Hypo vs. Just doing alright?

I think it's weird that sleep does that to people. I know it's fairly common, but for some reason lack of sleep doesn't trigger anything for me. I have tried to trigger mania in the past by not sleeping and it doesn't work. I normally sleep 8-12 hours. But when I'm manic I guess it's about 4-6 on average, but one manic episode I was only sleeping about 3 for the entire month or so. Sorry for the ramble.

Do you take a sleep aid? I have seen on this forum a lot of people who take them so that they get enough sleep.

yeah I take two pills: Gabapentin and Hydroxyzine. The first is to make me tired, the second is to keep me asleep. I don't know how effective they are since I wake up every night. Now that benzos are out totally I don't have many options.

I take Amitriptylin (Elavil) to help me sleep and to keep me asleep. Some days I also need the extra help to get me to sleep and slow down my mind and so I take diazepam (valium). But it helps me. I have to sleep. I can't function like I need to. And yes, I've gotten manic before from not sleeping. I learned my lesson (I tell myself, "just take the damn sleeping pill!" )

quietgirl2538 wrote:I take Amitriptylin (Elavil) to help me sleep and to keep me asleep. Some days I also need the extra help to get me to sleep and slow down my mind and so I take diazepam (valium). But it helps me. I have to sleep. I can't function like I need to. And yes, I've gotten manic before from not sleeping. I learned my lesson (I tell myself, "just take the damn sleeping pill!" )

Ive never taken elavil and had to look it up... its an anti D? And doesn't make you manic? Diazepam is not an option for me (plus id be afraid to be dependent on it).

@Son,
Yes, I read it's an antidepressant. But it works for me to help me sleep. I have tried other prescribed sleep medications like ambien and none of them worked for me. Seroquel worked but it left me too sluggish the whole day. It was a dosage of 50mg.

For some reason, I've never gotten manic while taking an Antidepressant. But they never helped take away my depression. My depression never got better. Now I take a mood stabilizer and an anti-psychotic drug and those two fix the mood swings. It also fixed my depression.

Son wrote:yeah I take two pills: Gabapentin and Hydroxyzine. The first is to make me tired, the second is to keep me asleep. I don't know how effective they are since I wake up every night. Now that benzos are out totally I don't have many options.

Yeah, they don't work for me either. I have taken trazodone and melatonin but they didn't do anything. Klonopin and valium don't make me drowsy. The only thing that did knock me out was seroquel, but like quietgirl said, I was sluggish all day. That stuff made me sleep 15 hours a day and that is unacceptable!

Jellybeanery wrote: Yeah, they don't work for me either. I have taken trazodone and melatonin but they didn't do anything. Klonopin and valium don't make me drowsy. The only thing that did knock me out was seroquel, but like quietgirl said, I was sluggish all day. That stuff made me sleep 15 hours a day and that is unacceptable!

I've taken trazadone and found out I'm allergic to it, just like Risperdol, my throat closes up. I had the exact same experience as you and QG with Seroquel ... I had to take it so early that I would sleep from 7pm to 8am the next morning... any later than that and I was too out of it to go to work. So then I had zero life... I was just sleeping all the time. Melatonin doesn't work either.

So... kinda out of options as far as I know.