Sleep Without Drugs (That's the goal, anyway)

Wednesday, September 3

Yesterday I finally saw my primary doctor and discussed things with him. I'm still not sleeping without Xanax, but he told me I need to try not to use it for sleep. He suggested over the counter sleeping pills, but my last experience with that was terrible, which I posted about during the first day of this blog. Another option would be Trazodone, which is an anti-depressant that nobody uses to treat depression with anymore because it makes people too sleepy. It is not habit forming like Xanax, so I might try it if things don't go well.

So last night I went to bed without taking anything, and it was sort-of successful. I had adrenaline & tension going in my chest all through the night but it wasn't so severe that I didn't get any sleep. I didn't get much sleep however, (and I keep my wife up with all the tossing & turning) so hopefully tonight goes better.

One interesting effect of not taking Xanax to sleep is that I woke up with the same tension I had during my first week off work. It never really went away, but it's not as bad as before and I didn't have any nausea with it, so things are looking up. When I sleep with Xanax, I wake up rested and peaceful. Obviously I need to get to that point without drugs, but it isn't happening quite yet.

Random Paragraph That Has Nothing To Do With This Post:

I have basically given up coffee, which is one of my favorite things in the world. Some days I'm bad and make an Americano or a small press pot (mmm...) but drinking it usually makes me sick or brings tension into my chest. Fortunately I've gotten into tea in the last few years and I can still handle that.