sandie
09-02-16, 08:23
I so hope I am not tempting fate and posting too early, but I had my best night's sleep last night in 6 months !
After serious problems with sertraline and then mirtazapine (both of which had me bouncing off the walls), I weaned myself off ADs and have been meds free for a month or so. HOWEVER, my sleep pattern was severely disrupted and I have been barely surviving on between 90 minutes sleep on a bad night, and around 3-4 hours on a good night.
GP has prescribed Propanalol to help with the panic attacks and anxiety, and while the anxiety has eased, it is lurking in the background and often runs riot in the early hours of the morning.
My regular monthly appointment with the GP yesterday and we discussed a way forward to help sort the sleep problem and improve the anxiety. He (and I) are very reluctant to look at sleeping tablets for all the obvious reasons, but not being able to sleep has been a nightmare.
GP knows how reluctant I am to consider meds, - I had hoped that the sleep would somehow sort itself, but I have so much going on in my life at the moment and I am not functioning properly because of lack of sleep.
I left the surgery with a prescription for Amitriptyline 10 mg, with the instructions to take one or two at night - around 2 hours or so before bedtime. If they leave me drowsy during the day, then I should take them earlier in the evening.
Decided NOT to Google them, or to search for Am. posts on NMP - but to just go for it. Took two last night, and slept through to just after 3 am (around 4 hours sleep). BUT, instead of staying awake, which is the normal pattern for me, I drifted back off to sleep and dozed until I forced myself out of bed at 7 am.
Don't feel hungover, or too sleepy and hope that this is now the start of a road to recovery for my sleep. Perhaps tonight I shall just take one and see how it goes.
The dosage is not a therapeutic dose for anxiety, but if I can somehow get better sleep, then perhaps I can deal better with the anxiety, and there is always room to increase if necessary.
I decided not to research start up side effects or withdrawal, although my GP was very reassuring that compared to the SSRIs and SNRIs, Amitriptyline - which is one of the older style meds, is very gentle, and when I decide I want to stop, it is an easy taper. (Having come off the dreaded Mirtazapine on a gradual taper, I think weaning off this new med at an appropriate time should be a walk in the park).
I am hopeful .......................
After serious problems with sertraline and then mirtazapine (both of which had me bouncing off the walls), I weaned myself off ADs and have been meds free for a month or so. HOWEVER, my sleep pattern was severely disrupted and I have been barely surviving on between 90 minutes sleep on a bad night, and around 3-4 hours on a good night.
GP has prescribed Propanalol to help with the panic attacks and anxiety, and while the anxiety has eased, it is lurking in the background and often runs riot in the early hours of the morning.
My regular monthly appointment with the GP yesterday and we discussed a way forward to help sort the sleep problem and improve the anxiety. He (and I) are very reluctant to look at sleeping tablets for all the obvious reasons, but not being able to sleep has been a nightmare.
GP knows how reluctant I am to consider meds, - I had hoped that the sleep would somehow sort itself, but I have so much going on in my life at the moment and I am not functioning properly because of lack of sleep.
I left the surgery with a prescription for Amitriptyline 10 mg, with the instructions to take one or two at night - around 2 hours or so before bedtime. If they leave me drowsy during the day, then I should take them earlier in the evening.
Decided NOT to Google them, or to search for Am. posts on NMP - but to just go for it. Took two last night, and slept through to just after 3 am (around 4 hours sleep). BUT, instead of staying awake, which is the normal pattern for me, I drifted back off to sleep and dozed until I forced myself out of bed at 7 am.
Don't feel hungover, or too sleepy and hope that this is now the start of a road to recovery for my sleep. Perhaps tonight I shall just take one and see how it goes.
The dosage is not a therapeutic dose for anxiety, but if I can somehow get better sleep, then perhaps I can deal better with the anxiety, and there is always room to increase if necessary.
I decided not to research start up side effects or withdrawal, although my GP was very reassuring that compared to the SSRIs and SNRIs, Amitriptyline - which is one of the older style meds, is very gentle, and when I decide I want to stop, it is an easy taper. (Having come off the dreaded Mirtazapine on a gradual taper, I think weaning off this new med at an appropriate time should be a walk in the park).
I am hopeful .......................