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Insomnia! *MEGA-thread*

Certain strains of weed can actually hinder your sleeping pattern.
I went through ambien and temazepam before I finally convinced the doc to prescribe xanax. Works delightfully.
 
zolpidem (ambien) doens't works therapeutically for me (but with weed you can bet it does recreationally), the drugs that put me to sleep (when taken in larger doses than I usually would) are: alprazolam (xanax, 3mg knock the shit out of me, I find it more sleep inducing than flunitrazepam), venlafaxine (effexor, makes you fat desexualizes you and makes you fall asleep at the wrong situations) and last the almighty ghb (but beware, cause the line beetween best sleep aid and spinning vomit fest is a very thin one). oh and if it's otc don't even bother, if you are into headaches you can give that melatonin shit a try though.
 
Booze Booze Booze...... It'll knock ya out for good , especially after weed. Tolarance is relative to your specifics, but good amount oif booze will knock ya out and keep you asleep for at least 6 hours straight if not more....

Other than that , you can always pray for the dream fearie....
 
F@#king Insomnia!

Words cannot express how pissed off I am with my sleeping habbits lately.. I'm up all night tossing and turning until the early hours of the morning, for the past week I don't think Ive gotten to sleep before 4am..getting 2-3hrs sleep max a day :X

Ive tried temazepan (herad its addictive, so only took 1 tab), it didn't really work, still was up till about 3am

Tried drinking last night, had 5-6 beers and a few bourbons... this just made matters worse and throughout the night I just felt hungover and stimulated...

So today is the last straw before i go see the doc.. it just seems I can't get my head around slipping into the land of nod, seems my mind almost won't let me.. I envy those who can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, it's supposed to be a god damned natural occurance, why is it so goddam difficult!

In hoping to beat it, i've just been for a massive walk this morning and am going to top that with avoiding alcohol/sugar/caffeine before bed.. any other suggestions? Sorry for the vent, but i need to get the anger & frustration out!
 
I have real trouble sleeping too, especially after I've done a period of night shift and am trying to get back into a normal sleep routine. I hate using benzos/zolpidem due to the 'hangover' the next day.
The only 'natural' things I've found that seem to help are doing heaps of exercise in the afternoon/evening, and avoiding anything containing caffeine after midday. The other thing is to deal with any worries by writing them down on a list about 4pm. That way they are less likely to circulate in your head while lying there staring at the ceiling. I still have some bad nights though.

Good luck!
 
Seroquel would knock out an elephant withdrawing from heroin who just railed a kilo of cocaine.
 
captainballs said:
Seroquel would knock out an elephant withdrawing from heroin who just railed a kilo of cocaine.
Click to expand...


Thats the fucking truth....!

I found this thread by searching for amitriptyline..having some sleep problems myself. But it's 1:45 am, have to get up at 8. The dose I have is 25mg. Think I should half it, or is too late to even try? I've already taken 4mg xanax a couple hours ago...no luck. But the last time I took amitriptyline, it knocked me on my ass. But Im thinking my tolerance has increased since then. Hmmm what to do?

Atleast the Breakfast Club is on TV.
 
^Hi Aries! I'm a Ram too. :)

And yes, Seroquel is an absolute treasure.

I generally use cannabis as a sleep aid, particularly a strong pure indica - ingesting an edible cannabis product (as long as it's not a brownie - you don't want any caffeine).
 
^^ Rams ROCK! :P

Didnt make it to sleep until around 4:30am. I'm still a little weary of the amitriptyline I have... No cannabis available at the moment unfortunately.

Seriously, my mind is all over the place right now. My xanax hasnt even helped. Of course this was all brought on by myself... using a particular "dirty" stim that I havent done in a LONG time. I now remember why...! I'm just trying to wing it until my Lortab 10/500 refill on Friday.
 
trazadone always made me feel real weird, but when i did sleep i'd have the same type of fucked up dreams on it. always about snakes.

anyways, booze will knock you out. you won't really sleep though.

cut out caffeine, sugar, and try to start an early morning exercise program.

try everything habit related that you can.

if it doesn't work you might need to talk to a doctor. dont just jump into sleeping pills though.
 
Booze, for many people, will not knock them out. Not reliably. Trazadone, while effective for some people, felt horrible IME too.

If it is an ongoing problem, which you have not been able to solve yourself, then the main ways of treating it are the "z" class drugs, and longer-term, CBT(cognitive behavioral therapy).
Recent clinical trial speaks of this: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Better Than Zopiclone for Chronic Insomnia
* Though I have doubts on how well "older" and "younger" subjects would correlate in this type of comparison.

(My personal, anecdotal, experience is using zopiclone on and off for almost 2 years now, and I sleep better now,. than I *ever* did. I've also used melatonin during the last year. I've had problems sleeping since I was a child, so whatever zopiclone does, it fixed a life-long issue for me).
 
