Dark Sanity

Five years ago I left a cocktail of sleeping pills and anxiety medications and felt my world implode. I had 34 surgeries on the spine and legs and I'm strong. But I was not prepared for the horrible withdrawals of these drugs. For several months, I questioned my sanity, without conviction that I could regain my cognitive function or normal sleep patterns. I am a writer and I lost that magic against the written word. It was the darkest of times, filled with the deepest despair.

I was not a drinker and I did not doctor shop and I always waited for a consultation with my pharmacist to confirm my drug combination is safe. Yet after a decade on the pills, I felt consumed by the chemical straightjacket and wanted my life.

All I was looking for a good night and I'm getting pretty trapped by drugs first I thought were my salvation. It started with a prescription, and that my body has reached the tolerance and the pill stopped working, others were added. At the end I was taking Ambien, Klonopin (clonazepam), Restoril (temazepam), Sinequan (doxepin), Effexor, OxyContin and Norco (hydrocodone). I rarely slept and constantly at my pace, filled with anxiety. I aged rapidly and my pain level soared, but it was devouring fear that I found most debilitating. I became agoraphobic and has not left my house.

My cocktail of drugs is similar to Heath Ledger and it saddens me very much, he lost his life to prescription drugs. I've read interviews where Ledger spoke of his raging insomnia, and I knew he was in the same trap that I had encountered. Even his appearance has deteriorated as mine was. How I lived my downfall is a mystery, but it had a profound impact that I started an organization to help others escape the clutches of this epidemic.

Ironically, the mercury poisoning was the cause of my insomnia, but I would not discover this for many years. Instead, I became a participant loan to a chemical experiment that has devastated my world. Unfortunately, the same happens to millions of others and often begins with insomnia.

The market for prescription sleep aids is a huge industry and we are essentially supporting products that are gradually hurt us. I did not force my brain into submission was not real sleep, but that natural sleep is a complex mechanism triggered by a group of hormones that create a state of rest for body and mind. As we sleep, consciousness is suspended WH

Ile the brain undergoes a cycle of brainwave activity that includes dream. The heart and lungs slow and our normally active brainwave patterns diminish significantly until we dream. Our blood vessels dilate and blood is usually stored in our bodies moves in our muscles for tissue repair. Growth hormone in children is secreted during sleep, as are the essential chemicals that protect the immune system. It is therefore not surprising that children placed on stimulant medications have a delayed growth and a weakened immune system. I had recurrent bronchitis and pneumonia and even contracted a staph infection back.

Natural sleep does not just support physical health, but has a profound effect on our brain as it organizes and archives memories. It is also essential for the creative process. Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards claims the riff of "I Can not Get No Satisfaction" came to him in his sleep, while Dmitri Mendeleev, the chemist of the 19th century, said he literally dreamed the periodic table of elements.

During the night we pass from the predominant NREM (non rapid eye movement) dreamless sleep to short segments of REM (rapid eye movement) state where dreams occur. Both slow and REM sleep cycles are necessary to have restorative effects. But sleep medications dramatically Redu.