How Does Lack Of Sleep Affect You?

This is a subject dear to my heart atm as I am not sleeping at all well.

I was wondering what lack of sleep did to your mood?

For me it tends to make me high - some of my worst manic spells have in retrospect been preceded by a week of night shifts and poor sleep during the day. I have been sleeping badly for a while and have on the whole been a low grade high for a while now.

I was just wondering how lack of sleep affects you all, if at all

Cracked

I hope you feel better soon.

I haven't had a high intense enough to keep me awake straight for more than 40 hours, so I don't know what would happen beyond almost 2 days of no sleep. It normally just makes my heart beat faster and intensifies my high, whilst lowering my judgement. It also lessens my anxiety for some reason, even though I get higher and less able to concentrate.

For me when it really kicks in it also lessens my anxiety - tho recently I have not been high enough for this to happen and have been quite anxious at times. But when it really does kick in for sure anxiety goes down. I wonder whether this is to do with more of a lack of inhibition in some way?

Thanks for your thoughts

Hugs

Cracked

I suffer from lack of sleep really badly. The worst time I was awake for 5 days, I got really intense mania, total detachment, delusional and was the most suicidal I've ever been. I guess it may have put me in a mixed state.

It depends on if I'm trying to force it or if it's just a natural part of the cycle, for me. When it's natural I feel fine after about 4 hours of sleep a night and there isn't really any ill effects. If I force it, (due to work switching my shift around or me trying to induce a hypomanic state...) it'll trigger some psychotic symptoms. I'll get real jumpy, start having some minor hallucinations, paranoid delusions, things like that.

matri00 wrote:I suffer from lack of sleep really badly. The worst time I was awake for 5 days, I got really intense mania, total detachment, delusional and was the most suicidal I've ever been. I guess it may have put me in a mixed state.

Sounds like it is something you really struggle with. What kind of things do you do to try to sleep?

Exiled. wrote:It depends on if I'm trying to force it or if it's just a natural part of the cycle, for me. When it's natural I feel fine after about 4 hours of sleep a night and there isn't really any ill effects. If I force it, (due to work switching my shift around or me trying to induce a hypomanic state...) it'll trigger some psychotic symptoms. I'll get real jumpy, start having some minor hallucinations, paranoid delusions, things like that.

That's interesting that it depends - I guess if your body knows what it needs and if you try to mess with that it causes problems

Thanks guys

Cracked

I've tried absolutely everything to induce natural sleep: I downloaded sound tracks of whale noises, and jungle sounds. I have had acupuncture, changed my diet, moved my bed to align with the magnetic poles of the earth, I went to a Thai Buddhist camp for a month and learnt to meditate, done hours of behavioural therapy and general good sleep hygiene e.g. going to bed at exactly the same time each night, not doing anything but sleeping in my room (removing all televisions, computer etc.), I even stopped drinking any alcohol for 4 months. None of it really worked, pretty simple reason really, sometimes I'm just not tired. The only thing that has worked is medication, (zopiclone and quetiapine) I'm just worried about when it starts to wear off one day! Sorry I couldn't be any more help!

Gosh you sound like you have been on more of a quest for a good night's sleep than me! I am awaiting a prescription for zopiclone atm for the short term. I was on 800mg of quetiapine but it gave me a cardiac arrythmia so cant go back on that. We shall see - hopefully the zopiclone will produce some sleep that gets me back into a pattern

Thanks

Cracked

I dont have any problems sleeping. I dont suffer from any level of mania. However if I dont sleep im screwed, horrible depression and horrible anxiety. I dont have any trouble falling asleep at night.

I'm the same as you cracked; worst highs I have had have proceeded a stint of night shifts, or after being put on some anti depressants.

So yea it tends to make me higher. I usually know that a high is coming on if my sleeping starts to get messed up.