Stroke, Anxiety, and Insomnia

I do too. Buspirone helps with anxiety and Doxepin helps with sleep.

You are not alone. Mood swings, up and then down, anger and resentment, denial and acceptance. It is a roller coaster ride. For me, physical exersize seems to help. Doing things to get my mind off my own circumstances. Reading a good book, crossword puzzles--music! Maybe I'm being a bad citizen but I avoid the doomsayers and trolls on the unsocial media and struggle with the aftermath of current events. Over coming what I call "busy brain" in the middle of the night is particularly difficult. My relaxing mantra is (strangely enough) the mental recitation of recipes--my version of counting sheep.
It is a difficult journey that we share.

I have the same problem. I take ambien, but not that often. I have been clinically depressed and have been on prozac for the last few decades. I say that because I know the mental signs that signals depressive thoughts, and I find that in the middle of the night those thoughts come on with a vengeance. Also when waking up in the morning. But they dissipate during the day, rapidly.

Sometimes I recite the 12 AA/Alanon steps. The first one in particular "...I am powerless over .." helps me a lot to let go of what I can't control.

sometimes

grrranny: I was diagnosed with an aneurysm a year ago and told my doctor I needed something for stress and anxiety. I take ativan for sleep only, 3x a week. I had asked the pharmacologist at the hospital where I had the aneurym repair how often I could take it without becoming addicted and he said "try not to use it more than 3 times a week." It's been a game changer for me as I know, at least 3 times a week, I will get a good night's sleep. I also will take an ambien a few times a week if it's like 2 a.m. and I'm still awake but I only take 2.5mg (I cut a 5 mg tablet in half) b/c a full strength ambien really knocks me out.

The side effects of Ambien scare me. It also conflicts with 3 of my meds -- Metoprolol Tartrate and Amlodopine for blood pressure, and Gabapentin.