Sleep, Health and Depression

HELLO, I FOUND THIS TO BE VERY INTERESTING..I HAVE HAD INSOMNIA FOR YEARS. I ALSO HAVE A GROWN DAUGHTER WHO SUFFERS FROM IT AS WELL. I AM 64 YEARS OLD AND I THINK MY PROBLEMS WITH SLEEPING STARTED WHEN I WAS YOUNG ( 19) I WAS MARRIED AND WE HAD MY FIRST DAUGHTER..AND NOT QUITE 11 MONTHS LATER WE HAD OUR SECOND DAUGHTER, SKIPPED A YEAR AND HAD OUR YOUNGEST DAUGHTER. MY HUSBAND NEVER WOKE UP AT NIGHT WHEN ONE OF THE BABYS NEEDED ATTENTION, SO, I WAS THE ONE GOING THROUGH THE DAYS WITH VERY LITTLE SLEEP. EVEN WHEN MY DAUGHTERS GREW UP I STILL HAD THE PROBLEM OF NOT BEING ABLE TO FALL ASLEEP AND STAYING ASLEEP. NOW, IN WHAT IS SUPPOSE TO BE MY GOLDEN YEARS...I SUFFER FROM SEVERAL HEALTH PROBLEMS..AND I HAVE BEEN DEPRESSED FOR SO LONG I DONT REMEMBER WHEN IT STARTED I WENT TO MY DR. FOR MY 3 MONTH VISIT TO GET REFILLS ON MY MEDS. OVER 2 YEARS AGO..SHE ASKED ME IF I HAD A NICE CHRISTMAS..TO HER AND MY SURPRISE..I STARTED TO CRY. SHE WAS VERY CONCERNED BECAUSE I WAS ALWAYS SMILING WHEN SHE SAW ME...SHE PUT ME ON ZOLOFT 50MGS. AND I WENT BACK 1 MONTH LATER AND I WAS BACK TO MY OLD SELF..SHE UPPED THE DOSE TO 100MGS. AND I TOOK THEM FOR OVER 2 YEARS...I HAVE STARTED TAKING 50MGS. TO MAINTAIN.HOWEVER MY PROBLEM WITH INSOMNIA REMAINS...I TAKE OTC SLEEPAIDS BUT I STILL HAVE THE SAME TROUBLE...FALLING ASLEEP AND STAYING ASLEEP. I HOPE I HAVE,NT BORED YOU WITH MY PROBLEMS, AND I DID FIND YOUR POST VERY INTERESTING. THANK YOU....JENNIFER

For me education and/or knowledge is helpful in addressing this disease in myself.  I found your "story" informative. 

I also found this sentence pertinent for me:  According to Martina Vendrame, MD, the study author, 50 percent of children with tension headache grind their teeth at night.

I have ground my teeth since my mid 20's.  I'm now in my 50's and on my 5th night guard (actually bit a huge chunk off one of them!).  I often wonder if I had not done adult braces and acquired a retainer, if I would have any teeth left!  tee hee  I have found when I'm stressed the first indicator are my teeth.  I will get cancor sores from my night guard rubbing and or gingivitus (sometimes the drymouth of the anti-depressants contribute to this).  I assumed that my grinding was a release of frustrations and/or stress.  It's intriguing to know that it could also be exaccerbated this last decade of being a single parent and coping with multiple stressor simultaneously.  My best friend in bed has apparently been my night guard.  

I have noticed that more and more senior are grinding in their sleep, I have wondered if it was related to their increasing powerlessness.

