Sleep aids- what works best?

Ok people I need help. Since starting lamotrigine last thurs my sleep sucks. And to add insult to injury my imovane has become ineffective. Puts me to sleep but awake 2-3 hours later. Took Ativan instead but afraid of its addictive nature.
What’s the best sleep aid you’ve taken that’s still working for you???

Seroquel(quetiapine) in low dose. 25 mg to 50 mg knocks me flat out.

Like the previous poster, low-dose Seroquel. 25-50mg. Out like Sleeping Beauty. Slight hangover the next day, but in my experience nothing else even comes close.

Fortunately (knock on wood) I haven’t had sleep issues in a while, but when I do that’s my fallback.

Promethazine knocks me out a whole night but I try not to use it every night as I don't want to overuse it and also it gives me a hangover (which is not unpleasant though as it helps me feel mellow in the mornings)

Melotonin also helps for the other nights but generally not the whole night

Geodon has worked for me for years now. I get a good night sleep and wake refreshed in the morning. The one thing to note is that people can talk to you while you’re sleeping and you’ll not remember even if people tell you the next day.

Zyprexa doses 7.5 mg and up, and clozapine, not sure what dose.

I take a small dose of seroquel (25mg) for sleep and it works like a charm. I also take melatonin.

Temazepam (30mg) helps me get to sleep, but I still get up many times during the night. I haven't had a full night's sleep in a very long time.

I take remeron. It works great. Wake up feeling refreshed. It has really increased my appetite though, so I'm going to have to go off it.

I also use temazepam (Restoril) 15-30 mg.


WC

I take 2.5 mg (low dose) of saphris. It is really pricey. pdoc prescribes it as 5mg that I cut in half to save money. I thought it was just for sleep but she says I am also getting some mania damping. Because of interaction with other meds and because I tend to be sensitive to psych meds (everything is lower than average dose) it is supposedly having more effect than just a sleep aid. But 2.5mg won't knock most people out; people take 5 or 10 mg twice a day and walk around.

I take 50 mg of Trazadone. Works pretty good for me. It’s non-addictive.

I take 100mg of trazodone gives me 6-8hours of sleep but I was taking 1.25mg of clonazepam and 50mg of trazodone before but my pdoc said that I couldn't do that anymore!

I wish I could find something. Let me know what works for you. I have tried all the above mentioned and no luck

A anvil on top of the head seemed to help Wiley Coyote sleep on the old Roadrunner show! I've heard that Benadryl (an OTC anti-histamine) helps some people, but I'm sure you might have tried that already.

I have tried the benadryl. Going anvil shopping this afternoon

Thanks for all the response, I appreciate it

I hope you find something that helps you get a good night’s sleep.

I use benadryl and Unisom ( not together!) And those help me sleep

Seroquel. I used to take high doses of it for mania, but as I got better, the dose went lower and lower. Now I just take it for sleep.

Within an hour, I no longer have saliva in my mouth and I know that means that I'm going to pass out soon. And that's what I do: pass out. I can rarely remember the next day when I went to sleep.

It's been extremely effective for me, the only problem being that I need some 10 hours of sleep on it. That's fine on weekends (I don't have kids and can usually sleep in), but affects me when I have to get up for work, even though I go to bed very early. I drink tons of espresso before leaving for the day.

So I would highly recommend a low dose of Seroquel (i.e. 25 mg) with the caveat that you need lots of sleep to not be a zombie the next day.

I've been taking Ambien (zolpidem, a sedative-hypnotic) 10 mg/night for about 10 years. It's a controlled substance, and I try on occasion to take less or stop it altogether, but anything that interferes with a good night's rest is just asking for trouble. Potential hazards are "sleep driving" and "sleep eating," both of which I've experienced. This is very distressing to me, as I live alone and could do almost anything without being aware of or recalling it. I've tried OTC products, like Benadryl and melatonin, w/o success. I've also tried alcohol, which complicated everything enormously. Not quite sure what to do at this point...

I would recommend not even starting Ambien if you can avoid it. Although it's not addictive, dependence is problematic and just as serious.

I have taken some of the advice on here. I have been catching the 30 minute window for sleep on klonopin and its working. I alternate with temazepam and I am sleeping. Thanks for the advice.

Raspberry-did they tell you that the higher the dose of remeron the less hungry it makes you? At 30 mg I ate all the time. 45 mg was better and 60 mg I had no problems at all (60 mg is higher than recommended but apparently commonly used).

On the other hand you can go really low and still get a benefit for sleep - that's all I used it for as it had little impact on my depression apart from numbing me emotionally a little - but when I came off it couldn't sleep at all so watch out - it's addictive and messes with your sleep cycle

Switched back to geodon and stopped abilify.
tapering off of seroquel to .5mg of klonipin.
added 3mg of melatonin and that has helped with my sleep.
Thank goodness.
I don't know for sure that it is the melatonin but I am grateful to be sleeping better.

In a few days My meds will be my signature line:
bizi