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I have had the good fortune to confer with some of the top brain researchers in the world this past 4 years. Michael M. Merzenich who has had several PBS brain specials, Robert Sapolsky at Stanford, Daniel Amen (also many PBS brain specials) Malcom Lader in the UK and many others. Off the subject of exercise but Dr. Merzenich is considered the father of neuroplasticity research and he told me to study primates brain ability to heal they give them SSRI's then stop them. OK Exercise - none of these experts had a clue on how to heal a drug damaged brain. The one common theme was aerobic exercise. There is a great book out on this called SPARK on this. There is also the work of the Cooper Center on the benefits of aerobic exercise for anxiety and depression being better than medications. For the first 3 years I could not do any more than walk - any strenuous activity made me critically ill. I still walk a lot and more if I am in a wave (which seems to be continual) but now I have been able to do some 10 mile bike rides. Has anyone else found benefit/determent to exercise??

See also: high-cortisol-and-ssris This seems to be a very common symptom of withdrawal syndrome. Many people report waking up with a surge of panic or anxiety, or a feeling of anxiety early in the morning. People generally feel this around 3:30-4:30 a.m. or closer to dawn. The first glimmers of morning light signal the nervous system to start the morning cycle with a normal rise in cortisol. This is a normal part of your circadian rhythm. Normally, cortisol gives you energy. When you have withdrawal syndrome, your system is on "high alert" all the time. For people whose nervous systems have been sensitized by going on and off psychiatric drugs, the normal morning peak of cortisol is felt as exaggerated. What you would normally feel as "wake up" becomes a surge of unease, panic, anxiety, or dread at the start of the day. Since the cortisol increase is signaled by early morning light, you can reduce the stimulation by reducing light in your bedroom with the use of blackout shades and curtains and a sleep mask to shield your eyes. Strengthening your sleep also helps. See What is the sleep cycle? Tips to help sleep -- so many of us have that awful withdrawal insomnia Sleep and withdrawal Path to Better Sleep FREE online for everyone from the US Veterans Administration Music for self-care: Calms hyperalertness, anxiety, aids relaxation and sleep Melatonin for sleep: Many people find it helpful TV or computer use in evening can disrupt sleep: Bright light signals the brain that it's daytime

Hello everybody, First, I aprpeciate this resource! I started with panic disorder 5 years ago. I was started on Zanax in the hospital, and I am still angry about it, or at least about having zero information about what I was getting myself into. Thankfully I quit after a few months on it. The insomnia was terrible but my sleep recovered to a tolerable pattern after a couple of weeks. I also started Lexapro at 10 mg while I was still taking Zanax. And I started running and exercising three times a day for an hour each. I am still convinced that the exercise made it possible for the panic attacks to completely resolve after a few months. but then I had a new panic attack after months of not having any. My doctor increased my Lexapro dose to 20 mg and stayed there. I have also been getting very good treatment for my C-PTSD/developmental trauma (Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Internal Family Systems/parts work) and a I am doing much much better. I want to quit Lexapro because I think I no longer need it since my anxiety/panic has resolved, and because it has the side effect of giving me GERD which I also have to manage with medication. And also because my sleep patterns could never recover to a fully normal pattern. I now learned that SSRIs interact with the circadian rhythm, and Lexapro in particular does so negatively. So, I blame my sleep problems on Lexapro. I started using the sleep app RISE, and realized that my circadian rhythm, isn't much of a rythm at all. I feel like I will only get back my normal sleep after quitting Lexapro. All the more reason to get off of it. I am super upset at the doctors for increasing my dose to such a high amount, now that I read that lexapro is so much more potent than other drugs at similar dosages. 20 mg is called "hefty"! a 5 mg increase would have been much more prudent and I am not even a doctor! I started by shaving off a small amount from the 20 mg a few months ago. I used a roughened glass nail file, that I could be very precise and gradual with. I finally reached a 25% reduction, and since I started having insomnia symptoms, I started looking for more information and found this forum. I read some of the posts and just asked my doctor today to switch me to the liquid version, so I can continue a more smooth and precise tapering process. I referred her to this website so she can also benefit from this information. I plan to increase my dosage a little bit again to see if the insomnia resolves and then I will stay there for a couple of months. I also started having stomach pain, and now I wonder if it is caused by the taper. That is hard to tell given my food sensitivities. I have gone back to exercising more again, since it was so helpful a few years ago. I am following the RISE app which makes working with the circadian rhythm very easy. I plan on being very patient with myself otherwise, and this website resource is incredibly encouraging and reassuring. I also take Melatonin for that. What I learned from this website so far that is an eye opener is the 3KIS principle, and is how incredibly important it is to be stable in all aspects of health. I didn't realize that before. So, I will make sure that my exercise and supplement and med schedules as well as sleep (or time in dark and in bed, at least) are totally consistent. Which is hard when sleep is hard to come by, but now I am that much more motivated to actually lean into it with trust and patience. Given that I am struggling with sleep, I wonder about CBD. I have never tried any form of cannabis before. It may be a bad idea to combine a tapering with CBD which is new to my system and it violates the 3KIS principles, but I thought I'd ask to see what experience people have, if any. Thank you all!!

