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Misc Drugs for Insomnia

sekio said:
Lots of good suggestions, but I would avoid benzodiazepines and opiates as sedatives because they will lose efficacy and produce dependence.
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I believe it, but if you don't abuse you can keep it pretty low. I'm still on less than 1mg (clonaz/alpraz) a day and I have used them for about 2 years. I don't suggest benzo's, but some people really find help with them. If you need them, be vigilant about not abusing them, because I know people who have gotten to incredibly high doses that way.
 
Been going through this for awhile....1st off, I was scripted mitrazapine for my insomnia....but only 15mg....15mg and lower doses are more sedating than higher doses...I quit taking that dumb shit....it made me hungry and I had crazy dreams......I take 125-200mg of diphenhydramine every night...but I wish I had lunesta or Halcion :(
 
I too have chronic insomnia and will second the notion of trying to avoid benzos if you can afford to, but I havent had much luck with anything else (and I've tried absolutely everything suggested in this thread, except for nitrazepam - one of the few benzos I have yet to try. For almost two years now I have had good success with temazepam at between 20 and 30mg/night, but as someone else pointed out, it lost its efficacy after a while. I just began to use Halcion (triazolam) this week for insomnia and despite it's short, short half life (2-4 hours) it has me sleeping well all night. I hate having to cycle through various benzos to get a restful night's sleep, but if I have to, I have to.

Another medicine that helped me immensely with sleep is Lyrica, but its efficacy wears thin after a few months of using it nightly. That, and because there is no generic from of pregabalin yet available, it is quite the expensive script to fill each month.

~ vaya
 
I'd go for Nytol one-a-night if your in the UK (Not sure if they exist elsewhere). Get the 50mg ones, active ingredient: Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride. Just don't take too many unless you'd like to get in to a dissociated state! ;)
 
I asked the same thing on a native forum, pretty much everybody said zopiklon or zolpidem. I said it was very important that it wouldnt make me feel sleepy the day/morning after.
 
adrandell116 said:
I'd go for Nytol one-a-night if your in the UK (Not sure if they exist elsewhere). Get the 50mg ones, active ingredient: Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride. Just don't take too many unless you'd like to get in to a dissociated state! ;)
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Benadryl in the U.S


and I take about 200mg of that crap a night....
 
I guess Diphenhydramine would be best and safe. Dont take seroquel its an anti-psychotic i know it has sedative effects thats why they RX it but then if thats true why dont they give percocet/oxycodone or Morphine for sleep since it could be sedating. Seroquel worked for me in times of insomnia because diphenhydramine wouldnt work.

I wouldnt take seroquel again, i had a Rx script for it this Febuary and didnt take it for about 2-3 months i took one pill and i felt so dizzy, weighed down like i was drunk it made me like panic and want to throw it up but i couldnt. this never happened before even when i was aiming to feel funny on it so i threw them out at the clinc in the dipository thing and told them to cancel my whole Rx for it.
 
Some how, for the most part benadryl has never failed me....for some reason I find it impossible to fall asleep for more than 1 hour if I'm not in MY bed. :(
 
Ambien used to always help me.. But in cases when insomnia was caused by severe stress and anxiety I would sleep 4 hours on it, wake up and take another one to fall asleep.. In other words it's not a long acting med.. Benzos from my personal experiences (unless the shortest acting ones) would leave me groggy in the morning if I couldn't sleep for more than 7 hours. I found from the OTC meds valerian root preparations to be the best. It def. works. But I used to take loads of it.
When nothing is available a couple of beers on empty stomach before going to bed, or better two shots of liquor. It will waste you enough to pass out most likely but it's a sure way towards alcoholism. Phenazepam is so hard to dose right it might knock you out for a day or two and cause a temp. brain damage). Happened to me ones. Couldn't fall asleep and kept taking 1 mg every half an hour. Bad idea. I ended up consuming around 15 mg that night without any recollection, I spent entire day and bed and happened to be a total mess. Better stay up, get shitfaced tired and pass out from exhaustion that go through that experience again.
P.S. Benadryl and all of the meds with the same active ingredient cause horrible restless legs in me, make it actually hard to fall asleep and they last for too long with no tolerance and leave me feeling like a zombie next day..
 
I've never gotten RLS but some of my friends have....one of them took 50mg and saw spiders on his pillow....another friend said it made her clench her muscles.
 
cheap and non-addictive anti-hypertensives can aid in sleep.

Clonidine works well, but it can also cause insomnia in some people too... Propanolol I personally find quite sedating.
 
