Pills for sleeping

[minto]

I cannot sleep well since a few months ago and I'm thinking about taking sleeping pills. I have anxiety issues and that's why I don't sleep well. The doctor said taking pills would help me lowering my anxiety because If you sleep well, you're more relaxed when you wake up and you cut the anxiety circle that not sleeping well produces. He said I should combine the pills with psychologic therapy. So I did. At the beginning I would sleep pretty well but after 6 months or so I started waking up once at night. So after consulting with the doctor I slowly reduced the medication until stopping it and tried homeopathic medicine with no luck. It's been 3 months since I stopped taking the sleeping pills and my insomnia issues are worst than every: coincidentially something happened just when I stopped the medication which rose my anxiety...

While taking them I became happier during the day, which made it difficult for me realising if the being calmer and happier was due to medication or to real changes thanks to psychological therapy. I cannot take sleeping this bad anymore, I feel like a zombie some days, so I'm considering taking the sleeping pills again but
I'm afraid they change my personality. You see, I want to end my anxiety issues for real and I don't know if pills will help me or will cover my anxiety and make me feel I'm over things that make me anxious.

So I asked the iching:

If I take the pills, how will that affect me?
And it answered 20.4>12

Will taking pills help me to make real changes?
41.2.6>24

I'm pretty bad at iching and couldn't guess what 20.4>12 is trying to tell me. About 41.2.6>24, I see 41.2 as don't take them and 41.6 as take them but take into account they're just a temporal help and that you have to make real changes by yourself. 24 makes me think they will help me doing this change I want to do...

I'm worried because they didn't seem to help much doing real changes before and I don't want to depend on pills. I can say I'm much more conscious about my anxiety issues and making changes from the inside, which wasn't happening when I first took the pills.

I would be really grateful if you could give me your insights...

 

[peterg]

insomnia

For ordinary insomnia do stretching exercises to get rid of restlessness in the body. Slower sedates. Faster stimulates. For sustainability work out your own routine by trial and error and keep refining. Simple exercises are better than too elaborate. A couple of times a day and before retiring.Ten minutes will do. Even a couple of minutes helps.
To get rid of overstimulation of the mind stop thinking and listen to the sound of your breathing, for a few minutes at a time. Dont try too hard.
Combine the two kinds of exercises for a deeper effect.
For heavy stress insomnia prop up some pillows and sit up in a settled position and wait for the stress to burn itself out. Might take hours.
Alcohol doesnt help. Pills used sparingly in the short term might help. Rarely I might take one paracetmol and codeine to take the edge off things. But codiene is quickly addictive (now prescription only).I suspect sleeping pills could be addictive too.

 

[Lilly-La]

Hex. 41 / anxiety

Hi minto,

i did suffer from anciety disorder and panic attacks too in my life. That is many years back but i do remember very well.

Usually i look up the Hex. name at LiSe´s site as i do not know the Hex. numbers/name by heart.
http://www.yijing.nl/i_ching/index.html

Hex. 41 - The empty Cauldron; (Wilhelm: 41. Sun / Decrease)
I got very excited reading the text on LiSe´s site with having my former anxiety disorder on mind. It says:
Get rid of all conditioning and forms. You think you need them for being present in the world, for being visible, being you. But what they do is hiding you. Diminishing is augmenting.

(Unfortunately english is not my native language and i can not write long texts even though i wished to.)
Anxiety has a lot to do with anger - 2 sides of the same medal. Many people suffering from anxiety disorder avoid conflicts. They tend to project a lot of their own anger onto others and think that/they/it might strike back. (Then there are people who are angry all the time and deep inside they are very anxious. They are constant fighters.)

So 'Diminishing is augmenting' is a very valuable statement to you from my point of view. If you diminish your anxiety (projections), anger will 'augment'. That is a natural process.

Hex. 41.2 LiSe: Get rid of preconceptions, of all 'knowing how things are'.

Looking back i have been a foreigner in my own skin once when suffering from a. disorder. I constantly thought: i have to be like... i should be this or that way..etc.. and best of all, i did not even reckognize it.

This is your future goal:
Hex. 41.6 A soul in which diminishing and augmenting do not exist, has no ego. He can find his road simply by walking it. He will find servants without offering them a place to live because being close to a soul like this has more value than anything else. He needs no home, he is a home.

