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[britmom]

I'm hoping for some suggestions on how to improve quality of sleep. I'm being treated for depression; one of the triggers for a low is poor quality/lack of sleep. I currently take medication that, amongst other things, helps put me in a lovely deep sleep, but I need to reduce the dosage due to side effects.

Besides the usual tips to avoid caffeine and don't sleep during the day, does anyone have suggestions for improving quantity or quality of sleep? (Poor quality sleep is my big problem.) I'm interested in either medication or other approaches, although I'm particularly interested in meditation techniques.

[palla]

I don't have any meditation techniques, but exercise helps me tremendously.  When I exercise on a regular basis, I sleep much better and require less sleep overall.

[this_is_water]

I have bipolar disorder and one of the things that is really, really important for me is sleep. I used to take Trazodone (an old anti-depressant that doesn't work very well for depression but does make you sleepy) every night but lately I have weaned myself off of that almost completely.

I find I need to stick to a schedule of going to bed and getting up about the same time every day. I struggle with this on weekends. No naps! (I totally broke this resolution over the holidays and by the end of the break I could feel my mood starting to sleep.)

I've found that doing yoga works wonders. I also occasionally listen to a guided meditation. You can find mp3s of this on sale at Amazon for fairly low prices.

[miraceli]

I found that a no-technology period of two hours before sleeping works for me. Especially important is to stay away from my laptop. My body (and especially my mind (needs the cool off time).

[britmom]

Thanks for those suggestions. I need to work on doing exercise, and I'm certainly guilty of surfing the web/checking emails late on in the evening.

this_is_water - although I said depression in my OP, I have recently been diagnosed with bipolar II. The medication to which I referred is quetiapine/seroquel. If you don't mind me asking, why have you weaned yourself off trazodone? That was one of the medications that I was thinking of discussing with my pdoc to help my sleep once I've reduced the quetiapine. (There are a ton of other med changes to go through, too. <<sigh>>)

[this_is_water]

*bipolar II secret handshake*

Ah, Seroquel. I took that for a few years until side effects made me stop. Then all the weight I had gained from it melted off. That was fun. I am trying really hard to stay off the atypical anti-psychotics because of those side effects.

I'm pro-Trazodone. I find that when I'm in a depression or hypomanic taking it every night is very helpful. The reason I weaned myself off of it (and it was more a psychological weaning than a physical one - my doctor says it's non-habit forming) is that I've learned a lot of new skills for dealing with my illness this year. (I was just diagnosed about 9 months ago, but I had been treated for unipolar depression for 20 years - that's more than half my life!) I'm testing these skills. When I did notice my mood slipping after my two weeks of poor sleep hygiene, I did pick up the Trazodone for a few nights until I was back into a good routine.

[dept_geek]

As an addition to everything you should be doing to treat the underlying issues, try acupuncture.  At first, I wasn't sure  it would do anything.... 6 months later and it really is doing something.. helps with relaxing and shutting off the brain.

Make sure to find someone who is certified (there are agencies that do that).. my guy is also associated with big-time-teaching-hospital in my area. 

Big drawback - unless your insurance is awesome (mine doesn't reach that level), this is not covered.. it's all out-of-pocket.

But at least consider it as part of your treatment plan/team.

[britmom]

*bipolar II secret handshake*

Ah, Seroquel. I took that for a few years until side effects made me stop. Then all the weight I had gained from it melted off. That was fun. I am trying really hard to stay off the atypical anti-psychotics because of those side effects.

I'm pro-Trazodone. I find that when I'm in a depression or hypomanic taking it every night is very helpful. The reason I weaned myself off of it (and it was more a psychological weaning than a physical one - my doctor says it's non-habit forming) is that I've learned a lot of new skills for dealing with my illness this year. (I was just diagnosed about 9 months ago, but I had been treated for unipolar depression for 20 years - that's more than half my life!) I'm testing these skills. When I did notice my mood slipping after my two weeks of poor sleep hygiene, I did pick up the Trazodone for a few nights until I was back into a good routine.

It's good to hear that someone has managed to come off seroquel. I tried over the summer with disastrious consequences, although I did it far too quickly.

If you don't mind me bugging you on the Trazodone issue - what dose do you take, and are you able to take it as needed without any problems?

dept_geek - you've reminded me that I was considering acupuncture for my depression over the summer. I'd really like to give it a go, but the good old British NHS certainly doesn't stretch to such treatments. I've already sussed out a good place to go to, but it's £35 (approx $50) per treatment. Presumably I'd need to keep it up for a while to get any benefit?

[this_is_water]

The label on my prescription bottle says take 50-150 mg as needed for sleep. Usually 50 mg is about perfect, but occasionally I'll go through phases where I seem to need 75 mg. It's pretty rare for me to even go to 100 mg.

When I first took it, I was a bit groggy in the morning for a few days, but that wore off and honestly I don't notice any side effects.

My journey off Seroquel was far from easy, but it's possible!

[dept_geek]

dept_geek - you've reminded me that I was considering acupuncture for my depression over the summer. I'd really like to give it a go, but the good old British NHS certainly doesn't stretch to such treatments. I've already sussed out a good place to go to, but it's £35 (approx $50) per treatment. Presumably I'd need to keep it up for a while to get any benefit?

Actually, that's not a bad price.. I pay much more (and my insurance pays zero). I didn't notice anything until the 5th or 6th treatment.... but once things "kicked in", I really gained a extra day each week (a good 12-18 extra hours of productivity per week) as I wasn't tired and didn't hurt too much for longer periods of time. I also take fewer meds, and have needed almost no care for the acute phase of a chronic illness.  Given that, I happily hand over my credit card.. I'll figure out the logistics of paying later. :) 

Of course, ymmv and all that. But.. might be worth saving up two hundred pounds or so and giving it a go.

[britmom]

The label on my prescription bottle says take 50-150 mg as needed for sleep. Usually 50 mg is about perfect, but occasionally I'll go through phases where I seem to need 75 mg. It's pretty rare for me to even go to 100 mg.

When I first took it, I was a bit groggy in the morning for a few days, but that wore off and honestly I don't notice any side effects.

My journey off Seroquel was far from easy, but it's possible!

That's a fairly low dose, then. I need to come off both the Seroquel (and Celexa) as I'm getting heart palpitations, and there's a long history of heart arrhythmia in my family, including the death of my brother, aged 25. They're freaking me out. It seems that most psychotropic med's bring that risk, including Trazodone, but hopefully a relatively low dose will be relatively safe. I think I'm left with just one antidepressant, one antipsychotic and one mood stabiliser (Lamictal) that doesn't bring an increased risk. Blurgh. I could really do without a massive uprooting of my med's during my sabbatical.

It's for this reason that I'm searching around for non-medication options to help my mood and sleep. I might be able to find some cash to pay for acupuncture come the summer, once Britkid 2 goes to school. It's really good to hear that it's been helpful.