Is Hydroxyzine Addictive?

[kanyeknievel]

hey everyone.

QUICK SUMMARY AT THE BOTTOM!!!

Long story short is... I was stupid and took xanax at night to sleep for a good period of time and the past few nights ive had really bad insomnia because of it.
Besides that, I've always had insomnia for some reason, probably since i stopped smoking weed I can't sleep without taking Tylenol PMs etc. It takes a good amount for me to sleep. I've been prescribed anti-depressant sleep aids which never really worked for me either, and i never really liked them because they were anti-depressants too. So when I went into the psyc today and told him Ive had trouble sleeping and like anxiety sleeping, which i do for some reason if i have pressure to sleep for something i have to wake up for the next day, and he threw me a curveball of this Hyrdroxyzine.

I was pretty happy when he brought it up because I was talking to me dad in the waiting room "How much you want to be hes just going to prescribe me an anti-depressant if I say I have trouble sleeping". I had no idea there was this as an option because I didnt want Ambien either.

So I was wondering.. if this actually works out for me.. is it addicting? In the sense that.. will I get used to taking it every night and need it every night for like months and months?

I guess this is directed to people that know this drug or take this currently. I am fairly certain it is 100% not physically addicting, as in withdrawal, but mentally addicting where i want it to sleep and kinda need it to fall asleep. And also, how strong is it? I REALLY need sleep, i dont think you can talk about doseages on here so please tell me and I will remove this from the post but i was given 60 25mg a month and it says take 1 or 2 each night. so I can take 2 which i will tonight cause i feel like im sleep deprived the past 3 or 4 days. But should I take Tylenol PMs with it? The doctor said I could take melatonin with it but i didnt really get to asking him about details. I normally would take like 7 or more tylenol PM and melatonin sometimes.. depending.

QUICK SUMMARY:
How strong is it, compared to Tylenol PM or whatever you can compare it to. And is it addictive in the sense where you would need to take it every day month after month after month? And is it effective as a sleep-aid? Anti-depressant sleep aids never worked for me

 

[sekio]

Tyleonol PM is diphenhydramine. Hydroxyzine is a slightly stronger antihistamine drug that should be as sedating as some barbiturates. Don't mix the two drugs - hydroxyzine is the only thing you should be taking as it is the most effective.

It's not "recreational" or physically addictive, though if you need it to sleep every night it will eventually lose efficacy.

 

[kanyeknievel]

ooo... well i kinda already mixed them. I took 2 25mg and tylenol pms and my melotonin Irwin Natural Power Pm thing like an hour ago and im drowsy but not like knocked out as i want to be... just wondering why you say not to mix since nothing is happening bad that I can see, unless its biological that is harmful.

But thats good i dont want any recreational addictive thing.

It just takes a lot for me to sleep now bcuz i was used to smoking weed for 3 years almsot everyday, then i did opiates for about a year and recently xanax. so i always had some recreational drug to put me to sleep, gonna take me a good while to get myself back on track with sleeping.

 

[sekio]

It's not going to be harmful, but hydroxyzine at 50mgs, plus melatonin, shoulg be enough on its own to shut you down for a while. It's a very powerful antihistamine and benadryl/Tylenol PM will only exacerbate the problems. Plus I think tyenol PM has excess acetaminophen in it that you don't need.

 

[kanyeknievel]

It's not going to be harmful, but hydroxyzine at 50mgs, plus melatonin, shoulg be enough on its own to shut you down for a while. It's a very powerful antihistamine and benadryl/Tylenol PM will only exacerbate the problems. Plus I think tyenol PM has excess acetaminophen in it that you don't need.

Yes it does have Acetaminophen, which is why I don't want to be taking it because of the liver problems, etc.

But anyways i did have problems again sleeping last night. Not as bad as the other nights but I ended up taking more than 2 of them but i didnt wake up in the middle of the night, which was very surprising because I ALWAYS wake up in the middle of night. So Im hoping that was from the Hydrox. If so, then I hope this medication helps me out with sleeping and keeps doing that so I get a good nights sleep every night. Probably the best night sleep in the past 5 days that I've had.Wish I slept more, but I'm not going to complain and im just gonna take it and be happy I got sleep :D

 

[Brian242]

What it sounds like to me, (Don't take this offensively) Is that you want something that will make you drowsy to the point of passing out. When you feel "A little drowsy" just lay down and close your eyes. I would be willing to bet you'll fall asleep in no time.

 

[BIGsherm7272]

If you are going to continue to take diphenhydramine for sleep, go get some generic benadryl, since it only contains diphenhydramine and not copious amounts of acetaminophen, which does nothing to help you sleep. But since you now have hydroxyzine, I would just abandon the diphen all-together since you have a more potent anti-histamine in hydroxyzine.

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

^This. There are several generic versions of diphenhydramine that don't have any APAP or other active ingredients in them.

 

[chemschemschems]

I was prescribed hydroxyzine by my doctor for anxiety and it works like a charm. I also have to take it for the times I get restless legs/arms from other meds I'm on. Very helpful medication to have around. It's really just glorified benadryl

 

[effie]

No, it isn't addictive, but in time it can stop working as well as it used to. Promethezine is another good sedating antihistamine.

Going to close this as I think it's been answered pretty thoroughly now, but shoot me a pm if you have any queries.