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Benzos zolpidem is too much of a double edged sword, benzos as alternative?

W

Wolffangblackfoot

Greenlighter
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
24
I recently made a post a while back about switch from my 10mg zolpidem perscription to either klonopin or alpzopram. I have a very difficult time falling asleep, although even being a light sleeper I usually have no problems staying asleep so i was perscribed ambien to help. It worked wonders, but the amnesia you get has become increasingly worse for me. I decided to get off the perscription after 3 months, and haven't taken it for a while up until a few nights ago when I found 3 of my pills. The first night it worked amazingly, I was staying at a friends house & usually i find it near impossible to get any rest not in my own bed. I fell asleep in 3 minutes flat, and had a wonderfull nights sleep. Though last night when I took it at home I ended up stumbling around my house and actually woke up with a few bruises and a scabbed elbow.

There has been multiple nights where I end up roaming the house on ambien and hurt myself, nothing serious yet but it seems to do more damage than good. I'm thinking of asking to try xanax for sleep, even though I take lexapro for depression and anxiety I still end up stressing out about getting to sleep and not getting enough rest. Every night I have to take 100-200mgs of diphenhydramine, & also 50-100mg doxylamine succinate. I told my doc this & she wanted to try me again on remeron, but I was on it for a month a while back and It didn't help me in the least.

My mother takes xanax for court because she is easily stressed out, I'm worried about becoming dependant on the medication. It's come to the point though where lack of sleep is effecting me throughout the day, I honestly can go a few days on little to no sleep and still have trouble getting to sleep. It fucking sucks.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Try dosing exclusively doxylamine, or perhaps get some hydroxyzine. Diphenhydramine is not the world's most effective sedative. Seroquel (queltiapine) or trazodone are good sleep aids if you can tolerate them. Clonidine and other alpha antagonists could be another option to try.

Benzodiazepines have a tendency to rapidly form tolerance. I suggest them only as a last resort.
 
^Neither is a good choice. Sekio has the right idea, doxylamine is a good choice. I also say mulungu is a good natural herb for sleep, it acts on GABA and is pleasantly sedating and induces really deep dreams.
 
I've been in the same boat. I have an rx for alprazolam for sleep, though I certainly do not recommend using it in any type of long term scenario. Whether you like it or not, your tolerance will increase and you'll end depending on it for sleep. I'd exhaust all other alternatives before going straight to benzos..I know it sounds like bullshit, but simple things like not eating too close to bedtime, keeping the tv off etc can make a significant difference.
 
My grandmother has the exact same problem you described. She takes Ambien at the house before she goes to sleep, then decides she still needs to do a few things before getting in bed and she winds up bumping into walls, falling over, and talking nonsense.

There's a really simple way to fix this... make sure you have taken care of everything that needs taken care of for that day, including using the restroom so that you will have no excuse to get out of bed in the next 20-30 minutes. THEN take your ambien and a glass of water to your bedroom, lay down in bed, take the ambien, and then read a book or watch TV until you fall asleep.

Ambien works extremely fast. I typically feel effects within 10-20 minutes easily. Personally, I have such a tolerance to benzos that Ambien (technically a hypnotic sedative) requires me to take 50-60mg to feel a thing, and twice that to get to the point the OP describes.

So yeah, basically... just take it when you know 100% sure you are ready to lay down to sleep. Now, if you sleepwalk when you have these problems, that's an entirely different story.
 
thanks for all the replies everyone

@sekio yeah I'm begining to realize how ineffective dipenhydramine is, I always found doxylamine much more effective as I used to take nyquil frequently before learning about unisom. I actually was on trazadone for a while, the first day I took 1 pill then the second night I took 2 as perscribed, I didn't fall asleep after 30 minutes so I got up to get some food and was incredibly nauseous and lightheaded.

@ro0ga actually what you say is not bullshit at all, I always turn my laptop brightness down to the lowest setting because I know looking at a light source inhibits melatonin production, although I do occasionally take a suppliment for this. Also I usually don't eat much before sleep, i got in this habbit when taking zolpidem because I found eating anywhere between 1-4 hours before taking it rendered the medicine nearly useless. I even used to wear sunglasses indoors at night time. But even at this time I'm dependant on OTC sleeping meds for sleep, which is actually more costly than generic perscription meds because my insurance covers all the costs.

@deadheadchemistry wow 50-60mg ambien, I remember a long time ago (2 years) I took 80mg of my mothers ambien prescription over the course of 2 hours. The last thing I remembered was watching TV midday, then waking up in my bed with a hospital band on. I ended up getting a slight tolerance after taking it for a month or so, but the nature of the medicine has me taking more than intended without any intention to. I don't know why that is, I don't want to use ambien for recreational purposes because I needed it to help with sleep, yet some nights I'll take 20-30mg without any recollection -_- I found that taking it then lying in bed & watching a light show on netflix to be most helpful, then I'd just put down the laptop and doze off. But sometimes my cigarette craving kicks in, and thats when things get bad. Although I know nicotine is a stim and can harm sleep I find that lying in bed thinking of a smoke is more harmfull, and having the cigarette usually relaxes me. I can't win in this situation, it just seems inevitable that occasionally i'll stumble around and get myself into a stupid situation.

I guess I should talk to my doc about this and see her input, I've been on lexapro for 3 years now & it works perfectly, I just wish there was a sleeping med that was just as effective and reliable
 
I have a lot of experience with both. I think zolpidem is extremely similar to xanax. You can def switch over to xanax and get similar effects. But yeah, maybe you should try something other than benzos and ambien. Try some seroquel.
 
So lately I've been just taking OTC sleeping meds & they are working okay. It's just I have to take much more & my tolerance to doxylamine is sky high. Usually Ill need to take 5-6 unisom pills, which is 125-150mg of doxylamine. Even then it doesnt really help me fall to sleep faster. It takes much longer to kick in now since I've first started taking it. Usually if I want to go to bed by 4-5 am I'd have to take 3 unisom pills at 1am, then another three an hour or so later.

That being said, I did that same routine tonight, but my mother actually gave me 4 .25mg xanax pills because I talked to her about switching to it & I wanted to see if it would really help with sleep. So I took 4 unisoms, then two xanax 15 or so minutes later, then the other 2 ten minutes after that. That was about an hour ago, and I'm actually really surprised on how well it's working. It's somewhat similar to my experience with ambien but I feel as if I'm much more functional, I'm not tripping all over the and making myself look like a drunk asshole which is what happens when I take ambien some nights.

I don't even feel "high" like I did sometimes when I took ambien, I feel very relaxed and moderately sleepy but also aware and not "fucked up" in the slightest. If i talk to my doc about maybe swtiching, should I tell her my experience I had with xanax tonight? I'm unsure if my mother was even allowed to give me her xanax to try out, but I would have no other way explaining to my doctor that I have taken the medicine before and it has worked for me.

I know you can become dependant on them, I can't really see myself taking 1mg xanax every night without quickly developing a tolerance and becoming reliant, I also don't have to urge to take more as I did with ambien, I'm not craving for some more because I plan on passing out in about 5 minutes.

anyways sorry for the long post. it just seems like the majority of people are saying I shouldn't go for a benzo, yet xanax is working now better than ambien ever has.

thanks in advance for the advice, you have no idea how much I appreciate it because I've been trying to fix my sleeping problem for over a year and have yet to find a medi other than ambien that helps me fall asleep
 
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