Misc Prescription sleep meds - What are the options

[iconoclast56]

Heres the only ones I have experience with:

1.) Zolpidem - It puts me asleep very well, I could literally hibernate on it for days but when I wake up, I feel like crap. The quality of sleep it gives me is terrible.

2.) Xyrem - I was never actually prescribed it but I started experimenting with GHB last month. I can get good quality sleep on GHB but the drug has too many side effects on me for it to be practical. The dopamine rebound leaves me with anxiety for at least 4 hours the next day but the worst side effect happens when I take amphetamines the next day, for some reason once 4 hours have passed after I took the amphetamines, I start to feel like I'm about to die due to the wide range of bizarre physiological things that happen (i.e. my head starts to swell, my heart palpitates and I feel tingling all over my face and head). When I'm on the drug, I get aches and pains which make it hard to sleep. GHB is not for me.

What other options are there? I've heard about antipsychotics and am going to ask my psychiatrist to prescribe me seroquel to see if that works. Any other classes of sleep meds worth mentioning? Right now I'm using GHB to sleep at the expense of all the fucked up side effects I have to deal with. Dihydrocodeine is a good sleep aid for me that leaves me feeling good the next day but I lost my source for it. Street opioids are far too expensive.

 

[Snake_Eyes]

I use mirtazapine and temazepam (not together) both work very well. Mirtazapine next day grogginess is horrible though for the first week until your body adjusts.

 

[Jt723]

i use ambien also. 20 mg. i use my bezos. klonopin valium. or if im already tired i use benadryl. theres serequel which will knock you out for eseveral hours. do you suffer from insomnia because if you do theres also gabenton. docs sometimes use it for insomnia. i have some myself and it gets me so drowsy i barely could walk lol. but the dry mouth sucks.

 

[GABAking]

Eszopiclone-brand name Lunesta. It works fairly decent, no day time grogginess. But the metallic after taste will linger for the full next day. It's unbelievable how bad it tastes, and the drug is also very expensive.

No doctor in the US will prescribe you Xyrem; extremely tight regulations on prescription.

Melatonin and benadryl (3 mg and 50 mg, respectively) also works really well for me. Both OTC and cheap

 

[Tommyboy]

Prescription Sleep Medications

• Seroquel- in lower doses (25mg) can be used for sleep since it is an antihistamine at the lower doses, before becoming an antipsychotic in higher doses
• Trazadone- an antidepressant with hypnotic effects, making it useful as a sleep aid
• "Z Drugs"- the aforementioned zolpidem, and eszopiclone (sold in the US). Also there is zopiclone (sold in the UK and Canada)
• Benzodiazepines- temazepam, alprazolam, clonazepam, diazepam, ativan, etc... Temazepam is a popular benzo for insomnia

Everything I listed has already been mentioned, aside from trazadone.

 

[El Patron]

I take Lunesta every night, and Adderall every day. No bad interactions or side effects that I can notice. I had trouble sleeping my entire life but now I fall asleep within 5 minutes every night. Usually less than 5 minutes actually. The bad taste is truly awful at first, but it's a small price to pay in my opinion. I sleep very well and wake up feeling rested, no grogginess. The bad taste fades over time, and now I don't mind it at all. I just have a peppermint pattie and a ginger ale and then brush my teeth and I'm ready for bed. I highly recommend Lunesta, although I know it is expensive without insurance. Seroquel is too powerful in my opinion and is practically coma inducing and has significant side effects. Try Lunesta. I was skeptical at first when my doctor had me try it but now I swear by it.

Best of luck.

 

[Alex000]

I'd advise against an anti-psychotic for sleep unless you have tried all else and the insomnia cannot be quelled. Anti-psychotics are dangerous, and unhealthy, with the potential to cause long-term, irreversible side-effects (tardive dyskinesia) if used daily for an extended period of time. They can be harmful to your mood and affect as well. If zolpidem helps you, I'd suggest trying a benzo because of there extremely close relation. There are a number of hypnotic benzos, but really any benzo will do the job at the right dose. Some hypnotic benzos include Halcion (triazolam), Dalmane (flurazepam), and Restoril (temazepam). Ativan (lorazepam) can also be quite helpful with insomnia, and has been likened in higher doses to zolpidem in a few reports. Different benzos have different times to peak, and different durations of action. For example Halcion is extremely quick, but short-acting. It hits hard. Restoril is intermediate-acting in duration of action, and takes a bit more time to come on. Is the insomnia primarily focused on trouble to induce sleep or trouble to maintain, or both? The answer to that question could help you choose the best benzo.

