Sleeping Through

Let's talk about how my meds affect my sleep, they have improved the quality of my sleep and banished anxious hours laid in bed, dreading having to get up.

I'm on sertraline, which slows my brain down, and makes me sleep a bit deeper. This was always the case, even from the beginning, so I have always taken it at bedtime. This isn't the case for everyone, but I'm grateful for this side effect, especially as I'm a great believer that a decent night's sleep helps me to work though problems.

I was started on mirtazipine, initially as a direct swap for sertraline, long story short, I ended up on a low dose of both and have been this way for a year. Under the supervision and advice from doctors. Anyway, this drug has revolutionised bedtime for me in many ways.

I fall asleep quickly - with orodispersible tablets, they get to work much faster and I can be asleep within 15-30 minutes!

I get back to sleep easier and faster after loo trips and night settling.

I don't wake an hour before my work alarm, and so don't have to fight my intrusive thoughts alone for ages before I even start my day.

I also sleep heavily, REALLY heavily! None of this sleeping with one ear open after kids malarkey, mirtazipine knocks me out. If MrB is at home, I mostly sleep through the night with the odd loo trip. I often wake in the morning to discover that he has been up 3-4 times with the boys in the night. When he is at work at night, I do get up, I think I sleep a bit lighter when I'm solo. But I feel quite bad at MrB is doing all the settling. I tell him to give me a nudge, and he does when he needs to, but i get a lot more sleep. So I'm trying to let him have more lie ins to evening out, and to be fair, if sleep keeps me being a decent mummy, a reliable worker and an emotonally stable wife and best friend, then I don't need to feel guilty. I am, however, very lucky.