Benzos Helpful Sleeping Aid

[suckmydrugs]

I may have asked this question before, however I don’t remember the answer nor have I found a better or new answer.

I’m trying to procure an easy way to fall asleep and stay asleep for at least 6-8 hours. I’ve had Insomnia since I was a child, so you can imagine how many different types of Sleeping Pills my doctors have given me over the years.

When I take Hypnotics like: Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata, Rozerem
Either one of two things will happen… (1) I feel the side effects within 10-20 minutes, those side effects are Tactile, Auditory or Visual Hallucinations, in which I won’t fall asleep. (2) I fall asleep, but won’t wake up for 12+ hours. Even with multiple Alarm Clocks set, I sleep through them.

As you can see, this can be a very heavy burden for myself, I either don’t sleep and have very bad side effects, or I do fall asleep and call in to work very late the next day. (That excuse is getting old)

So, a few years ago my DR gave me Klonopin 1mg for sleep. With Tolerance levels growing, the Klonopin isn’t working like it used to. After it stopped working, I started taking OTC pills like Benadryl, Unisom, Melatonin, and Valerian Root along with the Klonopin. All of which are great, but the OTC pills still don’t give me a steady sleep-cycle; which is really hindering my capabilities during the daytime. (Always being tired from lack of sleep)

I need an OPINION as to what I should be researching into for a GOOD-NIGHT’S-REST, without the hassle of nasty Hypnotic pill Side Effects.

I’ve never tried a Barbiturate for sleep, although people all over the Internet seem to think Barbiturates are the way to go for Sleep. I honestly think a Barbiturate would be going overboard. That just my opinion…

So it would be very nice if anyone could help me out here; desperate times call for desperate measures. I can’t sleep well and I need to tell my DR to give me something that WILL help, instead of my DR using me as a guinea pig.

Over the years of having Insomnia, benzodiazepines are the only type of pill that has worked successfully without any counter side effects or lingering morning hangovers.

If anyone has insight on this topic, please redirect me in the correct direction. I really need to get some sleep. I believe with proper medication-adjustment, sleep can be possible.

Thank you for your help.

 

[BiggDirty01]

You might benefit from some atypical sleep aids:

1) Trazadone, an anti-depressant which is used in lower doses for sleep (<200mg)

2) Seroquel, an anti-psychotic that is also helpful and used for sleep (I think max is 100-150 mg)


The only other thing I can think of is switching from Ambien to Ambien CR which has decidedly less effects than the SR version.

Hope that helps

 

[Gyrospeck]

You could try a nightly dose of Xanax. I've been doing this for over a year for sleep and night time panic. I only take .5 mg once at night and it helps me sleep. Since Xanax is short acting (especially compared to Klonopin), tolerance raises much more slowly. It's very important to note that I don't dose more than once a day or increase my dose above 1mg. If you have the will power for not abusing benzos, then Xanax may work.

 

[Psychonauticunt]

You could try a nightly dose of Xanax. I've been doing this for over a year for sleep and night time panic. I only take .5 mg once at night and it helps me sleep. Since Xanax is short acting (especially compared to Klonopin), tolerance raises much more slowly. It's very important to note that I don't dose more than once a day or increase my dose above 1mg. If you have the will power for not abusing benzos, then Xanax may work.

There are benzos better suited for treating insomnia than clonazepam, which I do not find hypnotic at all. Alprazolam is no better in my opinion. If you want a short-acting benzo to take at night, just to fall asleep, midazolam and triazolam would be better choices. Temazepam is a good hypnotic but lasts a little while longer - still not more than 6-8 hours usually. Lorazepam is not a great hypnotic for me but works very well for some people.

Xanax and Klonopin are among the least sedative benzos in my opinion.

Also, take breaks when using benzodiazepines as hypnotics, as tolerance to those effects grows more rapidly. A good rule of thumb is to take the drugs on two consecutive nights and to skip every third - even if this means little to no sleep that night.

 

[sekio]

Don't use benzodiazepines to treat sleep issues for any period of time longer than about a week! They can cause bad, bad dependence and lose efficacy rather rapidly. The general consensus is that they're not a sustainable treatment.

"Atypical" sedatives like trazodone, quetiapine/Seroquel, hydroxyzine/Atarax, doxylamine are best if you can tolerate them. In fact doxylamine was shown to be equipotent as phenobarbital for inducing sleep - but it doesnt produce dependence like pheno does.

However in my opinion, the best option is trying your best to get a regular, nondrugged sleep. Look up sleep hygeine if you haven't already and entrain your body to sleep at a reasonable bedtime - basically, develop a bedtime routine. Stay active during the day, don't overeat, make sure you get plenty of water, protien, vitamins and minerals. Have a hot shower, some chamomile tea, and stretch yourself out before you lay down in bed. If you're not sleepy, don't lay there tossing and turning, get up and go to bed when you feel tired. Then slowly work on moving yur bedtime back by 30 mins a day.

The problem you face is a negative feedback loop; you take sleep drugs which decrease sleep quality, and you wake up feeling sleepier (or in the case of some things like Klonopin - the drugs are still active) because your brain hasn't got the "right kind" of rest throughout the night. e.g. Not enough REM sleep.

You can also consider caffeine, either in pill form or as coffee/tea in the morning.

