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Jun. 21st, 2010 06:02 pmI haz a sleep plan.
Take new shiny presecription (trazodone) at midnight with a small snack, post "saint of the day" message to the LJ Early Saints community, then hit the bed. Hopefully, be asleep by 1:00. Wake up naturally by 10:00 - get up at 10 no matter what, anyway.
If the new plan doesn't work in the next 3-4 weeks, I have promised the doc that I'll try a (goshdangedit prescribed too easily) seratonin-uptake-inhibitor. But for now, I bargained him down to first attempting to deal with the insomnia by retraining with a drug enforcer*, rather than jumping directly to "you're anxious because you're suffering from depression; and post-menopausal, which causes depression, and that's why you're not sleeping. So you need an antidepressant - for the rest of your life, because "post menopause" is the rest of your life."
My theory is that I'm anxious and grumpy/depressed because I haven't been getting anything resembling good sleep for about half a year now, and that by correcting the sleep disrhythmia, it will follow that a normal mood will also be restored. "Post Menopausal" is not, should not, be some sort of "medical condition" that requires medication to bring a woman "back to normal". It is normal.
I'm not willing to take the easy quick answer and take on a life-altering drug in order to solve what probably is a short-term problem. I'm cool with going to bed later than everyone else and waking up later than everyone else, so long as I get enough sleep every day. That has been, up until fairly recently (in terms of my life), the standard. And was achieved without aid. I'd be happy with retraining myself back to that.
*Yes, trazodone is an antidepressant which also happens to be a kickingly effective sedative. And I agree that my current level of anxiety warrants short-term treatment. But I take exception to "the new miracle drug type" being the automatic answer to every woman's medical problem, perhaps because I grew up in the era when every housewife was taking valium and drinking two martinis in the afternoon just to get through her day.
Take new shiny presecription (trazodone) at midnight with a small snack, post "saint of the day" message to the LJ Early Saints community, then hit the bed. Hopefully, be asleep by 1:00. Wake up naturally by 10:00 - get up at 10 no matter what, anyway.
If the new plan doesn't work in the next 3-4 weeks, I have promised the doc that I'll try a (goshdangedit prescribed too easily) seratonin-uptake-inhibitor. But for now, I bargained him down to first attempting to deal with the insomnia by retraining with a drug enforcer*, rather than jumping directly to "you're anxious because you're suffering from depression; and post-menopausal, which causes depression, and that's why you're not sleeping. So you need an antidepressant - for the rest of your life, because "post menopause" is the rest of your life."
My theory is that I'm anxious and grumpy/depressed because I haven't been getting anything resembling good sleep for about half a year now, and that by correcting the sleep disrhythmia, it will follow that a normal mood will also be restored. "Post Menopausal" is not, should not, be some sort of "medical condition" that requires medication to bring a woman "back to normal". It is normal.
I'm not willing to take the easy quick answer and take on a life-altering drug in order to solve what probably is a short-term problem. I'm cool with going to bed later than everyone else and waking up later than everyone else, so long as I get enough sleep every day. That has been, up until fairly recently (in terms of my life), the standard. And was achieved without aid. I'd be happy with retraining myself back to that.
*Yes, trazodone is an antidepressant which also happens to be a kickingly effective sedative. And I agree that my current level of anxiety warrants short-term treatment. But I take exception to "the new miracle drug type" being the automatic answer to every woman's medical problem, perhaps because I grew up in the era when every housewife was taking valium and drinking two martinis in the afternoon just to get through her day.
