[anxietygirl]

I was so hopeful when I was given trazodone that I would sleep. I have horrendous nightmares all about being murdered, I call out for my mom who was killed in a car accident, and wake up all throughout the night. I am just going to have to accept that I will never get good sleep again. My doctor doesn't want me to rely on klonopin but it is the only thing that has helped me sleep. He gives me a prescription but then gets frustrated when I take it. I only take 1mg at night. So I haven't taken it and I have had no decent sleep. I know that I am going to be killed in a car accident or have horrible damages to my mental and physical health if I can't sleep. I cant even enjoy my kids because I am so mentally and physically worn out. The lexapro has helped with depression but I would cut my right arm off for a good night's sleep. What should I do?

[chalmette70043]

Hi anxietygirl. I just wanted to let you know the traz did the same exact thing to me. After about two weeks fighting to see if the nightmares would stop, they just got worse. So i tossed the traz away. I've been on klono, but it doesnt help me to get to sleep unless i take quite a few. So for the past few years i've just been dealing with the nightmares as they come and have become use to the 4-5 hours asleep i get at night.

I dont have kids to run after, but i know how they can wear you out. I dont know how old your kids are but maybe they could help out around the house more to give you a break some. Get things done faster so you have time to spend with them and not be exhausted.

wishing you the best
chal

[multipixie9]

Is is possible for you to go see a therapist for some help? It sounds like you have some unresolved issues with your mom's death and that it makes you have nightmares. I know that is really hard to cope with because I've had issues with sleep myself and with past trauma.

Would your doctor let you take something like ambien at night to see if it will help you? The fact is you do need some sleep and if you only took one mg klono at night and did not increase the dosage there's no reason you could not use it sometimes. If you had a therapist you could see about the underlying issues you may be able to resolve the grief or fear or whatever is disrupting your sleep and it would be much better for you in the long run.

You need to take care of yourself so you can take care of and enjoy your children. You matter.

Leslie

[Slothrop]

Originally Posted by multipixie9

Would your doctor let you take something like ambien at night to see if it will help you?

I agree, Ambien is a good one to try. Lunesta, too.

I have had good luck with estazolam, which is a benzodiazepine.

With any of these meds, a few people may experience amnesia, like getting up in the middle of the night and doing things they don't remember later. If that happens to you, I suggest trying a different med! Halcion did that to me, but the other drugs mentioned have not. Good luck!

(Also, trazodone did not work for me at all. )

[beadlady29-old]

((((((((((((((((anxietygirl))))))))))))))))

sorry cuz there aint much advice we can offer here.

but we can tell you that our heart is with you because beads has been dealing with imsomnia issues all of her adult life ( and most of younger too).

unfortunately, we aint found nuthing out there what really helps yet. 3-4 hours is a GOOD night.

anyway, hope you find something that DOES work without the addes side effect of the nightmares.

beads

[eskielover]

I was having horrible nightmares right after the trauma with the home care person who was abusing my Mother when she was dying of cancer. Not only was there ID theft, & theft of my Mothers jewelry, but I was the one who caught her doing it & then she OD"ed my Mother on morphine. When I finally got my mother into the hospital for her safety after the OD, I was afraid for myself & my Mother of what she might do especially to me because I had gone to the police with it. The anxiety caused me to loose so much weight because I couldn't eat without getting sick, & the nightmares kept getting worse even while I was in the medical hospital for a month with IV nutrition because I was so sick. With all of this, there wasn't anything strong enough to help until my Pdoc finally came up with seroquel. It is very strong & really knocked me out......but I could sleep without any nightmares. When I woke up after taking it I felt like I had a hangover...but since I wasn't working & really wasn't able to even function....that wasn't a problem. The nightmares continued until I move to Kentucky 3 years later.....it was then I stoped taking the seroquel. I was also afraid of taking a medication that strong while living alone with my 6 doggies. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to even function at times & not be able to care for my eskies, so that was also why I quit taking it.....but when I needed sleep, it was the answer to stopping the nightmares & really knocking me out for a good night's sleep.

Debbie

[sweetpea_tx]

I know that everyone dreams, but personally, I have "trained" myself not to remember them (long story... suffice it to say that I suffered a stroke at 19, and it was way too much for me to be haunted in my dreams by the fact that EVERYTHING still worked... I think it was a coping mechanism more than anything, to just block them out)... when my docs in the past have given me traz, the dreams have been remembered, because they were so vivid and so messed up... I can still remember some of them, they were that bizarre. I hate Traz... I prefer to wake up and not be having a panic attack. Ambien and Lunesta have worked well for me in the past. Seroquel was hands down the best for sleep... my only problem with Seroquel was that with the shifting of the moods, they'd have to adjust it so that it would work without leaving me in a stupor halfway through my day.

[beadlady29-old]

this IS interesting. beads also found that seroquel has helped her with sleep issues in the past, but it took such a high dose to get us to sleep at nite that we found ourself doing things like falling asleep quite literally sitting at her desk with her face fallen into the bead tray. it was quite comical in a way because we would wake up and pick seed beads off of our face. needless to say beads did not stay on seroquel very long because of this.

wishing you the goodest,

mary of beads

[Eleora]

I found seroquel to be a miracle drug for sleep. The only problem is the hang over after affect but because I take a low dosage it just sort of calms me down enough to sleep. Doctor has me taking a low, low dosage in the morning and a bit of a higher one, albeit still low, at night. I sleep like a baby and have little of the hangover affects in the morning. I highly suggest trying this method.

Something you might want to consider, if possible, is to get a second opinion. Sometimes you have to "shop around" for a doctor that will listen to you and consider your opinion, although I do agree that you probably shouldn't be taking klonopin on a regular basis. It can be super addictive.

[beadlady29-old]

beads tried doing the real low dose in the a.m. and a somewhat highter dose
at bedtime, however we had a side effect from this ( as well as just the higher dose at bedtime as previously mentioned) that we forgot to tell you about anxietygirl............beads close-up vision got real blurred like - she had no depth perception. we could not tolerate this side effect because of what she do - beadwork with the tiny seed beads - whereas this prolly would not bother the average bear very much............anyway, just thunked we ought to mention this because we did not know whether or not this would be an issue for you.
hope this also helps,
mary of beads

[dearyou]

Originally Posted by anxietygirl

I was so hopeful when I was given trazodone that I would sleep. I have horrendous nightmares all about being murdered, I call out for my mom who was killed in a car accident, and wake up all throughout the night. I am just going to have to accept that I will never get good sleep again. My doctor doesn't want me to rely on klonopin but it is the only thing that has helped me sleep. He gives me a prescription but then gets frustrated when I take it. I only take 1mg at night. So I haven't taken it and I have had no decent sleep. I know that I am going to be killed in a car accident or have horrible damages to my mental and physical health if I can't sleep. I cant even enjoy my kids because I am so mentally and physically worn out. The lexapro has helped with depression but I would cut my right arm off for a good night's sleep. What should I do?

Tell your doctor. Weird dreams got me switched off Trazodone and onto Remeron (15 mg). No weird dreams and improved appetite, but my mood was messed (prozac).