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Dragging in the mornings

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Posted 5/14/2008 6:11 PM (GMT 0)
I recently posted my story of bipolar disorder and anxiety and my recent hospitalization for high anxiety (and the 13 days of my life I don't remember and will never get back!)   I am now on Zyprexa (5 or 10 mg per day depending) (Zyprexa was the only medication that helps my anxiety and it took us 4 weeks to get to that med);

Depakote; Lexapro; and Lamictal.  I take Lamictal, Zyprexa, and Lexapro in the morning and Depakote when I get home about 5 pm.  I am sleeping well most of the time now.  Now though I don't have any trouble hearing my alarm and waking up, I simply cannot get motivated in the mornings.  I get ready for work at the absolute last minute and leave for work at the absolute last minute then sit in my car so I arrive to work one minute early.  This is unusual as I am a hard charger workwise, or I was.   I think I may be having low grade depression despite my meds as when I've been depressed before I've had problems in the morning similar to this.  I see my psych next week and want to explain to him well what is happening to me to see if a medication change, or just a change in the time I take my meds, will help.  Any ideas?  (What I really want to do in the mornings is go back to bed for two -three hours).

Posted 5/14/2008 6:41 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Georgiegirl

Meds are great..they really help us heaps - thank goodness :) but, unfortunately they are not wot gets us up in the morning lol..somehow we have to work on ways to get ourselves motivated and enjoying life..and if necessary bribe ourselves with something delicious to eat for breakfast, or a wonderful hot shower - whatever it takes really..to ease the morning reality aaargh!

Are you going to some form of counseling as well as meds? This can help greatly :-)

Be proud of your acheivements so far - you have done sooo well..and by all means go back to your pdoc and tell him of your probs..that's what they are there for.

Maree

Posted 5/14/2008 8:32 PM (GMT 0)

Hey Georgie Girl,

Ever since I had my bad episode of depression in 2006 I have learned to set my alarm ealier so I have me time in the morning. No more jumping, yes and I do mean jumping up out of bed, rushing to get hair washed, meds taken, bed made etc.  I move slower and even boot up puter.  I stay calmer this way and leave in plenty of time to get where I am going with in my own comfort zone. With the time right on the computer it is easy to sit here and eat my cereal, sip on my coffee and get my mindset for the day.

The meds may be adjusted with your Drs. help.  Perhaps you are to heavy on your night time meds that are causing you to feel more tired in the morning.

You are making great strides and please try to stay in the moment and not hold on to the past.  It is now a memory and you are ok, your here and we care so keep posting.

Hugs

Kitt

Posted 5/14/2008 9:27 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks skitt.  I am dwelling too much on what happened to me in March--at least I've stopped talking about it! (mostly)

Posted 5/15/2008 9:49 PM (GMT 0)
It is most likely that it is the Zyprexa that is making you feel so sluggish. Many people take it with Provigil to feel less sluggish and get rid of the napping. Zyprexa (I was on 80mg) always made me sleepy. I am now on risperdal and haldol, but will be adding back 10 of Zyprexa at my next appointment since I am taking it as a PRN and doing that most days. I found that the Zyprexa Zydis form made me less tired and less hungry (zydis is exactly the same med, but disolves under your tongue.)

quietpain
Posted 5/15/2008 11:19 PM (GMT 0)
Maree and Kitt pretty much hit the nail on the head with their thoughts.  Motivation and allowing for "me" time in the morning.  I have a new job and have to get up at 3:45am every morning.  I now get up at 3:30am and allow time for a few minutes to just focus on the day and get my mind set to GO.  I've found that having everything organized the night before (clothes out, lunch packed, breakfast ready to go) helps a lot in the getting up process.  I'm not a good sleeper and I do hit the snooze button so I set it to go off a bit earlier so I can hit it once or twice with the knowledge that I have "time to spare".  I have also set my clock in my bedroom ahead by 15 minutes so I have the extra time in my head.  I used to struggle with just getting out of bed and getting dressed.  It lasted for months and months and now that I have been to a therapist and gotten a routine down it is much easier.  The therapist helped me do this.  I wish you good luck and things will work out.

Posted 5/18/2008 11:04 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, Georgie Girl!

It sounds like everyone's given you plenty of good advice already. My own experience has been that the harder I pushed myself and the more frenetic things were in my work life, the more I needed to sleep or just hide and chill before facing the day. Of course, this created a vicious cycle of still being rushed and disorganized at work and needing to avoid getting moving in the morning even more. When I recently started cutting out a lot of things I used to automatically agree to at work, I felt more energized in the morning.


Telling your doctor exactly what you've told us will help the two of you to decide whether your meds need to be adjusted as well.

Good luck!
percycat
Posted 5/19/2008 4:02 AM (GMT 0)
Georgie Girl, that sounds a lot like me...ahh but for another three hours...sadly life marches on and so must we.  I have found that with anxiety and depression, the longer I sat in bed, the harder it gets to get out.  I set the time I have to be out of bed and that is it. no compromises!! No excuses.  It has made my life easier, you most likely have things pretty rough right know and I hope you get some good feedback from your psych.  I can't say much else, but staying in bed just makes things worse for me.  Best of thoughts to you.

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