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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask the doctor for nerves tablets and sleeping tablets?

35 replies

FarrowUndBall · 18/02/2015 13:29

My nerves are shot. We are all under an excessive amount of pressure which isn't likely to end soon, my marriage is on its last legs, my eldest has special needs and I have two younger ones.

I can't sleep. So I drink, and then wake up really early feeling hideously panicky. Sad I'm jittery and short with everyone. I'm not depressed - I was on Citalopram for 18 months and my sleep hasnt really been the same since. I don't want antidepressants, I just want good sleep and less panic.
AIBU?

OP posts:
BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 18/02/2015 13:31

My doctor put me on Amitriptyline for anxiety and insonia - I slept brilliantly on it and once I got over the first few days of feeling like I was tripping it did help me cope better with stress.

I needed it due to a marriage breakdown - it just helped me see things a bit more rationally and not to blow up and the slightest thing.

YANBU! Get yourself to the GP.

musicalendorphins2 · 18/02/2015 13:44

Doctor for sure. Many people need medication temporarily to get through big life trials, and YANBU at all. If your leg was broken you'd accept a crutch, it is the same thing.
Have you tried Melatonin for sleeping? Perhaps try that before prescription meds, with your doctors approval of course. You can buy without a prescription.
Things will be easier to cope with if you can at least get some sleep at night. Good luck.
www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/tc/melatonin-overview

Original poster
FarrowUndBall · 18/02/2015 14:34

Betty could you still drive on it? Did it affect your libido? Abd could you still have a glass of wine (or even want one!?!)

OP posts:
Original poster
FarrowUndBall · 18/02/2015 14:37

Musical no I haven't tried melatonin. I had a short course of diazepam (2mg) when I started on the Citalopram and that alone dos the trick but they wouldn't prescribe it alone. I also had zopiclone which was great but again only allowed it v short term.
I don't want an ssri.

OP posts:
QweenCnut · 18/02/2015 14:47

Stopping drinking will help massively with the panicky feeling in the early hours. You will also sleep better and feel less anxious during the day. Easier said than done, I know!

musicalendorphins2 · 18/02/2015 14:48

I take Zopiclone usually. Depends on when I am going to go sleep. The Melatonin worked great, taken early at night, falling asleep felt really natural. But I leaned the room needs to be dark, a flickering light from curtains or a tv can cause vivid dreams, so shift workers would need to keep that in mind. Children can even take it. (but always check with the dr first)

Original poster
FarrowUndBall · 18/02/2015 15:07

Yes but wine has been my mostly faithful friend!Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
FarrowUndBall · 18/02/2015 15:08

Musical, how long can you use Zopiclone for?

OP posts:
creampie · 18/02/2015 15:10

Doctors are only supposed to prescribe zopiclone and benzodiazepines for up to 2 weeks

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 18/02/2015 15:57

*Farrow - driving was no problem.

Drinking, however, was. Like I said I was going through a marriage break up and had moved out and was drinking shit loads, a bottle of bacardi was only lasting me 2 days BUT it made me manic. I went from just being anxious to being really depressed and so I had to try and curb the drinking - whether that was due to the Amitriptyline or just my situation I don't know though.

I was doing things like drinking shit loads, putting sad music on and getting myself in a right old state.

I slept well on those tablets though and could function properly so give it a try but do cut down on the booze. I totally understand how you feel though. I drank loads for a good few months but as I started to feel better I cut down. Drinking alone is not good!

PM me if you need an ear, I know how shitty it is.

Zoplicone did nothing for me.

Original poster
FarrowUndBall · 18/02/2015 16:04

Betty am sitting outside the docs having a cry so I can attempt to hold it together enough to make sense during the appointment. I'm either not drinking or putting away a bottle of wine minimum. There is no "one nice glass" anymore.
I've also recognised my behavior is increasingly reckless. Like I'm trying to feel something, anything, when I'm just numb.
We are having counselling- she's trying to get us to remember "the good ole days" of when we first got together but actually all it's doing is making me remember a load of stuff I've shelved, and then I'm absolutely FURIOUS and to calm down I open the wine....
You get the picture. Sad

Thankyou for the offer of PM, that's very kind, I may well take you up on it. Flowers

OP posts:
TheLondoner22 · 18/02/2015 16:07

Drinking makes you panicky as adrenaline kicks in when it wears off, hence waking early & panicky (I've done this enough times!!)

Zopiclone & Zolpidem don't work after a while anyway. Diazepam your body will just get used to, it's a vicious circle Hmm

Have you tried really exhausting yourself out? Sound mad but I'd give it go.

My nerves / anxiety has always got the better of me & it pisses me off massively. No sleep. Anxious. Panicky. It's awful.

