turning to a science forum to get a hold on a sleeping problem

[lostinspace]

I am disabled and diagnosed with schizophrenia. I have quite a number of health problems which have prompted me to turn to a science forum for help on my biggest problem which is sleep.

 

I tend to sleep excessively for about 12 hours or so after taking my medication. given that i have been awake enough to my sleepy on my own. without my medication I most likely would not be able to get to sleep at all. as far as antipsychotics go i have tried risperdal, xyprexa, seroquel, prolictin, all of which keeps my symptoms under control, with some side effects, however some put me to sleep much longer than i'd hope (seroquel) the risperdal is not enough and is given to me along with prolictin which as of last night has yielded 11 hours of sleep. I have not been happy with my sleeping hours as they keep me from seeing my dentist and regular doctor and very often I will have to stay up during the day just so i can keep my psychiatrist appointment which unlike the other two cannot be pushed aside. i've tried the risperdal, xyprexa, and seroquel (along with trazodone) which according to my doctor i've tried all of the "new" medications to treat schizophrenia and have been moved on to a older prolictin (different classification of medication i dont know which but its either atypical or typical antipsychotic) to try to manage my sleep. I find that i dont go to sleep as easily as desired and that i sleep too much.

 

seeing as i've tried all the medications that are new and moved on to a different classification of antipsychotic because of sleep i am wondering if it would be worthwhile or not to change psychiatrists to see if another will will have a different medication or might could possibly get my sleep under control with a medication.

 

i would like to welcome any suggestions or comments as its very difficult for me to cope with the reality that i will live forever with odd sleeping hours and never experience life as normal people know it. either about medications to try or to find a new doctor, or anything.

 

thank you

[hayleycomet]

I see your predicament. I’ve had a few mental health problems myself, namely depression and anxiety (I recognise these are in in a different class), My G.P. tried putting me on Xyprexa for a while, just because my mood was so up and down. With hindsight it was using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but it really gave me some insight into the pharmacological yoke that some people have to bear. At around 2pm every day I became overwhelmed with exhaustion, and couldn’t do anything but sleep. Then when I woke I was groggy and upset that the day was half-gone etc.

You say ‘its very difficult for me to cope with the reality that i will live forever with odd sleeping hours and never experience life as normal people know it’.

I don’t want to sound harsh but you and I are lucky to live in an age when there are medications which can relieve our symptoms. The downside is that these ‘wonder-drugs’ operate at a price.

Psychiatrists are medical doctors, who regard your illness as a wholly organic and biological phenomenon, and there is damn good support for their position. However, I have one suggestion, maybe you’ve considered it already…

Referring to your statement above, I recommend you attend a counsellor in the existential tradition. Maybe you can come to terms with your difference a bit better. Don’t be hung up on the idea that everyone else is normal and you’re not. I’m not trying to be depressing, but maybe in your lifetime there will not be a medical solution for your problem. This is not something you can control. However you may be able to get a handle on how you deal with it. I believe a good counsellor can work with you to get beyond this.

[Psyber]

There are a few newer options like ziprasadone and aripiprazole worth checking out with your doctor. No one psychotropic is best for everyone, so some trial and error is required to find the optimum one or optimum combination, and you need to persevere as the effects of change can take 6 weeks to show up.

[Revenged]

of course you sleep excessively when you take anti-psychotics...

 

anti-psychotic drugs are major tranquillizers and you have been taking them for 12 years...

 

as for getting a counsillor... i don't agree at all... psychosis isn't depression...

[Psyber]

of course you sleep excessively when you take anti-psychotics...

 

anti-psychotic drugs are major tranquillizers and you have been taking them for 12 years...

 

as for getting a counsillor... i don't agree at all... psychosis isn't depression...

The term "Major Tranquilliser" is a very old one, and most of the old medications existent when the term was coined were sedating. But some modern ones are not generally so. However, this effect also varies from person to person - a specific medication may make one person drowsy and not do so to another. The trick is to find the right one, or combination, for the individual, which hard-pressed public services tend not to spend time doing.

 

As about 50% of the incidence of depression, and all the Bipolar Spectrum Disorders, are genetically/biochemically driven, and it appears Schizophrenia has both genetic and other organic elements to it, counselling does not have a primary role in treating these.

 

However, it may be useful in helping people come to terms with, and learn to cope with, their condition - so long as the affected person does not get into the hands of one of those "give up those dreadful drugs and let me cure you" nutters.

[lostinspace]

here is an update. i dont remember how long its been since i posted originally. things are not better. i now have a marked more difficult time getting to sleep, tending to only be awake for about 12 hours a time, from the time i wake up. i was scheduled for a sleep study however could not attend it since i would have to be there at 10pm and ready to sleep an hour from then, when my hours would have me sleeping at 4am. its extremely difficult to live like this. i have a dental appointment on monday at 2pm that i cannot miss though having woken up today at 2pm after staying up until 8pm last night (excessive sleep for having stayed awake) i'm really not liking life. it seems i've gone through all the psych meds for someone with my symptoms and am taking the ones that make me most sleepy, but its not a whole lot at this point in time. i had memories tonight of times, years ago, spend at a hotel, where i woke up at perfectly normal times. i am mystified how things could have gotten so messed up for me. i have so many medical appointments that i need to go to and a great inability to make them. i wish very much that i could work but i cannot. its difficult for me to hope things were otherwise, i do, but its already been a rough ride.

[Psyber]

Sometimes what time you take your medication can make a difference - for example if you take it at 8pm and can't get to sleep till 2am may be taking it at 5pm will help - just watch the ones that must be taken with food if you are on any of them.

 

Sometimes sleeping excessive hours is driven by sedation from medication, and sometimes by boredom - having nothing worth getting up for. In that case a ritual of making yourself get up earlier and go for a walk then shower will kick-start your day, and get you back into a normal diurnal rhythm - it tends to drift if you don't do that.

 

Sometimes mixing two or even three different medications willl work - a non-sedating one in the morning and a sedative one in the evening.

 

Keep talking to your doctor and get them to co-operate in making small adjustments, one step at a time.