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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Alternative to Ambien/Zolpidem for sleep?

kaiba

kaiba

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 24, 2010
Messages
191
I think Ambien is making me sleep walk.

Any alternatives that doesn't make you sleep walk?
 
yea use Risterill aka temazepam! lol just be in bed cause u might fall asleep eating pop tarts wake up with them all over your shirt n ur face on the plate lol
 
Other z-drugs (eg. zopiclone) but they'll likely have similar side effects. Same goes for the sedating benzos (eg. nitrazepam), as they have pretty similar effects.

Sedating antihistamines can be pretty good, (eg. diphenydramine/benadryl) bit hit and miss though. Also worth looking into melatonin, which can be very effective and lacks many side effects.

How long have you been on ambien for insomnia, though? It's not a drug that you should be doing for a long period of time, due to addiction and withdrawals.
 
Yes, Zyprexa is a good alternative. But i think something even better than Zyprexa is Doxepin. You should look into it. Just 10mg will put you out. i currently have like 4 pills of 50mg that i got from a friend. Haven't tried it yet because i haven't needed it since 100mg of trazodone has been working quite well. of course, you should also try having an orgams before going to sleep. yes, i'm serious. j/o like 30mins before you take your pills and try to lay down and go to sleep. lol
 
mrflowers00 said:
zyprexa but if it's just for sleep the side effect profile may be considered too great
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I've tried zyprexa/olanzapine before for sleep/insomnia. I didn't feel sleepy. Ambien/Seroquel is better.

killik420 said:
yea use Risterill aka temazepam! lol just be in bed cause u might fall asleep eating pop tarts wake up with them all over your shirt n ur face on the plate lol
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I heard Temazepam is not as sedating as Ambien.

nAON said:
Other z-drugs (eg. zopiclone) but they'll likely have similar side effects. Same goes for the sedating benzos (eg. nitrazepam), as they have pretty similar effects.

Sedating antihistamines can be pretty good, (eg. diphenydramine/benadryl) bit hit and miss though. Also worth looking into melatonin, which can be very effective and lacks many side effects.

How long have you been on ambien for insomnia, though? It's not a drug that you should be doing for a long period of time, due to addiction and withdrawals.
Click to expand...

So zopiclone and nitrazepam might also cause sleep walking?

Diphenhydramine/benadryl is hit and miss for me.

I've been taking ambien/zolpidem for a couple of years but I only take it 1-3 times per week.
 
Which forum on bluelight is the best to start a thread on sleepwalking?
 
I forgot to mention that I've been taking Ambien for a couple of years but I began sleep walking this month!
 
Sleepytime rules:
* don't drink coffee (or similar caffeine-laden beverages) after about 3 pm.
* don't do vigorous exercise for about two hours before bedtime.
* dim the lights about 30 minutes before bedtime; anything more than 500 Lux means that the pineal gland thinks it's still bright day. If you're at all sensitive, you won't fall asleep for 30 minutes
* no mentally stimulating activities within an hour before bed, including TV, computer, etc.
* relax, let go of your stresses and stressors

And then there are these plants in tincture form, or raw if you know how to find them:

* Try milky oats (Avena species, picked when the unripe seed, when popped, releases its white milk)
* California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
* St. John's wort
* Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata)
* if you're in a t-shirt when everybody around you is huddling under blankets, try hops (Humulus species) (which is a very "cold" herb),
* if you're in blankets when everybody around you is in T-shirts, try valerian (Valeriana species) (which is a "hot" herb),
* Lotus seed (lian zi)... eat about 5 or 6 around bed
 
if ou mean meds for insomnia and other sleeping disorders, Alimenazine is you're best bet for good slepp, with no addiction orr abse potential.. quetiapine ( seroquel) will put you to sleep, but it personnally rendered me unable operate tthe next day, and as i tried to get used to it, it got more and dysphoric, not suiidal, but unmotivated, bored, and feeling worse than before i started the treatment, i gave it a 2 week trial, and allthough it knocked me out (the seroquel) better than any benzo or barbiturte, the sidde effects were just unbearable.....

i don't want go get itno the argument on whether or not you should be taking benos, its far too long a discution (but definately only even consider the oher benos as an absolutely last solution if ALL else fails

i think you shold explore the messages above and the Alimenazine... also CBT is (from some sources i seem to remember) more efficiant than any of these methods to improve your sleeping dissorder + most sleeping disorders are signs of an underlying psyhological problem, it can be very easy to treat, seeing a shrink regulrly, or it can be a more serious underlying condition that will be harder to treat...

my0.2
 
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with zyprexa i have to take at least 20mg 30 is even better and it takes 2 to 3 hours before i can sleep so i take it about 2 1/2 hours before i want to sleep
 
If your looking for short term cures for insomnia you could give temazepam a try. Its under the trade name restoril. It is a highly sedating benzodiazapine prescribed for primarily Insomnia. Dosages of 15-45mg have been shown to be as effective as 5-10mg of ambien with far less rates of sleep walking among users.

I used Temazepam at 30mg for a few weeks and it worked like a charm for me. Also did not leave me one bit hungover feeling.
 
Sorry for repeating some information on here fellas. I just now saw that Temazepam has already been mentioned. :(
 
Mirtazapine- highly effective at putting and keeping you asleep but weight gain is a side effect for many people. I've been on it for around 10 months and it usually puts me alseep in 45 min to 1 hour.
 
Snake_Eyes said:
Mirtazapine- highly effective at putting and keeping you asleep but weight gain is a side effect for many people. I've been on it for around 10 months and it usually puts me alseep in 45 min to 1 hour.
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I just started taking mirtazapine a few days ago along with wellbutrin for depression. Mirtazapine has helped me greatly thus far with sleep.
 
Strange things can happen on zolpidem. Its addictive as well and tolerance builds up fast. I went from zolpidem to Seroquel. Works like a champ.
 
mirtazepine made me soo hungry i would make these huge meals before bed (if i didn't eat i just lay awake thinking about food LOL) and as you probably know eating a big meal before sleep is very bad for getting restfull sleep.... thats why it didn't work for me... i think i put on 20 or 30kg in 2-3 months of mirtazepine use
 
Temazepam is much more sedating for me than zolpidem. Nitrazepam is very effective at getting you to sleep and less likely to make you sleepwalk and sleepeat than zolpidem, but for me it gives a pretty horrible hangover. Zopiclone is great for getting to sleep but since you suffer from sleepwalking from ambien its likely you'll get it from zopiclone also. And zopiclone steals your memory even worse than high xanax doses which can be very annoying. I'd go with temazepam, its Fantastic!
 
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