Anyone taken promethazine daily long term and then stopped?

[SilentRoller]

Hi all,
Quick question - has anyone here ever taken promethazine /phenergan long term and then stopped?

I got into the habit of taking 25mg before bed, starting a new years ago as the Dr suggested them when I was suffering a bout of insomnia. They worked really well, and I suppose I never really got out the habit of taking it. So most nights for the last few years I've taken it. Even mentioned this to different health professionals over the years - no one seemed bothered about long term use.

Fast forward to now. I've been having another insomnia patch where I can't fall into deep sleep very well, and I thought fuck it,,why am I still taking this phenergan? It's probably doing sod all after all this time?!. So last night was the first night without one and I feel like I've barely slept and got random temperature changes.

I know this insomnia wasn't started by these as I was still taking them when it began, but the thought has just dawned on me - does promethazine have a grim withdrawal/rebound? I assumed being an anti histamine it probably didn't, and as no one said anything I simply continued. Furthermore, I did some reading about how these antihistamines are awful on your memory long term so I decided to cut it out. For reference, when I was younger, I stopped chlorphenamine (another sedating anti histamine) after a year due to hay fever and had no issues. So I assumed this would be the same. Have I fucked up awfully? Hoping I haven't.

If anyone can chime in, that would be brill.

 

[emkee_reinvented]

Took two 25 mg dosisses my whole life, great for insomnia. If the effect s on dream s fade away had two wicked nightmare night s on them. They sure knock you out.
Just not your dream s imo, dr prescribed Quetiapine once, same reason to not have to prescribe a useful medication like a hypnotic Benzo/ Z-drug. Dr. =
These AP s rely on anti-Histamine for laying you flat right. Then why not prescribe,
DiPhenHydramine or something even cleaner like 7.5/ 15 mg Mirtazepine.
I never slept on Quetiapine just for the record. So i d swap to Diphen if it work s.
[no exp. as it s not OTC here, nothing is/ Mirtazepine used to work but not on my insomnia/ Midazolam didn touch it. Through it it seems as of yet. ]

Which is devoid of anti-Cholinergic and especially AP, which are medically contraindicated as use for insomnia. Off label use the Dr. association label s improper use. Would avoid all kinda nasty un-needed action imo ?

 

[SilentRoller]

Cheers for the info. Very difficult to find a definite answer on this, as most places just say withdrawal isn't a thing.

However I have googled anti-Cholinergic rebound and it looks terrifying and savage. But it's such a broad term, it also covers withdrawal things such as parkinsons meds, so I'm not sure if this relates to me?!

All I'm assuming is that if there is a WD, it isn't life threatening and I could perhaps bypass a lot of it (assuming it lasts a week or so) with benzos? Problem is I don't want to trade one issue for another. May just power through and cross my fingers

 

[Shambles]

Anticholinergic wd is indeed brutal… but 25mg a day of promethazine probably isn’t gonna get you to the level where it would kick in.

These kinda things don’t tend to work great anyway taken endlessly - much better taken as and when required imo.

 

[SilentRoller]

Anticholinergic wd is indeed brutal… but 25mg a day of promethazine probably isn’t gonna get you to the level where it would kick in.

These kinda things don’t tend to work great anyway taken endlessly - much better taken as and when required imo.

Cheers Shambles - you always manage to chime in with some great advise.

I managed to get better sleep last night so I hope things are on the up. The GP suggested a taper with 10mg for 2 weeks, but I decided to just power through rather than prolong it, as I hope the rebound doesn't last super long anyhow. I'm not in work until Monday so I have a few more days when I can be tired.

Every day is a a school day though. I had no idea antihistamines had any kind of rebound. To get sweats/sleep issues etc from stopping an antihistamine was pretty surprising. Glad to be off it - my memory already feels better!

 

[Jackal]

I take one each afternoon for some years as an antihistamine

Occasionally i run out and won't get another blister for a few days

No noticeable effect on my sleep when that happens, i don't really worry about my sleep in general tho