Hi All, I am struggling quite a bit with Mirtazapine withdrawal and would greatly appreciate any advice on next steps. My situation is somewhat unique as I also have circadian rhythm issues which I manage with Melatonin & a strict sleep schedule. I believe the interaction with these circadian issues and my withdrawal is compounding my issues which I will explain later in the post. For some background though, I have been on Mirtazapine 45mg for 1.5 years for anxiety & a bout of insomnia. I attempted to taper off the drug last year whereby I dropped from 45mg to 0mg over the course of about 4.5 months. Unfortunately this attempt failed once I hit 0mg as I started experiencing intense withdrawal symptoms which were not showing signs of improvement 5 weeks in. This only occurred on the final taper from 3.75mg to 0mg, I did experience withdrawal symptoms on prior tapers but these were manageable. I reinstated at a dose of 5.5mg - which I understand is higher than necessary but at the time I did not have this knowledge. Within the first night of taking 5.5mg, my withdrawal symptoms markedly improved and by the second night I was 100% back to normal. My plan following this attempt was to taper off the 5.5mg much slower. However, during my Christmas holidays from work, I generally give myself a break from melatonin and my strict sleep schedule and let my body sleep when it wants for a while. I have done this previously when I was on 45mg Mirtazapine and faced no issues. However, in the most recent Christmas break (Dec 2022) I started experiencing issues whereby changing the timing of the Mirtazapine was causing my sleep to become quite erratic and I also started having quite short sleep duration. I know Mirtazapine acts differently in lower doses and can be more sedating, but I was not expecting such severe impacts so I was quite confused. My doctor also did not know what was going on and the advice I was given was to stop Mirtazapine completely, which I did. As expected, I started experiencing the withdrawal insomnia again. It was at its worst at day 7 after discontinuing but surprisingly by day 10 it started to improve slightly. At this time I was still on holidays from work so I was allowing my body to sleep whenever it wanted. However, I am now 3 weeks post discontinuation and will have to return to work so I have resumed taking melatonin and trying to stick to a sleep schedule 3 days ago. Unfortunately, doing this has caused my sleep to return back to day 7 levels. My gut feeling is that the melatonin is causing these withdrawal issues to become worse. I have experienced similar issues in the past when I take melatonin but do not keep a strict schedule. This is sort of the case now as due to the withdrawal effects, I am waking up in the middle of the night at random times and am unable to return to sleep. This is quite distressing for me as melatonin is very beneficial in managing my circadian issues which is also necessary for proper sleep but it seems I may not be able to continue taking it. It also makes me wonder if the reason I did not experience any improvements in insomnia during the first time I withdrew Mirtazapine is because I had continued taking Melatonin. At the time I did not recognise this could be the cause. As I see, it I have 3 options now, all of which I do have some concerns with: Reinstate Mirtazapine. This did work during my first withdrawal attempt so perhaps will work again. I could try and reinstate at a lower dose this time e.g. 1.8mg or alternatively for the first night I can take a higher dose e.g. 4.5mg to verify that this will work (the 5.5mg dose showed instant improvement within the first night during my first withdrawal attempt) and then subsequently lower the dose. My concerns with this are: My current situation is a bit different to my first withdrawal attempt as I have not had a consistent sleep schedule for the past few weeks. This makes it difficult to know when to time the Mirtazapine and given changes Mirtazapine timing was causing me issues during my Christmas break, I am afraid this will happen again. I guess if this does happen I can always stop the Mirtazapine, but I am afraid this will perpetuate my symptoms and also invalidate reinstatement as a future option. I am afraid if my dose is too low or something is off with the Mirtazapine timing, that I may only receive partial resolution of withdrawal symptoms but at the cost of my body once again becoming reliant on Mirtazapine. This would undo all the progress I have currently made in withdrawing and extend the duration of my withdrawal symptoms. I am still a bit confused as to why my withdrawal symptoms only became so severe after dropping from 3.75mg to 0mg, but not during any of my tapers from 45mg to 3.75mg. Given this is not clear and I do not know what will happen as I slowly taper off again at these lower doses, I am a bit hesitant to get back on the drug. Stop Melatonin and attempt to stick to a sleep schedule without it. I have been able to do this in the past but I get around 1.5-2 hours less sleep per night which might be difficult considering I am already sleep deprived. I am also concerned it may be more difficult to stick to a schedule in general as my sleep seems to be different in this withdrawal period. Continue with just Melatonin for a few more days to observe changes. I am afraid of missing my reinstatement window if I do this. I would really appreciate any advice on what option would be my best choice, or if there are other options I may have missed. I have to return to work tomorrow and I am unsure whether I will be able to function adequately. I am also quite anxious around having permanently lost my ability to sleep properly or permanently lost my ability to use melatonin to manage my circadian rhythm which would be devastating. I am hoping these are just irrational thoughts and that my sleep will return to how it was before Mirtazapine, but at the moment it feels like I will never be able to get off this drug. Thanks in advance for your time and any input you may have!

