lack of sleep

Sleep is amazing. Once I slept about 3 hours in 3 nights. I went to the hospital because my brain wasn't working right. I couldn't keep things straight in my mind. I did get some medicine that helped. After a few days I did get some better sleep. The doctors at the hospital talked about getting good sleep hygiene. It is important to always allot myself 8 hours of sleep. I find it helpful to do some wind down activities each night to prepare for sleep. I record my mood for the day on moodtracker.com, check my email, brush teeth, do some stretches, and pray. These things really help.

Has anyone else found some of these things to be helpful or have any other suggestions?

I'll read or journal - I have found that written things down helps get them out of my head so they don't keep me up thinking about them. I also use a sound machine when I sleep I find that I get better quality sleep when I use it then when I don't. I also found that if I make sure I got to bed and get up at the same time each day really helps because my brain just says ok this is normal. Routine is so good when it comes to sleep. Hope this helps.
Amanda

ajstarketc,
I agree totally. Routine makes a big difference. I do have a year old infant, so sometimes my sleep times vary. I find that really devoting sleep time to sleep and not internet surfing or watching tv helps. With my other two children waking up during the night, I would sometimes stay up to "get something done". That was a big mistake for me. I would spend at least 2 hours that I could be sleeping while my child slept. The next day I was not have able to function well because I didn't have enough sleep. Somehow I went into a mania after keeping some of those odd hours. I think I felt euphoric when I was "getting something done". The most important thing for me at that time should have been to take care of myself through sleeping.

When I am manic, it is almost impossible to sleep. I can stay up for days with little to no sleep. The problem with that is that I can't concentrate to get anything done.

My doctor prescribed Xanax for occasional use to help me calm down and sleep. If I don't want to take the Xanax I can always call him and he will call in an Rx for AMBIEN... that helps as well.

I have a 4 year old so routine does help, but my mania overrides that sometimes.

Lack of sleep is definetely a trigger for me and it can go either way. If I'm on the manic side of baseline I often sleep less and then can go very manic. Once I didn't sleep at all for a whole week - was overstimulated by work - was working abroad and had a crazy schedule. Then I went completely manic and ended up being hauled off by immigration on my return to the UK. Goodnes knows how I even go back. If I'm on the depressed side of baseline then lack of sleep can drag me down to those intolerable depths. Equally sometimes if I'm down lack of sleep can lift me up and I have heard other people say that sleep deprivation can lift a depression I'm not sleeping great at the moment but fortunately I'm on new meds which seems to have stabilised me so - fingers crossed - I'm less sensitive to the sleep trigger, but know I've got to get my sleep hours back up to 7 or 8 rather than the 5 or 6 I'm on at the moment - because I don't want to run the risk.

Lack of sleep (or even too much of it) is both a symptom and a trigger for me. I read a good article on serendipity about the relationship of bipolar and sleep.

I find that a set bed time AND sticking to it! a warm drink (but avoiding the caffiene (including tea and chocolate!)) and reading are good for winding down.

If I have a lot of thoughts going on then I find getting up, writing down the problem, accepting that at right this minute I can do nothing about it and then writing down what I will do about it when I can, helps.

Also I recently tried listening to some binaural beats at night instead of music (something I used to do if the thoughts wouldn't slow) It was amazing, I stuck in the earphones, put it on deep sleep on a sleep timer of 30 mins. When I woke in the morning I'd not moved a muscle, the earphones were even still in!

My sleep disorder was actually how I was finally diagnosed with Bipolar II. I had not had a full night's sleep for about 8 months, I had just come off of a major surgery AND was working on my dissertation. I was desperately depressed, but the AD just made me hypomanic. (it was fun, but I intuitively knew something was amiss) My primary care doc finally said that she had reached the end of her play book in trying to get me to sleep and wanted to send me to "specialist."

My Psychiatrist put the nail on the head in the first session. The hypomanic reaction to the AD was the clue that gave him what he needed to make the diagnosis. I, of course, was indignant. I went to see him so that I could get some sleep.... NOT so that he could give me a daggum psychiatric diagnosis!! LOL... silly me. Anyway, being the geek that I am, I went straight to google and found out everything I could about Bipolar "IV" (a new designation that will most likely be a part of the bipolar spectrum in the DSM V). Google the terms "Akiskal bipolar spectrum" if you want to know more.

