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I am glad that after 60 years of marriage we have never injested any of these chemicals into our bodies along with smoking.
We still get a good nights sleep.
Celestial Seasonings' Sleepytime Extra tea always works for me (it has valerian and other stuff in it), but it makes me sleep very late in the morning, so I can't drink it the night before I have to get up early.
I drank a cup the other night about 12:30 after I'd been tossing and turning for a couple of hours. I fell asleep pretty easily after that, and when I woke up the next morning I saw it was 10:45 a.m.! Good thing I didn't have anything planned for that day!
I've found this thread quite interesting. I've been taking Ambien since 2001 and lately I'm becoming kind of upset that I can no longer fall asleep "naturally" To be quite honest, I was in the WTC the day of the attacks and was taking both sleep medication and anti anxiety to go to sleep. I stopped taking the anti-anxiety a few years ago unless I am having a severe panic attack (which thankfully hasn't happened in a long time)
I tried Melatonin a few years ago but it made me feel groggy in the morning. I gave the bottle away but lately am thinking I may want to give it another try. Benadryl either makes me sleepy or completely wired so I can't really rely on that. Tylenol PM gives me dreams so weird it's like I took LSD.
My doctor said that he thinks I am fine with the Ambien, but I miss just being to fall asleep on my own. Not sure if I will ever be able to again :-(
You can get off Ambien. I took Halcion for 10 (maybe more) years before I quit cold turkey. There was some mis-communication between the doctor and the pharmacy on a Friday and I got sick of calling them both. I was also sick of being so dependent on Halcion to sleep and scared to death of what the week-end would bring.
My 90 year old father had quit taking Ambien by using the Alteril (mentioned in an earlier post) so I decided to try it.
Friday and Saturday nights were certainly not my best nights ever - but I got through them with a lot of tossing and turning.
After 3-4 days, I strictly took the OTC Alteril and it would take a LOT for me to go back to a prescription medication. It keeps you dependent on your physician too . . .
I work on a flexible operating schedule so I only take something on the nights before I have to work, I use Advil PM usually 3-4 times a week. I have tried almost everything that has been on the market in the last 12 years and this is the only thing that has worked consistently. I still only sleep about 4 solid hours and then wake up at least once a hour after that. If I don't take anything I will be awake about 26/27 hours before I can sleep a couple of hours. I am trying to hold off on taking a prescription med for as long as possible.
Ambien is not intended to be a long-term medicine, though it can be used "off-label" as such. But the patient information you get from the pharmacist every time you get your prescription filled, specifies that you can become dependent on it. If you've been taking it since 2001 then you're probably (most likely) dependent on it now.
If you want to go off Ambien but have become dependent on it, you'll need to taper off slowly. You'll need to be monitored by your physician during the tapering-off period. You -can- go off it, but you need to do so safely.
I've always had problem sleeping, and so for me, Ambien is a long-term solution. I've been on it for several years and have had solid 6-hour sleep nightly ever since.
Thank you for your input, I am going to try the Melatonin first to see if I can take that instead. Otherwise I may talk to my doctor again about trying to stop taking it. More than likely my body is dependent upon it now and I worry (well I worry now) about what it may be doing to me long term. On the other hand, I need sleep!
You can get off Ambien. I took Halcion for 10 (maybe more) years before I quit cold turkey. There was some mis-communication between the doctor and the pharmacy on a Friday and I got sick of calling them both. I was also sick of being so dependent on Halcion to sleep and scared to death of what the week-end would bring.
My 90 year old father had quit taking Ambien by using the Alteril (mentioned in an earlier post) so I decided to try it.
Friday and Saturday nights were certainly not my best nights ever - but I got through them with a lot of tossing and turning.
After 3-4 days, I strictly took the OTC Alteril and it would take a LOT for me to go back to a prescription medication. It keeps you dependent on your physician too . . .
Thank you also for your input. My doctor is getting "up there" in age and though he says he has no plans on retiring one of my thoughts lately was... "If he wasn't around who would give it to me?" That was a weird random thought so as a previous poster said I more than likely am dependent on it. The next time I take vacation time (probably in July) would be the time for me to see if I can ween myself off. I expect some serious resistance from my body.
I usually use a combo of Simply Sleep (think it's basically Tylenol PM minus the Tylenol) and melatonin. But mostly just simply sleep.
I cannot fall asleep, but once I do I'm fine. Lately it's not working and I've been staying up (unhappily) til 3, 4, sometimes 6 in the morning.
I'm not on a good schedule now bc I was laid off and I know once I do start working again I'll be ok, but for now I need a change. And I don't want a script from the doctor.
So, what do you like?
Tylenol PM. But that's just once in a while when everything hurts when I'm trying to sleep. Most of the time I'm good without it.
You can get off Ambien. I took Halcion for 10 (maybe more) years before I quit cold turkey. There was some mis-communication between the doctor and the pharmacy on a Friday and I got sick of calling them both. I was also sick of being so dependent on Halcion to sleep and scared to death of what the week-end would bring.
My 90 year old father had quit taking Ambien by using the Alteril (mentioned in an earlier post) so I decided to try it.
Friday and Saturday nights were certainly not my best nights ever - but I got through them with a lot of tossing and turning.
After 3-4 days, I strictly took the OTC Alteril and it would take a LOT for me to go back to a prescription medication. It keeps you dependent on your physician too . . .
Thank you also for your input. My doctor is getting "up there" in age and though he says he has no plans on retiring one of my thoughts lately was... "If he wasn't around who would give it to me?" That was a weird random thought so as a previous poster said I more than likely am dependent on it. The next time I take vacation time (probably in July) would be the time for me to see if I can ween myself off. I expect some serious resistance from my body.
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Good thing I didn't have anything planned for that day!
