When my home burned in December of 2018, I had trouble sleeping. I thought it was stress (I found out later that Simvastatin can also cause sleeping problems.)
I went to the doctor for an anxiety pill Lorazepam. He didn't want to give it to me. He wanted to give me Ambien. I told him Ambien is addictive and leaves a hangover, and if I had been taking Ambien when my trailer caught fire, I wouldn't have woken up. I said Lorazepam calm's my mind so I can go to sleep. He only let me have it for sixty days. Now when I have trouble I take Alka Seltzer Cold with aspirin which also helps my leg pain.
Thanks Elaine.
I was unsuccessful last night skipping the ambien. Tried for an hour.
BUT most importantly, I did not panic (hardly at all). I was (mostly) calm. so in that way it was a success. I will keep building on these successes.
I appreciate all of the suggestions. I tried no tv or electronics last night. I will try to begin to add this to my sleep routine. I'll try reading a book in low light instead and see how it goes.
If I can find a non habit forming med to replace the ambien I will do so gladly. So far hydroxy and melatonin didn't work at all and neither did increasing my seroquel so I weaned back down to the originally prescribed amount.
I am going to visulaize myself being able to sleep without it and practice the law of attraction.
I am also going to calmly allow myself the use of it if I can't, until hopefully one day I can.
In my head, I see big letters spelling out, "This Too Shall Pass."
Thanks for the support. i am grateful for every word and take nothing for granted.
Prayers for your little kitty. I hope she made it through the night and is breathing better.
@ghandigirl, It sounds like you're doing well, in spite of your challenges. I can imagine how exhausting this is for you, and I really admire your faith, courage and tenacity. And your man sounds like a true gift. You are clearly moving forward.
You commented about the metallic taste from taking the Ambien. I've never taken Ambien, but when I am on certain antibiotics, I will sometimes have a nasty metallic taste in my mouth. Since I've generally not had to be on them longer than a week, I don't know whether that metallic side effect would have eventually gone away. Another time I wanted to try 1/2 pill of a particular medication, so rather than cutting it, I got lazy, bit it in half and took it that way. My mouth became numb and my lip swelled. That lasted for hours. My pharmacist told me that could have been the interior coating on the pill and/or the medicine itself, both which was supposed to reach my stomach without making contact with my mouth. So I guess if I wanted to try 1/2, I was supposed to cut the pill, place the half at the back of my tongue, and swallow with some water. You live and learn!
When I was going through my period of chronic insomnia, I found that I could easily fall asleep in front of the tv. But when I retired for the night, just the thought of going to bed and becoming quiet created anxiety for me and I'd be up. So I went through a period where I felt less stress when I slept in the spare bedroom. I think that psychologically, I associated sleeping in the master bed with insomnia. I can't recall how long it took for that to resolve, but eventually it did. I was also on clonozepam during that time.
I mentioned in an earlier post some of the things that can help me to sleep, but I do realize we're all different with how we respond to things. I have found doing the vagus nerve exercise I shared with you in an earlier post helps to downregulate my nervous system. I know it looks silly, but there is science behind it. I do the exercise a few times a day, and whenever I'm feeling anxious and/or disoriented. There are a few variations of that same exercise that you could also try. I can also share those with you if you're interested, but I don't want to overwhelm you with information. I recently purchased Stanley Rosenberg's book, Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve, which explains the neuroscience behind the polyvagal theory. Rosenberg also focuses a lot on the direct correlation between trauma and autonomic dysfunction.
I'd just continue to follow whatever that little internal voice is telling you to do. I'd also avoid too much research on the internet. Sometimes when I do that, I ended up not being able to sleep!
Love and blessings to you, my friend.
@suspira44, I'm sorry that I wasn't up to see your post. Please let us know how your little kitty is doing. I'm keeping all of you in my prayers.
My husband is sick again -- fever, bad upper and lower respiratory problems, infection. This is the third (or is the 4th?) time he's gotten sick since mid-December. I don't think he ever fully recovered from the last one. This bout seems worse than the first one.
If you have the healing energy to spare, please send some his way. And also my way -- I feel like I'm fighting something, and don't want to catch whatever he has. My immune system is already compromised.
Thank you, my friends.
okay, Lewis the kitten (they're all named for book/tv detectives) made it through the night. He has a 50% chance of making it. My sister ended up returning all of the kittens and their mom today. They are all on medication due to respiratory problems. Last night the mother got so stressed she started moving them all over the place. So the shelter said, bring them back. Lewis will probably need fluids which we can't administer here. Hopefully we will have them back soon. They work so hard with the animals at this shelter. They just brought a lot of puppies up from Mississippi (all the shelters get their animals from the south where nobody spays, neuters, or checks for heartworm) and one of them tested for parvo. So they have to get all of the pups back from fosters and test them. They're tearing their hair out over there. We have often cared for sick kittens, but with Lewis so sick, it's a lot.
I'm very grateful for any healing help. I know you all have your own issues, and I appreciate what you do.