Sleep Medication - Recommendations?

[~Nobody~]

Hello everyone. I was just wondering if you could help me.

As some of you probably know, I am a chronic insomniac, and have been since I was about 10 years old. I pretty much got along fine most of the time, but since the PTSD kicked in I've had a lot of trouble with nightmares and sleepwalking, and even more trouble getting to sleep. The upshot is that I hardly get any sleep, and when I do it is very disturbed and very scary. Being exhausted all the time doesn't help the anxiety side of things and I'm sure it doesn't help the depression either.

My psychiatrist prescibed me melatonin capsules about a month ago. They did a good job for a few weeks (at the maximum dose) but they just don't make a difference any more.

I don't know where to go from here. I'm wary of asking for something like Zolpidem because I know it can cause very vivid nightmares, and I doubt my psychiatrist would want to prescribe me anything like that for the same reason.

Any ideas? Tell me about your experiences with different sleeping medications, please.

Thank you,

~Nobody~

 

[Kaysha]

The best I have ever had is Chloryl Hydrate.. But now days its hard to find a doctor who is happy to prescribe it outside hospital.

Evidently it used to be given to patients in public psych wards because it was so effective at giving them long sleeps.. (But I think as always, it became abused so it is no longer regularly used).

I made the mistake of taking too much once (not deliberately), and now my doctor wont give it to me either.. HUGE mistake. I have never had such a good sleep, with no nightmares.. I keep asking to be given another chance on it

You could ask, maybe they can give it to you in just one dose lots to try it out.

Kaysha.

 

[Innocent]

My doctor prescribed me Trazodone when I was having problems getting to sleep at night. It made me very drowsy and I went to sleep. Knocked me out. It's actually a mild antidepressant but can be used as a sleep aide as well. I only took it at night if I was still feeling wide awake and wanted to be sure to get a good amount of sleep. It did knock me out tho, so I was careful not to take it on nights where I had to wake up early the next day. I didn't experience any nightmares/night terrors on it.

 

[Crom Cruach]

I'm on Dalmapam (30mg), that's Flurazepam in medical fancyspeak lol. It's doing me the world of good sleepwise, before I'd get 10 mins sleep here and there and because I do shift work I was walking arould like a zombie most of the time. I got 12 hours sleep on Tuesday, 8:30am-8:30pm, before I got these I'd be lucky to get that much over 3 days.

 

[TLA]

not sure what meds you take, if any?
I take lithium, lamictical, cybalta and SEROQUEL.

Seroquel helps me have 9 hours for sure. I only take 50 mg a nite. I like it--without it, I am up 36 hours straight. never before. Others take 200-500+ mg.
Good luck

 

[bEvans]

ambien is very good. 5-10 mg can properly put you to sleep and have virtually no side effects if used properly.-prescription
another alternative would be to get some valerian pills and melatonin from CVS. about 300 mg of valerian and a quarterized 3mg melatonin pill work well. might want to look at 5htp as well.-OTC
<mod edit: bunny - dangerous> one of my roommates does this and it seems very effective.

 

[Freakstorm]

Zopiclone helps me, I think it's one of the ones they're happier to use with teenagers. It doesn't stop the nightmares though.

 

[broken_slate]

i used to be on zopiclone, but i had bad effects with dissociation on it, so when i went into adult services i was put on temazepam. the thing is, that is really addictive very quickly, i was only allowed it 4 nights a week, and the other 3 i had to just be awake.

now im on more anti-psychotics that help me sleep, chlorpromazine mainly, i cant sleep without it.

xx

 

[theleastofthese]

any of the benzodiazapines help me relax enough to sleep without feeling "knocked out" the next day. They're highly addictive however.

 

[toniejean]

Let me tell you about my ambian experience. I had been taking ambian for a year. I was staying with my sister and her husband. To me this is kind of funny, but she was complaining , to my children ,that I was walking around in my underware at night . Did not say a word to me about it. well I stopped taking the med because I had read about that happening to others.
I talked it over with my doctor and we could not find a good sleeping med. I watch tv or read until I am sleepy. If i do not go to sleep right away I get up and watch tv read a book or use the computer.
I will now add 5 charatures

 

[Jawa]

Respiredone is quite good, usually the maximum dosage you'd take per night is 2 mg. It starts to work after 10-15 minutes after taking the tablet, and makes you sleep for 12 hours. You feel a little groggy after taking the medication, but otherwise will feel fine. The positive thing about respiredal is that you can continue to take it without having to increase the dosage - the medication does not stop working over time, the effects remain the same. Respiredone is safe to take for the rest of your life, the only thing you can't do whilst taking respiredal tablets is drink alcohol or operate heavy machinery.​

 

[Fluffy]

I find both temazepam and zopiclone quite effective. The temazepam gives me an awful hangover the next day so i can't take it if I have to go to work - but if I have had a really sleeples week I wil sometimes take it on a friday night when I don't have to go anywhere the next day, just to guarantee myself a proper night's sleep. The zopiclone I find doesn't give give me so much of a hangover - especially if I take the half dose that is recommended for the elderly - on a work night it can be just the right amount to make me drowsy yet not last into the next day as well. But again I only take it occasionally when I'm having a particularly bad time with the insomnia, otherwise it is addictive.

 

[dying2die]

I took trazadone several years ago and it worked great for me. in fact I'm having trouble sleeping again and I'm going to ask my dr for a perscription for it again. you need to be sure that you have a full 8 hours to sleep through, otherwise you will wake up tired. I never remember having any nightmares when I was on it before.

 

[Ruby]

Do the Doctors use antipsychotics to help with sleep? I'm on 800mg of seroquel and I sleep 10/12 hours a night.

 

[~CazzaAngel~]

Well the only thing that has helped me with sleep is Halladol and Seroquel. :unsure: