Not Coping

Cool @Jynx

Um, I think she just said it's an awful drug to be on and when I was doing research they suggest only for four weeks. I've already been on it longer, but I don't take it every night.

What helps your insomnia @outlander if medication doesn't help.

I mostly need something to calm the nerves a bit. I could do an hour of deep breathing and meditation, and it still didn't help last night.

I don't see him till the 14th, so I've got a couple of weeks to wait.

I also think I worry about not being able to sleep once I start to not being able to sleep.

I keep breathing and trying to relax, but it doesn't always work.

@Birdofparadise8 Hmm I think it is okay, because it's a medication freely available and also something our bodies produce naturally. That particular guideline stumps me from time to time - you could always edit it to just say "common otc sleep aid" to be safe.

Oh hectic, does the one you're on have side effects or anything? Can imagine it's not good for you in the long-term, but also understand how desperate one can become when not getting enough sleep. Hopefully a better alternative can be found!

@outlander flying this time - did a road trip last year and whoooo boy, it was intense! I won't be doing so again in a hurry. Especially not alone. If I had someone with me it wouldn't be too bad.

I didn't perceive it as snappy. More like assertive. It's good to be vigilant for the protection of our members. So I thank you, it's been a very busy shift so better to have things flagged than for it to go unnoticed for too long.

The melatonin I was on last year, the one the pdoc gave me in the hospital, was stronger @outlander

I don't know how I'll fix it. My GP might be like see you, psychologist, but I don't think any amount of talking will help me sleep.

Why do people have to be so noisy around me?

This one has more to its name, but I left that part out. The one I was one was a prescription medication @Jynx.

Other than making me sleepy, I guess not. All my meds have made me gain a lot of weight this year, which also sucks. I was also thinking of talking to my Pdoc about just going off all meds and seeing how I go. Other than maybe something for sleep.

Though I am starting a clinical trial next week called the CADET depression clinical trial, it's a blood pressure medication that is supposed to help with depression.

Mmm okay @outlander

I just don't know what to do. Like last night, I did about 30 min of meditation and then laid in bed for over an hour trying to sleep. Got up and went to the toilet, the one thing I don't like is the lights are all on in the hall and bathroom, so that wreaks my eyes when I'm trying to sleep. Went back to bed for half an hour and still nothing so I went on my phone for about 40 min then did another meditation and I think after that I eventually got to sleep three hours after I wanted to be asleep.

@Birdofparadise8 can totally relate to that horrible paradox of thinking you need to be asleep, but knowing that and thinking about it is stressful, which then makes it even harder to sleep. Something that did help me on that front was learning (I think from mythbusters? Can't remember) that whilst actual sleep is better, lying down in a quiet, dark room is still beneficial for our brains. Like they did a comparison of focus and performance on people who had not slept and continued to do activities, and people who had not slept but who had had a lie down without sensory input, and the people who had the lie down were more able to focus.

So even if I wasn't sleeping, I reminded myself that having a 'power-down' as I now call it is much better than what I used to do, which was to get so frustrated I'd get up or go on my phone. It sorta means that if I'm having trouble falling asleep, I'm not also simultaneously stressing myself out about not falling asleep, thus making it even harder.