I finally came to accept and appreciate my formal dx of Bipolar. I find at age 47, in looking back over my life, this dx is at least 25 years late. I have been put on AD's on and off through most of my adult life, only to come off of them when they became uncomfortable. I didn't have a clue why certain things happened in my life because I didn't fit the classic DSM definition of bipolar. But... a really smart psych doctor put 2 and 2 together based on my sleep disorder and eventually got me stabilized on the right meds.

Be well,
Jules

What does the term AD mean?

I've just been reading everyone's stories, and they're very interesting. I tend to be fluctuating from wanting to sleep every hour of the day for 3-4 days and then a longer episode of only managing 3 hours a night. Which becomes very painful...

I just wanted to ask, what is a sound machine and what are binaural beats?

Hi

Note: My own opinion - I'm sure not everyone will agree!

I tried binaural beats - absolutely no effect whatsoever (and I persevered). Actually, as trained biologist I shouldn't have been taken in by all the pseudoscience that's spouted about this "treatment". The only thing you can guarantee this will do is part you from your money. There is no credible, scientific research - by which I mean studies with a suitable cohort, well designed, double blind, with appropriate controls.

Stick to the drugs!

Smurf - AD's are antidepressants

A sound machine plays out white noise (google it) and helps people sleep.

Binaural beats are tones played through an mp3 player that act on the brainwaves to provide changes in state (sleepiness, alertness etc).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...

There has actually been quite a lot of study around this and further reserch is ongoing. It's also gained space in Scientific American magazine. I too am a trained human biologist who has studied psychology so I have my head screwed on.

Oh and I parted with no money for my binaural beats. They can be obtained freely, you just need to know where to look.

Vikki

I knew my scepticism would be controversial!

If it works for you ... then go for it (that sounds a bit patronising but I don't mean it to be).

I guess it's like the meds to some extent. They've all gone through the clinical trials which have proved they work in the trial group but as we all know - they don't always work for us in the real world.

I might be a special case since anything that requires me to relax and listen to random sounds of miscellaneous beeps and plinks and trickling water and stuff instantly gets my blood pressure up. I can't relax to stuff like that - it just reminds me of the musical wallpaper you get in a shopping mall - and you know how stressful shopping is for a bloke!

I can't do the hypnotism stuff either - it's not the being hypnotised it's the relaxing stuff you have to do first. Clenching and relaxing my muscles results in a most unpleasant feeling.

I remember the anger that my refusal to participate in the 'voluntary' relaxation classes provoked during several hospital stays. Since that was the only therapy on offer it got me labelled as a difficult patient - which I wasn't. I succumbed to everything else they did to me including ECT (which was quite relaxing).

Yoga is very good - providing I leave the class before they get us to lie down and play whale music at us!

Stay well.

I usually get 6 hours per night, and find myself struggling to stay awake in school and napping (ussually through dinner) at home. In this way lack of sleep has also interfeered (sp?) with my appetite. I always write in my journal and start a CD before I get in bed, but it then takes me another half-hour to fall asleep. I don't want more meds (takes 40mg of Prozac), anyone have any ideas?

I'm management, so I can't always maintain a consistent schedule due to work scheduling demands. I am naturally a night owl but when I'm severely depressed I am like a walking zombie at night (dead tired but can't fall asleep) and when I'm hypomanic I'm really irritable and keep myself busy with all sorts of things... at 3 and 4am - which is really hard to handle when my next shift starts at 7am. I hate rx sleep medications because I feel so stoned or drugged in the morning, but I found an herbal sleep medication located next to Nytol in my friendly neighbourhood Wal-Mart for $9. It's called LunaSom PM and it does work for me, where no other herbal or non-prescription sleep drugs would. I don't know if it's available in the U.S. (I'm in Canada) but the company does have a website www.lunasom.com.

My S.O. is a shiftworker too and he has been able to normalize his sleep schedule too!

Also, check with your doc to make sure it won't interfere with your other meds, it does have valerian and melatonin in it.

Before bed I give myself an hour of "rest" time in bed where I read or listen to music or watch television, then when im done with that I turn off the lights, everything and plug in my ipod and listen to a meditation to help me relax into sleep. it is very calming and works magic.

VIKKI-

Where can I get those free binaural beats? Its worth a shot.

Has any one tried meditation?

I used to use this to try and relax so i could get some sleep.

When i go through a "hyper stage", i can't sit still long enough never mind trying to clear my head.
When i'm in my black void, i can't enough sleep, like yesterday all i wanted to do was sleep.

Might be worth giving it go....

I have Narcolepsy and have a lot of sleep challenges. Either I don't sleep at all, or I sleep a lot. I take medication but sometimes it just doesn't work.