 

[tricomb]

I use Temazepam, but don't get dependent on these for sleep. You can't take benzos everynight and not end up with worse problems than when you started.

 

[Tommyboy]

^ I agree. Benzos should be avoided if possible, and if used, they should be reserved for nights when you really can't fall asleep and have tried other things.

I take Lunesta every night, and Adderall every day. No bad interactions or side effects that I can notice. I had trouble sleeping my entire life but now I fall asleep within 5 minutes every night. Usually less than 5 minutes actually. The bad taste is truly awful at first, but it's a small price to pay in my opinion. I sleep very well and wake up feeling rested, no grogginess. The bad taste fades over time, and now I don't mind it at all. I just have a peppermint pattie and a ginger ale and then brush my teeth and I'm ready for bed. I highly recommend Lunesta, although I know it is expensive without insurance. Seroquel is too powerful in my opinion and is practically coma inducing and has significant side effects. Try Lunesta. I was skeptical at first when my doctor had me try it but now I swear by it.

Best of luck.

The problem with using "Z drugs" each night for sleep is that you become dependent on them for sleep, and will experience bad withdrawals without it. I recommend trying antihistamines for sleep before resorting to z drugs or benzos.

I'd advise against an anti-psychotic for sleep unless you have tried all else and the insomnia cannot be quelled. Anti-psychotics are dangerous, and unhealthy, with the potential to cause long-term, irreversible side-effects (tardive dyskinesia) if used daily for an extended period of time. They can be harmful to your mood and affect as well. If zolpidem helps you, I'd suggest trying a benzo because of there extremely close relation. There are a number of hypnotic benzos, but really any benzo will do the job at the right dose. Some hypnotic benzos include Halcion (triazolam), Dalmane (flurazepam), and Restoril (temazepam). Ativan (lorazepam) can also be quite helpful with insomnia, and has been likened in higher doses to zolpidem in a few reports. Different benzos have different times to peak, and different durations of action. For example Halcion is extremely quick, but short-acting. It hits hard. Restoril is intermediate-acting in duration of action, and takes a bit more time to come on. Is the insomnia primarily focused on trouble to induce sleep or trouble to maintain, or both? The answer to that question could help you choose the best benzo.

At doses of 50mg and below, seroquel is essentially a different drug than when taken in higher doses. It is an antihistamine at the lower doses, so many people can use it as a sleep aid at those doses, without experiencing some of the side effects that come with taking higher doses of it which put it into the antipsychotic range. This article explains it more.

When looking into prescription sleep aids, medications that cause dependence should be avoided if at all possible.

 

[GABAking]

I take Lunesta every night, and Adderall every day. No bad interactions or side effects that I can notice. I had trouble sleeping my entire life but now I fall asleep within 5 minutes every night. Usually less than 5 minutes actually. The bad taste is truly awful at first, but it's a small price to pay in my opinion. I sleep very well and wake up feeling rested, no grogginess. The bad taste fades over time, and now I don't mind it at all. I just have a peppermint pattie and a ginger ale and then brush my teeth and I'm ready for bed. I highly recommend Lunesta, although I know it is expensive without insurance. Seroquel is too powerful in my opinion and is practically coma inducing and has significant side effects. Try Lunesta. I was skeptical at first when my doctor had me try it but now I swear by it.

Best of luck.

I agree. After a couple months of use the taste becomes tolerable, or it is slowly dissipating as a side effect. Either way, it's no longer there and if it is, not nearly as prominent.

