Reestablishing routines

[Outdated]

From ages 12 to 56 I had a very regular daily routine, and I want it back again. Some of this will gross people out a bit but I’m fully disclosing in order to explain why it’s all so important, and so difficult to correct.

I used to go to bed at around 10:00 at night and get up at 6:00 in the morning regular as clockwork. I like a deep dreamless and unbroken sleep, I lay down, I blink, and it’s morning all of a sudden.

The morning routine that I use to start my day is what sets me up for a good day and that’s what I want back. I managed to achieve it today even though yesterday was bad. It starts with getting up and going for a wee, then making the first cup of coffee. It’s a big mug, 450 ml.

That first coffee goes down fast, then it’s time to poo. Then back for the second cup of coffee and a couple of cones of weed. Usually after the first cone I have my morning chuck. Gross explanation:

Spoiler: Gross eplanation

I’m prone to bronchitis, the opposite of asthma, my respiratory system produces much more mucus than is necessary. Naturally a lot of this gets swallowed through the night, but the nature of mucus means that it’s all still connected to what’s in my lungs and bronchial tubes in long strands.

So I have that first cone in the morning and I cough, as the cough shifts some of the mucus in the bronchial tubes it also jiggles and pulls on what’s in my stomach, that makes me spew. It’s a good thing though, when I spew that up it also pulls the slugs of mucus out of my bronchial tubes and the tops of my lungs.

As soon as I’ve had my spew I can breathe so much more cleanly and easily again. Doing this daily also helps remove some of the accumulated tar from smoking. What always amazed me is that no coffee comes out, just a 200 ml lump of clean mucus. I always check the colour, it’s nice to know that I have no infections.

After that I finish my second coffee and have my first hit of nicotine for the day, then I’m ready for whatever lies ahead. I usually only have one meal a day, at about 6:00 pm.

For me the key to everything lies in my sleep routine. When I’m sleeping odd hours it interferes with my bowel routine and my diet routine and these two further interfere with my sleep routine. Oh how I rue the doctor that talked me in to trying some antidepressants, that’s what upset my sleep routine and broke everything else.

 

[Rodafina]

How long has it been since your patterns were disrupted?

You don’t take antidepressants anymore, right? How long has it been since you stopped?

 

[Slime_Punk]

If you're talking about SSRIs, those scare me more than they should. I know a lot of people who take them with seemingly no harm done, but I read the side effects and immediately stopped going to every doctor who recommended them.

I think having ASD makes sleeping extremely difficult for some of us, too. Maybe I'm blaming the wrong guy, but I have to do all sorts of magical juju in order to get lucky enough to sleep like an NT.

 

[Aspychata]

Routines. Stuff happens. Age happens, we just struggle thru it. No doubt.

 

[Outdated]

How long has it been since your patterns were disrupted?
You don’t take antidepressants anymore, right? How long has it been since you stopped?

If you're talking about SSRIs, those scare me more than they should. I know a lot of people who take them with seemingly no harm done, but I read the side effects and immediately stopped going to every doctor who recommended them.

It was about 18 months ago a doctor prescribed me Escotalorpram, I took them for 3 months. It took another 6 months after that before I began to feel normal again, and now another 9 months of trying to reestablish routines again.

 

[Rodafina]

That does seem to be taking a long time to bounce back. I know that it takes such a long time for those medication’s to build up in your system and I would imagine it takes a while to get rid of them too.

I don’t doubt that the medications reeked havoc on you, but I wonder if there are other things that have happened in the last nine months that are also disrupting your patterns, or at least preventing you getting back to them. Like, whatever was troubling you when your doctor suggested the SSRIs, 18 months ago.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Routines can help you stay grounded. Also understand that as we get older, our routines often change. For example, it's my day off work today. Did I sleep in to 8am? No. My brain woke me up at 5am. I am posting this at 6am. A year ago I would have never been up this early, especially in the Winter when the sun will not rise for another few hours. Most of this early-to-rise behavior started with me eating one meal a day. I don't know exactly why the association or causation, but it is what it is. I also have to keep in mind that many older folks just wake up hours before dawn. I might just be getting to be "that age". Either way, the body changes, and you must just go with it.

