sleep

Why is it so damn hard to go to and stay asleep ? ... I sometimes believe I have a sleep disorder not bp ...

Maybe you do have a sleep disorder like sleep apnea. Have you had that checked out? It sucks not getting a good nights sleep. I really hope you get it sorted soon. I am sleeping well but that is med induced. Without meds my sleep is a mess. For me it is the BP that causes the sleep issues.

have a cpap ,have tried several meds and otc ... no help yet

been six months of short "naps" during night ... couple of hours at a time ...

Sleeps hard for me too. Can't remember a time it wasn't hard to sleep but it's part of the BP for me. I've been tested for sleep disorders and all they say is my brain idles on fast.

Zolpidem is my friend. Thank God!

I need to be able to drive early in am,, are you groggy on waking

I have had Insomnia all my life... I know nothing will really help, tried it all. I just lay down if I sleep I sleep if I dont, I don't . It can really suck !

I hope sleep finds you tonight

Sleep has always been an issue for me as well. I've tried Ambien, Ambien CR, Lunesta and OTC sleep aids. And probably some others that I can not remember at the moment. I know my sleep issues coincide (right wording??) with my BP and other mental health issues. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea so my doctor adviced me to have my tonsils and adenoids removed but I am not sure if that even made a difference. I have had family, friends and ex's tell me that I do stop breathing in my sleep and end up gasping for air but I never even wake up realizing that happened unless someone tells me. I also have insomnia and can be up for days at a time.

I noticed that the less I sleep the worse my moods and symptoms are. Ambien didn't do much for me so I increased my dose myself and ended up hallucinating really bad. Ambien CR did nothing and Lunesta (I don't think it's available anymore.. or they changed the name of it or something) it was horrible. All it did was give me a nasty metallic taste in my mouth like I had slept with pennies or something in my mouth the whole night.

I started taking OTC sleep aids like generic unisom. However, to get that to even help me I am taking a greater amount that I will even tell my own doctor.

I am also still on Trazodone, however my pdoc lowered my dose from 400+ to 200.. so I can take it during the day and it won't even make me groggy anymore.

Don't give up though. It may time a while but you will eventually find something that at least helps you a little bit. Something is better than nothing. I mix and match sometimes.. like taking Unisom and drinking some sleepy time tea to help relax me and maybe a little melatonin. I can't really say if it's safe to mix certain sleep aids but it helps me every now and them. I have also tried Valerian Root capsules.

I hope you find something!

just thought I would throw this into the mix , last week while camping with "0" stress still did not sleep well, ... not apnea, not stress, apparently not envirament, not being too tied, not being woke up by outside events, could this be a side effect of bp, or could it be the cause .... because it sucks .

really sorry to keep posting but the xanex is not kicking in ... trazadone is useless ... going with old standby ,coupe of benadyl ..

My mania exacerbates my insomnia, and my insomnia exacerbates my mania. I worked my way through a whole list of sleep meds with mixed results until landing on Ambien/zolpidem. Has worked well at the same dose for 6 years, extremely surprisingly. Switched from immediate release to extended release, but this probably had more to do with the onset of hypomania rather than tolerance to ambien.

I've never had issues with ambien grogginess as long as I leave myself adequate time to sleep. On the other hand, I've had lots of issues with insomnia grogginess if I don't ambien up.