptoms.He and his female doctor cronies present really compelling arguments for using prog cream over any synthetic hormone pill which they basically portray as the devil!! So,, think i will give the cream a try after i'm done saliva testing my hormones and will report back whether it's helping or not….
I guess it's a trial and error thing.. i too have read that high doses of certain B vit's can aggravate insomnia and conversely that deficiencies can! I'm hoping the higher doses don't since just about every type of woman's problem seems to recommend ridiculously high doses of the stuff!
..well good luck with tthe Trazedone… would be interested to hear how you find it..think it's quite sedating isn't it so should hopefully give you some better nights.
Hey Roseleb:)
So sorry you're having a bad run at the mo – i totally know where you're coming from when you say you've had to cancel plans due to lack of sleep. I don't use sleeping pills all that often but when i did try Ambien 5mg i too found that it knocked me out initially but would then wake and be unable to get back to sleep. In fact, i probably felt more anxious after it wore off hence i decided to discontinue it. Are you on a decent dose? I only took 5mg nightly which clearly wasn't enough to get me through the night. 10mg is the standard adult dose so perhaps it isn't worth taking half measures – maybe better to take a full does alternate nights rather than have a poor result every night?! Are you on the CR form of it, if not perhaps you could try that just to get some temporary relief. It may keep you asleep for longer? When i do use actual sleeping pills, i generally go for Zopiclone, seems to keep me asleep for longer. I'm assuming you've tried that one too??
As for the anti-d side of things, i'm afraid i don't have experience with Wellbutrin. Did you find Lexapro didn't agree with you or did you just want to come off to seee how you are without it? i am on the sister drug to Lexapro, citalopram which generally keeps the lid on anxiety for me.I have had spells without it over the past 15 or so years but always ended up back on it, especially after having children! If you're battling with that side of things now you have stopped yours would you reconsider going back to Lexapro (esp as you feel in hindsight it might have helped) or are you keen to try something different? When recommencing citalopram i do find that i get worse insomnia for a couple of weeks but that usually settles down as the anti anxiety effect kicks in.Anyway, i hope that others here can shed some light on Wellbutrin for you….hope you get some better sleep tonight and can make it to the gym at some point.
Rooz x
Dittto. Sounds encouraging Jitterbug. I hope this combo is still doing the trick for you!? Mind telling me what dose of magnesium you take and when? at night presumably?? I usually take calcium and mag together at night, but can't decide if it helps or hinders the sleep??
Thanks
Not sure this is of interest to anyone but after doing a saliva cortisol test that showed my adrenals are “stage 3 exhaustion” I've been put on nutritional supplemements that are supposed to support your adrenal gland functioning when exposed to stress and therefore to help with insomnia. These supp's contain quite high doses of Vit B along with bovine spleen and adrenal extract. Since (i'm told) your adrenals have to work extra hard releasing cortisol when you suffer from stress and insomnia, the secretions get out of whack so i was told it's improtant to supplement the diet with these supps. It's quite early days tho i do feel they help with energy levels after bad nights. However, i'm not sure if ironically the high Vit B sometimes contributed to waking up all the time – i know some Vit B can cause insomnia so it feels like a double edged sword. Anyone have any comment on this?
