Posted by chdurie2 on September 18, 2000, at 19:35:22
In reply to Insomnia help, posted by Erinn on September 14, 2000, at 15:13:25
> I am having a major problem with insomnia caused by my ad. It takes me 2-4 hours to get to sleep no matter how tired I am. My pdoc doesn't want me to take ambien everynight and I am getting pretty tired (and desperate!) Does anyone else have this problem and have they found anything that helps?
Erin-I'm a very tough customer when it comes to sleep myself. They told me at Columbia Presbyterian in NYC that I was one of maybe three people in their history who actually stayed up all night during my sleep study. At the time 10 mg of Ambien worked, but it no longer works for me. As you can probably tell, I've tried quite a few things, and here's the best of it:
1)Klonopin - .5 to 2.0 mgs/night, but it produces a light but consistent sleep;
2)Klonopin in same dosages plus 2-10 ml (that's really 20-100 mgs) of Doxepin LIQUID taken STRAIGHT (undiluted by water) sublingually. the Klonopin puts you to sleep, and the Doxepin keeps you there; but lately i've had to go to 20 ml (200 mg.) and still the sleep isn't great, and the side effects from that much Doxepin are AWFUL! So tonite shrink and I developed new plan, and i'm pretty sleepy already, so it looks hopeful:
3)5mgs of Zyprexa and .5 mg of Klonopin, one hour before bedtime; repeat at bedtime, and 1 hour later if necessary. I just took the first dose, and I'm pretty sleepy. Looks like this will work, maybe even with no more before bedtime.
4)Paxil should knock you out, with or without Klonopin. You need to experiment a little.one thing...Sonata does not work. just tried it. not only did it not work, but it made me sick the next day. my pharmacist told me she's gotten lots of feedback from people that Sonata doesn't work--but it could work for you. not a great bet for a tough customer.
I know how you feel, when you'd give anything for a good night's sleep and have maddening circadian rhythms, and are bouncing around all nite. also, good sleep hygiene is a must, no matter how tough it is to do (no naps; same bedtime/risetime; if up all night, too bad; still have to rise at same time.) problem here is that if you're a true insomniac, a few days of this will turn you into a zombie. that's when we came up with the zyprexa plan. i'll let you know if it works. caroline
poster:chdurie2
thread:554
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