Mirt Diary

[anxiousjomo]

although - re sleep, and just as a reminder that this is the way things go - I of course have just had two nights in a row of about an hour or two's sleep...But I am working on differentiating between the physical unpleasantness this causes (upset stomach, headache, tiredness, sore muscles etc) and the psychological baggage that my brain wants to dump on top of it (anxiety, worry, self-pity, depression etc). The former I can't do anything about, the latter serves absolutely no purpose. So I just have to stop wasting time with it....

[chrismex89]

Under the supervision of my psychiatrist, I suspended mirtazapine, staying with escitalopram, some nights I had insomnia but my CBT therapist and my psychiatrist say it is because of anxiety. I think you're doing well Jomo, how are you going with the CBT?

[habari]

Good luck!
I find it wears off (15mg) about 3 pm and I get rebound anxiety--anyone else get this?
Good for sleep though. Hopeless for depression -(((


Best w
D

[anxiousjomo]

Chris - good luck with the med change - my best advice for anxiety related insomnia is to try to work on not caring about whether you sleep or not, recognising that your body will always make sure you get enough sleep to ensure nothing terrible happens, and that there is really nothing you can do about it. You are waiting at a station and sometime the sleep train comes, sometimes it doesnt, but you are not in control of that, so the best thing to do is wait patiently and calmly. I find the meditation helps a lot with that - I lie in bed focusing on my breath and the sensations in my body etc, and when anxious thoughts come I recognise them and let them go. Still a work in progress, but I can feel it helping. CBT/Mindfulness/Meditation are all helping a great deal with the anxiety in general - I am getting much better at spotting the anxious thinking at a very early stage and letting it go. Being present, focusing on the positives, re-framing the negative and the worry. Hopefully things keep on getting better (but, if I have a re-lapse or if things get worse, which they may well do, I know I have techniques to help, and I know I have been there before and could cope with it then, so there is nothing to worry about).

D - Mirt is a strange one, I think, and it affects everyone so differently. Some people do 15mg at night and 7.5 or 15mg in morning, I believe. You may find 30mg better for you. It never did that much for my anxiety or depression either, and the help with sleep wore off pretty quickly, but my mum is on 15mg and it works excellently for her... Good luck

[chrismex89]

and how is going with anxiety Jomo?

[anxiousjomo]

fine thanks Chris - ups and downs as always, but generally ok - working on recognizing and stopping the anxious thoughts at very early stages, which seems to help. Meditation, exercise, and generally just trying to enjoy life and stop caring so much about the negatives seems to be the way to go.

[Maca44]

fine thanks Chris - ups and downs as always, but generally ok - working on recognizing and stopping the anxious thoughts at very early stages, which seems to help. Meditation, exercise, and generally just trying to enjoy life and stop caring so much about the negatives seems to be the way to go.

Good to hear, although I don't post much here I am finding your Diary really helpful Pl's keep posting.

[anxiousjomo]

Just an update: I had been doing well - still not sleeping properly, but coping well with it emotionally. Then I decided to try the NHS Sleepio Insomnia course which involves sleep restriction. I had to force myself to stay awake until about 1am each night and get up at 6am. If I took more than 15min to fall asleep, or if I woke and was awake for more than 15min, I had to get out of bed and go to another room until I felt sleepy.

I lasted 4 days and nights of this before having massive anxiety issues (partly triggered by very stressful work stuff), and bursting into tears on the train. Ended up taking a lorazepam (the first in over 3 months). Feeling pretty rubbish today.
I have decided the sleep restriction does not work when the issue is anxiety - it just adds all this additional pressure to the whole thing. I was doing much better when I was just relaxing and letting it be. Now I have to try not to worry about this blip, or let it pull me back into bad habits.

Seeing my therapist tonight, so hopefully I can get myself back on track.

[Belleblue]

Hi jomo, sorry to read that the NHS Sleepio Insomnia course caused such distress and didn't work out. But as you said you were coping well emotionally with not sleeping properly, so you will most likely be able to return to that. I hope your therapist was of help.

Take care.

Belle x

[chrismex89]

Your original strategy of not worrying about insomnia is the correct Jomo, this is going to pass, you're doing very well