When I woke at 0130 today, I checked my email. There was one from a Ph.D. friend of mine whose knowledge of pharmaceuticals is quite stunning.
Subject: i have solved your problem!! it just came to me, and i had missed it. you are taking an antidep. @ night. initially, this was because the transient sedating effects were enough to offset sleep problems. but you became sensitized to the sedating effects. now, you are taking an SSRI before bed, and what's happening is that its peak levels are reached during your sleep, increasing serotonin - which, in a normal sleep pattern, should be *decreased* (relative to melatonin levels) - and thus tricking your brain into a more awake state. you should switch your dosing to the a.m., if at all. i am certain that moving it will greatly enhance sleep.
After some research online, and speaking with the person, it seems sound to have good grounds, so I’ve forwarded the email onto Jeremy Broadhead to get his opinion.
Until I hear anything, I’ll continue with the existing schedule, but perhaps, given the sedating effects aren’t apparent, even on the higher does, it should be switch to a morning thing? I’ll find out soon enough.
Meanwhile I’m tweeting my sleep schedule so I can keep track of how things are progressing and more easily correlate changes to improving/worsening conditions.
March 13th, 2010 06:36
[...] the logic that it’s causing peak serotonin in my brain, compared to levels of melatonin (previously), two to three hours after consuming, which is then causing me to wake [...]
March 15th, 2010 13:48
[...] home I had a response from Dr Broadhead saying that in his experience, what I’d put forward (previously), doesn’t happen, though he is happy for me to play around with my dosing schedule as I see [...]