Posted by Azurebluesky on June 23, 2004, at 6:51:25
My problem is sleep anxiety, GAD and agoraphobia, although the biggest problem is sleep anxiety. Last year I had the worst experience of my life with sleep anxiety, I had a month and a half of not sleeping, getting up the next day with unbelievable anxiety from the minute I woke up..the hour or so I did actually manage to sleep I experienced terrible dreams, night sweats etc. I would be horribly anxious all day thinking about whether or not I was going to sleep, and as a consequence the thought of actually going to bed would throw me into a spiral of mega-anxiety and I couldn't sleep.
I felt utterly alone and terrified, and eventually it began to erode at my sanity until all I could think about was suicide, it just seemed endless. Eventually, after seeing various doctors of a period of two weeks on a daily basis, during which I was prescribed Zimovane (knocked me out for about three hours max), One of the Pams (can't remember which, probably Temazepam...knocked me out a little longer, but felt grotty and panicky all the next day), Cipralex (sent my anxiety through the roof, seriously thought I was going to explode with all the panic!), and Diazipam (did nothing except give me a bad stomach).
Eventually I discovered this web site, and can honestly say it was my salvation. I read all the posts about various treatments before deciding that Remeron/Zispin was the one for me. It put a cap on my anxiety straight away and I slept through the night. Eventually I returned to normal and could function and actually enjoy life.
I dropped myself down from 30 to 15mg and was fine with that for nearly a year until a couple of weeks ago when for some reason I couldn't sleep...starting up the whole horrendous anxiety/not sleeping cycle again. I upped my dose to 30mg and I'm slowly making my way back to normality, sleeping a little more each night.
What I was wondering is, has anyone else experienced chronic sleep anxiety? How did you cope with it? and what drugs did you try? The reason I'm asking is because of Remeron's notorious weight gain issues, I've put on around 20 pounds and just can't lose it.
Btw, at the height of my anxiety my body felt like it was being scrubbed by wire wool and my lungs felt as though they were full of ice!! Anyone else experienced that?
Thanks for listening....hope someone can help.
poster:Azurebluesky
thread:359320
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040621/msgs/359320.html