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It might be the carbs. Or the quality of the food. Is the meat that you consume organic?
What detergent do you use for laundry? Many can be toxic. What about perfumes, deodorant etc. Do you use any?
How is your thought pattern during the day? Are you worried most of the time?
I'm just trying to think about various reasons for this...
Trazadone has worked for me. I take one maybe 2/3 nights a week if I didn't sleep well the night before, they help. My doctor tried some OTC meds but I didn't have much luck with that.
^^I'm amazed you can get alprazolam. Where I live, everyone is viewed as a drug addict cuz oPiOiD cRisIs
Alprazolam isn't an opioid. It's a benzodiazepine. It's also the generic name for Xanax, which most people can get from their doctors to relieve stress. My doctor asks me every year if I need a new prescription for it. I still have 80 of the 90 I had prescribed for me almost a year ago, so I'll just deal with the old batch til next year, then throw away whatever's left (a year past expiration date is about as long as I'd keep them), and get another 30 instead of 90 next year.
Took them when my mom was dying, took them when we were moving to our new home. Took them when my grandmother died. Major stress situations, I take them.
I've been wearing a dental guard since I was in my early 20s. I do use CBD for pain. I take two gummies totaling 50 mg, but only when my back/hip/leg pain is very bad. I just don't like having all that sugar. Not to mention they are very expensive. And dosage accuracy and quality of product really is dependent on the manufacturer I think.
Marijuana edibles, including the old home made brownies, were never any use to me so I can't speak for dosage on them. I prefer to take a hit. One hit of "good pot" is all I ever needed to get high, and that's all I take. But now with my anxiety running rampant I've had to give that up. I miss it very much, but I suppose I won't be enjoying that peaceful feeling any more, or all the housework I got done through the busy phase, until after I retire.
I've been on the meds for fibromyalgia again, and I don't like to mix them with the sleeping pills, so it wasn't until last night I tried the 2 mg Lunesta again.
Same result, broken sleep totaling about 5 hours. It's not enough.
If stress is the cause of your insomnia, have a conversation with your doctor about Xanax/alprazolam. It's possible that just 1/8 mg at bedtime and another first thing in the morning will be enough to just "take the edge off" every day until your body and mind get used to a new rhythm of relaxation. I wouldn't recommend it as a "sleeping pill" because the dose you need to force you to sleep can also force you to wake up with brain-fog. But for an anti-stress reliever with the low dose, it's awesome. To compare: I'm prescribed 1/4 mg taken as needed. I always break it in half. My sister takes 1/2 mg as needed, and I have a friend with some psychosis issues who takes a cocktail of drugs, one of which is 1 mg three times a day, every day.
Alprazolam isn't an opioid. It's a benzodiazepine. It's also the generic name for Xanax, which most people can get from their doctors to relieve stress. My doctor asks me every year if I need a new prescription for it. I still have 80 of the 90 I had prescribed for me almost a year ago, so I'll just deal with the old batch til next year, then throw away whatever's left (a year past expiration date is about as long as I'd keep them), and get another 30 instead of 90 next year.
Took them when my mom was dying, took them when we were moving to our new home. Took them when my grandmother died. Major stress situations, I take them.
I know what benzodiazipines are. I know what opioids are. My point was, in my area, because of all the drug addicts & ODs, who love hydrocodone, oxycodone (those are opioids, right??), and now, fentanyl, plus meth, ALL Schedule ll, lll & lV drugs are prescribed VERY SPARINGLY. I took a low dose of lorazapam (aka Ativan, another benzo) FOR YEARS for sleep & had no issues until my controlling PCP pulled rank on my specialist who rx'd it. Now specialist retired & self-righteous PCP resigned. Specialist did rx zolpidem for me before resignation. If you read upthread, you will see that my new PCP has prescribed zolpidem again, & now I can sleep.
How fortunate for you that you have a doctor who listens to you. When I was caregiver for my dying sister & my spouse recovering from knee replacement, plus I was working a fulltime, high-stress job, I had no meds, I had to white-knuckle my daily life.
You have 90 Xanax? I would dispose of them at a hospital or police department, not your trash. Their street value is $5-$10 apiece for .25 mg., more for the higher dose.
However, OP started this thread regarding her insomnia, not for posters to try to educate others regarding benzos & opioids.
People who have *chronic* insomnia will disagree with you about your very first sentence. I've been an insomniac since puberty, and I'm post-menopausal now so no - it's not hormones causing it. My options: take meds and sleep, or not take meds and not sleep. My thyroid is regulated by meds and a yearly full thyroid panel, because I had half of it removed when I was 30 - more than 15 years after I developed chronic insomnia, and over 30 years ago.