Has anyone out there had hypoglycemia when trying to taper off their SSRI? I’m just now starting to understand that many of the odd Sx I am having are likely related to this. My PCP has been flummoxed. I was having night sweats, crazy dreams, sever dizziness, fatigue, couldn’t think. Also, had the “brain zaps” that I could never figure out how to describe until I found articles on my own. In an effort to to try to figure out what was happening, I started wearing a continuous blood glucose monitor and found my CBG’s were dropping into the 30’s at night. This resolved when I started taking my Prozac again. However at the time I had just started taking some new supplements and I attributed it to that. I can’t afford to get another monitor to further test this, I had signed up for a free trial, they are super expensive. None of my lab work is indicative of diabetes, and we’ve checked everything. Thanks all for you input.

Hello All, I am brand new to this forum - first post. I just wanted to get some feedback/suggestions on what I have been going through. My story is this; I have suffered on and off from insomnia for the last 5 years. Up until October last year (2021) I could manage my occasional sleeplessness with an over the counter sleeping aid or half an antihistamine tablet. However, a psychiatrist prescribed me 2.5mg Olanzapine to help with the occasional insomnia and anxiety. He told me that it was non-addictive and that I could take it sporadically. I had started a new job in October, so wanted to ensure that I had a good night sleep for the first few weeks while I settled in. I took half a tablet (1.25mg) 4-5 times per week, some times a bit less, for around 3 x weeks. After this, I noticed that I was no longer able to find sleep naturally. I tried everything, and despite being exhausted I just couldn't sleep. So over the next few weeks I would avoid taking the Olanzapine, only to become completely exhausted by day 5 of little to no sleep that I ended up caving and taking some. Eventually I needed to increase from half a tablet to a full one, then to 1.5 tablets, and sometimes closer to 2. This cycle continued for about 6-7 months. Olanzapine helped me sleep, but made me feel horrific and irritable the next day. I ended up finding some scary (and similar) stories to mine online, and decided to quit for good. But since then, I have not been able to sleep naturally, or very rarely if I do. Additionally, none of the over the counter sleep aids work anymore - this is what scares me the most as I have very few options now, and I'm not sure why this is the case. Further, my GP put me on Mirtazapine at my request as I had been on this previously around 10 years ago and I recall it being highly sedating and helped my anxiety a lot. Upon starting the medication, my sleep improved greatly - I felt amazing. Then after 4 weeks it started losing its effect. Doubled the dose at 4 weeks, which helped for another 4 weeks, then again it lost its effect. I seem to be resistant to most medication that normally helps you sleep. My GP has now prescribed temazepam until I see a sleep specialist later this week. I'm hoping to god that the sleep specialist can help because I do not want to become reliant on a benzo in addition to everything else! So my question is, if the Olanzapine has caused/contributed to these sleep issues - are there any options to help mitigate this kind of insomnia until my brain (hopefully) recovers? Just wanting to hear other peoples stories. It has been about 4 x months since I've touched Olanzapine yet I am still having great difficulties and it is ruining my life. I feel suicidal and anxious a lot of the time, am having trouble managing work, and am just at a complete loss as to what to do. Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks in advance

