[psychc]

What sleep meds do you take? Was put on seroquel and hate it!! feel like a zombie and got chills yesterday (1st day).

Seroquel is an antipsychotic. It's sedating but technically not considered a sleep med.

I have an rx for Sonata but it does not help me sleep at all. I take Xanax three times per day and my evening Xanax helps me sleep. I'm a light sleeper, however. One of my biggest challenges.

PS: I took Seroquel for awhile for psychotic features and I relate to hating the sedating effect. It was so hard to get going in the morning. I was working at the time and it was such a struggle. I eventually adjusted somewhat - my pdoc took me off the XR version and put me on the non-XR version. That helped some. I know others that have adjusted to the sedating side effect. A woman from my support group takes 1500 mg - I'd be asleep for so long at that dosage! Good luck and keep up posted. x

[TRNRMOM]

Originally Posted by psychc

What sleep meds do you take? Was put on seroquel and hate it!! feel like a zombie and got chills yesterday (1st day).

ambien, xanax, klonopin never worked; take 1/2 25mg. seroquel and the sleep is deep w/vivid dreams. am retired so i can deal w/the hangover for about a 1/2 hr. in the am. it's worth it to me for having the best ever sleep ea. night.

I took lunesta for several years for sleep, it worked pretty well. I stopped when I was prescribed seroquel.

[gayleggg]

I use ambien. It seems to give me exactly 8 eight hours. Doesn't leave me groggy in the morning. I have used seroquel but had to go to bed about 8PM in order to be able to get up and go to work, I was sleeping about 12 hours a day on it.

[Weltering]

I'm a sleep fanatic. Meaning, if we put as much time, effort and thought into our sleep as we do our other human need, eating, we'd be much better off, IMO!

Restoril was my wonder sleep med. it's supposed to be short term but I rocked it for over two years and wish I could be on it now.

HOWEVER, in addition to the med, I trained myself to take sleep seriously, especially at night. Lights out, nothing overly stimulating (including internet, emotionally involving TV, books or music), and all needs for the day being done by 8pm at the latest. This isn't easy, especially with two kids, but an absolute necessity for my health and well-being.

Warm bath, comfy bedroom (quiet, dark, a fan running) and bed (invest in nice sheets, blankets, even mattress!), and warm milk with a touch of vanilla and sugar, which eventually turned into a "sleepy trigger" for me and also was the sign to my family that mom was headed to sleep and they needed to do their part.

Sounds great. I miss it. Lost insurance, pdoc, tdoc and meds and I can't sleep worth crap now. Nap during the day just to stay sane but we all know that isn't ideal and hardly feasible for most people.

Long post, apologies, hope it can be of some help. Please ask any questions and keep us updated!

[vans1974]

Originally Posted by psychc

What sleep meds do you take? Was put on seroquel and hate it!! feel like a zombie and got chills yesterday (1st day).

I like Sonota to fall asleep and Trazodone, an older SARI AD, or Lunesta to stay asleep! Sometimes I take 100mg of Neurontin if I wake up in the middle of the night and it helps me go back to sleep. Obviously, the benzos and muscle rexalants help as well. Seroquel made me hungry and kept me sedated all day...I hate that med!

[thickntired]

The side effects from seroquel went away after a week or 2 for me.

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the only sleep med I take is lunesta, but at bedtime I also take an AP (saphris) and a benzo (klonopin). The concoction has me sleeping about 7 hours.

[Mercedes87]

I HATED Seroquel. My Pdoc gave me samples and needless to say I stopped taking it after a few days. I work so the extended drowsiness would make my day miserable.

[Binti1962]

I take Restoril (generic name tamazepm) and it works great with no hangover the next morning. I used to take Ambien but it made me sleep walk!

[AnxietyGirl916]

I take Klonopin. It knocks me out and helps me with anxiety as well.

[PrairieCat]

Alprazolam/Xanax - I take only 1 mg. at night for sleep and it works like a charm. I am ultra-extra sensitive to all meds, so I need very little. In emergencies, I take it for anxiety, 1/2 mg. or 1 mg. But, I'm an older lady and it would be good for me to get off Xanax because long-term use can cause dementia in older people. One pdoc said that I take so little it may be nothing to worry about, but I've had a couple others disagree with that, said it should only be taken short-term. I'll bet you that if you put a bunch of p-docs into a room and give them ANY subject, they wouldn't and couldn't all possibly agree on the same answer! We are all winging it the best way we can, anyway. I would like to try Lunesta for sleep or something more natural like Melatonin but would need to take a lot of Melatonin for it to work, have already tried it. There are many natural substances that work for sleep, I've heard. It would just be another trial and error thing for us, but what else is new?

