[jean17]

Feel like I'm on the edge of the slope again. Feeling sad & lonely even though I'm out around people for a couple hours most days. I don't like socializing. I'm very much an introvert, but I try. I know I shouldn't take OTC's along with my prescribed meds, but I often get caught up in taking just a little extra to take the edge off of my despair and anxiety. It doesn't help and just makes me worse. Why do I do it? In the moment I act rashly knowing just a little more will knock me out and I'll sleep. Sleep is escape from the world. I wish I didn't have to, but sometimes I just find it so hard being here.

[allimsaying]

Hi Jean,

I understand just wanting to sleep. In sleep I can dream and sometimes dreams have been better than the real world for me. Take life just a little at a time if that helps. Try not to take on all lifes problems at once if you can. I know how it feels tho.

[Sam2]

Sometimes sleep is the only way to get some peace, you're right, you shouldn't mix drugs. After a while, sleep medications lose their ability to make you drowsy enough to sleep. That is tolerance. It can happen with OTC meds like benadryl as well.

There are a couple of problems with that. The next time you want to take a little extra to take the edge off, if you have done it enough times, even the extra won't help. In essence by trying to make your prescribed medications more effective, you may be making them less effective.

The second problem is that even though your body becomes tolerant to the drowsy side effects, it doesn't always become tolerant to the amount that seperates a high therapeutic dose and an overdose. There is no way to know what that dose is, and it may differ even within yourself.

I had a friend die when the wrong combination came at the wrong time. He was taking prescribed meds, and often taking them at higher doses than he should have. He never had a problem, so thought everything was ok. A few years ago, he became ill, septic cause unknown, and had only been home from the hospital for a few days. He still wasn't well. He took the same, elevated dose of the meds that he had done previously, but in the face of an illness that was still there, it killed him. We know how much he took because someone was there at the time. She left the room, he was fine, when she came back fifteen minutes later, he was dead.

I know I sound like a lecturing parent, but you don't want to wind up either dead or stuck with a dose of prescription meds that no longer work for you.
The information that we get about our medications is only part of the story. There are a whole list of interactions with other drugs and side effects we may not have been told about. Its a dangerous game. If you are still having trouble sleeping, let your Dr. know. Sometimes sleep medications can be rotated, making them more effective for you.

Sam2