Don’t like being in the house alone

I hope this is an ok place to post this. It seems most appropriate.

A week ago I went from 150mg to 225mg modified release venlafaxine. Since then my sleeping has gone to pot! I was expecting it to, but I suddenly seem to have a fear of being alone in the house. My partner works nights and when he’s off I feel less anxious, but when he’s working it’s awful. I have to have the telly on and have taken to nodding off on the sofa downstairs as that’s where my chinchillas are and hearing them seems to help. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t want to be alone with my thoughts or I’m genuinely anxious about being on my own. This has never happened to me before. I have lived alone since I was 16 and this is the first time I have felt like this.

Has anyone else experienced this? How did you deal with it? Any advice. Is it just the increase in anxiety that comes with a dose increase and will sort itself out??

Hello,
I definitely feel like that sometimes.
I think what you are doing is fine, you need to get comfortable again and then you can start to build up to going to bed.
Everything has been scary lately, so the last few times my partner has been away I’ve locked everything in sight and slept with the telly and light on too. No harm in it and no harm in doing something that makes you feel at ease in these circumstances x


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scass

Hello,
I definitely feel like that sometimes.
I think what you are doing is fine, you need to get comfortable again and then you can start to build up to going to bed.
Everything has been scary lately, so the last few times my partner has been away I’ve locked everything in sight and slept with the telly and light on too. No harm in it and no harm in doing something that makes you feel at ease in these circumstances x


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

Funny how the chances of being burgled are now generally far lower than they were back in the 80s and 90s, especially owing to better home security measures and it being less cool to nick TV sets, disc players, computers, etc now than back then, the fear of being burgled (and being a victim of crime in general) seems to be at an all-time high nowadays, despite the overall risks mostly being lower compared to the 80s and 90s.

Staying connected to a forum or chatroom will help with the evenings until you go to bed until you feel more at ease. Having a radio on, especially talk radio.
I keep fairy lights up all year round on timers. One in the bedroom and one in the lounge. I used to keep a light on until the electric increase.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Carnation

I used to keep a light on until the electric increase.

---

You can now get LED-type bulbs that are compatible with virtually any type of light fitting, even the bog standard bayonet-type bulb holders nowadays. In fact, some of such bulbs even resemble old-fashioned incandescent-type bulbs in appearance; I've actually seen them on display in Wilko's.They consume far less power than older-type incandescent and even fluorescent bulbs.

Alternatively, you could have a couple of solar-powered, battery-operated lights that are generally intended for outdoor use in the house overnight, and put them out in the garden during the day to recharge in the daylight, though sometimes their batteries may need a bit of back-up charge from a mains-powered battery charger, usually set to the Ni-Cd mode.

Such lights usually have an on-board ON/OFF switch too, which is an advantage.

Thanks for sharing your comments, All!