As other people have said, try not to use em every night. They'll lose their efficacy and you'll be worse than when you started once you're dependent

 

[Hybris]

I use xanax however I will say you wake up quite groggy. I work shift work and quite often only get between 4-7 hrs of sleep so waking up groggy isn't a choice. But without xanax I wouldn't get any sleep at all half the time. I've managed to moderate my usage and have been using .5-1mg for about 2 years no with no tolerance increase. I think thats a pretty rare thing though.

 

[volp]

I have had some serious issues falling asleep over the past five or six months. My doctor tried the following:

Flexeril: a skeletal muscle relaxer that makes you drowsy as a side effect. Didn't work for me, except to give me dry mouth.

Trazodone: An anti-depressant that is often prescribed for insomnia. I didn't like how it made me feel the next day. I had a groggy feeling in the morning.

Sonata (Zaleoplon): This is what i ended up sticking with. It makes me drowsy long enough for me to fall asleep in most cases. I haven't noticed any side effects and I haven't felt any after effects in the morning.

 

[easy as]

I suffered from insomnia for years and found the only things that worked were acupuncture and finally a surgery for sleep apnea and a deviated septum. As mentioned before all those drugs have side effects and sleep will come, but after long term usage the effects wear off and then your left with withdrawals or upping dosage, repeat ad nauseum. Other alternatives are melatonin, tryptophan, or valerian root. I would visit a sleep specialist, it's worth it. Benzo tapers can take months and even years to effectively come off. Good luck.

 

[somewherehappy]

^

At doses of 50mg and below, seroquel is essentially a different drug than when taken in higher doses. It is an antihistamine at the lower doses, so many people can use it as a sleep aid at those doses, without experiencing some of the side effects that come with taking higher doses of it which put it into the antipsychotic range. This article explains it more.

When looking into prescription sleep aids, medications that cause dependence should be avoided if at all possible.

Sorry but that's very misleading your making it sound like it's less serious at lower doses. It may have different effects but this poster should know that even at lower doses, the same risks are involved. (just at a much reduced rate)

So to let you know OP, even at lower doses your at risk for conditions that could potentially ruin your life forever. (tardive akithisia, dyskinesia, dementia and dystonia) They are also addicting you made it sound like it wasn't. Seroquel has dependence issues confirmed in new studies, albeit much less than benzo's. When it comes to withdrawal though, it's even worse than benzodiazepines after long term use. Hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, psychosis, etc in people who never had that before!! Just want you to be informed. People often act as if it's a miracle drug. It also causes brain damage over time (confirmed in new imaging studies of the brain in various clinical trails and animal tests. (I'm against animal testing but if it's been done there is no point in ignoring the data)

Yes Seroquel at low dose will have less effects than high dose but it still, like all antipsychotics will cause atrophy to the frontal lobe of the brain over time. Low dose means slower rate of atrophy, but If a sleeping pill is worth loss of brain tissue to the most important part of your brain, then it's your choice. People just need to be informed about the facts of these meds that very few know before they make a decision to take it.

You can find studies about it at www.breggin.com A psychiatrist speaking out against these meds and it has a ton of research articles in the site and scientific papers.

 

[J.D.]

I take clonazepam daily, and sleep fine. I've been on it for years.

But several (about five) years ago I was given ambien. I took one, one night, and woke up somewhere I'd never been, after totalling my car. I got out, dusted myself off and was fine, other than having no idea where I was or how I got there. Some witnesses showed up, thankfully, because I had to give them my phone to tell someone to come get me. I was about 40 miles from home.

Thank god no one was hurt. I'll never touch another ambien as long as I live. Be careful.

 

[Whosajiggawaaa]

I take zolicone 7.5 mg and midazolam 15 mg everynight and still only manage 4 hours - no stimulants obvs (then i wouldn't sleep at all lol). Think I' m gonna see doc - taking 2 different pills that don't work every night is ridiculous - maybe i'll give zolpidem a shot.

 

[J.D.]

For the poster using Mirtazapine - how many mg's do you take? I've been on it for 3 or 4 months, and it's never caused drowsiness. My doctor said it would....but it has no effect either way. I'm taking it to gain weight, as he said that was another side effect, and I've gained five pounds at best in that time. Maybe I need to talk to my doctor to get the dosage upped?

