Which Way To…
Allo, lovely folks out in the blogosphere! I’m still doing mainly okay, mood wise. Having said that, I continue to be low/no-energy to the point of near-chronic fatigue. And my favorite bit? I seem to be going through a patch of ‘insomnia’.
I use quotation marks around insomnia, because wiki suggests that my symptoms are more likely a circadian rhythm issue than insomnia. After all, I had severe problems with sleep paralysis through most of my Air Force tenure. My current issue is simply difficulty getting to sleep. Once I’m out, I’m out; I’ve not seen sleep paralysis since I stopped working day shift — seriously folks, some of us are 500% not wired to work ‘normal’ hours. It is that dangerous and detrimental for me. I currently go to bed somewhere between midnight and say… 1:30am (depending on how long I’m reading), and get up for 9:30am. I’m able to do this to preserve my health, and to be able to work, so you betcha that’s what I’m going to do.
Still, I waffle on how I feel about my ‘insomnia’. Even in the worst non-medicated times, I can count on one hand how often I’d be up for more than say… 2 hours. Now that I’m on Seroquel and its glorious knock-out drop side effect, issues with getting to sleep are almost non-existent… almost. I’m gobbling Melatonin at night right now to try and kick the cycle into staying happy, but as intimated — I’m still in a pretty strong patch of can’t get to sleep easily-itis.
I’m sure it will pass sooner rather than later and I can go back to feeling sheepish for complaining for losing *maybe* an hour a night of sleep, but for now, I’m bemused as to why it’s happening. Is there some lingering depression or hypomania that I’m not picking up on right now ’cause I’m so physically worn out? It would be nice to have an understanding of why it’s shown up, but much like my occasional migraine, I’ve yet to be able to tie it to anything concrete.
Ah well, so it goes. Hope everyone is doing well, and has fun plans for the weekend/had fun yesterday/etc!
<3
I have problems with sleep as well. I have problems both getting to sleep and staying asleep, which geodon helps with, for me. Right now, I’m worried and exhausted. Worried because my labtop computer I carry with me that belongs to my work stopped working, and exhausted from too little sleep last night. I went to bed around 2 and woke up around 4. Uhg. I can sympathize.
I hope your sleep evens out! Stupid brains, eh?
yeah … 😉
Unhappily sleep is a thing for me too. Ambiem is my friend. I’ve been on it so long that I am afraid it is going to backfire on me. Well what are a few nightmares? Enjoy your day.
That’s part of why I used to drink so much in the Air Force — I was so desperate for anything resembling sleep that passing out seemed a reasonable thing. And yeah, the sleeping pills too, and the No-Doz the next day. :s Being able to keep my current sleep schedule is just so… so freaking amazing for my poor brain and body, and I’d really not know what I’d do without the Seroquel. I’ve already managed to forget just how bad it used to be, yanno?
Me too. It’s so much better than it used to be. I should be celebrating. I am appreciative every day. Have a good one.
I thought a “circadian rhythm” was a 7-year mating cycle for locusts. They had to move my college graduation indoors because the circadias were going at it so loudly outside you couldn’t hear yourself think. 🙂
That is definitely one thing I do not miss! I think we were moving from Texas to Tennessee during a migration when I was a kid. I just remember being a bit traumatized, hee hee.
I like to listen to rain storm sounds, and I always have a fan on because otherwise I hear every little noise, but between the fan and on rough nights the storm sounds I usually drift right off, it’s the waking up part that I have a very difficult time with
Fans have always been really useful for a meditative point in getting to sleep for me. I used to pretend I was in a tent camping in the snow, and little bits of snow and cold would drift in a crack, momentarily chilling me. My brain made this an excellent counterpoint to the warmth of the blankets. I love storms too for the ambient factors. 😀
Hey, hope you get on top of the can’t get to sleep easily-itis soon.
It might sound a bit dull, but I’ve done a post before on tips to aid a good nights sleep. Have a look here & try to get into a routine before sleep (that’s the boring bit).
http://thebipolarplace1.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/tips-to-aid-a-good-nights-sleep-2/
Yuppers, I know all of that and more. *chuckles* Though I don’t use lavender often, because I can’t stand the smell of it. My replacement in that regard is Olbas oil — the menthol is great for helping unsnot the nose, and it’s a smell I find soothing. I’ve had bad patches of ‘insomnia’/ can’t get to sleep easy-itis since childhood, and I still remember my earliest meditation against it — I’d envision one of those old pull-down movie screens, and watch the numbers count backwards. But as said, once I’m out, I’m out, so it probably would behoove me to see what I can learn about circadian rhythm problems. 🙂
I don’t think that the weather is helping right now – we’ve got very long daylight hours and the warm humid air on top of that is meaning that I’m sleeping much lighter than normally too, both difficulty in going to sleep and then waking fitfully, until it’s actually time that I need to be shifting, at which point I’m zombie. Not feeling very rested at all, without all the extra brain sabotage that you have going on…
The humidity and I are definitely never friends. San Antonio has weird spot humidity, so that plus changing shifts… *shakes head* It wasn’t nice, to say the least. *makes up and shares a pot of coffee*