So ive been having trouble sleeping and social anxiety disorder question..

[yo0123yo]

I've been having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep for at least the past 2 months so my dr prescribed me ambien 10mg to help fall asleep which it definitely helped a lot but when I first started taking it, I was taking 10mg daily to sleep for like the first week or so but after that, I started needing 20mg to sleep now I'm up to 30mg to sleep and it seems like I can't sleep without it...is there any other sleep aid I can suggest to my dr that would help me fall asleep and stay asleep because even with ambien I'm only getting about 5-6 hrs of sleep when I take it and sometimes even wake up during my sleep..I heard of lunesta..not sure how well that will work compared to ambien..also are there any other sleep meds besides lunesta or ambien I can suggest to try for my doctor? Also what is good for social anxiety disorder besides clonazepam or any benzo, I've been taking clonazepam for the past 2 years and am just now getting off the benzos. So any sleep aid such as lunesta or anything other than ambien and also what may I suggest for my social anxiety disorder besides benzos that will help? He gave me amitriptyline to help but that just made my anxiety worse...seems like I need the benzos to help my social anxiety disorder but he doesn't want me on benzos any longer (I've been on them at least 2 years). Thanks everyone, all help is appreciated for both of my questions.

 

[ro4eva]

The reason you can't sleep without taking Ambien is because you are physically dependent on them. Ambiem (while not a benzodiazepine) shares cross tolerance with any and every benzodiazepine because they work in the same area of the brain.

Your doctor might prescribe you Seroquel (or Zyprexa Zydis, etc.) for the insomnia if you tell him Ambien is not working. These drugs are neuroleptics but they are sometimes used off label for insomnia. They are very effective for knocking you out, but they won't help you with your social anxiety.

For your social anxiety, your doctor may put you on an SSRI if he hasn't already before you were on Clonazepam. An SSRI could be beneficial for your social anxiety because it usually induces apathy (I find anyways).

Or you could choose to go the OTC route. You could try diphenhydramine for your insomnia but as far as social anxiety is concerned you'd probably have to try a herbal supplement.

Some supplements you could try for either insomnia or social anxiety include (and I expect that some people will disagree with me on at least 1 or 2 of these):

5-HTP
St. John's Wort
Valerian
Kava
Phenibut
Kratom
Hawthorn
Chamomile

 

[K'd-OUT-in-AZ]

The hypnotic benzodiazepines may be effective that include Temazepam, Triazolam, Estazolam

For Social Anxiety have you given Lyrica a try?

 

[Alex000]

Promethazine is an effective hypnotic used as needed. After a couple of nights in a row it might lose some of its hypnotic power. I doubt it would hurt with the social anxiety, it kind of zombifies me, but I wouldn't take promethazine everyday.