insomnia??????

insomnia......????

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For about 2 years I have been taking Ambien for sleep....the highest dose possible 12 mg.
I continue to read scarey things about it and am afraid that I am addicted to it....developing a tolerance.
I have read that it has very serious side effects and is very difficult getting off/ discontinuing...that the withdrawl is horrible....that it causes rebound insomnia.

Here is my question for you fine people:
How many hours do you sleep a night? Is this enough?
HOw many of you suffer with insomnia? or sleep issues for that matter?
Have you ever tried sleeping pills/aides before?
If you can't/won't take them how does your not
sleeping interfer with your life.
Does this insomnia make you manic?
HOw do you deal with not sleeping?
Do you hold a job...have to get places the next day?
I ask all of this because I worry about taking this med.
Have tried other meds, restoril, lunesta, benadryl, melatonin etc.
I already know that if I don't take an ambien then I can't sleep.
I wonder how long that would last....
Has any one successfully tapered off a sleeping pill and how are you sleeping now?
bizi
__________________

That's what I was thinking too. You read my mind....

Hello Bizi! I can answer most of your questions. Hope this helps......i sleep 4hours on a GOOD nite; some nites not at all. NO this is not enough. sometimes we fall asleep sitting up performing tasks during the day for about 20 minutes. Then we're usually good to go for several more hours.....have had lifelong insomnia issues and know its not good for our body but can't seem to improve it......have tried just about all of the usual sleeping pills - most of them don't help. Ambien and Lunesta seemed to help but after a couple of months quit working so we quit taking. Also didn't like the hungover feelin the next morning. ....It might be a good idea to talk with your doctor some more about the ambien. Like if it is bad for you, then Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Would sleeping LESS interfere with your daily activities (especially what has to be done). Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more about this.... I often ask ourself which is more important, Quality or Quantity of life......

Here are my answers to your Q's!

-How many hours do you sleep a night?4-5 max
-Is this enough? not usually
-How many of you suffer with insomnia? I have suffered most of my life with it
-Have you ever tried sleeping pills/aides before? Yes, I have tried numerous ones, including Ambien, but had to stop taking it because I was doing, saying and eating things and not remembering what I did!!! Now I am on Vistaril....it sorta works.
-If you can't/won't take them how does your not sleeping interfere with your life? When I am not taking anything I become super sleepy on the job and then at night I can't sleep again. It makes me SUPER cranky, lethargic and just not willing to do much of anything.
-Does this insomnia make you manic? Sometimes
-How do you deal with not sleeping? I nap whenever my bosy and mind allows it...if it does
-Do you hold a job...have to get places the next day? Yes, I work a full time job, but after many many days of not sleeping I usually have to call in sick because I start to really feel sick from lack of sleep.
-Has any one successfully tapered off a sleeping pill and how are you sleeping now? I stopped taking them for about a year and my sleep was completely screwed up, thus making me miserable to live with. I had to get back on sleeping pills so that I could really start caring about things and wanting to work on my issues.

I hope this helps some....

BJ

Thank you for posting...
4 hours on a good night....that is awful.
What is troubling to me is this hungover feeling...a drugged feeling that I have in the morning and I am so not motivated to get up.
It is like I am in bed 10 hours and it still isn't long enough....
for the past 6 months I have been taking the ambien earlier before going to bed because it seems to not be working as quickly as it used to.
I am taking geodon in the evenings as well.
only 40mg....maybe that has a sedating enough effect to be my only sleep aid.
The only way to know is to try.
I asked hubby what he thought....we will see.

bizi

Hello again bizi! The hungover feelng in the morning is the pits. When we did take ambien, had to get up at least 3 hour earlier than when we had to be somewhere cause it took 1-2 hours just to motivate beyond a cup of coffe or 2 or 3........Is this something that your doc will work with you on???????? That might be a good place to start too. Hubby helps us make a lot of our decisions too, don't know what I would do without him and Boo (she's our ever faithful other best friend\dog). Smiles and Hugs !

