Bipolar Disorder Sleep Problems and Sleep Medications

I havn't been able to sleep on my own for about two years- and no, I am not talking about a relationship! I mean that I can't sleep without sleep meds.  This is a concern as my body is eating up the dose I'm on now and I've had to increase my amount.

When I say I can't sleep, I mean that my eyes simply won't close. It's not insomnia. I'm not rolling around in bed getting upset that I can't sleep, instead I just lie there and have the thoughts, "I'm not going to sleep tonight am I? It's very worrisome, so I take the meds.

I know that there are many things I can change to help myself get to sleep naturally:

1. Stop ALL caffeine – and that means all: tea, chocolate, cola, etc etc. I rarely have regular coffee, so that is not a problem, but I sure do drink tea during the day.

2. Stop eating late at night. The body is trying to process the food and this takes energy and keeps me awake.

3. Make sure my meds aren't affecting my sleep. I'm on Lamictal (700mg!) and I know it doesn't affect sleep.

4. Be careful with relationships and make sure you keep stable. I'm defintely doing this the Health Cards keep me as stable as possible. (You can read about the Health Cards from the menu link)

and finally, go to be earlier without reading police procedural murder mysteries!

Do you have sleep problems with bipolar disroder- outside of mania? What do you do to get to sleep?

Julie

PS: Make sure you check out the comments on this post. They are great. I didn't know others said the same thing I say.  Terry  said,  "I'm simply not going to sleep tonight."  I agree with that sleep meds help me so much. I'm doing a combination of Ativan with some over the counter melatonin products- they work. But as Fenny  says- our bodies adapt and we have to talk with our health care professionals about our options. This is where a naturopath can really help!

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