Let me tell you my story with sleep meds...

I tried pretty much every sleep med under the sun, including high doses of antipsychotics, but after a while NOTHING would put me to sleep. I practiced good sleep hygine, tried to meditate (but did not work for me at the time), used sleep CDs, tried herbs and sleep drinks, pretty much anything you could do to go to sleep, I tried. After a 6 - 8 month period of hypomania, I crashed, but could only sleep a few hours during the day. Could absolutely not sleep at night.

The most effective from memory was stillnox CR (2 pills), the problem with that was if I took it I did not remember a single thing for the 12 hours it was in effect. One time I went to work and did a heap of work with the horses, I dont remember a single thing about it but apparently I was there for hours and seemed normal. That scared the crap out of me, cos who knows what else I did while under the influence of this med, I have no memory if I maybe drove anywhere or did anything like that - scary!! It only worked for a few weeks though until that started to not work at all.

I was desperate. I was seeing a new pdoc at the time. He didnt know all my previous meds as my previous pdoc would not forward my records on (probably from fear of being prosecuted because of the absolutely HUGE amounts of medication she put me on). He eventually asked to try melatonin. He was at the end of his tether saying lets start from the beginning again. I had never tried melatonin, it is not available here without a doctors prescription, previous pdoc had never even suggested it. By this time I was in bed all day, sleeping a broken 5 or 6 hours, but in bed for more like 16 because I was just sooooo tired. I was willing to try anything.

Much to my surprise after a 3 week course of prescribed melatonin (high dose), and being extremely strict with when I allowed myself to even be in bed, practicing a very strict sleep routine, my sleep issues were FIXED! I couldnt believe it, my pdoc was stoked, as was I. Since then I have had very few issues with sleep. And I feel confident that if I need to I can go on another course of it but in 3 years I have not needed to.

Now since my sleep patterns have been corrected my whole life is easier to live. Along with being on the correct antipsychotic I am starting to live a very stable and HAPPY life. Life is SO much easier now that I can sleep properly and my moods are far more stable than they have ever been.

I ensure I get 6-9 hours of sleep a night every night now. Some days if I am feeling low it is hard to get out of bed, and hard not to nap, but I remind myself how much more stable I am now when sleeping correctly. Sure some days I do have a nap but NEVER for more than 2 days in a row, I do not want to get back into bad habits as so many people do. I go outside EVERY morning for at the very least 10 minutes. The sunlight really helps me wake up.

Now days I am finding since I am so stable, the more natural side of medicine is working brilliantly for me. I am really starting to meditate instead of just laying there with thoughts rushing though my head. If I do ever feel like I wont sleep - sleepytime tea just about knocks me out! Life is so much easier when it is stable.

PS seroquel stops being sedating after 200 or 400 mg, i cant remember which. Its all good while and if it works but if you need to use it as an AP instead of a sleep med eventually it is not going to work for sleep.

[punkybrewster6k]

yes, I have found melatonin to be very effective when much stronger prescribed meds failed. In the USA, you can walk into Walmart and buy it in the vitamin aisle!

[BipolaRNurse]

Sleep, for me, is the Holy Grail of bipolar. Sleep is stability. Sleep is wellness. Sleep is sanity. I wish I hadn't been so resistive to the idea of a regular schedule; I might have gotten well sooner. My pdoc was 100% right when he basically imposed a curfew on me a couple of months ago......I've gotten nothing but better since then. It truly was the missing element in my treatment.

I do have to take a fair amount of medication to get good quality sleep, and my pdoc says that if I don't sleep well for more than a night or two, I need to take my PRN Zyprexa for a few days, both for sleep and to tamp down the mania that almost always results from sleep loss. I hold a very responsible job now and can't afford for anyone to know I'm bipolar.....I wish I'd understood long ago that mania, rather than the depression, is my mortal enemy, so preventing it is absolutely crucial.

[IndieVisible]

Seroquel 200mg hits the spot, plus 1mg xanax even better. I have taken 400mg seroquel. I sleep good nice vivid dreams. Some times it takes me 15 minutes to get out of bed but once I get up I feel great thru the whole day.

[lost&wandering]

I take seroquel at night to sleep and it works amazingly well for me.

About an hour after I take the pill I am knocked out cold, like clockwork every time. I do find it extremely hard to drag myself out of bed in the morning though... and I can easily sleep a solid 10-12 hours a night.

Before Seroquel I had the worst time falling asleep at night... so I guess it's a good thing when you weigh it all out.

[Beepee]

Trazodone works well for me unless I am anxious.

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