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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Z drugs, benzos, or antihistamines best for sleep

falsifiedhypothesi

falsifiedhypothesi

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Messages
4,254
Getting to sleep most nights is a challenge for me. Many times I just give up and stay awake into the next day until I end up crashing. i have personal experience with xanax and diphenhydramine. Both of these end up making me pretty groggy the next day so I tend to avoid them now. What class of sleeping drugs are better in terms of physical safety, grogginess, and general effectiveness?
 
I have the same problem and it gets irritating being wide awake after only 3-4 hours of sleep. All these drugs you mentioned can be useful in their own way for the short term but after a while lose effectiveness. I don't like diphenhydramine because it gives me bad rebound itchiness and sinus irritation even at low doses. Z drugs like ambien sometimes work for me but my trouble is staying asleep. But my mother used them for many years and they helped her.

Everybody's different though I found the more you use something, the more you end up needing it. Benzos like Xanax helped me to get the most sleep but my doctor won't prescribe them given my addiction history. I've found them effective but for me the effects linger on the next morning too. Have you ever tried melatonin? I've been using 5 mg and it doesn't give me any bad side effects.
 
I've tried melatonin but it didn't seem to do anything. I only have trouble getting to sleep, once I'm asleep I'm out for a while. I really don't want to use benzos because they will basically put me in a coma, plus if I do manage to wake up I'm groggy as hell. I have trouble with oversleeping so I would prefer something that would be out of my system in a few hours.
 
If your problem is GETTING to sleep I'd say Ambien, I take it when my brain won't stop running when I lay down even tho a couple minutes prior I could barely keep my eyes open or focus on anything... I'd sleep soundly throughout the night and not feel groggy at all, actually really refreshed because ambien (zolpidem) has a very short half life (like two hours) so it just knocks you out and you sleep quasi-naturally the rest of the night.

There isn't much sleep medications that won't leave you groggy the next morning... that is just a side effect that has to wear off in time. Trazodone and seroquel is what most Doctors like to dish out for sleep problems and they will knock you out but leave you SUPER groggy the next morning, out of the myriad amounts of sleep aids I've tried Seroquel and Trazodone have the worst next day effects, imo.

My favorite sleep medication is temazepam, it is a benzo that works WONDERFULLY for sleep. I would sleep a solid 8-10 hours and when I woke up I would have that natural just woke up sleepyness but no groggyness. But it is rather hard to get prescribed since it is a pretty strong benzo....

If you want to go natural I found a natural supplement by Sundown Naturals called Super Snooze which is: Calcium, Magnesium, Valerian Root, Hops, Chamomile, Passion Flower, Taurine, and Melatonin. It makes me drowsy as fuck when I take it at night and I don't feel groggy the next morning, I found this when I Was detoxing off heroin last time and I wanted to try a natural route... this helped a lot.

Now my psych has prescribed me Mirtazapine (remeron) for sleep purposes along with the anti-depressant benefits... it works AWESOME and it helps me sleep when I'm going through heroin withdrawals so that's a win!
 
thanks for the recommendations. Right now I'm abusing the hell out of benadryl, kratom, and alcohol (not all at once but sometimes in combination) trying to get to sleep and it's killing me the next morning whether I get to sleep or not. I just started a new job and I can't afford to stay up all night strung out on whatever trying to get to sleep until 5 a.m. I'm really hoping I can get my doctor to listen to me.
 
I haven't tried much to make a comparison, but whenever I take benadryl (I think that's diphenhydramine) I feel so out of it the next morning. I much prefer hydroxyzine. If I only get 5 hours with it I don't feel so great, but as long as I get 7 hours with it I'm usually pretty good the next morning.
 
Unisom (doxylamine), Benadryl (diphenhydramine) and other such antihistamines are usually pretty effective for me, as are benzodiazepines. Never taken "z-drugs" before.

Has anyone here ever tried quazepam, by any chance?
 
Mirtazapine was the best non addictive sleep aid I've tried you just have to put up with the next day grogginess for about a week. Like already mentioned temazepam works great but if you don't have a tolerance it can leave you feeling kind of drunk when you wake up, it's also very addictive so keep that in mind if you go down that road. Zolpidem was great for the knockout but didn't have legs, it was decent combined with antihistamines though.
 
Well I don't really care about addictive potential, I want to be out cold before I know what hit me. I actually would rather it not have legs just so I don't have to deal with it the next day.
 
Sonata may be a good choice. Short acting, could even redose if you wake up and have limited hangover effect.
 
I wish there was a pill that would consistently put me out *sigh*. I've been having some real bad problems with insomnia as well lately. I would prefer to find a way out of it without drugs, though, honestly. I'm getting sick of drugs, they don't solve any of my problems.

