Please just let me sleep

What have people on this board who have bipolar I used for sleep aids? Sorry if I ramble my mind is awake but should be asleep from the constant insomnia. About a year ago my sleep cycles just went totally haywire. I've tried almost everything and Seroquel just knocks me out horribly. I crush the tablet and weigh out 5 mg and I sleep for 15 hours. It is the most toxic sleep aid for me yet it works beautifully for almost everyone. Any experiences and suggestions?

I see you are already taking gabapentin. That helps me sleep a lot. Plus clozapine but mostly if I run out of the gabapentin I can't sleep. I also take xanax but I have been wanting to wean myself off it and have gotten down from 3 mg at night to 1 mg.

Yeah the benzos have always been a slippery slope for me. I start with 1 mg and it helps for a while, but my body gets used to it pretty fast. I've cycled through most of the benzos: valium, xanax, klonopin, etc.

Sorry I can't help. Seroquel is the only thing that makes me sleep but hell yeah I still have the hangover effect of wanting to sleeeeep allllllllll day sometimes. I still work but by 2pm I'm zonked. Tried saphris. That was worse.

I take Ativan, but not on daily basis, just when the insomnia comes.

Trazadone! I love it, it is an anti-depressant that works for sleep too. Not as strong as Seroquel or benzos, and left me able to function the next day. I am also a person who gets knocked out for 12-16 hours with half a 25 mg tablet of Seroquel.

Trazadone started great for me then eventually pooped out at the sleep doses. At higher doses it lost it's efficacy as a sleep aid. I stuck with it while it worked even though I had felt like I got hit with a hammer in the mornings.

Sorry to hear...you might try the muscle relaxor, Flexerall, or Seroquel again, then when you wake you up, take a Provigil/Nuvigil or any other psycho-stimulant. Best of luck!

I've went round and round with meds and I ended up back on seroquel, it seems to be the only one that works for me.

Flexerall has been wonderful for me. I took it for specific muscle issues that were waking me all night long, but once I started it, I slept like a baby all night. I only take it as necessary, and a half pill to one pill per night. I might take it a few nights in a row, then not for months.

If you do supplements at all, Valerian really helped me, also - it smells AWFUL (I keep the closed bottle sealed in a plastic baggie), but it works for me.

Oh, and neither the Valerian nor the Flexerall have any after effects for me the next day. I can't take the Flexerall too late, though, since it feels like it's working in my system for a good 8-9 hours.

Just been given an increase of oxcarbazepine to help my sleep. As soon as the doc said it was okay to take more I knew I had more insomnia to look forward to.
What the heck happened to me? It seems like I just lost the ability to sleep and nothing is gonna bring it back. Maybe some cognitive sleep therapy. I tried that and it almost killed me not being able to go near my bed during the day from pure exhaustion.

Seroquel. ... I personally wouldn't recommend it... I'm coming off klonopins... (would not recommend them in the slightest.. I have never abused them) basically doing a detox while I'm in outpatient not having to work... no way on earth could I come off them while working.... i'd not recommend seroquel either just because of the lethargic side of it that seems to last into the next day.. it's unfortunate that I can't sleep without something but its an impossibility right now...

Valerian, catnip, lemon balm... even salvia. That combined with some visualisation and I sleep... well, in like two hours.

Tried Salvia and valerian... no luck.. however if the valerian especially would have worked at all I would of stayed put there.. unfortunately not much touches me.... sux

I take 15-30mgs of Restoril. I get 7-8hrs but recently I've been waking up/staying awake after 4 hours which can be annoying if I don't have to be awake until another 2-3 hours. I always wake up at 5:30, I try to go back to sleep, then wake up again at 6:30. this continues to happen until 8:30 and by then I am completely exhausted from all the interruptions.

My pdoc won't put me on sleeping pills because of my history of alcoholism and addictive personality. He's okay with Klonopin at a very low dose, and of course the Geodon and Zyprexa help with sleep too. Otherwise I'd probably never sleep more than 3-4 hours a night and be manic as hell. I used to be a champion sleeper, but no more.....as I've aged, sleep has become more and more problematic. I guess it comes along with the territory, but it sure messes with my head when I don't sleep well.

I also take gabapentin to help sleep. 600mg of it and klonopin prn if I still cant sleep.