Posted by ItsHowdyDudyTime on November 28, 2002, at 23:45:29
In reply to Sleep cycles and mood, posted by ArthurGibson on November 28, 2002, at 7:14:15
> I sypathise with you, but I think this is a chicken and egg situation and you might have got the chicken before the egg. Or the cart before the horse, if you see what I mean.
Hmmmmmm really? Sure about that?>
> I found that my sleep patterns recovered AFTER my depression started to lift, not BEFORE. Those little PROZAC pills saved my life.Not me, the first thing that improves with me is sleep.
>
> I think that something chemical does go wrong in our brains when we get depressed and it might be the serotonin thing, but I expect that there are many other chemicals involved as well. Nothing in nature works the "E Lilly" simple mode.Really? Thats odd because serotonin is the primary brain neurotransmitter affected by SSRIs. Did you know that serotonin is heavily involved in sleep regulation? Too little serotonin and we develop severe insomnia and also become meaner as hell, ornery, irritable.
>
> I found that coming off the sleeping pills helped the PROZAC to work more strongly. I slept less, but it was useless sleep anyway on pills.Im not talking about sleeping pills here. Sleeping pills such as hypnotics or benzos are just short term adjunct treatments, designed to get you to live thru another day until the full effect of the antidepressant kicks in. Reliance on "sleeping pills" is a very poor way to get sleep. The antidepressant once kicked in fully, should provide you with sleep. If its not, say if its causing you severe insomnia a month or two into the drug, is a bad sign and could point possibly to bipolar tendencies. The one exception here is MAOIs and stimulants, which tend to cause insomnia even in non bipolar individuals, due heavily to their dopaminergic profiles.
But if an SSRI keeps you away past say, the third of fourth week, you probably got probs beyond depression.
>
> As the PROZAC took hold, my sleep improved.Thats how it is supposed to be.
>
> I suspect that PROZAC is a mild drug and that PAXIL (SEROXAT)is much stronger for those with resistant depression. But this is just my observation of people I know who have taken both.
>
> I found hot milk useful in promoting sleep. But when I say "useful" I mean like a spoon is "useful" to empty a bucket of water. But then we have to clutch at straws.
>
> Perhaps the best help to the sleep of any person out there that cannot get enough of this prescious thing, is to lie in your bed and know that thousands of people who read this message board are deeply sympathetic to your plight and we, your friends are praying for your recovery. And you WILL recover!LOL HAHAHAHA!!! Thats funny! Im afraid it doesnt work that way in severe depression. "Knowing" that people care about you or are praying for you to fall asleep doesnt fix you in severe depression. A person who is truly severely depressed is beyond caring what others think about them. You WILL recover when you get on the correct drug or treatment, such as ECT. I had all kinds of people praying for me, hoping I was going to get better and it never worked. The only thing thats worked was drugs. Exercise helps some also.
May I ask what type of "depression" that you have? Have you been told your exact affective disorder? Do you have access to your psychiatric records where you can tell me for yourself what your dx is?
>
> I'm sorry I can't contribute anything more useful than this. I am very interested in the subject, but like you, I am searching for answers.I dont believe you understood what I was talking about very well, but thats OK because it doesnt sound as if you have had really severe depression before. And therefore dont have the same frame of reference as I have with regards to severe mental illness. Thats understandable.
If Prozac made you manic, you might have better luck with mood stabilizers and atypical anti-psychotics. Like I told you in another post, dont blame yourself, blame clinical psychiatry for their shoddy, halfassed diagnostic methods and lack of technological sophistication when diagnosing new patients.
Howdy Doody
poster:ItsHowdyDudyTime
thread:129660
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021127/msgs/129834.html