Might be worth doing a NHS stress work shop through talking therapies (it's free!) I start mine next week Confused

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 18/02/2015 16:10

Don't compose yourself, go and see the doctor and have a good cry, they need to see you as you really are. When I saw my doc I just burst into tears as I sat down. I'm a really private person and I found it so hard but I just knew if I didn't get any help I was going to sink, and for the sake of my DS that wasn't an option. I told the doc I was on the verge of a breakdown or an accident.

Well done for the counselling. I got to the stage where I just didn't want to be married anymore so it wasn't for me but a separation is hard so you need to be sure.

dougierose · 18/02/2015 16:22

Please stop drinking. As it is a stimulant, it is also likely to add to your depression.

It sounds like you do need help - I've found that Bachs Rescue Remedy pastilles can calm me down for a few hours when I've been in a state. Try them and if you find you need something stronger then book an appointment with your GP xxxx

Original poster
FarrowUndBall · 18/02/2015 16:44

I'm bloody losing the plot. Turned up at docs and the apt isn't fir 2 weeks! I could have SWORN it was today. I'd got myself into a state too. Back to the drawing board.

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RaptorInaPorkPieHat · 18/02/2015 16:56

Oh OP, that's rubbish. Couldn't they get you in on a same day appt? (and don't blame yourself - just a simple misunderstanding, these things happen)

I was on some anti anxiety meds a few years back, they were great for sleep too (can't remember what they were called though). I also got referred for some CBT at the same time (bit of a waiting list, but was worth it). I got a book out of the library at the time called 'CBT for Dummies' it had a whole section on anxiety, it was an absolute lifesaver.

Be kind to yourself Flowers

StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes · 18/02/2015 18:21

Please stop drinking. As it is a stimulant, it is also likely to add to your depression. actually alcohol is not a stimulant, yes it makes you feel all fired up to start with but when it reaches around 0.8 level in your body it acts as a depressant. hence all the drowsy, tearful drunks Smile it also interferes massively with your sleep. When you drink alcohol close to bedtime, you can go straight into deep sleep, missing out on the usual first stage of sleep, called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. As the alcohol starts to wear off, your body can come out of deep sleep and back into REM sleep, which is much easier to wake from. That's why you often wake up after just a few hours sleep when you've been drinking. In the course of a night you usually have six to seven cycles of REM sleep, which leaves you feeling refreshed. However, if you've been drinking you'll typically have only one to two, meaning you can wake feeling exhausted. this adds to the crap feelings and so the cycle begins.

fluffymouse · 18/02/2015 18:29

I would focus on stopping drinking, and accessing support.

Just because citalopram didn't help you doesn't mean you are not depressed too.

Why do you feel the need to medicate?

Original poster
FarrowUndBall · 18/02/2015 19:15

How funny, we have the cbt book but I never read it. My husband must have bought it - I'll give it a go.

Why did I start medicating? I was under huge pressure, my nerves were shot and I went to the docs and she gave me 10mg Citalopram which took the edge off my nerves but also seemed to slow my brain down. I was on them for 18 months or so and increased the dose to 20mg (doc suggested it) but they REALLY affected my sleep. They seemed to take the top off my heightened anxiety but also seemed to take the bottom off my innate ability to really relax. So I'd have a glass of wine. This got to be steadily more. I came off the Citalopram but the drinking habit remained.

OP posts:
Original poster
FarrowUndBall · 18/02/2015 19:16

I do think it's a generalised anxiety thing or at least started that way. IBe also taken codeine to help switch off a bit too instead of wine.

OP posts:
Original poster
FarrowUndBall · 19/02/2015 12:06

So, I saw the doc today and have been given a prescription for sertraline and 7 days of 3.5mg of zopiclone. I really really didn't want ssri, she offered amytriptaline but said I might be too zonked to drive and I said I've got 3 little kids, I need to be on my mettal! So she said she didn't know what I wanted her to do, that I was in a viscous circle (I fucking know that, that's why I went!) and come back in a month. Am standing outside now in tears cos nothing will change.Sad

OP posts:
RandomNPC · 19/02/2015 12:29

What did you want her to do?

Original poster
FarrowUndBall · 19/02/2015 12:32

Give me something to stop me feeling like this. Diazepam maybe? Dunno. For sleep she really wanted me to have promethezine. If I wanted Phenergan and its associated hideous headache the next day I would go to the chemist and buy it.

OP posts:
RandomNPC · 19/02/2015 12:36

She's not going to give you diazepam, and she would be wrong to do so. It's addictive and such an old fashioned treatment for MH issues. SSRIs are often used for anxiety; I'm on one and it has helped a lot. Some SSRIs cause problems for some people, some don't. It's horses for courses.
Codeine and wine are going to cause you more problems than a SSRI.

ghostyslovesheep · 19/02/2015 12:47

Just don't drink on the sleeping pills!

Stopping drinking will help but it's hard - I have periodic insomnia and it's horrible X Google 4-7-8 sleep I find this can work for me x

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