ADMIN NOTE This essay first appeared in Dan998's success story. Also see: Tips to help sleep: so many of us have that awful withdrawal insomnia What is the sleep cycle? Melatonin for sleep Supplements for sleep * Sleep and withdrawal by Dan998 I thought it would be a good idea to write an article about sleep. Everyone’s symptoms and experiences will be different, but the vast majority of our members suffer terribly from issues surrounding sleep. For me, sleep was probably my biggest struggle. Right from the beginning I had a hard time sleeping and it’s probably only in the last year or two that it has returned to what I would call normal. Sleeplessness closely followed my pattern of windows and waves. Arriving a few days before and improving a few days afterwards. I’m convinced that these two things are closely linked to each other. During the worst of withdrawal I might have been lucky to get an hour of sleep per night. This sometimes went on for months and undoubtedly contributed to the mental confusion and cognitive incapacity that I have previously described. The cortisol mornings were particularly brutal. Fear, dread and panic rising from my core and quickly filling every part of my body as soon as I woke up. Getting a good night's sleep is vital for all humans, not just those in withdrawal. I still occasionally get nights where my sleep is interrupted and I always feel groggy and slow throughout the following day. Thankfully, like everything else on the withdrawal rollercoaster your ability to sleep will improve with the passage of time. Dosage timing - Some psychotropic drugs are activating, some have a sedative effect. You can use this to your advantage. Citalopram used to make me feel slightly drowsy, so I took my dose at night to help me sleep. Try to stay away from sleep meds if you can as most of them are highly addictive and you’ll quickly build up a tolerance to them. Take a nap - Sleep can often be elusive. Get it whenever you can. If you feel tired in the afternoon, then by all means take a nap. Every minute of sleep is valuable. It doesn’t have to be reserved for bedtime. Blue light - Blue light interferes with our natural circadian rhythms. In nature, blue light is only available during the daytime. The blue light emitted by T.Vs, computers and smartphones disrupts these natural rhythms and signals to our brains that we should be awake. Make use of the blue (night) light filters available on most computers and phones. If you’re watching TV, the movie setting often has a warmer colour temperature. I personally wouldn’t go online after about 10pm as I found it far too activating. Instead, I’d watch wildlife documentaries or sports as these provided much gentler viewing. Bedtime stories - Ok, I didn’t have actual bedtime stories. I would listen to talk radio. A soothing voice, quietly whispering in the background would help me drift off. I used to listen to BBC Radio 5 as it didn’t have any annoying adverts. Nowadays, you’ll probably find all sorts of podcasts, audiobooks and background noises to listen to. Make sure it’s nothing too stimulating. Boring is best. Darkness - I found blocking out the light really helped my sleep. The darker the better. I messed about with blackout curtains, but some light always got past, and it only took the tiniest sliver to wake me up. In the end I solved this problem by screwing a sheet of ply board over the window, this also helped block out most of the street noise too. Secret sleep - Sometimes you don’t realise you have been asleep. It seems that you’ve been laying there awake for hours and hours. In fact, there are many different levels of sleep. Just because you didn’t have any dreams, doesn’t mean you haven’t been asleep. So, even if you're not tired, you should go to bed at the same time every night. Lay down, make yourself comfortable and close your eyes. You'll be giving your body a rest and you might even grab an hour or two without even realising. I hope these hints and tips are of some benefit to those of you who are struggling with sleep. Things do get better as time goes on. Hang in there. Better days, and nights, are ahead of you. *