Thanks for your replies.
I don't see my pdoc for another 5 months.
I just saw her a few weeks ago.
Not sure how she would respond, she did not really like it that I got off klonipin on my own...
bizi

WOWW bizi!!Sounds like your in a tough spot.Don't know what to say to that one. I really hope that you can find a solution - i know how hard it makes everyday functioning when you can't sleep. we also understand all too well about the hungover feelings the next morning and related concerns about the sleeping medication. i've been chewed out quite a few times myself for weaning myself off a med before the doc oked it. Do you work? Also, if you don't have a very comfortable relationship w/ your pdoc, what about finding a different one? is that even an option? Hope your hubby is really supportive. Here to help any way we can, beadlady29

Thank you beadlady
Yes I work but dont start my day until 10. So I have a long time to rest. I am going to ask my pdoc for the lower dose of ambien to switch to first then ask her about a taper schedule...she is not going to be happy about that.
wonder if I need to switch to a benzo to do a taper? Any suggestions?
bizi

Hello bizi! Glad to hear that you have some wiggle room in the a.m. we did not take anything extra while tapering off the ambien and didn't really seem to have any bad wds's. we actually feel gooder now that we're off of it. Like we can get moving like a 'normaler' person even early, and the foggy spaced out stuff during the daytime seems to be gooder too. the drawback - we still don't sleep so very much!!!

bead lady when you say we do you mean your spouse?
jsut curious?
glad to hear that you were able to withdraw easily...not good that you are not sleeping much...does that make you manic? are you bipolar 1 or 2...
thanks for responding to me.
bizi

hows it going bizi?Yes, i do have my hubby, but often when i say 'we' i'm referring to myself and all her collective parts. We're DID (otherwise known as MPD). And, yes, one of our parts is bipolar I and yes, when going w/out sleep for more than a 24-hour period She can get really manic. had an episode a couple of nights ago as a matter of fact. Things between me and hubby can get really hairy when that happens because not even She ( the bipolar alter) has a clue about what she did, said, etc. This definitely complicates an already distressed situation. At the moment we're really, realllllly rrrrrrrrrreaaaaaaaallllly depressed and disappointed. Can't seem to pull ourself out of the dumps. We've got a lot going on right now - getting ready to move along with looking for both a new T and a new pcp ( the other pcp moved to Minnesota). God doesn't make it a habit of putting more on our plate than we can handle but sometimes ....like right now.........it seems like a pretty close call. Very thankful for PC. If anyones's out there, and of course you bizi whenever you get here, pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaase respond.

HI beadlady,
and thank you for your reply.
YOu sound like you have your plate full with the move and all of the changes.
It sounds very stressful.
Sorry that you are so depressed rigth now....so you get aggitated with your anxiety being so high?
bizi
hopeing it lets up for you soon...when is the move?

Hi. Bizi! THANK YOU TOO!! ........Agitated seems to be our midle name these days. Supposed to move into new apartment 06-03. Here's a good one...have to be out of this apt. 05-30. .HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.there's a 4-day period in there whereing i haven't a clue where we (me. hubby & Boo) are going to hang or store our houseful of stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Life's a Beach........i'm trying to just put it in God's hands and leave it there...we're TOO GOOD AT WORRYING don't know how to STOP............. ..How are you sleeping these days? Did you cut back on your ambien at all? Hope you're doing OK.....beadlady29

Had really bad insomnia for about 5 mos (1-1 1/2 hours of sleep a night). Was hypomanic (bipolar 1) but LOVING it--felt so much energy, enthusiasm, etc. Not tired at all & didn't tell my pdoc about it as I had been stable for 5 YEARS & was only checking in periodically. Anyway, after a lovely 5 mos. I suddenly crashed & overdosed (haven't done that in many years), ended up in the ER, etc., etc.

A year & a half later I'm still not recovered; sleeping a little better; usually about 3-4 hours for a few nights; then I'll go for 5-6 one night. Take a bunch of stuff to promote sleep as well as treat the bipolar, but sleep just doesn't seem to get regulated. I fall asleep hard (practically knocked out & I do have the "sleepwalking" effect where I can talk on the phone, sound coherent & have no memory of it the next day), but I wake up with a kind of internal high adrenaline feeling--all revved up. I am seeing pdoc every 2 weeks & still working on meds & have gone back into therapy.

Right now my pdoc puts down mixed episode--moderate for my dx on the ins. form.--Suzy

wow suzy,I can't imagine not sleeping for that long.
I am just unable it seems to get out of bed in the morning...no motivation at all.
I was in bed today for 10 hours and did not want to get out of bed....hubby came in at 11 am and got me up.
Perhaps I am "depressed".
Being bipolar 1, I can't take antidepressants...so the lamictal is my mood stabilizer, I take 40mg of geodon at nite and then the 12mg ambien....no wonder I am groggy in the mornings. I thihnk the ambien is what is effecting me the worse...think I could jsut get by witht he geodon, it is a sedative med as well.
bizi

Bizi--for me Geodon was VERY SEDATING. I could only be on it 4 days as I fell asleep while driving on it. I was at work (& at the time worked in a very public forum) & this wave of exhaustion just swept through me. People could see it; they were asking if I was OK. I was not.

