• BASIC DRUG
    DISCUSSION
    Welcome to Bluelight!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Benzo Chart Opioids Chart
    Drug Terms Need Help??
    Drugs 101 Brain & Addiction
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums
  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Drugs for maintaining sleep and not waking up early

danceofdays

danceofdays

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
357
For the last two years I have experienced a strange form of insomnia where my body, for the most part, refuses to get more than 6 or 7 hours of sleep on its own in a night. I usually smoke pot before bed which helps make me ready for sleep, but I can get to sleep fairly easily under most circumstances. However, I'll almost always wake up around six hours after I conk out, and be totally unable to get back to sleep even if I'm still physically and mentally fatigued or drowsy. Interestingly, my mother has the same issue, and has put up with it for a lot longer than I have.

I think the problem is related in part to morning anxiety, because I get "racing-thoughts" like crazy right after waking up, where I'll stress out about everything going on in my life and what I have to do that day. Getting out of bed and starting my routine gets rid of this anxiety, which I don't get at any other times of the day. For a while when I had a cache of oxazepam, I would go out and smoke a cigarette when I woke up and take half of a 15mg pill, and within half an hour be right back asleep and get those needed three or four extra hours. Also, when I took 1mg of clonazepam right before bed one night, I had a great 10-hour sleep and woke up feeling amazing. I've tried diphenhydramine and melatonin and both definitely put me to sleep, but they make me feel really physically drowsy when I wake up (early) and taking more after that happens doesn't always work and makes me nonfunctional.

I'm sure this is a pretty common problem but I'm curious if it's worth going to a doctor about, and what kind of drugs he might prescribe. I've never been diagnosed with any kind of anxiety disorder so I doubt it would be benzos, but that's fine since I really just want this problem to go away. If anyone has any non-pharmaceutical or OTC tips they would be greatly appreciated too. Thanks a bunch.
 
Exercise throughout the day. 5-HTP. Melatonin. Possibly a prescribed med like Seraquel or Trazadone or Amitriptyline (sp?) before benzos.
 
Ugh! Between Benzos and Seroquel Im OCD enogh to literally force myself to sleep each night with a combo of both.
Works great!
However-I'm now physically addicted to benzos after two years-prescribed, and I am working on a plan to rid myself of them. I'm scared to death of seizures and my doc wants me to continue them anyway I have panic attacks occasionally which is why I need them, but I use them for sleep mostly. It's a terrible task ahead of me with the withdrawal. Think about that one carefully, and educate yourself about the dangers of benzos before making that decision.
Seroquel.....works great for sleep! In fact you'll sleep through your alarm clock every morning!
After possibly having a battery of unsettling dreams all night, and a dimished quality of sleep, and if your lucky the "pill" hangover won't make you a complete spacecadet at work the next day.
Just somethings to consider....
Excuse me, the 2 Xanax I took are taking affect, and it's time to take my Seroquel now.
ALL the best!
 
Something we should all remember is that sleeping pills help the problem. They don't solve it. Therefore you should get tips on how to lower and control your stress/anxiety. And then you sleeping disorder will likely be solved.

Concerning the medication well Ambien CR or Imovane could be an idea. Benzos do induce sleep but they require high doses for insomnia so theyre probably not gonna work. Atypic antipsychotics are very effective but come with lots of unpleasant side effects.

Good luck
 
Ambien worked for me at high doses but it made me wake up early. I recently was prescribed a sleeping med named Rozerem(similar to valerian), and it surprisingly worked without having me waking up in the middle of the night or too early. I would suggest taking benzo, but they tend to wake you up bright and early.
 
When I went to my regular family doctor to talk to him about my anxiety issues and insomnia, he scripted me 60 klonopin and ambien, on the first visit. They really helped, and I legitimately needed them. I have a similiar problem as you. Although, now I have to wake up at 7am everyday to go the methadone clinic anyways so i actually can use this sleeping situation to my advantage.

I would go to the doctor and just be honest, maybe mention how much the klonopin or oxazepam has helped you in the past and me may help you out. Temazepam is a great benzo for sleep.

Insomnia/anxiety fucking sucks man, I wish you luck in getting it sorted out!
 
Try Unisom? the one that has doxylamine succinate in it, not diph. It is usually effective at keeping me asleep, or allowing me to easily fall back to sleep if I wake up. I sometimes do have a bit of grogginess the next day from it, but I just have to make sure I will be able to sleep at least 8 hours after taking it.

I also have had good success w/ temazepam. I am taking a break from zolpidem, but back when I first was prescribed it, it worked great.

The first drug my doctor suggested, after we talked about my insomnia, was zolpidem. She cited reasons such as it being newer, having less side effects, etc as opposed to the benzo class of drugs.

good luck!
 
My anxiety tends to be worse when I am tired. Klonopin helps greatly to ease that. You said you wanted non pharmaceutical tips though. Like I mentioned earlier perhaps valerian root. If your anxiety is bad enough nothing is going to help but benzos. I wouldnt wish panic attacks on my worst enemy, hope you get it sorted out and get what you need. Good luck!
 
If you literally just need sleep, there's no point taking a benzo when you can take a z-drug instead and avoid most of the nasty features of benzos. Try Ambien.
 
To help solve your sleeping problems it sounds like you may want to talk to your doctor about your stress issues. I'm no doctor but I do know that anxiety can cause insomnia. Prescription drugs are often written but some can be addictive. There are places to go where doctors watch your sleeping habits and evaluate them.

By the way, 7 hours of sleep is considered healthy. Your body could be telling you to just "wake up". My problems are unhealthy, as I usually wake 3 hours after falling asleep, then another hour...another hour...another hour...and on many occasions it may take an hour to get back to sleep.
 
I have the exact same problem as you, especially with the racing thoughts anxiety thing immediately after waking. I couldn't find any OTC remedy that was effective, I had to go to the doctor. I got prescribed xanax for the panic attacks and ambien for sleep.

looking back, if I just would have broken up with my girlfriend at the time, quit drinking and smoking pot and started exercising regularly again I could have avoided the daily xanax/ambien habit that followed. I definitely needed professional help for the anxiety though, I still do. don't hesitate to go and see a doctor if the anxiety thing persists too long though. I'd try cutting out the weed for awhile and see if that helps.
 
Dude, 6-7 hours of sleep is largely enough. The amount of sleep varies between different people, different age groups, etc. Some people will sleep 9h, others will sleep barely 6h and still feel refreshed in the morning.

Also, note that if you take benzos, they wont necessarily increase the quality of your sleep. Yes, you will probably sleep more but you will still be feeling fatigued in the morning.

Are you a smoker ? If yes, your morning anxiety may be due to the lower level of nicotine in your blood.
 
I would try talking to your doctor about trazadone. Sometimes you just need to reset your bodies internal sleep schedule. A short course of trazadone, or something similar, can really help that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top