I went to see a chiropractor/homeopath who my mother recommended and who I'll call Magic Nancy. I don't no what training alternative practitioners typically receive -- it varies I'm sure -- but Magic Nancy got into the healing business fairly recently after a longish career in an unrelated field. My experience with Nancy was negative. (Here's the simplified story) First, I am pretty open to alternative therapies. I won't list all the crap I've tried, but take my word for it. So I was open to Magic Nancy. I saw her a couple of times and developed some concerns. Nancy likes to read my body talk and then tell me what I am thinking beneath the conscious level. I saw this practioner in December and she told me that I was ready to heal and that I needed to repeat a mantra -- something like "I'm ready to let my body heal itself" -- and I was only one week away from a full recovery and good health. Ok. My body didn't heal itself on her schedule and I moved on. Recently I've had some problems and to appease my mother I revisited Magic Nancy where I had an extremely upsetting experience. I brought along a number of medications and supplements for her to muscle test. She listened to my body and then told me I didn't need to take almost any of it. She got strong "NOs" from my body on diazepam and clonazepam and said I shouldn't take them. Okay, whatever, I'll keep your recommendations in mind. Then she did her body reading session where she said I said that I am struggling with fear of failure, memories from age 16 and self-posioning. She said, by and large, that I once again am "ready to be well" and that I should put the past behind me and go out and be healthy and ... I don't know, get off my ass, basically. Her dismissiveness frustrated me. I told her so and we then had an awkward conversation which ended with Magic Nancy saying "I'm only telling you what your body is saying it needs, you don't have to listen to it if you think this is crazy, you're in charge, I'm just the messenger." Yea, I said but I don't know these things that my body knows and speaks to you. You're claiming I should do x,y, &z but not a,b,&c and you can't tell me why besdies "that's what my body wants" which is not a good enough reason to cold turkey benzos or to follow other recommendations. It's just not enought. Finally, Magic Nancy, your general attitude that I am A-okay except for my persistent clinging to a "fear of failure" pisses me off. I don't know if I am afraid of failure or not. But you telling me I am, is not enough reason to stop medications or buy supplements from you. Clearly frustrated, she told me that her work was difficult to understand and based in quantum physics which is incompatible with western medicine. She said I take a course in quantum physics and human health to better understand. Then, on second thought, she told me there is no such course that would apply to what she does because she is on the cutting edge. Of quantum physics!! The cutting edge of quantum physics research and application is on a gravel road behind the market in Williamson County Texas, who knew!? In a trailer home to boot! Anyway, I left. This was a very upsetting experience because some of the things Magic Nancy said actually made sense to me. However some advice didn't ring true at all. But my biggest complain was her hostile attitude. Her attitude implied I could be healthy if I was willing and that by implication only psychological fears and my unwillingness to listen to my body (from my subconscious to her) is keeping me sick, if I'm sick at all. It's messed up to play head games with a sick person. My illness is not my fault nor is it imaginary. One layer here is that I'd seen Magic Nancy earlier and not taken her full recommendations fully seriously. She was upset that I didn't make an appointment earlier, I think, and clearly brought a lot of hostility to our meeting. That my mother is a regular customer made things more twisted up. Anyway, she didn't take me seriously and she played a very nasty game of blaming the victim that made me feel icky and angry. Magic Nancy was the most upsetting health experience I'd ever had or close to it. It was uniquely bad as the one that felt the most emotionally exploitative. I wanted to share this experience because I'm sure we've all been treating poorly or misunderstood by healthcare professionals when all we want is help.