EONE

I have a son who had sleep problem corrected by surgery : UVPPP  (cant' remember all ltrs of abbreviation)  tonsils,, adenoids, uvula, other.  In his case this was appropriate and turned his life around! (Yes, he'd been going through jr. high and high school as a "gifted"  student who, each year by Christmas was in danger of failing courses  He'd been missing school due to not getting up..started treating the problem with antidpressants and Concerta.(attention)--He was very "anxious" and extremely depressed. (it didn't show on outside due to personality, but we thought the getting through the day and not gettingup in morning were depression.It wasn't until several trials of medication that Psychiatrist made serious suggestion for sleep study. Unfortunately, I was a cynic and didn't pursue that until second time it was suggested.  After the surgery, he said it "changed his life" ! He felt and seemed like the person he was supposed to be....so no more meds! But it got bad enough to need antidepressant and med for attention deficit.  Interesting to me is that  1. the psychiatrist was on top of this as a possible cause, thank goodness.   2. He never got any "restorative" sleep.  The numbers and charts we looked at showed the problem, but I want to know more about that level I think is "pre-rem", and also what is meant by "suppressing"  REM sleep. Does that mean making it NOT happen (supress) or somehow I'm interpreting bkwds and it means making sure ENOUGH rem happens?     UPDATE relevant, too:   his sleep is not fully corrected.  He feels rested and can get up in morning.  But test results don't suggest this is as good as it should be.  He's at college.  On phone, I can tell what sounds like extreme anxiety at times and also a few angry outbursts....depression and bipolar run in our family....along with .. . . . guess what -- Sleep problems.   Thank you for he info... SUPRESS REM?? 

I have a son who had sleep problem corrected by surgery : UVPPP  (cant' remember all ltrs of abbreviation)  tonsils,, adenoids, uvula, other.  In his case this was appropriate and turned his life around! (Yes, he'd been going through jr. high and high school as a "gifted"  student who, each year by Christmas was in danger of failing courses  He'd been missing school due to not getting up..started treating the problem with antidpressants and Concerta.(attention)--He was very "anxious" and extremely depressed. (it didn't show on outside due to personality, but we thought the getting through the day and not gettingup in morning were depression.It wasn't until several trials of medication that Psychiatrist made serious suggestion for sleep study. Unfortunately, I was a cynic and didn't pursue that until second time it was suggested.  After the surgery, he said it "changed his life" ! He felt and seemed like the person he was supposed to be....so no more meds! But it got bad enough to need antidepressant and med for attention deficit.  Interesting to me is that  1. the psychiatrist was on top of this as a possible cause, thank goodness.   2. He never got any "restorative" sleep.  The numbers and charts we looked at showed the problem, but I want to know more about that level I think is "pre-rem", and also what is meant by "suppressing"  REM sleep. Does that mean making it NOT happen (supress) or somehow I'm interpreting bkwds and it means making sure ENOUGH rem happens?     UPDATE relevant, too:   his sleep is not fully corrected.  He feels rested and can get up in morning.  But test results don't suggest this is as good as it should be.  He's at college.  On phone, I can tell what sounds like extreme anxiety at times and also a few angry outbursts....depression and bipolar run in our family....along with .. . . . guess what -- Sleep problems.   Thank you for he info... SUPRESS REM?? 

1. sorry for repeat post..don't know how I did that..I'm new here.

2. When the psychiatrist prescribed Cymbalta for son (antidep/antianx), it took way too long for me to say UH OH!.   He could not hear alarms going off in room next to him. THen we realized that wasn't JUST because he was "tuning" out/depressed. Several times I stood in the  bedroom door literally YELLING his name and getting NO reaction....VRY Scary.  At this time we had not thought of sleep as related...he was given detentions and we were enforcing, for lateness..they piled on top of each other, school performance suffered, he suffered embarrassment.   In retrospect, I realized four months of trying CYmbalta (which has a sleepy aspect for many) probably made the situation worse.  So, maybe psychiatrists should have sleep looked at FIRST?  IN some cases?   It would have saved MUCH suffering around here.  My son who loved learning and school was in tears (17!) saying I'll just have to take the GED, get some other job, not go to college, mom.   Anything is better.  I cannot walk into that school again. THats when the school finally listened to the whole thing.   What if sleep problem had been fixed 3 years prior!??? 

As a child I had sleep problems...as a teenager I had sleep problems...as an adult I have sleep problems.

As a child I suffered from what they now call low mood...all through my life...low mood.

I need help and I can't find any due to being 51.