Lived Experience Forum

[JungleGiants]

@greenpea @Shaz51 i had my first nap in months today, normally with my meds i dont feel the urge. i used to nap more when i was depressed or hungover. Even with sleeping meds i still wake up during the night but it was definately worse pre medication/the last months before hospital. 

But yeah basically sleep can be an issue for me. 

[greenpea]

@JungleGiants  Hey JungleGiants sounds as if we all have trouble one way or another. Nice to meet you anyway. Love peax

[JungleGiants]

@greenpea nice to meet you too 🙂
Was nice napping and it was still light from daylight savings today at least

[frog]

Hi @Shaz51 @greenpea @Olga @JungleGiants 

It's hard to disentangle sleep problems because there's so many variables.

Idk if there's any studies done on Bipolar and sleep but anecdotally, I think Bipolar is a big factor in my disturbed sleep. I do better when I'm on more medication - but that's such a double edged sword.

[Olga]

I understand that double edged sword @frog. More medication improves sleep but leaves more drowsy and lethargic in the daytime. Don't know which is better. I guess the bad sleep and less meds is my preferred option eventhough I do take enough medication as it is....

[frog]

Agree @Olga I'm taking a similar approach ... trying to manage on less meds, but taking enough as it is. We face a lot of dilemmas I think, and the world at large doesn't see or get it most of the time.

[eth]

Hi @Shaz51 @greenpea @frog   @Olga @JungleGiants 

Thanks for the tag Shaz.  I also have had dysfunctional sleep for years.  I'm usually up at least 5 and sometimes as many as 8 times through the night.  I've tried everything I've heard of about sleep improvement, including sleep hygeine practices, and a few meds I take are all supposed to help, but nothing seems to do the trick for me.  So I can't give advice really.  Bipolar 1 and complex PTSD plus anxiety issues add up to a recipe for broken sleep it seems.

[Former-Member]

Hi @eth, @frog

I also suffer a lot from dysfunctional sleep. I have found the below to be very helpful in providing the science of why this occurs and what can be done to help. He is a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine but is very accessible.

I hope this in some small way helps,

M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm1TxQj9IsQ

[Dimity]

Thanks for the podcast @Former-Member   it's helpful. Well @Shaz51 @eth @frog @Olga dysfunctional sleep is probably my biggest problem atm. My sleep cycle is delayed several hours and despite efforts I haven't been able to shift it. But I don't have the problem of broken sleep. I sleep heavily til I've had my quota, which is my depression pattern. Before my current medication, not sleeping for a couple of nights was problematic and linked to a high or mixed state. I wish I had something to look forward to, to get up for, to break the cycle. 

[Shaz51]

hello @JungleGiants , @Olga , @frog , @eth , @Dimity , @Mazarita , @rivergal , @HenryX 

how is everyone tonight , @Snowbird , @greenpea , @roses , @Former-Member , @Jag57 , @BillyGoat , @HH2O77 , @Bushman , @Former-Member 

hope you are all ok