Sleeping
Friday, July 21st, 2000.
In my previous posts I mentioned that I’ve been back on Paxil for about a week or so after the hell of going cold turkey, and that, although I’m feeling better than I was during the withdrawal, I was feeling depressed occasionally in a I-don’t-want-to-live sort of way. I’ve been doing my best to walk it off, so to speak, but last night I made an effort to go to bed early and not stay up late as is my tendency.
It made a difference. I slept all night and woke up feeling more myself. I’m not feeling depressed; I can usually tell the second I wake up whether I’m feeling depressed or not and whether I’m going to feel depressed or not. And right now I feel good.
I read that during deep sleep, serotonin production increases. So I didn’t have to take a pill; I just had to get some good, natural, unmedicated sleep. It did the trick. I’m not going to begin weaning myself of the Paxil just yet, but I wanted to mention that a good night’s sleep can make a big difference (for those of you who stay up late and wonder why you’re feeling depressed). I’m going to do more research on this.