The trigrammes are Lake below a mountain. The Lake to me is as well a symbol for 'mirroring'. You can make friends and reduce anxiety by mirroring them. Drawback of this strategy is: you never know who you are yourself. The Mountain is not moving whatever comes. It is a symbol of passive aggression as well.

From my point of view, the Yi is no ttalking about pills but about 'real change' for you. I would take the pills just for some time but they are of no real help in the sense of 'real change'.

I hope some of my thoughts are of interest. I wish you the very best!

 

[Trojina]

I cannot sleep well since a few months ago and I'm thinking about taking sleeping pills. I have anxiety issues and that's why I don't sleep well. The doctor said taking pills would help me lowering my anxiety because If you sleep well, you're more relaxed when you wake up and you cut the anxiety circle that not sleeping well produces. He said I should combine the pills with psychologic therapy. So I did. At the beginning I would sleep pretty well but after 6 months or so I started waking up once at night. So after consulting with the doctor I slowly reduced the medication until stopping it and tried homeopathic medicine with no luck. It's been 3 months since I stopped taking the sleeping pills and my insomnia issues are worst than every: coincidentially something happened just when I stopped the medication which rose my anxiety...

While taking them I became happier during the day, which made it difficult for me realising if the being calmer and happier was due to medication or to real changes thanks to psychological therapy. I cannot take sleeping this bad anymore, I feel like a zombie some days, so I'm considering taking the sleeping pills again but
I'm afraid they change my personality. You see, I want to end my anxiety issues for real and I don't know if pills will help me or will cover my anxiety and make me feel I'm over things that make me anxious.

So I asked the iching:

If I take the pills, how will that affect me?
And it answered 20.4>12

Will taking pills help me to make real changes?
41.2.6>24

I'm pretty bad at iching and couldn't guess what 20.4>12 is trying to tell me. About 41.2.6>24, I see 41.2 as don't take them and 41.6 as take them but take into account they're just a temporal help and that you have to make real changes by yourself. 24 makes me think they will help me doing this change I want to do...

I'm worried because they didn't seem to help much doing real changes before and I don't want to depend on pills. I can say I'm much more conscious about my anxiety issues and making changes from the inside, which wasn't happening when I first took the pills.

I would be really grateful if you could give me your insights...

"sleeping pills" is a very general term, you need to know what you have been prescribed...and google them to see what they are, what they do and how addictive they are. I think these days drs don't give 'sleeping pills' as such except for short term periods, that is if they are benzodiazipines as they are addictive. I think it more likley he gave you anti depressants, the sort that impact on brain serotonin (can't recall which way) belong to the prozac family and are thought to be less addictive and also help with anxiety and hence sleep. I think if you do a bit of research, see what others say on the internet you may feel more in control than just thinking its 'pills'. Or of course ask your dr for more information. My view is if you are past a certain degree of suffering its okay to use medication intelligently and with enough information to interrupt the pattern of a cycle....if you think it warrants it but i really would suggest understanding what you are taking.


Thats nothing to do with the readings...so to the readings 20.4 suggests short term use to me, It may give you a break and the chance of another brighter perspective,,,ie you get a glimpse of how things might be if you didn't have the anxiety, your brain re learns howit feels not to be anxious. Not ideal of course but sometimes necessary if the problem is severe.

41.2.6>24 is a lovely answer somehow....but hard for me to articulate how. I think 41.2 suggests no great sacrifice, that you can get help without suffering for it. You can reduce your suffering (possibly with medication) and still make progress. 41.6 is useful as a stepping stone to get you where you want to go....and yet I can't see this answer as advising you to take them or not to take them. I think 41.2 suggests not being too demanding of yourself and of course hex 24 shows return to your self. I wonder if this answer suggests taking a lesser dose of something


Hmm overall I feel first and foremost that you are progressing whether you take the pills or not. I think you are heading in the right direction. If the insomnia has become unbearable its worth talking to your dr again fully discussing your fears of dependency etc (if hes willing and if not do a bit of research for yourself) and perhaps you could get a short term prescription...I don't know.

Try not to worry as I think these answers show you are making good progress ....and 41.2 is saying you don't have to make big sacrifices to progress which I see as maybe saying you can take things to ease the suffering and still progress. Its good you are having therapy too and have a responsible attitude to it all.