Hi, Is it possible to get natural sleep after heavy use of valium for about 40 years? I'm off from valium for last 3 years and tapering etizolam*. Took valium from 1970 to 2014. * Link to wiki information about this drug. Etizolam (marketed under the brand name Etilaam, Etizola, Sedekopan, Etizest, Pasaden or Depas) is a benzodiazepine analog.

Started off on Clonazepam 0.5mg twice a day in Nov 2015 due to acute panic attacks linked to relationship and work related anxiety. Felt okish. Was put on prozac 10mg at night, additionally. Wasn't feeling all that great. By January 2016, started getting counseled by a psychologist at work. She tried to help me take a deep dive into the core reasons of my sudden, debilitating anxiety. It did help as I started working on them steadily. She then referred me to another psychiatrist who stopped clonazepam and Prozac and put me on escitalopram 10 mg at night and etizolam 1mg in the mornings. I was improving but nowhere close to being totally normal. He said it'll take 6-8 weeks, I ignorantly believed him and continued. In the meanwhile, got everything related to my palpitations and blood pressure checked. Things were ok except slightly high BP, which then made me insanely fear blood pressure readings and get more worked up and increase the anxiety more so. By May 2016, had issues with my sleep cycle so he added mirtazapine 3.75mg (1/4th) for my sleep. Continued this and the sleep got better but the anxiety plateaued and didn't improve (Should've realised the real reasons by now, sadly I didn't). On my next visit, he changed the whole prescription and I was put on chlordiazepoxide 5mg twice a day, zoloft 50mg at night for 2.5 months. Felt ok finally and by Dec 2016, in my haste to stop the meds( hated taking any sort of medicine), I quit taking any of them. Didn't know about any withdrawals whatsoever. Never visited the doctor again. After about 1.5 months (mid Jan 2017), suddenly woke up one morning feeling totally disoriented and severly sleepy even after 8 proper hours of sleep. Never had the slightest idea of what was happening. Continued in such severe misery for 5 months. Had sleep studies done (mild apnea), and tried some sleep apnea "gadgets" for 2 months. No relief. Nov 2017 and I was told I had moderate PLMD. Tried pramipex 0.25mg at night until March 2018. No change. Visited a psychiatrist in April 2018 and he started my back on escitalopram 10mg and lorazepam 1mg (temporarily to help my chronic insomnia since Dec 2017). I felt better initially as I slept more but was fatigued during the day. Felt better in the evenings. He put me on mirtazapine (AGAIN!) as my sleep wasn't getting better. I was taking 3.75mg (1/4th) and then 1.875 mg (1/8th). I felt close to 85% normal but had notoriously put on 4 pounds in a month during Apr-May 2018. He thought of stopping it as I was on a vry low dose. Put me bk on escitalopram 5mg, supposedly low. I feel disgusting again after I wake up. Don't trust doctors at all now. Did my own research and am using Mg transdermal, omega 3, B12 and D3 supplements. Have started excercise to lose weight. Should I stop escitalopram and start mirtazapine 1.875 mg again? That's what seemed to help me maybe

Hi everyone, I have severe insomnia problem for more than a month. I was prescribed Zyprexa on March 29, 2018 and I took it only for less than 3 weeks. I stopped taking Zyprexa cold turkey and I switched to Risperidone 1mg. Now, I have severe insomnia. I cannot fall asleep and I just lied in bed from night to morning. My insomnia been going on for more than a 1 month. My questions for you. How many days, months, or years did it took you to sleep normal again after you withdraw or stop cold turkey from Zyprexa? Did you have to take another drug after stopping the Zyprexa to help you sleep? I’m desperate for advice and help. I really appreciate your input. Thank you.

i stopped risperdal 4MG "Cold Turkey" and because of that that i can sleep only 3 hours per night. i am wondering regarding 2 issues: 1. How long will it last without start again and tapering ? 2. Can it make permanent damage to the brain so even after slow tapering the problem will persist permanently? If someone did the same, couldn't sleep and can share with his experience it will be great! Thanks

