Down with medication

So I have been trying to cut back on using medication lately and trying natural remedies. As you may or may not know, I have has anxiety and mild depression for many years now. I will have to say this has improved greatly over the years, but I still struggle with overall feelings of melancholy and anxiety. Anxiety to the point I feel tightness in my chest, am unable to catch my breath and an overall feeling of doom. If you have never experienced this, you really don't know how debilitating it can be.



Recently I talked with my dermatologist (p.s. my skin has never been better by the way. I might blog about that too) about my recurring insomnia. I first started having trouble sleeping while in grad school. After the 5th night of NO (I mean none) sleep I decided to go to the doctor. I was prescribed seroquel which is an anti psychotic used for sleep some times. Why they chose to go straight to the anti psychotic I am not sure, but it was not for me. I felt like a zombie and I was having some muscle stiffness which can be a huge deal.



Next came trazadone, which is an anti depressant that is also used for sleeplessness. That didn't work. So next came Ambien. Ambien would put me to sleep, but I would wake up a few hours later and not be able to sleep after that. Then came Ambien CR.



If any of you had called me past 9:00pm during this time of my life, I would not have remembered even talking to you. Ambien CR is no joke, but it works. I loved the fact that I was getting sleep. I felt much better after taking it and getting sleep, but it was really making me loopy. One night David was visiting me and I ended up falling asleep in Indian position on my bed with my head at my feet. If I was Kara and yogarific, this would not have been a problem. I was not however, even able to touch my toes. David tried to wake me up and I did not move. At some time in the night I ended up laying properly in my bed, but this was when we had the talk to stop taking Ambien CR.



I had no problems coming off of it, and was sleeping great. I was sleeping great until about a month ago. I went back on Ambien CR.



SO back to my dermatologist. She found out I was not sleeping and urged me to start taking my b.c. in the morning instead of at night because my hormones might be affecting my sleep. She also prescribed me more natural medication than my current Ambien CR. I was prescribed Magnesium Glycinate for sleep and L-Theamine for anxiety and depression.



I have had trouble coming off the ambien so I don't know how it will work, but I wanted to share this with yall. I am anxious (ha) to see how this works and want to share my success or failure to control my anxiety and depression without anti depressants. I have also started to exercise more. This has helped, but not 100%

Wish me luck. Do I sound manic? Maybe paranoid?