So I said I was feeling unwell & needed to go home. Fell asleep while driving home. The only thing that saved me as I veered off the road was that there was gravel on the shoulder & the sound of the gravel woke me up.

I came home & was dizzy, could barely get into the house, had to lie down on the entry way floor until the dizziness passed, then couldn't make it to the bedroom I was so wiped out. Landed on the couch & basically passed out. As it happens a neighbor came by for something & was ringing the door bell & I wasn't roused by the sound & she could see me through the window on the couch.

She called my husband at work. My God, Geodon put me into the land of the living dead. Yet I know for other people it works well. Just a thought to review your meds. I would not put up with having to sleep that much & be groggy. Life is passing by quickly enough & I hate to say it, but I have had several (actually more than several) suicide attempts so when I am feeling well I want to be awake, alive as I don't know what my illness will lead me to tomorrow.--Suzy

Wow suzy...
Geodon is sedating....That must have been jsut awful.
I know that these meds all seem to work on the same area...slow us down, aren't antipsychotics, benzos and sleeping pills all sedating?
they work on the same receptor sites right?
so I wonder if I should go back on klonipin to get off the ambien?
which is worse?
bizi
thanks for sharing your story with me.

well things don't look good, took my ambien 2 hours ago and I am still not tired...going to go lay down right now.
bizi

bizi--hope you got some sleep & feel good today.--Suzy

Should have had a trigger on some of my posts. I forgot about that. I haven't been posting here much over the last year. I'll try to be more aware of that & apologize. I hope I didn't cause anyone any problems.--Suzy

thank you suzy, I haven't posted on here for a very long time....I think you are fine.
bizi

Hello Suzy! i'm kinda new around here. Have posted on this thread kinda recently and just read your posts here today. Just want to let you know that my prayers are with you as you struggle to get back on topside again.
Also would like to say that i hope you're getting meds straightened out and that you like your T and therapy is going well/helping you.
Your experience with Geodon and falling asleep at the wheel sounds so scary and i'm very glad you're ok. we ( all of i's parts, collectively) have been down the geodon path too and not only was it extremely sedating, it also upset our stomach something awful. i finally told my pdoc that we refused to take the geodon anymore because i hate that La La Feeling. i don't know that being always drugged up is the answer to treating/preventing my manic episodes and/or my other symptoms. we realize that we do need some meds; just not some of the ridicuously high does that these doc's call :therapuetic".
we've also had several suicide attempts but i now have an extra incentive to try not to go there anymore. My hubby's ex DID commit suicide with an overdose of drugs and alcohol and i definitely do not want to put him thru anything like that again, no matter how bad we feel inside. it would be moe than he could bear and him being hurt so bad again because of me would be something that i definitely do not want to do. This new perspective has really had a profound impact on me. - it motivates us to do whatever is necessary to protect me from myself and doing something stupid during distressed times.
I agree with you 100% that life is too short to let it pass by while i'm in la land because of all these wicked meds they have out nowadays. i want to be aware of my surroundings and what's gong on in the world around me.
i hope that your life leads you back to the road of peace, joy and happiness very, very soon. we're always just a PM away if you ever have the need. God Bless, beadlady29

Hello bizi!!!!! Just a friendly note to let you know that i hope you've finally gotten some good, healing restful sleep and that my prayers are with you!

Beadlady: What a nice & caring post. I am quite overwhelmed, actually.

I had not had any suicide attempts for MANY years (though had extremely strong thoughts) because of concern for my 2 children & the effect on them as my mother was also bipolar & after many attempts & stays in the mental institution did finally succeed in killing herself when I was a teenager.

I didn't want to pass that legacy on to my children so that is why I'm still so shaken that "something" overtook me & my senses & led me to that irrational behavior of ODing a year & a half ago & it's scared me quite a bit.

The new therapist seems to be very good. I see her today.

Only slept 1 hour & 45 min. last night despite all these sedating meds. Just feel so revved up & anxiety too, despite the klonopin I took before bed. Oh well, this is nothing new to me. I actually love the feeling of being hypo manic; it's just the fear of the depression returning suddenly & with a vengeance like it did that led to the OD.

See pdoc next week. My dx for quite a while now has been bipolar 1--mixed moderate so meds are still being adjusted. She wants to add Serequel to aid in sleep, but I'm resisting as I already take so many meds & I don't want to take anything that will make me groggy in the morning.

I want to live; I've spent so much of my life depressed (I'll be 54 tomorrow) that when I'm not depressed I want to squeeze every drop of the experience possible each day.

I'm glad you have found a reason to live & not give into the suicidal ideation.

Thanks again for the kind words.--Suzy