Katie D. Arnold- Writer

Tag: sleep

  • The Importance of Sleep on my mental health journey šŸ’¤

    Insomnia, it gets us all at times. Whether we canā€™t sleep because of stress, or worries, or medication, or travelingā€¦or all of the above, we have all experienced it at some point.

    The problem is insomnia, or the lack of proper sleep, is dangerous for someone diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. Sleep is a cornerstone of the disease whether it be too little or too much during times of mania (marked by too little sleep) or depression (marked by too much sleep).

    However the problem with sleep and Bipolar disorder is another cornerstone of the disease is that normal sleep habits are very hard to regulate- go figure! Something that needs to be regulated to keep myself well is also hard to regulate because of the disease itself- a frustrating predicament about Bipolar disorder to say the least!

    Something that has helped me is taking extra over the counter sleep medication on an ā€œas neededā€ basis. Zyrtec the allergy medication makes me sleepy and I take that pretty regularly in addition to my prescribed medication to help with my sleep and generic sleep medication like zzquil can also help.

    Bipolar disorder can in some sense be classified as an extreme sleep disorder as well as a mental illness. I also suffer from snoring, sleep apnea (I think, undiagnosed as of now), and sleep walking all brought on by stress. Bipolar is a stress induced illness as well. I think if I could get my stress under control I could live a much happier, fulfilled life and my symptoms of all these sleep disorders would be much less prevalent.

    Sleep is vital to human life and feeling well rested can help so much in our everyday lives. A form of torture is to deny your captives sleep and studies have been done of people going mentally insane just from lack of sleep.

    For those of you who suffer from sleep issues like me, what are some tips and tricks that have helped you?

    Like I said above extra sleep medication helps me but also ear plugs to block noise, an eye patch to block light, and some sleepy time tea before bed like chamomile flavor can help too. I have found a warm bath before bed, when I can, with melatonin in the bubble bath soap and Epson salts helps too.

    Good luck to anyone struggling with sleep regulation and issues like me. It is rough especially when our days are full with work and mom duties. But we can do it, what doesnā€™t kill us makes us stronger! Happy sleeping šŸ˜“

  • The Road to Recovery

    The road to recovery with a mental illness is hard. Not only is it long and tiring it can be at times very slow with multiple setbacks along the way. Part of the recovery journey that can be so frustrating is that with a chronic illness such as bipolar or a myriad of other mental illnesses is that you never truly recover, it is always a part of you and while managing it can get easier it never goes away. A person diagnosed with severe mental illness is never cured, so to say, like other illnesses. And this can be daunting and frustrating. I know I have felt illness exhaustion having struggled with this for nearly 25 years especially with my illness feeling more severe and less easy to manage in the last 5 years due to extreme amounts of stress.

    I think the best thing to do, all that any of us can do, is try to stay positive and hopeful and not let ourselves get too overwhelmed. And this is hard to do, I know! Because life is hard, stress is hard to manage, and our illnesses on top of all this are greatly affected by these environmental factors making them even harder to manage. Sleep management can be hard too. Too much when depressed, too little when manic and how to keep the balance of regular good sleep when responsibilities in the morning especially like work and school make it hard to over or under sleep even when or bodies need it.

    This chart above shows the ups and downs of different types of bipolar and includes depression as well. As you can see there is a cyclical pattern of up to down between mania and depression that people with bipolar suffer from. But the goal is stability, flat lining in the middle, as the chart shows, that is the spot, the “sweet spot” where functioning with bipolar becomes the easiest to manage. When the major ups and downs have subsided and and the mood swings are more even and less severe that is the goal for the most successful and productive point of living with a bipolar diagnosis long term.

    So think of it like this- similar to the laws of gravity, what goes up must come down…meaning after a period of mania or an episode of mania usually comes a period of depression or an episode of depression. The goal is to even these out so the swings are not so high and low and evenness/stability can be achieved more easily. This can be achieved, I have found, most successfully with a three prong approach 1) medicine and supervision by a doctor 2) seeing a therapist regularly 3) some sort of group therapy, support group etc. Having supportive friends and family is very helpful too, but it is hard to be open with everyone about struggles like this, at least for me, because there is still such stigma surrounding mental illness. I think finding coping skills to manage and reduce stress and finding coping skills to help regulate sleep help a lot too.

    I am still on the road to recovery and in some sense I always will be unfortunately, but I hope with time and hard work in therapy things will get easier and more manageable in multiple areas of my life. I know I can get there and you can too. It seems impossible now (long-term stability) but I am hopeful it can be achieved and that is a huge first step.

    Good luck to all on their personal road to recovery-just keep going!