[health.sleep]

[wispfox]

I am _seriously_ disconcerted by the degree to which having taken the Ativan my new PCP perscribed (in response to my desire to have something to break me out of bad sleep cycles) improves my mood. I think I've slept better the last two night (need to ask my doc if it's ok if I take it regularly; I know it's ok for 5 days in a row, since that was her suggestion for breaking bad sleep patterns) than I can ever remember sleeping (I apparently slept fine as a baby and young child, so it did get worse as time passed). And once I get past the "don't wanna get up!" stage of the morning, my mood is _WAY_ better than it has been in months, and better than it usually is this time of year. (And I don't think my difficulty getting up is anything other than the fact that I've gone to bed two damn late both nights)

I'd almost say I'm worried that I'm being manic, except that I can compare with what I recell my mood as tending to be in mid-summer before I burned out on my job (my mental state has not recovered since then, although the month in mid-summer in Melbourne helped considerably, thus my decision to return to school after saving and taking a year off) and it seems that it's around that point. What I _actually_ am is _NORMAL_ for me, I think. Kinda scary that it's sufficiently unusual to disconcert me, though.

Good sleep pill. *pets it* Doesn't make me particularly drugged feeling, and doesn't seem to affect my mornings. _Does_ have addictive properties, thus me wanting to ask my doc if daily would be ok. But seriously. Sleeping well should _not_ be this foreign to me! (and the fact that my sleep difficulties are apparently degernative, according to both family members who also have them, does _not_ make me happy)

Yay, sleep! Yay being significantly less down than I had been! Trying to decide if I should hold of on trying the persc anti-depressant (for wintertime crap) until a bit later, since the sleep med has _such_ a dramatic mood effect.

Comments

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

Just remember that it's the sleep that's having the
dramatic mood effect, not the sleep med. Granted, that ain't
much advice if you have no other avenue open to you for getting
quality sleep. But I'm hoping that once you're not so overtired,
with a wrecked sleep schedule, you'll find it easier to obtain.
Or, with the ability for clearer thought, you'll come up with new
ways to get the sleep you need.

Sleep is almost magical in its usefulness. I'm burning through my
paid time off in an effort to get enough. If I run out and my job
situation continues to be like this, I will find another job. My health
is more important than this job.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*wry*

I know it's the sleep. Sleep is very fraught for me. Has been for as long as I can remember (although apparently not while I was a baby or very young). According to family members who also have this problem, it's a degenerative thing. I've had this problem for at least 10 years, and it's getting worse.

Sleep meds are likely going to be my only option for _good_ sleep, even though it is true that lower stress, summertime, and doing my best to stick to a reasonable sleep schedule do all help. It just means that I can get enough sleep to function, not that I'm getting _good_ sleep. (there is a reason that getting less sleep than normal hits me as hard as it does; I'm _always_ sleep depped)