The pill my doctor recommended to help cut the anxiety and hopefully temper the early morning bad dreams is Mobiclomede (brand name Mobimede). It's a very old fashioned anti-depressant from the 1950s and 60s, known as a MAO Inhibitor. Most people have since graduated to newer meds like SSRIs and SNRIs, but for me the side effects were too great and I stopped using the more modern concoctions. Going to an "old" drug like this is kind of like a last resort - when nothing else works.

So far, it seems to be doing OK. I'm certainly feeling less depressed during the day and after upping my dose as I mentioned in a previous post, my early morning nightmares seems to be less, though my pattern of wake/sleep/wake/sleep is still there (maybe that's just my natural pattern?)

Last night, we had a parent-teacher meeting for my son. I usually take my third Mobimede of the day around dinner time, but this night I forgot. We didn't get home until 10:00 PM and I wasn't sure what to do - take the pill anyway or skip a night. The reason to skip a night was that the pill *may* have an activating component to it that could keep me up. The doc wasn't sure but many anti-depressants act this way. On the other hand, skipping the pill might have meant a return to bad dreams in the morning, and I've been hoping to break that pattern.

So I took it. And guess what...I couldn't fall asleep until 3:30 AM. I tossed and turned and maybe fell asleep a little. But when I got out of bed for the fourth or fifth time to use the bathroom, I gave up and took another half a Zopiclone and that knocked me out until 7:00 AM. I then had another two hours of on and off again sleep but no really bad dreams.

If I have this situation again, I think I'll skip the 10:00 PM shot though.