Posted by paxvox2000 on April 29, 2002, at 20:04:39
OK, here's the deal. I can't get to sleep at night, even with Tranzene, Have run the board on "mood stabilizers" from my Pdoc, but HATED them all (except Trazodone, however that exacerabted a urinary problem I have). Soooooo... I have gotten back on Ambien from my GP (he knows the other meds I am taking from Pdoc).
Problem: because of the very short half-life of Ambien (Sonata also) I can GET to sleep, but wake up about 4 hours later, and then wake, sleep on about a one hour cycle the rest of the night. I have tried splitting the Ambien dose, and tried adding another 5mg the first time I wake up (this has been on my own, w/o doc's knowledge). But I can't continue to up the dose w/o letting him know about it.
Question: Who else has this kind of problem with Ambien or Sonata? What have you done about it? I had taken Ambien before for several years when I had a different sleep schedule (I could stay in bed much later)w/o this having been a real problem. However, I wonder; is it better to get that 4 hours sleep, then struggle the rest of the night, or should I back off the Ambien, and try something else? If anyone says the latter, what else would you suggest I ask about? My Pdoc, as I have said, has tried at least 4 -5 other meds to help me sleep. Most I REALLY did not like: Neurontin, Depakote (UGGGHHHH!!!!) Topamax, Trazodone (as I mentioned was OK except for the urinary problem).
I really don't know what to do about this. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks!
PAX
poster:paxvox2000
thread:104454
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020425/msgs/104454.html