Sleep med help needed
 

I have not slept 1 full night in months and now I'm mad. I need sleep. I have ambien - it does not touch me, I've tried all the OTC meds and massive does of benadril (sp)... . The only thing the Dr will give is ambien cr. If reg ambien does not work, I doubt this will.Any thoughts on sleep meds. Thanks

Ask your doc about Trazadone. Its a pretty benign(as far as drugs go)
drug. Its an old time antidepressant that is often used as a sleep aid.

I used to use it. It was great. My son was 6 months old and I hadnt
sleep since he was born.:( I took it and was able to wake up at
night with him and fall right back asleep. And I didnt have that
drunk feeling you get from benydryl. Ask your doc, I dont know what
other meds you take that might not mix but it is worth a shot.:)

Good luck,

Sox

Sorry about your lack of sleep. It can really get to you after awhile, esp. 8 months!

I am up very early today and am reminded why I had a mental note to only take antihistamines in the morning -- they keep me awake at night! :Red eyes:

Hope you catch some good ZZzzzzzzssss very soon. :hug:

What dose of Ambien are you trying? The lower doses didn't work for me either, but the Ambien CR is a higher dose and sustained release, so it works OK. Just curious, have you tried melatonin?

No not cr or melatonin, but I have had Trazadone and it does not touch me. I think I'll call about melatonin. Thanks so much for the advise. Take Care

How big of a "massive" dose of Benadryl did you try?

If you've been taking Benadryl to sleep for a long time, you can eventually "get used to it", and it wont make you sleepy...and if you take larger than prescribed doses, it will end up keeping you awake rather than helping you sleep. (I know all this from experience)

Just about all over-the-counter sleep meds have Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) in them, so trying other brands probably will not work, and you'll be wasting your money.

Ask your doctor to give you something that doesnt have Diphenhydramine in it. There are several anti-depressant medications that can be used as sleep aides (Trazodone, Amitriptyline...)

I didnt care much for Ambien. I'm one of the people that Ambien gives weird, scary hallucinations. When I used it back in 1997, I could never take it full strength. My doctor wouldnt give me any Ambien CR after I told him about the weird hallucination that the earlier form of Ambien gave me.

Sheena, ae you having racing thoughts? What keeps you awake? Have you always had insomnia? Have you tried relaxation techniques before bed and exercise during the day? What about valarien root? Are you eating well? Getting enough water? Stressed?

One of my fav things that helped was melatonin, but I just read that it can cause your immune system to go into effect, which isn't good for us... so I have to do more research on that.

BTW, I answered your PM... just wanted to make sure you got it!!!

I just read that melatonin isn't the best for MSers or anyone with auto immune disorders because, like some herbs and vitamins, it makes your immunse system turn on, which can be bad for us. I am going to do some more research on that, cause I used it quite a bit, but also took gobs of vit c and eccanacia, which isn't good for us either...

Then there's always good ole chamomile tea!

i know how important sleep is to feeling good and wellbeing, and working/functioning.

it also helps to decrease pain.
i used to be on regular ambien and found that the CR really was much better.
i'd give it a try. you've got nothing to lose.

i'm also on trazodone and it works well. i still don't sleep more than 4-5 hrs but once i go to the BR i can fall back to sleep.

Can I ask if caffeine gives you a buzz? It makes me sleepy, it will make those with ADD/ADHD sleepy. Most sleeping meds do nothing for me. I take 5 different supplements with a Dr. Pepper to get to sleep each night.

Thank all of you for your replys. I wanted to try the new script for 2 nights B4 I replied. Rozerem 8mg is what i'm now taking. The pharm. told me there are 2 types of receptors one can have to sleep. 1 for the ambien class of drug and one for this class. I only have 15 pills, but I guess that is b/c he always pres. ambien or cr.

If you can't get to sleep on ambien, then I am told don't waist u money on cr. unless u have a wake in mid night prob. Go to the other class of sleep drugs as I have.

My pharm helps me more then any Dr. and always has.

I'm just tossing out a name - pull their site if interested.

Thank You So Much

Regular Ambien didn't work for me either, I fell asleep but couldn't stay asleep I switched to Ambien CR works great!

My Neuro told me that I shouldn't take Ambien every night - just for up to a week but no longer. He said it messes with your natural sleep hormones. :confused: If my natural sleep hormones were working properly I wouldn't need to take anything!!

Anyway, he gave me a prescription for Trazadone when I went to my appointment on Friday. I took one last night and still didn't sleep more than 4 hours at a time but I was able to fall asleep easier. I'm a little wobbly this morning, too. I'm sure it's a side effect.

Exercise daily, learn self-hypnosis, marijuana, warm soothing baths, and Tylenol PM have worked best for me (but I don't do the normal meds ...).

Cherie

Kitty, My Ex has been on Ambien for over a year with no sides... The reason you Dr prob. said that is b/c Ambien is addictive (per my pharm). Some Dr have a prob w/it most do not in my experience. The drug I'm on is not addictive; however, I really could careless. I was in terrible shape due to lack of sleep. I would have taken anything.

Cherie, excellent advise but I have always refused to Exercise. I know - my bad and I am paying for it.

Trazadone made me sick to my stomach and my acid reflux was so bad I had to stop taking it.

Regular Ambien did not work well for me. I would fall asleep and then wake up about 4 hours later and have trouble getting back to sleep. AmbienCR worked great for me but was just too expensive.

I am using generic Restoril now and it works like a charm. It is also very cheap.:D

Rozerems really working strange on me. If I take it at 10pm and get up at 6am, I am ok to get my kid off then it is back to sleep till around 4pm. Then bed at 10-11 up at 6 - back to bed till 2-3. They are too small to cut in half so I guess I'll try to make the week on 0 and use it on weekend till I see neuro. Just wanted to advise of my reaction. The only way I can stay on this would be to pop a pill to sleep and pop a too expensive pill to say awake. Not my style.

Becky - glad to hear you found a good drug. I'll mention Restoril when I see neuro later this mo. Tks for the info.