Posted by ncrainbow on May 13, 2008, at 0:16:18
In reply to Re: Medication Management: Episode 1, posted by Sigismund on May 12, 2008, at 21:38:46
Sleep has always been a huge issue for me so I can relate. I am a very inconsistent night time sleeper with a life long history of pervasive daytime fatigue. I did score in the severe range on the sleep latency test (daytime part of sleep study) basically just confirmed for me that i am not imagining it. I am sleepy a lot. Although it kinda resembles narcolepsy...for me, it is more complex than that.
Good news is that I have made big changes to my "sleep hygeine" lately and they seem to help some.
Here they are...note that some are meds and some are lifestyle:
1. 1-2 mgs of klonopin at night. And nothing else for sleep. I often alternated between ambien, ativan, benadryl so that I never took one for more than a few days in a row and I think I just did more harm than good.
2. I am on Wellbutrin xl during the day which for me is very activating. Seems to help me resist (to some degree, but not completely) my urge to nap. I nap pretty uncontrollably in kind of an addcitive way but now it has decreased to a more reasonable frequency or at least the naps are shorter.
3. No TV in bedroom. No Computer or other electronic visual stimulation (PDA, Blackberry, videogame, laptop, etc) after 9:00 p.m. I take klonopin by 10:00 and I try to be asleep by 11:00.
4. Cutting down on napping helps but it is hard...for me it is always hard....I would trade meds, food, wine, shopping, just about anything for my nap. Kinda sick, huh?
I should note that with pretty intense ADD/hypomania, napping is also my version of "brain containment" I don't have a lot of tools to clear or slow my brain down. I am sure meditation, yoga, or even regular exercise would help a lot but heck I am 40 so if it isn't happening by now, I am not feeeling that confident about htis old dog learning new tricks. I wake up most days promising myself that I am not going back to bed....but soon I cave and just check out for awhile.
Now this works fine when I keep a normal schedule but tonight for instance I got in from the airport at 10:30 p.m. and had 2 hours worth of email to deal with....so for me no system is perfect. I am sure I will be sleepy tomorrow
poster:ncrainbow
thread:828752
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080510/msgs/828827.html