Stilnox (zolpidem) WITH caffeine?

[Engage]

I was trying clonazapam for severe alcohol, benzo withdrawl...stilnox just knocks me the f'k out.
Doing the pride (shaame?) perfected slowdown technique...but all these meds just put me to sleep.


Guess Anti-Depressant / Anti- psychotic will have to be the last resort.
(Even the title anti-psychotic leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth)
But, something that 'levels me out'....


So...for now...Any known contraindications of caffeine and Stillnox?

Thanks.
If this is in the wrong forum, excuse me.
Hope Santy Clause brings you what you need...
Maybe not what you want, though...


Anyways, thanks.

Fuck, still falling asleep, zzzz, the caffiene pill doesn't seem to be doing shit....that's like 4 cups of coffee.
Falling a sleep with a rapid heartbeat....great.

Fuck, still falling asleep, zzzz, the caffiene pill doesn't seem to be doing shit....that's like 4 cups of coffee.
Falling a sleep with a rapid heartbeat....great.

Well, that was a nice little rest. Still feeling a bit groggy, but Silnox (prescribed) and a 40...whips the shit out of a caffiene pill meant to rep. 4 cups of coffee.



Case solved.
Hearts aches a bit, but no heart attack as of yet.


For future reference.

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

Why are you mixing the two if you don't need to? I don't recommend caffeine (or any stimulant, really) to people who are experiencing alcohol and/or benzodiazepine withdrawal. Zolpidem (Stilnox)'s effects are usually counter-acted by stimulants. This is also the case for benzos. The fact that you're mixing alcohol with zolpidem is probably why it is overriding the caffeine.

 

[Engage]

Well, caffieine got me off alcohol for a good year, then another year, then three years, but I was a recluse. Paranoid. Never left the house.
Irritable as hell, up to drinking 2 pots a day, strong coffee, then w/ caffeine pills. It was ridiculous.

Trying to pull a switcheroo and stop coffee. "A pill form will do the trick!" Ended up doing both.
Anyways, I'd like to be off all this shit. Doesn't look like it's in the plans, though. I may be dependant on some form of med for the rest of my life, which is kinda 'depressing' in itself...so...

I'm slowing down from alcohol, beer, down to eight...pretty much hit a wall...to avoid Dt's and seizure. Learned that the hard way.
Which have happened in the past. But, Clonazepam, prescribed, just makes me fall asleep....same wih Stilnox...which, I guess is the whole point of Stilnox (ambien).
Have something called Numenencial and Lexapro....but, as I said, wary of taking anything labelled mainly 'anti-psychotic'.

As, i don't feel 'psychotic'...as of yet, hah,
just wake up feeling dizzy and confused until I get two or three beers in me...

By the way, all these are prescribed, blah blah blah, I have a cabinetful of unused 'scripts.
it's all legit. And, still troublesome as hell.

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

So what you're saying is you've been using caffeine to get off alcohol? Sounds counter-productive to me. Why not cut out caffeine completely and use the clonazepam as prescribed (assuming the clonazepam was prescribed for alcohol withdrawal)?

 

[Engage]

Because, as I said, clonazepam just makes me fall asleep.
I basically switched alcohol for uppers. Not that hard to imagine, really. A strong pot of coffee and internet chess can go a long ways...

Add. Edit: And yes, the Clonazepam was prescribed for alcohol withdrawal.
But, who wants to be asleep and groggy all day? I am actually more 'functional', as much as one can be, on alcohol.
been on alcohol and various others since I was a teen, am now 30's... they say after 20 years most of those that recover do it after 20 years regardless of methods tried, weird, huh? For me it was coffee, lots of it, and internet chess. And, paranoia, agoraphobia and etc.


Anyways, what about Numenencial and Lexapro?
or should I start another thread?


Stilnox, beer vs. '4 cups of coffee'?
The former wins. At least for an hour....

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

So why not take it at bedtime? Or try switching to another benzodiazepine? There are many options - some benzos are very sedating for some people and they aren't for others. Talk to your doctor. It will be very difficult for you to quit using alcohol if you're using stimulants on top of it....

 

[Engage]

If only 'talking to my doctor' didn't cost me an arm and a leg, I would do that...my alcoholism is already running us DEEP into the red.
All I have are old scripts now. or, a trip to Mexico, and am wary of physical danger, and also the legality of such a situation.

P.S.
Taking it at bedtime would seem to work, it's the mornings that are the hardest, though.
Will do a search, here, on: Numenencial and Lexapro.


See what I come up with.

 

[Engage]

P.P.S. ^^
basically nothing.

P.P.P.S.
I mean the legality of getting a formal, professional doctor to see me on the cheap (i.e under 800 dollars a visit) and treat me...
then bring a month's supply back over the border. Can't seem to get a straight answer on this. And, an arrest is the last GD thing I need.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Try taking a lower dose of the clonazepam during the day. Take just a minimal amount to make things bearable.

 

[Engage]

Yeah, I try it in the morning...first thing, empty stomach, as I stagger around....1/4th, like the doctor said.....but....I dunno...still just makes me sleepy. It's like Prozac, which kept me awake all night sleeping 3 hours a night and feeling fine...I just thought, "this can't be healthy." Waking up for three hours then falling back asleep for 3 ...on.off...can't be a healthy cycle...but...if it gets me off the booze. I'll do it.


Now, I have a puppy to look after, I guess she'll suffer, for awhile...if I do this 3 on, 3 off thing...
Plus, I have to 'come down' off the Clonezapam as well...which is a real bitch.

Heroin, marijuana, cocaine....you just get sick....but withdrawal from alcohol can literally KILL you.
And, so can Clonezapam.

 

[Captain Brewster]

Lexapro is an anti-depressant. It takes awhile for it to work. You'd want to talk to your doctor about this. Just explain your situation.

Your trying to make an effort to quit/cut down on alcohol, so you may as well try something different.
See a doc.

 

[Engage]

That's what my wife keeps telling me.
Made an appointment, uh, I think, or maybe I'm supposed to make it...today...can't remember, just woke up.
But, that's going to take a week, at the least. Not sure I can take a week more of this. Guess I have to...
And, what...am I gonna go to the doc's with 4 beers in me? Because that's what it takes for me to 'be normal'.
Not getting put in that ward again with the seriously crazy...I've have tons of bad experiences w/ hospitals.
Being trapped in an enclosed space with seriously mental people getting in my face, not on my bucketlist.

Unfortunately.

But, yeah, always scary to switch from something you know works, to some unknown substance.
Even if the 'thing you know works' ...works in the wrong way. Has 'side effects'.
Don't want to be impotent the rest of my life...


OH YEAH, and thanks for the advice on Lexapro...
again, 'talking to my doctor' costs this family about 400, up front.
Unless I want to take a number and wait for my lottery ticket to be called....