Hi, my name is Trevor, I'm 28 years old and I have been recovering from Remeron withdrawal for a while now. I took 15mg Remeron for 7 years and every time I tried to stop taking it I experienced debilitating insomnia that would last for weeks til I just couldn't take it any more and went back on the medication. Finally I decided it was time to kick this drug for good and started out by reducing my dose to 7.5 mg for a few months, then I started the long process of slow reduction using the liquid titration method. I spent 5 months reducing from 7.5 mg to 0 and by the time I got down to 2 mg I was already experiencing insomnia along with other side effects like depression, anxiety, crying spells, body itching, heart palpitations, and chronic diarrhea. It's been three months now sense my last dose and I still can't manage to get consistent sleep. On good nights I might sleep 5-6 hours but most nights I only get 2-4. Even when I do fall asleep my dreams can get pretty disturbing and I wake up every 30 minutes to an hour. When I lay down to sleep my heart beats very heavy, not fast or sporadic like with anxiety, but slow and forceful. Even if I can get my mind to shut off and be completely relaxed my body will not relax. Any time I get my blood pressure checked it's completely normal but I have noticed my resting heart rate is kind of slow. The other day it was as low as 48bpm. I still get diarrhea some days, and it doesn't make a difference what I eat. It always happens first thing in the morning when I end up running to the bathroom every 15 minutes about 3-5 times. A few months back I went to an alternative health clinic and they started me on a bunch of supplements in an attempt to re balance my hormones and get me sleeping again. Some of the stuff I was taking was Chinese herbs so I don't even know what was in it. I got tired of spending 100's of dollars on supplements every month I didn't even know where helping or not so recently I began to cut back on the supplements. I even went to see a hypnotherapist last week and am going back later this week. The other problem is that I picked a very stressful time in my life to get off the meds. I had just quit my job and sold my house to go back to school plus my girl friend had just broke things off with me. Sense then I tried to date another girl who rejected me after a couple dates. My alcoholic father moved back to Missouri after living in Colorado for 14 years and just recently he got diagnosed with ALS and only has a few months to live. His ex wife came and got him and moved him to Michigan where she plans on taking care of him. I'm just glad I don't have to watch him die a slow death. School is going well but I'm taking easy classes right now, I'm afraid that if I don't start sleeping well by the time I get accepted into my program of study I might fail the program. It's so difficult for me to concentrate on my studies when I'm only getting 2 hours of sleep some nights. I used to be very healthy and full of energy, I was big into fitness like running, biking, and yoga. Now days I barley have enough energy to go for a walk. What advice would anyone have for someone who has already been off a drug for a while but is still experiencing side effects? I keep telling myself this can't go on forever and I will eventually start sleeping normal again but progress is so slow it gets very discouraging. This Friday I will be going to get my yearly check up with the VA. I haven't been to the VA clinic for any of this because I was afraid they would just try to put me on another medication. But now I'm beginning to realize there may be other things they can do for me like sleep studies or talk to a therapist. Any suggestions on how to approach my doctor about this? In my experience military and VA doctors are terrible when it comes to health problems like this, I want to make sure he gets me the help I need without me being disrespectful or acting like a know it all. Are there any treatments I should ask for directly?

I accidentally stumbled onto this a few days ago while looking for a review of the book 'The Highly Sensitive Person' by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D It was pure luck that I discovered ASMR, I've had this my whole life, but had no idea it was even a 'thing' or had a name. I found myself about to watch a youtube video review of the book, but was puzzled why the letters ASMR were in the title. Then when the video started, the guy was whispering, I could hardly hear it, I had to turn everything right up, at first it was a bit annoying, but then he started talking about the book and relating it to something called ASMR and I got very curious, left the video to find out what it was all about and found myself in a whole new world. ASMR stands for Autonomous sensory meridian response, apparently some people experience it and some don't. For people who have this, triggering this response can be extremely relaxing, calming and induce sleep. I was looking for a short video which explains it, there were a few I found, but the one I'm linking to, does an amazing job of not only explaining it, but also by incorporating some of the triggers for ASMR in the actual presentation. A comment below the video sums up what I think may be the potential this has for some people "...i can't thank you enough, you've done more for me than my doctors have over the last 17 years." It works best if you use headphones and you may need to turn the sound up. I've only just started exploring these kinds of videos, but already I've found some of my own triggers and can't believe how relaxed some of them make me feel, the most surprising is the sound of a pencil being sharpened. Of course its not a cure for withdrawal, but it may help with anxiety, stress and insomnia.