It's strange because sometimes sedative-hypnotics (esp. benzodiazepines, and within the benzodiazepine family, especially Klonopin) will have the paradoxical effect of keeping me awake instead of settling me down. I'll be up at 5 AM doing my dishes like I'm high on meth and I'll suddenly think, "what the fuck am I doing?"
 
AH and benzos are a no go.

AH- usually long half life's, hangover next day.

Benzos - can cause some rebound anxiety and also some long half-lives that will make you get up all groggy.

Those 2 are terrible for sleep.

Z-drugs - for the obvious reason that they've been MADE for this shit. Depending on your problem, staying asleep would be Lunesta or Ambien CR and for going to sleep should be Ambien.

Of course it's addictive so what i suggest is dose small and throw some melatonin into the mix each time you pop the pill and don't take the Ambien or whatever z-drug for more than 2 weeks or less. It'll make your dreams so nice and will help regain a normal healthy sleeping cycle as this is what it does. But you must take melatonin at the SAME TIME each time you take it to achieve this set & stone sleeping cycle that we all deserve.
 
The half-life of Alprazolam is less than 12 hours, but this can be problematic for some. Have you considered Elavil (Amitriptyline), Remeron (Mirtazapine), or Trazodone? These drugs are "old school" antidepressants, and tend to carry a slew of side effects, but they can be useful in some people. If benzo's are the only thing that works, there's Halcion (Triazolam - what I'm on now) but they rarely like to use it these days. It has a VERY short half-life and knocks most people out, but this is like a last resort type of thing. Restoril (Temazepam) has a huge range of a half-life and is unpredictable, but has its efficacy. ProSom (Estazolam) has a much longer half-life than both of these (and my personal favorite for sleep - though I don't get a hangover effect from it) and has been shown to work better than both, but with it's super long half-life, you will probably experience a "hangover" effect. It doesn't have the punch that Alprazolam tends to have though, so it might not. These benzo's are used solely for insomnia and are better choices than Xanax.
 
They'll all make you groggy the next day until you get used to them. I remember a while ago Ambien came out with a product you could take if you woke up in the middle of the night - presumably something that would only last a few hours. Is that still around or did it not catch on?
 
i have a daily habit of cannabis and either alcohol or benzos -- depending on how the benzo game be -- for sleep. i'd say weed + good meal (or any food at all) + antihistamine/melatonin (use melatonin instead every few days) wood be a helathy effective way of going about it.

z drugs kinda suck because i've noticed that whether i'm experiencing sleep problems or not, i can't sleep w/o them the next day. instant tolerance (ime). they are hella fun recreationally though. i wouldn't recommend them because they cause amnesia really easily, as well as (or therefore) the tendency to do stupid shit.

i've had seroquel knock me the fuck out pretty frequently, but it's pretty long lasting and will give you day-after effects.

if you really don't care about addiction, the more sedative benzos are the best choice. but if you're looking for a long-term solution, it's not in the interest of you or harm reduction to suggest them.
 
Weed was pretty good for sleep when I was still smoking, but again it caused a hangover. I've stopped smoking because I just can't seem to build a tolerance, therefore weed just completely rapes my mind everytime.

Id also want to avoid the old school shit like antidepressants and the like, they just seem too costly in terms of side effects. It sounds like one if the z's or a benzo other than xanax might be my best option, if I can actually get them. I don't plan to use these everyday but maybe 2-4 days a week.
 
I have trouble falling asleep too and I have found ambien to be the best. I've taken it for a couple of years so it doesn't fuck me up anymore, but it still works even when I don't think I'm feeling it kick in. Unisom (doxylamine), is the worst the half life is real long and I feel like shit all day the next day.
 
RiversHaveWings said:
I'd like to second the recommendation of amitriptyline made earlier on this thread. Low doses of it (25–50mg) before bedtime have worked rather well for my insomnia for much longer than benzos or Z-drugs would stay effective and it does not have the dependence potential that those drugs have. Amitriptyline combines several different sedating mechanisms of action, including histamine H1 blockade (same as diphenhydramine), adrenergic α1 blockade, and serotonin 5-HT2A blockade.
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I cosign that. Dosulepin, a tricyclic similar to Amitriptyline, has worked wonders for both my sleep and anxiety. And it's a sustainable solution too, no addiction issues, no tolerance issues, no abuse issues etc...
 
The only issue with TCA's/TTCA's (and I know I'm the one that suggested them first) is the fact that they tend to be "dirty" drugs that act on many different receptors and carry a load of side effects. Just don't over do it on stimulants (if you're one that tends to do so) while you're on high doses of these types of drugs, because (for me at least) they can lead you into psychosis very quickly with stimulant abuse.
 
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