Posted by DaisyM on August 13, 2004, at 10:38:02
In reply to question about meds and ego state work » Pfinstegg, posted by Aphrodite on August 13, 2004, at 6:59:51
One of the huge issues I have is not sleeping. The dreams are terrible and they wake me up and I stay up the rest of the night to avoid more of them. A few months ago, my therapist became very concerned about this because it was contributing very heavily to the suicidal ideation...I was too tired to cope. He talked about medication and suggested I talk to my MD or he would refer to a doc. Sounded fine to me.
I left his office and an hour later freaked out. It was very much like what you said. The parts of me that have been so contained, so silenced where having a fit that we were trying to silence them again. Because she is mostly out at night. It was one of the worst episodes I've had...I literally lost the next morning, couldn't move off my bed. So if this is the discussion just prior to last night, I can see why you had a crisis.
That said, after much more discussion, I do have something to help me sleep now. I don't take it every night but there are times when I've taken it early and put myself to sleep. It helps. I've heard so many differing opinions on the idea of medications. The idea is not to mask your feelings and pain but to make things manageable between sessions so that you can live your life.
My son's therapist stressed that medication was a tool to bring the anxiety down enough to learn how to deal with it, if possible, without medication. But until the anxiety came down in the first place, nothing was getting past it. And that is exactly how it worked...he went on, stabilized and worked hard to learn other things. Now we've weaned him off. He is struggling again so he might go back on. But it isn't a life sentence just because he started taking them. But if he needs them lifelong, that is OK too.
I totally understand your hesitation. I share it. Sleeping aides were a huge first step for me. And they've help me tolerate going into even darker places. I think you should keep talking about it. Since you are already invested in therapy, I doubt whether they would shut down your progress.
poster:DaisyM
thread:376265
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040812/msgs/377156.html