A few of my friends have suggested I have another sleep test to see what might be causing my sleeplessness. They see me struggling with severe insomnia, how not sleeping is making my life awful and impacting the neurological illness I have. I had a 24 hour sleep test maybe 7-8 years ago when my neuro muscular disease was out of control (pain, inflammation) and I wasn't 2 full years out from my psych drug taper completion so my sleep was deregulated. At this point I would like to see if the disease is a contributing factor and if not hopefully a sleep test could readily identify what might be causing my issues (or at least rule out some things). I do have a wonderful neurologist who'd evaluate the results. I was wondering from your perspective how effective sleep tests are, what do they diagnose and what information you could share/link me to?? What was your experience with sleep testing, problems found and how addressed? Have you had more than one sleep test?

I am Charlene from Utah USA, I am withdrawing (w/d) from Lamictal, and would like some help with it. Shortish summary of most recent mental health drug history: 150 mg/day lamictal, 50 mg/night trazadone (as needed for sleep), are current medications. I have already sucessfully w/d from 300 mg/day effexor, prior to that abilify (prior med was respiradal). I have script for wellbutrim that I have not started on, though I have taken it previously without (w/o) serious side effects, but wondered if it was "working" for less depression. I was recently diagnosed with anxiety, due to great trouble at work, I started using proprananol, but have not continued taking it as I think the growing job anxiety was due to w/d from effexor, not "me". Diagnosis I have been tagged with in the last few years include: major depression, severe, recurring; bi-polar I, generalized anxiety, and the wonderful one, borderline personality disorder. I was hospitalized by consent in 2011 for 2 weeks (huge work related difficulties were a driver), which is when I got the BPD diagnosis, possibly due to continuing having suicidal ideations and conflicts in relationships there (and in usual life); which have continued most of these 2 years. But, I think some things like "getting along with others" is getting better, possibly due to w/d from effexor? I have been prescribed many tri-cyclic and SSRI and SNRI anti-depressants; my summary at this point on anti-depressant use for me is that at best some of them have "raised the bottom" of my low moods - which at times of stress has been crucial I suppose. None of them however are something that I want or intend on staying on the rest of my life, which I believe is the pro-pharma medical establishments recommendation for me up to this point. Augmentation with resperidal for irritability, then abilify later, depakote (more than a couple years ago) and now lamictal (taken previous periods too, w/d due to memory/concentration/focus Extreme problems in 2004 and 2010 - why do "they" keep putting me on it? I was on double the dosage back then than I was this time however. Other medical/physical diagnosis (most likely from taking the above!) include hypertension, pre-diabetes, high cholesterol, irritable bowel syndrome. I am currently interested in continuing Lamictal w/d and trying not to go back on any anti-depressants. I am a bit concerned that continuing w/d may exasperate my tendency to disorganization and sometimes fluctuating mood and more irritability......things I have noticed over the previous 2 months or so. I am trying to stay very motivated to deal with low moods by actions such as hiking, biking, possibly getting back to running trails, staying involved in community by tutoring and organizing hikes, try to get back to daily meditation and other ways to deal with repetitive thoughts and low and not useful thoughts/actions. I currently work part-time at a lower stress job, have financial difficulties due to being on private disability for 2 years, which payments have stopped now. How do I go about slow w/d from lamictal? So far have decreased to 150 mg/day from 200 mg/day, by cutting the blue tablets in quarters. I went down to 100 mg/day, but felt rising anxiety from the turmoil and lack of patience and such that I was feeling, so went back up to 150 mg/day and have been back there for more than a week now.