 

[cook]

The problem you face is a negative feedback loop; you take sleep drugs which decrease sleep quality, and you wake up feeling sleepier (or in the case of some things like Klonopin - the drugs are still active) because your brain hasn't got the "right kind" of rest throughout the night. e.g. Not enough REM sleep.

Actually the problem with benzodiazepines is the increase in REM-cycles, which is not even sleep because your brain is basically fully functioning and dreaming. Deep sleep is what we need to feel rested, and in my knowledge antihistamine sleep aids do not interfere with REM-cycles as the benzodiazepines strongly do.

 

[Hiltoniano]

I though deep, stage 4 sleep was the most physically resting, while stage 3(?) rem sleep is the sleep that mentally refreshes and helps one feel well rested mentally when you wake up.

 

[jambabomba]

Not every benzos affect negatively on REM-cleep cycle to my knowledge and also I had the impression the OP was allready addicted to benzos. Even if benzos affected rem-sleep does it really matter much? I'm speaking just because of practical experience. Many times people get very refreshed sleep with benzos and in the morning are ready to start day with full of energy, isn't it? So maybe theory isn't allways in line with practise. Someone mentioned antipsychotics and in my own experience they are counterproductive for many people and not very healthy option. Altough might help with sleep they propably are going to affect negatively on daytime and the OP had a job. I basically lost one of my job because of antipsychotics. Many mornings I was so "zombie" I couldn't go to work because I wasn't functioning at the level work demanded and many time I got there I really fell asleep there. So I wouldn't really suggests antipsychotics to working people. People need dopamine to do things. Of course someone could tolerate them.. this is just my experience and also many other people around me.

If concerned about REM sleep Lyrica has been found to improve sleep quality and it doesn't affect sleep structure. Might be worth trying at least it has helped me very much. So no rem disruptions there if its really going to cause some problems..

Now the following I say isn't suggestion to use DXM but rather just my own experience ant just might give something to think of. So don't blame me of suggesting DXM use.

I have had insomnia from teenager (about ten years at least). So I've allso tried to find "thousands" of options for it. At the moment I'm using DXM and despite my benzo and phenibut withdrawal I've been sleeping amazingly good (I've fighting with GABAergics many months and have wrote about my long lasting withdrawals here many posts and it has been sometimes hell to me with many days of sleepless nights etc.). In my last withdrawal attempt before DXM I was strugling with 1,5mg of clonazepam to get 3-4h of sleep but after adding DXM I could get about 10 hours of refreshing sleep even that I simultaneously lowered my clonazepam dose rapidly.

I'm thinking benefits from DXM might come at least from its serotonergic effect, NMDA effects (wich lowers anxiety I suppose) and probaply from the simple fact it stimulates you during day.

I'm thinking it is beneficial for sleep to be as stimulated as possible (and healthy - don't thinking meth here) during day time. If you can't do heavy sport then maybe adding some stimulant might be good. Mainly I'm thinking this because DXM has stimulated me now during days so that I have used my brains and body instead of usually in withdrawals I'm sitting down to couch and thinking how miserable my situation is. Well, if you will raise your metabolic rate and use your body and brains during day - with drugs or without - I believe it should be beneficial for your sleep. Your body starts to demand more sleep. DXM has been good for this purpose because its half-life is so small that when you take it in morning and midday you'll propably be stimulated throghout the day and by the evening your core temperature and metabolic rate will drop wich all will make you sleepy (note that core temperature has direct effect on your activity level and sleep). Also because of its serotonergic component it will help you sleep propably through that also (just based on my personal experience). If your core temperature is too high at evening it is very difficult or impossible to fall asleep. So rising your metabolic rate and temperature through the day and dropping it to the evening will help multiple ways.

Strong melatonin agonists will lower your core temperature and help with sleep. You might want to try big doses of melatonin (9mg or more) or try ex. Agomelatin wich has strong melatonin agonist effect and also serotonin receptor antagonist effect wich both help you sleep. Agomelatine with DXM have together gave me very good sleep despite of benzo withdrawal. I have long history with this subject and has tried ex. quetiapine), ssri:s, snri:s, mirtazapin, clonidine, propranolol, hydroxyzine, doxylamine, multiple natural products etc. (altough very efficient many of them) and considering I'm now withdrawing with GABAergics wich is known to make sleeping allmost impossible especially when insomnia was one of the reasons I was using benzos my current results with those drugs has really amazed me.

Edit: I noticed you were from Alaska. Have you tried bright light therapy? I think living in that altitude isn't best for improving sleep quality. Maybe bright lights, SNRI, dopamine and metabolic boost through day, and strong melatonin agonist and benzo in evening would help together?

 

[duanomatic]

http://www.myzeo.com/sleep/

I used one of these to fine-tune my lifestyle so that I could sleep with the minimum amount of sedatives possible. It was really helpful.

 

[The.Ghost]

I've also run the gamut with sleeping pills. IMHO, Olanzapine (Zyprexa), an antipsychotic, is the strongest knockout pill there is. The lowest dose pills are 2.5 mg, but even half of that will easily knock you out solid for a while. It does have quite a next-day hangover, though. Just my 2 cents.

OP, can you list what you've taken, for how long, and what effects you got so we know what to rule out? There are quite a few sedatives out there.