ECT Today

I have my next ECT treatment in a couple of hours. I think they have been helping a little bit so far. Since I started the treatments, I am finally able to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep throughout the night. Prior to restarting ECT, I was not able to fall asleep easily, and when I did fall asleep, I woke up within a couple of hours. The progress with my sleep is huge! I wonder what will change next because of the ECT treatments. It would be nice if it could help my depression. I guess I just have to wait and see.

Today’s ECT

My ECT treatment went very well today. I have some memory loss, but that’s normal. I don’t remember anything about today from before the treatment. I woke up very confused and with a major headache (that happens sometimes), but other than that, I’m okay. It was nice having my mother-in-law there. She was extremely helpful and supportive. I’m still doing the treatments twice a week, I don’t know how long that will last.

I think that my sleep has been improving since I restarted ECT. Before I restarted ECT, I would fall asleep and only stay asleep anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour. Then I would be awake and stay awake for hours. Only occasionally would I be able to fall back asleep, so I wasn’t getting much sleep at all. Now, I’m able to fall asleep within 1 hour and luckily, I can stay asleep for most of the night. My psychiatrist says that it is a huge progress.

A Full Night’s Sleep

For the past two nights, I’ve finally been sleeping and staying in bed all night long. For the past month or so, I would wake up after being asleep for only an hour or so. Then, I would come out on the couch and attempt to sleep. Sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn’t. But the last two nights I finally got a full night’s sleep. I think it’s even helping me feel better during the day.

I’m still having weird dreams. I remember them when I wake up, but then I forget them after a few minutes, just like I forget everything else. I wish my memory would start improving soon. I feel uncomfortable around people because I’m afraid I’m going to ask them the same thing multiple times. I don’t want to bother people. I’m just doing the best that I can.

List For My Doctor

I made a list of the things that I need to talk to my psychiatrist about at my appointment with him next week.

Racing thoughts
Stomach problems
Suicidal ideations
I’m no longer sleeping all day long
Greatly increased anxiety, causing breathing issues
My feet hurt in the morning, not sure if it’s a side effect
Twitching is happening more often and in more than just my hands
Having a harder time getting tasks done, possibly a lack of motivation

I know I’m forgetting some things, but this is a descent start to making a list. I know that if I don’t write it down, I won’t remember to bring it up in the appointment. Most of these have easy solutions, so I’m not too worried at the moment.

Sleepless Nights

I lay here again, unable to fall asleep. Thoughts and memories flood my brain making it close to impossible to even close my eyes. This doesn’t happen nearly as often as it used to occur. Maybe, once our new Sleep Number mattress arrives, this will happen even less than it does already.

My mind is racing fast, but it’s hard to stay focused on any one set of thoughts. How do I help myself fall asleep? All of the things I normally do have been unsuccessful. I think I’ll get up and stretch since my muscles are hurting. Even if I don’t sleep tonight, I’m trying to be grateful that this happens only a couple times a month now instead of several times a week. Improvement is a big deal.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 12

My dose stayed at 100mg again last night. My sleep keeps improving. Last night, I fell asleep easily and slept about 6 hours without waking up. When I woke up, I was tired, but had no other symptoms. I guess my body is getting used to the medication.

Yesterday, after taking a showing and getting dressed, I had to rest for couple hours before running errands. I seem to get tired very easily. After resting, I ran some simple errands. I came home from that and ended up crashing on the couch. I napped for about two hours; however, I could only sleep 5 or 10 minutes at a time. It appears that I get exhausted very easily after any physical exertion.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 7

I fell asleep on the couch last night in the middle of doing something. I slept about 2 hours on the couch then woke up and we to bed. Then I slept 9 hours in bed, without waking up! I can’t believe I slept that much. I assume it’s because of the Clozapine; it does have a sedation side effect. I know that it’s not technically possible to catch up on missed sleep, but I really needed that.

I have some pressure in my chest and throat when I breathe deep, but that’s all. I don’t think it’s worse than yesterday. I tend to get tired easier than I normally would. Taking a shower and getting dressed yesterday wiped me out. I was going to go to a friend’s house, but I didn’t have the energy to do it. However, my temperature is still good at 97.0, so I think I’m doing well. Today, I go pick up my prescription for this coming week, since I can only get one week at a time.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 6

My psychiatrist is having stay at 75mg for a bit because of the side effects I’ve been having. Last night I only woke up once, at 3:00am, and then I was able to go back to sleep without a problem. That was amazing! When I woke up this morning, I didn’t have any of the side effects that I’ve been having previously.

I actually feel pretty good, except when I breathe deep, my chest hurts a little. I don’t think it’s anything. I got my blood test back, there are a few things that are above normal, including my white blood cell count, but I don’t know what that means. I will just have to wait to find out from my doctor. I tried to do research to figure it out, but I still don’t know what it all means. No matter what, I feel better today than I have since I started this medication.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 5

Today is day 5 of the Clozapine rechallenge. I took 75mg again last night as instructed. My psychiatrist didn’t want we to increase the dose because of yesterday’s side effects. I’m sleeping a little better; I slept for a couple hours in bed and then I came out to the couch where I was able to sleep a couple additional hours straight through. Then I also dealt with sleep on and off for a few hours, but this is still improvement from what it used to be, and that’s all I care about.

Today I have some muscle soreness again, but not as bad as yesterday. My soreness did improve yesterday as the day went on. My psychiatrist had me take my temperature to make sure there was no fever, and it was low at 97.2, which is good. My temperature today is 98.3, which is still good. I get a little dizzy if I stand up to quickly, so I just need to be cautious.

I go and get my weekly blood work done again today. My psychiatrist wrote me a new lab form to hopefully prevent the issues we had last week with my pharmacist obtaining the results.

My Side of the Pole

Bipolar – Mental Health

Category: Sleep Improvement