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Sleeping – Catch 22
Written by Sean on Monday, July 20, 2009
I’m facing an interesting Catch-22, where I’m doomed if I do, and doomed if I don’t. I have been using sleeping pills to deal with nightmare issues. But the pills may not be helping as much as I hope.
About a year ago, I spoke to my GP about the fact that I was having nightmares every night and on top of depression, these were pretty much throwing me out of kilter even more than I was. He prescribed some sleeping pills. These pills have been working well, I have not been waking up disturbed by nightmares. But I have not been waking up particularly refreshed either. At first, I was taking the pills once in a while, maybe twice a week. Over the course of a year, I climbed to using them every night.
Now, my depression is somewhat under better control (even though BIID is raging). I’ve been cutting back on how often I use the sleeping pills.
The thing is, I learned recently that the pills I am using work by reducing the amount of REM sleep you get. REM is the phase of sleep that is the most active for dreams, which means that if you have less REM, you have less nightmares. So the pill does exactly what my GP prescribed it for.
The fly in the ointment is that REM is also the phase of sleep that is the most rest-providing. So less REM means that you don’t rest as well while you sleep. Can you see the dilemna here?
Either I don’t take the pill, have nightmares, sleep badly and wake up with a feeling of doom over my head, as well as being tired. Or, I take the pill, don’t have good rest, but don’t have nightmares, and wake up feeling tired. Oh hummm.
As I don’t want to get addicted (physically *or* psychologically) to the wee sleeping aids, I’m reducing intake. I’ve been dreaming more, or at least, remembering my dreams. They are rather weird and verge towards nightmare in many cases, but they aren’t outright nightmares that give me cold sweats in the night. So that’s positive. Hopefully that’ll last.
Tags: BIID, Dreams, Nightmares, Sleep
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4 Comments
2 On 21 July, 2009, Phil said:
As I only rarely remember what I have dreamt, I cannot give you any advice.
I’m just in general not a friend of pharmaceuticals, for they tend to bring even more “dis-order” into a very complicated system. The problems often just show at one or more other places.
One thing came to my mind. There is a psychotherapeutical approach which has some relationship to REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep phases. It is called Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and not generally, but broadly accepted (more information for example here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_and_reprocessing).
Maybe using this technique you can come to the source of your nightmares and solve the tension that seems to exist?
Could be worth a trial.
Another approach is lots of fresh air, sunlight and moving one’s body – and phases of relaxation during the day. Not so much computer.
Best wishes
3 On 21 July, 2009, Sophie said:
My shrink wanted me to try EMDR therapy, it’s mostly used for people who have had a traumatic accident. The idea of it is to have you accept that one scenario is better than another. Ultimately I’ve been reluctant to try and teach myself walking is better than wheeling because it just recreates the horrible circle of not accepting who you are.
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1 On 20 July, 2009, Chloe said:
There are many different kinds of sleeping aid. Perhaps the pills you have been taking are not optimal for you.
My GP thinks that taking clonazepam every night before I go to bed is a good idea for me. It reduces anxiety as well as muscle spasms, both of which would otherwise interfere with sleep. I may well be psychologically addicted to this. But so what? I’m not having any negative side effects, and I sleep well.
I dream, but not excessively unpleasantly. Last night I dreamt that my left wheel became embedded in some plastic flooring, such that I couldn’t move the chair. I think it is a simple symbol of my current frustration over not being able to wheel because of my left arm.