Insomnia-Can't sleep without antipsychotics

[acetone]

For some years now I have struggled with insomnia. I have racing thoughts in my head which won't allow me to sleep. I am currently on zoloft and zyprexa and only after taking zyprexa I am able to sleep at the right time otherwise I am awake all night counting sheep. Antipsychotics cause a crapload of side effects in the patients and I would like to be able to sleep without them. Any tips?

[alankay]

Is bipolar disorder the primary diagnoses? Alankay

[acetone]

Is bipolar disorder the primary diagnoses? Alankay

Doc never told me what he diagnosed me with. I went to the doc for getting my dizziness treated ( felt that ground beneath my feet was shaking violently which often lead to panic attacks). I do not think that I am bipolar.

[Moonstone]

You really need to ask your Doc what your diagnosis is/are. Very important that you know so that you can be proactive in your health care.

Is this doctor your GP or is he a mental health care professional? Cause really only a mental health doctor should be prescribing antiphsycotic meds. They know way more about these meds and diagnosing.

I take 100mg of Seroquel, which is an Anti-P med for insomnia and I am not BiPolar. I also take Zoloft. Neither of them can one just be stopped cold turkey, must be weaned off.

In a little while I am going to wean off the Seroquel cause I gained 50 pounds on it. I am going to work with my mental health doctor to go off it and find another way of sleeping.

[acetone]

You really need to ask your Doc what your diagnosis is/are. Very important that you know so that you can be proactive in your health care.

Is this doctor your GP or is he a mental health care professional? Cause really only a mental health doctor should be prescribing antiphsycotic meds. They know way more about these meds and diagnosing.

I take 100mg of Seroquel, which is an Anti-P med for insomnia and I am not BiPolar. I also take Zoloft. Neither of them can one just be stopped cold turkey, must be weaned off.

In a little while I am going to wean off the Seroquel cause I gained 50 pounds on it. I am going to work with my mental health doctor to go off it and find another way of sleeping.

My pdoc most likely does not know what the problem is. All he said was to shove the meds down my throat and I will be fine. He was partly right. He is a neurologist and psychiatrist.

[PanicCured]

If I remember correctly, Zoloft can cause trouble sleeping and sometimes docs prescribe a Benzo to take in the PM. I do not recommend a Benzo by the way, I just think this is correct. I am pretty sure I was prescribed Zoloft in AM and Xanax or Klonopin before sleep for this problem back in the day. I may be wrong but I think this is the case.

There are so many sleep herbs its amazing. If you just want to sleep this is easy. Strong chamomile tea with some honey works. You can have lavender/chamomile tea. Valerian root works for some people and not for others. You can try it and see if it works for you. Skullcap is fantastic. Eastern Essentials Calm and Relaxed that I tell people with anxiety to take also helps with sleep. There are plenty of herbal supplements for sleep.

[jesikahlaine]

If I remember correctly, Zoloft can cause trouble sleeping and sometimes docs prescribe a Benzo to take in the PM. I do not recommend a Benzo by the way, I just think this is correct. I am pretty sure I was prescribed Zoloft in AM and Xanax or Klonopin before sleep for this problem back in the day. I may be wrong but I think this is the case.

There are so many sleep herbs its amazing. If you just want to sleep this is easy. Strong chamomile tea with some honey works. You can have lavender/chamomile tea. Valerian root works for some people and not for others. You can try it and see if it works for you. Skullcap is fantastic. Eastern Essentials Calm and Relaxed that I tell people with anxiety to take also helps with sleep. There are plenty of herbal supplements for sleep.

I was recommended by my dr & other zoloft users to take it in the morning but after a couple days starting off & horrible nausea i tried to take it at night so i could sleep off the side affects. Seem to work & i have no trouble sleeping. I take it around 10pm then go to bed. But starting to stay up a bit now the effects are fading away. But i have heard plenty of people who have had sleeping problems with zoloft.

[alankay]

Well this is all speculation without a diagnoses. Proper, careful diagnoses will dictate treatment. There should be no rush to diagnose. It's vital in all medicine really. There should be time taken to get it right.
Either anxiety causes the racing thoughts or something else. If these thoughts were driven by worry, fear, distressful anticipation, things that worried you but you rationally knew you didn't need to be that anxious about, it's likely high anxiety.
If these thoughts were about accomplishing things outside your capability or had a breadth beyond normal limits for a single person, you went from one point/topic to the next rapidly, your mood was "high", overly positive, boastful, etc, we're taking maybe mania in the manic phase of bipolar(follow by the nasty depression phase). Again, maybe.
I just get the feeling/impression you're more anxious. Antipsychotics can be used for the acute stages of mania until your calmer and then they will go to lithium or depakote, etc, longer term. Very rarely if ever for anxiety though.
If you been given these meds(antipsychotics and not anxiolytics) and really have anxiety, that would maybe explain it IMHO. Whenever the core diagnoses is wrong and therefor the drug therapy, the patients doesn't do well which usually causes a rethink/re-eval by the doc. Good ones do the differential diagnoses right away and get it right first time. At times though one can mimic the other but anxiety is far more common. A doc needs to chance to get to know you and your particulars so maybe he really needs to think more anxiety and also make sure your thyroid, blood work is OK, etc, as well.
Do you feel more anxious/fearful/worried/scared or more of a wave if ideas/thoughts and energy???
Anyway just my thoughts here.
PM me any time. Alankay

[acetone]

Thanks Alankay. I think that this is anxiety. When I was having panic attacks klonopin was highly effective in combating those. Now the panic attacks are gone, thanks to zoloft, but I can't sleep without zyprexa. Klonopin does not help me for insomnia unless I take large doses of it( above .75 mg). Should I ask my pdoc for Xanax?

[alankay]

Naaa on the xanax for now at least. How long have you been experiencing this exact scenario? SSRI's can cause this sleep problem but often is passes although at times it may take months. If klonopin was 'highly effective"..........it's anxiety. For sure pretty much. If so I'd certainly ask about properly stopping the antipsychotic. You are anxious...... not psychotic, there is a big difference. I mean the doc should know his stuff, I've never met you but this just sounds like anxiety, then an ssri Rx'ed, which is proper, which can disrupt sleep(I had it happen with celexa and had to stop it after 6 months) and now the AP for sleep. .75 mg klonopin is not a large dose, it's low to medium but caution is needed here. This may clear but if you drop the AP, what to do for sleep?
1. Ask about going to 1 mg of klonopin(a medium dose) for a week or two and seeing how you do while asking if the ssri could be causing it. If so it may pass or he may think about trying another ssri. Another may not have this effect for you.
2. Ask about going to ativan(lorazepam). Very similar klonopin but with it's shorter half life fits it's effects in it a shorter time so it may be a "better fit" for the way you're experiencing anxiety. .5 mg-.75mg of ativan might help you sleep if 1 mg of klonopin does. This could be an option if daytime anxiety is helped well by the zoloft.
3. Ask about adding low dose trazodone(25mg-50mg) before bed as a trial for sleep while staying with klonopin as your benzo and zoloft.
Just some thoughts.
If anxiety was the cause for insomnia all along with the zoloft disrupting sleep for now(which should pass in time) this would all make sense to me. Thing is to get you past the effect on your sleep or try another ssri.
Could be the term "racing thoughts" is how you describe your anxiety but to a pdoc, he hears "potential mania". Again if it seems to be driven by fear, worry, ruminations on scary things, distressing feeling/thoughts.......fear......it's anxiety. If you think that's right, let him know you meant anxiety, not racing thoughts. This can happen(communication mix up).:(
I'd take a pass on the xanax for now.
PM me any time. Alankay