Trouble Sleeping?

well ive been havin trouble sleeping lately and usin medication etc to get to sleep but i was readin up and saw something that took my interest and was cheap so i bought it. it was a cd track sposed to put you to sleep for 25 mins power nap, and there was another one u cud buy which put u to a deep sleep for 8 hours. so i bought them both..and guess what they turned up today and i tried the 25 min power nap and it ACTUALLY WORKED! amazing.im gnna try the 8 hour one tonight, ill let you know
 
^ Since the great majority of sleep problems are psychological, I'm sure that music or something you think will help - will indeed help.

It's great to find ways to alleviate insomnia without drugs, because sooner or later, the drugs themselves can become a problem. I've used zopiclone on and off for 2 years now, it works great, but in the end I needed to learn how to put myself to sleep anew.:D
 
Here's my experience that I also posted in another thread.

I've used Trazodone for about 2 years and I highly recommend it. I use it to treat my severe insomnia. I literally can't go to sleep unless I take something - I'm not addicted to downers or anything, my insomnia is really that bad. Over a period of 5+ years I went through Tylenol PM, Melatonin, and every other OC drug you can imagine and not one of them could keep me asleep. Then I moved on to benzo's and other sedatives, which were unsuccessful. Trazodone also helps with my depression.

I've read a lot about people being afraid to try it due to the possible priapism side effect - which is an erection that lasts for hours and won't go away, leading to medical intervention. It does not occur at common dosages and rarely occurs at high doses exceeding 200mg. Most doctors will Rx patients 50mg-100mg nightly, so you DO NOT have to WORRY. I've personally experienced a long, somewhat painful erection at 200mg and wouldn't advise going over that dose.

I started at 50mg. It helped me sleep a little better, but I was always drowsy/groggy the next day and still got up during the night. After about 6 months, I was tired of the drug's hangover effect and felt that it wasn't helping me sleep as well anymore. So about a week ago, my doctor increased the dose to 150mg-200mg a night. After that one experience at 200mg, I've been sticking to 150mg/night.

For me, 150mg is the perfect dose. I actually get refreshing sleep and next-day drowsiness is almost non-existant. I've noticed that the next-day drowsiness decreases as dosage increases. At 50mg I was depressed and moody the next day, but at 150mg the AD effects kick in and I'm in a great mood the entire day. I still have drowsiness after about 8 hours of sleep, but it goes away less than 10 minutes after I wake up.

The only other drug that's worked for me is 2mg-4mg of Klonopin. It took my anxiety away and helped me fall asleep and stay asleep. However, I decided to stop taking it because of its high potential for addiction and rapid development of tolerance. Also, its a pain in the ass to get refilled. You have to go to the doctor's office every month to get it refilled because its a schedule IV drug. Of the two doctors I've seen, both of their first prescriptions were Klonopin. They both said the same thing: "This is the perfect drug for you. Its the safest drug available", and were adamant that I take it, even when I expressed my doubts (tolerance, addiction). But after 2-3 months they were reluctant script refills, even though I wasn't addicted and showed no signs of addiction. At that point I figured it wasn't worth it to try and convince them each month to let me continue a drug that I only tried because they insisted I do so.

Here's a list of what I remember trying, with a Y or N recommendation:
1) Melatonin [OC] - No. Next day drowsiness and tolerance issues.
2) Tylenol PM [OC] - No. Next day drowsiness, did not keep me asleep, not safe to use every night, elevated night urine excretion (Diuresis. Not sure if its a typical side effect).
3) 5-Htp [OC] - No. Not strong enough.
4) Benadryl [OC] - No. Same problems as Tylenol PM.
5) Klonopin 2mg-4mg [Rx, Benzo] - Yes. See above explanation.
6) Lorazepam (Ativan) [Rx, Benzo] - No. Minor anterograde amnesia, not strong enough.
7) Ambien [Rx, Non-benzo hypnotic] - NO. Severe anterograde amnesia, hallucinations. The next morning I wouldn't remember any of what occurred the previous night between the time I took it and the time I fell asleep. During the hour it took to kick in, I'd have lengthy phone conversations with friends. The next day, I'd talk to the same friends and wouldn't remember speaking to them the previous night, even when they reminded me. My memory of that time period was completely blank. Also, when the Ambien started to kick in, I had crazy hallucinations.
8 ) Hydroxyzine HCl 25mg (Atarax) [Rx, Antihistamine] - No. Not strong enough.
9) Zyrtec 10mg [Rx, Antihistamine] - No. Not strong enough. Works great for allergies though.
10) Trazodone 50mg [Rx, Tetracyclic antidepressant] - No. Not strong enough, next-day drowsiness.
11) Trazodone 200mg - NO. A long, painful erection that caused me to wake up multiple times during the night.
12) Trazodone 150mg - YES. Refreshing sleep, barely any drowsiness the following morning, and I'm in a great mood throughout the day.
 
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