Personally, I have my routines, but they tend not to be rigid. I can be somewhat flexible in this regard. I don't see any sense in feeling anxiety about doing something different. Frankly, I think experiencing each day with something different is good for the brain's neuroplasticity and adaptive mechanisms, and can also be mentally stimulating, for better or worse.

 

[Atrapa Almas]

My personal way to adress sleeping less is going to bed way earlier than needed. So If I wake up at 2am I have some time to read, walk, whatever untill 3-4 am and then sleep again. Its very rare that I can sleep 8 hours without waking up in the middle.

No medication involved, just age and probably stress.

 

[spockanalia]

One thing that helps me reestablish routines after something disruptive comes along is setting alarms for when I want to do the routine. For example, if in routine, I am asleep at 10:30, but my bedtime routine starts at 9:15 and so I set an alarm that reminds me to get started on the bedtime routine at 9:15, with another alarm at 10:27 that says SLEEP NOW. It might take a week or two to finally get into the habit, but then it is stuck with me until the next disruptive thing comes along.

Might be worth a try!

Have you tried melatonin? I also pop a melatonin for a few days at 9:15 when trying to get back to a 10:30 bedtime. I try not to abuse this because I hear that relying on it TOO much can disrupt your natural melatonin production. I've never had an issue with this because I only take it sparingly in this type of instance.

 

[Progster]

I stick to a routine, too. I don't have a poo routine, I'm not very regular and some days go 3 or 4 times, others not at all. Changing my diet to include a lot of fibre has helped, though.

 

[Owliet]

I really need a routine and without that structure I don’t really know what to do with myself. It is why whenever something interrupts the routine, I still haven’t really figured out a way to just go onto the next thing in my plan. I dont really have anything valuable to give in this thread but I do understand what it’s like to deal with disruption. Hope that you can find a solution that gets you back on track.

 

[Angular Chap]

When it comes to my routine being disrupted heavily, I feel like there are only 2 options:

1. Fight an uphill battle to get back to the old routine.

2. Fight an uphill battle to adapt to the new one.

Looks like you've chosen option 1, I do the same thing. Do everything possible to get back to the old way. Either way, I'm going to be enduring some kind of physical and mental upheaval.

 

[Outdated]

I think the biggest problem I have is that I haven't worked for 15 years and I have no basic structure in my life. I could do as Angular Chap suggested and simply get used to living around a 20 hour clock, but that can make it awkward when I do have to attend appointments or go shopping.

When I was living in the tropics my routine got reinforced simply by it being too hot and too bright to sleep during the day. I also had a dog that knew what time of day it was, at 6:00 every morning she'd put her nose against the side of my bed and start nudging it to wake me up. Breakfast time.

Now I have almost no obligations at all.

I don’t doubt that the medications reeked havoc on you, but I wonder if there are other things that have happened in the last nine months that are also disrupting your patterns, or at least preventing you getting back to them. Like, whatever was troubling you when your doctor suggested the SSRIs, 18 months ago.

Nothing was troubling me at all when I was prescribed antidepressants. The doctor was a religious sicko that told me there is no such thing as autism and I was just depressed.

The only reason I was seeing a doctor in the first place was as part of my requirements to get the disability pension, for some reason they also require a report from a GP regardless of my official diagnosis. Ss I felt I had to make the doctor happy to get my pension.

I could have just filled the script and not taken any of the pills, in hindsight I believe that's what I should have done. I will never take such intrusive drugs again.

 

[Rodafina]

Dogs are great clocks! They make for great jobs, too.

Maybe an opportunity for a new routine to be laid.

I am also experimenting with the 20 hour idea.