 

[Psychonauticunt]

Heres the only ones I have experience with:

1.) Zolpidem - It puts me asleep very well, I could literally hibernate on it for days but when I wake up, I feel like crap. The quality of sleep it gives me is terrible.

2.) Xyrem - I was never actually prescribed it but I started experimenting with GHB last month. I can get good quality sleep on GHB but the drug has too many side effects on me for it to be practical. The dopamine rebound leaves me with anxiety for at least 4 hours the next day but the worst side effect happens when I take amphetamines the next day, for some reason once 4 hours have passed after I took the amphetamines, I start to feel like I'm about to die due to the wide range of bizarre physiological things that happen (i.e. my head starts to swell, my heart palpitates and I feel tingling all over my face and head). When I'm on the drug, I get aches and pains which make it hard to sleep. GHB is not for me.

What other options are there? I've heard about antipsychotics and am going to ask my psychiatrist to prescribe me seroquel to see if that works. Any other classes of sleep meds worth mentioning? Right now I'm using GHB to sleep at the expense of all the fucked up side effects I have to deal with. Dihydrocodeine is a good sleep aid for me that leaves me feeling good the next day but I lost my source for it. Street opioids are far too expensive.

Although opioids certainly are sedative, I wouldn't necessarily use them as a sleep aid. I've been given the following to help with sleep:

ZOPICLONE - Helped me fall asleep, woke up abruptly with in 2-3 hours feeling really weird. On the third day I had to up the dosage, which caused delirium and realistic hallucinations. Also left a rusty metallic taste in my mouth for the next day, which made eating anything quite unpleasant.
ZOLPIDEM - Essentially the same as zopiclone, although tolerance took a little longer to build up, there was no funky taste, and the delirium was worse and quite terrifying.
MIRTAZAPINE - Didn't work at first, started working for a while, but soon lost efficacy. Also, if I didn't use my usual nightly scheme of recreational drugs (cannabis, small amounts of alcohol sometimes) which coincidentally helps with sleep, I found mirtazapine to help very little.
QUETIAPINE - Knocks me the fuck out, but with nasty residual side-effects the next day. This would be one of my very last resorts on this list, despite being probably the most efficient.
OXAZEPAM - Takes forever to start working, and is quite mild, so I had to eat tons. No residual hangover, but sometimes I'd almost wake up an hour or two earlier than I'd prefer - depends on how long I have to sleep.
DIAZEPAM - Slight residual grogginess - works quite well, but I have to take larger doses than more specifically hypnotic drugs.
TEMAZEPAM - This was the first one I was actually satisfied with as a whole - sedating and hypnotic at low (ie. the prescribed, recommended starting therapeutic) doses. Works for the right amount of time for me not to be sedating in the morning.
NITRAZEPAM - The most sedating and hypnotic benzo I've tried. Works for real long, though, so either make sure you've got time to get yourself straight in the morning or take it a few hours before bed - if you've got shit to do in the morning.
LORMETAZEPAM - Like temazepam, but works a little longer, and is much more anxiolytic - like lorazepam. It's pretty much halfway between those, if you ask me. I found this to be an effective hypnotic.
FLURAZEPAM - This was not particularly sedating physically, but helped me fall asleep as soon as I hit the hay, and was very relaxing. Produces a very long-lasting active metabolite which I did not find at all unpleasant in the following day or two, as it wasn't too sedative - merely anxiolytic. Careful with the doses, though, or it could turn into a long blackout or at least a few days of grogginess and impaired efficiency at work/school/whatever.

I've tried midazolam once, and it made me very sleepy and groggy for an hour or two, but I haven't been prescribed it or really tried it for insomnia so I can't comment.

Most of these will develop a tolerance, so to keep that at a minimum you should try to take hypnotics only 2-3 days in a row, if possible. Also, they're not a long-term solution, or much of a solution at all - more of a band-aid to keep you functional while you process and deal with the causes of the insomnia.