If the OP is not getting relief from a maximum dose of mirtazepine, and didn't benefit from seroquel or zyprexa, natural remedies won't do shit for him. No way. Maybe if he exercises daily, changes to a perfect diet, drinks lots of water, gets lots of sunlight and takes valerian and kava his ability to sleep will improve by like 1%.

If you find that you only really benefit from nitrazepam then I would suggest that this has something to do with its muscle-relaxant (in addition to just hypnotic) properties. You've tried other hypnotics with no benefit. Probably benzos are uniquely effective because they make you feel physically chill and calm instead of just badly headfucked.

Why don't you use nitrazepam every, say, second night? You can combine different anti-histamines but may get dry skin and will get a very dry mouth.

(By that I meant that on the nights you don't use a benzo, you can take 2 different anti-histamines together. I took doxylamine with diphenhydramine for a while when I was trying to avoid benzos. Pharmacist told me this was ok.)
 
Even when sedative doses of mirtazapine or even high dosages of benzos have failed to promote sleep for me, seroquel always ends up knocking me out. Although too much can cause RLS (very unwelcome to one with insomnia or an opiate addiction such as myself) unless taken alongside a muscle relaxant. Come up with a combo that suits you, maybe a mix of sedative antihistamines and natural relaxant herbal supplements: valerian root, skull cap, kava kava root extract ect.
 
Hi Micheal,
I have/had insomnia problems for just over 8 months, so I understand how vital sleep is. You might get better advice if you specify the type of insomnia you are experiencing, and what originates the problem. It seems like your problem is long-term and persistent, if you don't know why you are having trouble sleeping I suggest your visit a sleep lab/clinic (were they can measure your brain waves using electrodes, and then they can figure out which cycle is being interrupted). Once you know what the problem is it will be easier to treat. If you do know why you aren't sleeping (side of effect of injury/anxiety?) I suggest you try and fix that problem which will in turn fix your insomnia.

Here are some ideas:

Naturally: You can try the melatonin, your body produces melatonin naturally.. the chemical gradually increases in your body during the day making you feel tired. So if your body isn't producing enough of it, then you won't feel tired. This is available by perscription and in some health shops.. look around. There are none to very little side effects of the drug. It works great for some people..
You can also try to feel more relaxed at night by meditating, eating certain foods (bananas), or listening to soothing music. You can also try exercising early in the day.. to take away your energy.

Chemically: Some anti-depressent/anti-anxiety drugs are good for sleep at low dosages.. Elavil helped me a lot for a few months at 10mg. However what works for one might not work for another, but it is worth trying.. makes you feel really drowsy. Also opiates are sedatives and will bring on sleep, I'm particularly found of codeine's effects for sleep. I don't have much experience with other opiates just yet, so I can't compare -- although I'd imagine any others would work too.

I hope some of this information proves useful.
 
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One thing I found to work great for sleep is Kratom. It is a plant with opiate like effects can be bought at head shops and whatnot. There are different kinds of Kratom and different extracts so some researching would need to be done on your part beforehand. Just throwing this out there as an 'OTC' option, but it does produce tolerance over a period of time.

Best of luck bro
 
tannypack101 said:
One thing I found to work great for sleep is Kratom. It is a plant with opiate like effects can be bought at head shops and whatnot. There are different kinds of Kratom and different extracts so some researching would need to be done on your part beforehand. Just throwing this out there as an 'OTC' option, but it does produce tolerance over a period of time.
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Definitely don't use Kratom to help you sleep. It's an opioid, which keeps most people awake because of the dopamine, and it's also pretty noradrenergenic (adrenaline reuptaking, making you feel stimulated). It's behind Tramadol as the most stimulating opioid, followed by Oxycodone. I use it to help me stay awake sometimes. Plus, it's not good to get dependent on benzos or opiates just to sleep.
 
I'm thinking about going to a sleep center to find out why I act can't sleep....I took 250mg of diphenhydramine like 2 hours ago and I'm still waiting for it to make me drowsy....if I go to a sleep center, is the outcome usually a script? :)
 
You could try a rotation schedule of Ambien/Lunesta, something like Flurazepam (if you haven't already tried it - it's a potent hypnotic benzo), and Trazadone/Amitriptylene/Doxepin/Remeron. Two separate doctors of mine have mentioned they have some patients they prescribe a rotating schedule with two or three sleep meds to prevent tolerance issues.
 
What about Zopliclone or Etizolam on an occassional basis, when insomnia is reaaly bad. Non drug alternatives I have found useful are hot baths, Labvender essebtial oii, and no stimulants including Nicotime or caffeine after 4pm.
 
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