On quetiapine but getting insomnia

[Zenlifeforme]

Hi all,

feeling a tad confused about why I’ve not been able to solve my recent bout of insomnia, wondered if anyone had experienced similar and could share what they did….

Got a diagnosis of Cyclothymia (bpd3) in Jan this year. Felt like I’d always known so was a relief mainly, started on quetiapine in February and was godsend. Was suggested 50mg but made me so so dopy so I halved it and have been on 25mg and stable since then, so 9 months of no issues.

Over a 3 weeks period my 18 month old was having some bad nights and my sleep got disrupted a lot. I was still sleeping ok. We also have a 5 yr old.

But at end of it, a week ago, I got insomnia in the night (wide awake for an hour and struggled to get back down). Then I’ve now had insomnia since then every night, awake in the night eg 2am and also waking early Eg 5am.

I normally go to sleep at 9.30, the 25mg quetiapine makes so me sleepy it’s lovely. And I usually stay dopy through the night. I was able to feed toddler back to sleep and we all got along.

this week I’ve been going to sleep 9pm to try and get more hours in. plus I’ve upped my dose back up to 50mg but to no avail.

when I had these horrible cycles last year (before I got the diagnosis) we ended up with my husband having the baby in a room with him so I could sleep and on two occasions I just took zopiclone to get my sleep back on track. But this only worked for one week. The second instance I did this my sleep only resolved for a few weeks. Of course what I really needed was quetiapine (and for the baby to sleep through, but the second one is harder).

my husband says this is just another cycle, and I am in it and have to ride it out. But lack of sleep creates hypermania so I don’t feel I should just ‘ride it out’ as it’s just going to keep cycling and get worse. I feel I need an ‘intervention’ but I’m really scratching my head as to what to do or try.

I went to reflexology yesterday it’s so relaxing and resetting. And I’ve got another appointment today. But it didn’t sort my sleep last night.

do I just need a course of zopiclone/sleeping tabs to get my sleep back into a regular 8 hours a night pattern?

I really don’t want it to get worse cos it’s so destructive. And I’ve been there and I know what it’s like. My husband happy to have the toddler every night but I’m aware it’s zapping his energy and if I’m just lying next door wide awake for parts of it it’s like wasted effort and he’s knackered for no reason. And it’s not keeping me asleep.

I’m trying to ‘nip this episode in the bud’ but my efforts are failing me it seems….

many thanks for any ideas.

Are you taking fast or slow release quetiapine? 50mg is still a very low dose and drowsiness is a side effect your body may be able to tolerate better over time - maybe you just need an increase in dose /a mix of fast release and slow release? Personally I would avoid zopiclone, but I think that's more of a preference than anything else.

hi, don’t know if this helps but I was on 100mg Quietiapine for bipolar, it was making me sleep for far too long so I decided it wasn’t the right one for me. I came off them gradually but when I got down to about 25/12.5 I couldn’t sleep, I averaged about 1-3 hours per night for a couple of weeks.

i had modified release, then tried immediate release. Then i had a combination of the two which worked better but still didn’t do the trick. Zopliclone doesn’t work for me but everyone’s different.

have you tried breaking a 25 in half (can only do this with IR… I think) and taking it with 25 so that you are somewhere in between the two.

obviously best to seek advice from your psychiatrist or doctor though

Thanks all. That’s interesting re taking lower dose and making oneself more wakeful. And I’ve also been remembering when I started on 25mg it took a week or so to settle down. Though it did make me sleepy straight away.

I assume they are quick release, I don’t fully know though….

my second reflexology session on Saturday unblocked a big sadness in me (lots of crying afterwards) and I realised just how much I push myself in life. It’s easy to think medication cures but I still have cyclothymia at the end of the day and I was still pushing myself incredibly hard these past 4 months. It’s not surprising I’ve ended up here again.

Thanks also for reaffirming in belief about zopiclone, I hate it too and it doesn’t actually give me good rest, just knocks me out and I’m not in need like that right now (hope I never will be again).

I’m still not completely right but I’m keeping on trusting in the universe and practising being slow and not rushing about (tho it’s hard to break habits). I think the insomnia is a wake up call. I’ve also been restricting the toddlers daytime naps and getting her up early and last night she slept through for my husband so we seem to be are on the path to less disrupted nights for everyone 🤞🏻🙏🏻💫