EDIT: Clarification - 2 or 3 days in a row, then a break of one night without (two if you can). The general recommendation with benzodiazepines (which have been the most efficient hypnotics for me) is that you don't exceed 4 weeks of treatment - I think the longest I've gone is a little over 5 weeks, but fortunately I've never suffered from insomnia for any longer than that at a time. My insomnia has usually involved trouble both falling and remaining asleep.
Never really felt the need to an elaborate taper scheme if I haven't been taking them for over a month - 5 days to a week with dropping the dose every day or two has always been tolerable.

 

[J.D.]

Although opioids certainly are sedative, I wouldn't necessarily use them as a sleep aid. I've been given the following to help with sleep:

ZOPICLONE - Helped me fall asleep, woke up abruptly with in 2-3 hours feeling really weird. On the third day I had to up the dosage, which caused delirium and realistic hallucinations. Also left a rusty metallic taste in my mouth for the next day, which made eating anything quite unpleasant.
ZOLPIDEM - Essentially the same as zopiclone, although tolerance took a little longer to build up, there was no funky taste, and the delirium was worse and quite terrifying.
MIRTAZAPINE - Didn't work at first, started working for a while, but soon lost efficacy. Also, if I didn't use my usual nightly scheme of recreational drugs (cannabis, small amounts of alcohol sometimes) which coincidentally helps with sleep, I found mirtazapine to help very little.
QUETIAPINE - Knocks me the fuck out, but with nasty residual side-effects the next day. This would be one of my very last resorts on this list, despite being probably the most efficient.
OXAZEPAM - Takes forever to start working, and is quite mild, so I had to eat tons. No residual hangover, but sometimes I'd almost wake up an hour or two earlier than I'd prefer - depends on how long I have to sleep.
DIAZEPAM - Slight residual grogginess - works quite well, but I have to take larger doses than more specifically hypnotic drugs.
TEMAZEPAM - This was the first one I was actually satisfied with as a whole - sedating and hypnotic at low (ie. the prescribed, recommended starting therapeutic) doses. Works for the right amount of time for me not to be sedating in the morning.
NITRAZEPAM - The most sedating and hypnotic benzo I've tried. Works for real long, though, so either make sure you've got time to get yourself straight in the morning or take it a few hours before bed - if you've got shit to do in the morning.
LORMETAZEPAM - Like temazepam, but works a little longer, and is much more anxiolytic - like lorazepam. It's pretty much halfway between those, if you ask me. I found this to be an effective hypnotic.
FLURAZEPAM - This was not particularly sedating physically, but helped me fall asleep as soon as I hit the hay, and was very relaxing. Produces a very long-lasting active metabolite which I did not find at all unpleasant in the following day or two, as it wasn't too sedative - merely anxiolytic. Careful with the doses, though, or it could turn into a long blackout or at least a few days of grogginess and impaired efficiency at work/school/whatever.

I've tried midazolam once, and it made me very sleepy and groggy for an hour or two, but I haven't been prescribed it or really tried it for insomnia so I can't comment.

Most of these will develop a tolerance, so to keep that at a minimum you should try to take hypnotics only 2-3 days in a row, if possible. Also, they're not a long-term solution, or much of a solution at all - more of a band-aid to keep you functional while you process and deal with the causes of the insomnia.

Wow, lots of good info here! Thanks. (Fortunately I have my clonazepam to knock me out (and it does work for me) or I'd probably be cycling through all those other chemicals as well. Hope you have found something that works.

 

[Psychonauticunt]

Wow, lots of good info here! Thanks. (Fortunately I have my clonazepam to knock me out (and it does work for me) or I'd probably be cycling through all those other chemicals as well. Hope you have found something that works.

I've been on clonazepam on-and-off for a few years, around a month or two at a time, for anxiety and panic, but I've never found it to help me sleep unless I take excessive doses or combine it with alcohol. Within the normal dose range it actually motivates me to do stuff. Good thing the clonazepam has remained efficient - let's just say that going to the doctor every week and getting a script for a different benzo every week isn't as fun as it may sound (although I guess it might be if you were just popping them for fun - and then the fun would end when you found yourself in withdrawal).