Welcome! Introduce yourself here 🙂

Hey @Meadow1, thank you for sharing your experiences with the Forums communtiy!

It sounds like you are going through a tough time, and it must be challenging to feel isolated. You are demonstrating your resilience by reaching out to your peers, as it's not easy to be vulnerable.

It's best to speak with your prescribing doctor about the effects of medications, as they are the best person to support you with that. I have had my own experience with sleeping medications and understand the challenges with being able to sleep. I'm curious what else you do when you are preparing for sleep and winding down for the evening, as maintaining good sleep hygiene is important when we can't sleep.

Thanks again for share with the communtiy!

Take care

RiverSeal

Sounds like you are doing some of the recommended things @Meadow1 so I would say maybe try and expand on those and do some research around sleep hygiene on Google to see what else might work for you. Exercising during the day can help with naturally falling asleep, and it's something that I found challenging to do but does work if you can manage it. RiverSeal

Hi @Meadow1

Thanks for sharing.

I've some similar health and life issues, but I'm not exactly the same.

We all have our own biology and neurology so the meds we take are different. For me, i sleep worse if I don't eat enough veg, because fibre helps the microbiome in my gut, which is linked to the brain and other health factors.

So,

1. I try to eat better including veg and fibre rich foods. For me: Brown rice.

Sometimes I'll buy a salad mix from a health food store, because, my home food prep is basic (although I'm getting better at it too.)

2. Circadian rhythm is so important, so I try to get sunlight early in the morning or sometime in the day. Morning is best. Often I can't if I'm sleepy or exhausted, but this is a current goal. It works when I do it.

Also, I add Walking in Nature as it means im out in natural light longer, and it is quieter, and it gets us off mobile phone scrolling. If I'm really bored, I do allow myself to listen to music or a good audio book, radio show or podcast. (Download if mobile reception is bad where you walk).

And by 10pm, really try to turn off all screens, lower lights, and start preparing for bed and sleep. Read a book for 10 mins then you may fall asleep.

3. If i want to socialise a bit, but not much, can you try a yoga class? The exercise helps too. Most studios will give you a free first class, and some even have cheaper classes if you can't afford it. I'm at one where with work exchange, where i help with basic organising and cleaning for free membership.

These may not solve all the issues you deal with, but I do think they will help.

Zol.

Hi everyone, if I were to pick a word to describe myself currently, it would be overwhelmed. Lots of grief (anniversaries are coming up), trauma, autistic, carer to an autistic child, massive seemingly unaffordable repairs needed on my home (moved in a few months ago), just as my work hours were drastically cut. And I live with chronic illness. I am very lost, very scared and hoping for a way out of what seems like neverending stress.

Two facts about me are that I used to pretend my arms where broken when I was a kid (hypermobility) because I thought it was funny, but it just crossed people out. And Vyv is the name of a favourite TV character from a favourite TV show: The Young Ones.

That's me.

Hey @Vyv ,

Welcome to the forums! Thanks so much for sharing a little about yourself.

It sure sounds exhausting!

At the same time, if I needed to find a word to describe myself right now, I'd say, "Uncertain". I have a lot of things happening in my life, but I guess we both just gotta keep our chin up 🙂

As for pretending you had a broken arms as a child, I pretended I had ONE broken arm. It was good fun to be honest. Just me in my imaginary world.

To be honest, life's just too short. Just gotta run with things.

I hope you have some time for yourself.

Because things are so challenging for me at the moment, I am maintaining a healthy eat, sleep, exercise routine. That's the least I can do.

What about you? What do you do to stay well?

Thanks @tyme I think I should adopt your word 'uncertain' because that's quite apt. I think my brain really struggles not knowing what's ahead and there's a big old dose of catastrophising going on.

That sounds like some decent self care and thanks for sharing. I am not so good at self care but I am trying. Sleeping and eating are suffering the most at the moment. I am worried about spending money but I am getting my hair cut tomorrow - I enjoy the head massage part - and I will catch up with a friend on Friday. That's a good start for me.

I hear you. On the course of my MH journey, I know that as soon as adverse things happen, eating, exercising and sleeping is forgotten. That's why, I make sure I remember these three things every time things don't go well @Vyv

What I've noticed is that if you don't have a decent eating, sleeping and exercising routine, then your mental health REALLY suffers. At this time, I really don't need to add fuel to the fire 🙂

All the best @Vyv

And when I say exercise, I don't mean going to the gym or a big run.. even just a stroll outside in the fresh air can lift one's mood significantly 🙂

That's a good reminder @tyme I managed to eat dinner tonight for the first time in a while so that's a good start for me. I hope I sleep. That's a real struggle.

And with sleep, in the past, I really struggled with sleep. I kept telling myself to sleep and if I didn't, i'd get more worked up and even less able to sleep!

Nowadays, if I don't sleep I let myself know that it's okay. It seems that once I'm okay with it, I can get up, do something and then go to sleep, even if it later. Give yourself some self-love 🙂

By sharing these experiences, I hope you glean something. Because yes, sleep is so important too.

Good on you for having a bite to eat 🙂 @Vyv