Not Sleeping

Hi and welcome, @Sleepless2 🙂

Insomnia is the worst!! I don't have bipolar so can't help I don't think, but I wanted to welcome you and sympathise.

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Hi @Sleepless2

Welcome to the forums. It's so nice to have you here.

Sorry to hear you're having trouble sleeping. I don't have bipolar but I've had insomnia and know how horrible it is. I hope some others have some tips for you about what works best for them.

Warmest wishes

Hanami

Hi Sleepless2,

I'm sorry to hear about your sleep struggles. I relate 100%!

Be sure to talk to your doctor about your sleep concerns and your medications. Sleep management is an important aspect of living well with bipolar and not something you have to figure out alone.

Lifestyle plays a huge role in maintaining a good sleep routine. Check out a book or two on the topic of sleep to learn how your days are affecting your nights. Maintaining the same bedtime and wake time, getting natural light and exercise early in the day and having a consistent bedtime routine all help and these are things you can develop over time. Improving your sleep habits and overall sleep will also help reduce the impact of occasional sleeplessness.

During bipolar sleeplessness an infinity of racing thoughts keep your brain awake while the associated feelings, moods and stress stimulate the rest of your system. No wonder it's hard to get to sleep! These thoughts often spark creative thinking and problem solving resulting in complete overstimulation. Even when you may otherwise feel tired and needing sleep. Ug!

During these times, my brain wants to keep each and every thought in motion so writing things down is key for me. The more I can get out of my head and onto paper the freer my mental space is and the more likely I am to rest or sleep. This means sketching out plans for projects before bed, and even during the night if it comes up. I also write down my worries and stressors each day.

If I can't calm my racing thoughts I try replacing them with something more productive. I listen to music or podcasts occasionally. I choose something that requires low but steady attention until I fall asleep. I may still be awake for hours but I feel better the next day than if I spent that time fighting the thoughts in my head and riding the rollercoaster of related moods and emotions. Another way to tame wild thoughts is to choose one neutral thing to think about. Recount every step of walking somewhere, try to remember every kid in one class from school, mentally walk around a familiar room naming each object within. I know meditation hasn't been your thing but breathing exercises are really useful to focus the mind and calm the body at bedtime.

I hope this helps and that you find relief soon.

Spring1983

@Sleepless2

Hello and welcome.

Sleep struggles have been an issue for me and my son for a long time. He went to a sleep clinic at RCH and for him it seems to be associated with Bipolar. For me it was more complex as I had done a lot of night work so became a night owl and rarely had fixed sleep routines.

Meditation can help, but if it is not working it is not working. There were a period of at least a decade when the trauma and pain was too high, it just did not work for me and I generally a fan of it.

I am glad there were many different insights in the responses on this thread and wish you the best with it. If your psych cannot come up with honestly helpful for YOU strategies, try different approaches and go with what works.

I have come to some level of acceptance about it and try and factor a lot of space in my life for when it becomes a bigger problem. Being rigid or being hard on oneself does not seem to help.

Hi... I presume you've discussed this with your psychiatrist? I'm a bit confused when you said sometimes you don't sleep for two days... Do you mean two nights? Sleeping during the day is probably best avoided. You seem to have a more stable illness than I do - I'd get manic if I didn't sleep for two nights, if that's what you meant. I'd wonder whether you could increase your medication, maybe increase or add in an antipsychotic when you're not sleeping... That's how I would manage things if you were me. Then drop down again when your sleep is okay. But I would be thinking you might need more meds. It also helps if you have a psychiatrist who teaches you how to make those medication adjustments yourself, so you're confident doing so. My psych reckons the ideal is to teach patients with bipolar to make their own med adjustments. I do. But it all depends on what kind of an illness you have, you seem to be relatively stable, so maybe trying to manage on minimal medications has been a priority? I have a more vulnerable illness, and meds are my go to, and I've been stable for years as a result. But I'd encourage you to think about med options to stabilise your sleep, even though you seem to be okay with an unstable sleep pattern.

There's a naturally occurring substance produced by the pineal gland (rules won't let me name it) that you can order off iherb (you can get a script for it here but it's much more expensive) that might help... It did help regularise my sleep. (Don't buy the over the counter stuff in Australia cos it's all homoeopathic.) Not typically used in bipolar but I found it helpful. Otherwise standard sleep meds might help - there's the drugs that start with the last letter of the alphabet (godde this being too pathetic to mention drugs is annoying.... I'm a medical student I'm used to being considered an intelligent human being in my normal life!) Or there's the newer orexin related drug that's not on the PBS... That might be worth a try. Better options if you're looking at sleep meds... Or try the antipsychotic that's known for its strong sedative effect and is prescribed low dose as a sleeping tablet (and is on drug monitoring schemes because people use it to come down off meth) - that should be enough info for any psychiatrist to identify it!

Not sure I've helped. Hope I've given you something to think about. All the best.