Overall I think with the 41.6 I 'm seeing any medication used as a means to an end, its good that you are using it that way if you do decide to use it

 

[pocossin]

If I take the pills, how will that affect me?
20.4>12

Bradford 20.4:
Observing a country's splendors
Worthwhile and useful to be guest to the sovereign

In the context of the query, Hypnos (Somnus) is the sovereign of the kingdom of sleep. If you want to be his guest, follow court rituals. The long-term answer isn't pills but developing a going-to-bed ritual that helps you fall asleep. I have one that works for me. Memo pad and a pen on the nightstand. On the pillow, a folded bath towel. I turn out the light, lay down on the bottom fold of the towel, cover my head with the top fold, and adjust covers so that everything is covered except the tip of my nose. I then roll on my left side and automatically fall asleep."We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. -- Aristotle," from the website of he who tries to remember.

 

[bradford]

Not related to your casting, but since I have had trouble sleeping too:
One valerian root capsule and one 3mg melatonin tablet 1/2 hr before bed, washed down with chamomile tea. If you don't have any adverse reactions you could also take a 25 mg diphenhydramine capsule. No prescription for any of this.

 

[minto]

Thank you so much for all your replies. It makes me very happy to read so many advices from all of you. I'm really happy that this web exists because I always find great help in it :bows:

Trojan: my doctor gave me an anti depressant and an anxiolytic. BTW, I visited the link Lilli showed me, Lise's website, and saw that 20.4>12 it says

6 at 4: Contemplating the honor of the state. Harvest: make use of being a guest of the king.
In order to guard abstract values, one has to be practical. To honor the king is a good thing, but to keep him alive comes first. A country may need a good king, but in the first place a living king.
(Changes to hex.12)

Here's my take for 20.4:
I wonder if I may be the king and that "a country may need a good king (me without pills) but in the first place a living king" (a non-zombie version of me being able to sleep even if it requires pills )

I'm happy that the I Ching reassures that the changes I feel I'm doing are for real. It gives me hope and courage to carry on

While I'm waiting to visit the doctor I'll try the tips and exercises you gave me.

 

[Lilly-La]

I would 100% agree with you here :

Here's my take for 20.4:
I wonder if I may be the king and that "a country may need a good king (me without pills) but in the first place a living king" (a non-zombie version of me being able to sleep even if it requires pills )

Better a king who can make decisions at least.. the 'good' will come

 

[peterg]

For ordinary insomnia do stretching exercises to get rid of restlessness in the body. Slower sedates. Faster stimulates. For sustainability work out your own routine by trial and error and keep refining. Simple exercises are better than too elaborate. A couple of times a day and before retiring.Ten minutes will do. Even a couple of minutes helps.
To get rid of overstimulation of the mind stop thinking and listen to the sound of your breathing, for a few minutes at a time. Dont try too hard.
Combine the two kinds of exercises for a deeper effect.
For heavy stress insomnia prop up some pillows and sit up in a settled position and wait for the stress to burn itself out. Might take hours.
Alcohol doesnt help. Pills used sparingly in the short term might help. Rarely I might take one paracetmol and codeine to take the edge off things. But codiene is quickly addictive (now prescription only).I suspect sleeping pills could be addictive too.

It is better to devise ones own exercise routine.You are less likely get bored with it. But if you dont know where to start here is a suggested starter routine.

Sit on the floor and do the yoga spinal twist.Google the details.Turn left then right. Always keep exercises symmetrical.The spinal twist is also a good antidote for back pain.Keeps the spine supple and stiffness away.
I wouldn't recommend any of the yoga back and knee breakers unless you are already very bendy.
Next with legs straight or bend one knee grasp the toes and sole of feet and pull back.Seems to release a lot of tension.
Next maybe sit on heels and do some arm and torso stretches.

In a standing position do various leg arm torso twists and stretches.
Touch toes with knees straight. When you loosen up eventually you should be able to place palms flat on the floor.
Finish with yoga tree exercise.
Yoga is a good source of inspiration but I usually go for simple variations of the yoga exercises.

I usuually do a quick couple of minutes routine in a standing position before catnapping or anytime.

I have found the above exercises to be a very effective antidote long term for insomnia and back pain.I know the value of them. I keep the routine fresh with new variations.That is why I suppose I never got bored with it.

ps The spinal twist is a key exercise from my point of view.The standard position sitting on the floor
has both knees bent.I always do it with one leg stretched out straight in front, one leg bent at the knee.