I am 49 years old with chronic depression for the last 20 years. On depression medication 50 mg paroxetine and 200 mg lamictal. At night times when I go to sleep I experience sudden involuntary jerks in my body and I am quite aware of them. My wife says you are trembling in sleep and also experience loud snoring, vague dreams and acting out the dreams like kicking and shouting. Kindly advise what could be the problem. It will be very embarrassing for me when I visit my relatives place and has to stay back at their place in night, as I shout and use abusive words in sleep almost every day. Sometimes I am aware of these things sometimes and sometimes not unless someone informs me the next day. Mostly happen during the early hours of the morning.

Mr. Saul PereiraPsychologist52yrs exp

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Ideally, you seek the help of a counselor too. You need to develop some skills and techniques to counter the inner issues, which I believe have not been identified. If you want to sleep well you must lie down on your left ear and left side only as far as possible: you will have happy and logical dreams! I believe there may be some genetic predisposition or there has been some childhood issue, related to anger, that needs urgent attention. You must go and meet with a counselor immediately and you must cooperate to your utmost with both professionals. Please visit these professionals along with your parents (if they are still alive). In the meantime, please do the following sincerely because you could resolve the problem better with good cooperation: have a good night?s sleep, have a good breakfast of more proteins, meditate often, remain free of stress, eat a lot of fiber, nuts, avocado, exercise regularly, eat dark chocolate, do yoga meditation exercises, spend time in nature or gardening, etc. I suggest you do the opposite of what this depression makes you feel like doing (actually, not doing): you will need to fight this condition. You must become active; stay upright during the daylight time; meet people; never sleep during the day, wake up by 6 am every day, play some active games, especially contact games, do physical exercises, talk to people and join some social clubs, attend yoga classes etc. Watch sitcoms on tv or comedies and cheer yourself up. Go for excursions in groups, for outings, camps, conferences, and religious conventions. Get a pet dog and spend time training it, exercising it and relating to it. Expose yourself to some sunlight every day, at least, 30 minutes but not in the scorching heat. Whatever happens, please incorporate these three important adaptations in your life: always be responsible, be respectful, and be functional. If you did these three, lots of things will go well in life. Please pray and have faith in god to alleviate your sufferings. Don?t wait for others to help. Use your own motivation, which might be at its lowest, but persevere and win this battle. Above all to be really happy, you need to live in love and for love. Learn all about emotions and how to handle them and that will get you out of the depression rather easily and quickly. A counselor is there only to facilitate you, all the hard word must come from you, and your cooperation with that person is very critical for your success. Be positive every day and learn to be contented with what you have. Do some left brain exercises: it is the happy brain. Here are a few suggestions: shut your left nostril and breathe, move your eyes from right to left and vice versa for at least half a minute at a time, and do calisthenic exercises with some form of counting, regularly. Whatever happens please cooperate with the therapy and do not discontinue until the condition is completely resolved. Over a period of time all these symptoms will disappear if you are consistent.  

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Ms. Harsharan Kaur RandhawaPsychologist5yrs exp

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Dear Lybrate user as you have been suffering from depression since last 20 yrs, you have been taking medicine, but it seems you have not seemed counseling. It's very very important to understand that in these cases, along with the medicines, counseling is also required. Medicine will not be so effective unless you address your issues that are deep rooted inside your mind in the form of thoughts. Taking medicine is an easy option, counseling is time consuming but is very effective. Medicines if taken for long affect your health adversely, so I would suggest you to go for counseling without any further delay. Feel free to contact me for counseling.  

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