I have no other internal medical problems, or neurological problems. My grandmother was also a life-long insomniac, but she chose to suffer without sleep.
While sleep meds aren't prescribed for long-term use, that is -because- they're habit-forming. However, sleep is also habit-forming. But without sleep, our health can suffer. If meds are all that works, and you're not developing other medical problems by using them, then you do what works.
Again - I can have the habit of not sleeping, or I can have the habit of sleeping. I've chosen to sleep at night, and for me, personally, Ambien (zolpidem) is what allows that to happen. I'll trust my sleep-study doctor and my primary care physician, over a stranger on the internet.
If it works for you, more power to you. But some women find, that eventually, no sleep aids work if they've been using them nightly or even several times/week for years. Eventually they all lose their effectiveness.
I know what benzodiazipines are. I know what opioids are. My point was, in my area, because of all the drug addicts & ODs, who love hydrocodone, oxycodone (those are opioids, right??), and now, fentanyl, plus meth, ALL Schedule ll, lll & lV drugs are prescribed VERY SPARINGLY. I took a low dose of lorazapam (aka Ativan, another benzo) FOR YEARS for sleep & had no issues until my controlling PCP pulled rank on my specialist who rx'd it. Now specialist retired & self-righteous PCP resigned. Specialist did rx zolpidem for me before resignation. If you read upthread, you will see that my new PCP has prescribed zolpidem again, & now I can sleep.
How fortunate for you that you have a doctor who listens to you. When I was caregiver for my dying sister & my spouse recovering from knee replacement, plus I was working a fulltime, high-stress job, I had no meds, I had to white-knuckle my daily life.
You have 90 Xanax? I would dispose of them at a hospital or police department, not your trash. Their street value is $5-$10 apiece for .25 mg., more for the higher dose.
However, OP started this thread regarding her insomnia, not for posters to try to educate others regarding benzos & opioids.
Yes they go in the trash. It's what was instructed long before the medical field offered bring-back options. You cover all the pills in the bottle with vinegar and water, let it sit while you're brushing your teeth, and then toss the bottle with the now-useless-pill-paste in the trash.
Yes they go in the trash. It's what was instructed long before the medical field offered bring-back options. You cover all the pills in the bottle with vinegar and water, let it sit while you're brushing your teeth, and then toss the bottle with the now-useless-pill-paste in the trash.
No. Then it goes into the landfills, into the ground, into the rivers and streams and oceans. And your drinking water. Please use the collection bins provided at pharmacies and police stations and labs.
Anyway back on topic, another night with the 2 mg of Lunesta (two 1 mg pills). Another night of about 5 hours of sleep, broken up into an hour here, an hour there. Maybe one 2 hour span. Took them at 9 p.m. and was out of bed at 6 a.m.
I guess that's as good as it's going to get with this med. I'll talk with the pharmacist and see if she might recommend asking for the highest 3 mg dose or if she thinks I should ask for the (generic) Ambien.
I would be willing to try the 3 mg Lunesta, because I am not really having any side effects on the (generic) Lunesta, which is a big deal for me. On the 2 mg I am not even having that flashback 12-14 hours later, which I was getting on the 1 mg. The 1 mg didn't work at all, except for the flashback 12 hours later lol.
Last edited by catsmom21; 05-18-2024 at 06:52 AM..
No. Then it goes into the landfills, into the ground, into the rivers and streams and oceans. And your drinking water. Please use the collection bins provided at pharmacies and police stations and labs.
Anyway back on topic, another night with the 2 mg of Lunesta (two 1 mg pills). Another night of about 5 hours of sleep, broken up into an hour here, an hour there. Maybe one 2 hour span. Took them at 9 p.m. and was out of bed at 6 a.m.
I guess that's as good as it's going to get with this med. I'll talk with the pharmacist and see if she might recommend asking for the highest 3 mg dose or if she thinks I should ask for the (generic) Ambien.
I would be willing to try the 3 mg Lunesta, because I am not really having any side effects on the (generic) Lunesta, which is a big deal for me. On the 2 mg I am not even having that flashback 12-14 hours later, which I was getting on the 1 mg. The 1 mg didn't work at all, except for the flashback 12 hours later lol.
Ask your doctor about time-release Ambien, not the regular Ambien. That way you get a smaller amount of the drug throughout the night, instead of all at once with gradual wearing off.
I have given up on the Lunesta, it's useless. Doc won't prescribe Ambien. Wants me to make another appointment. I was there a month ago, and nothing has changed, the issues are still the same and I have no leave time to take for unnecessary doctor appointments.
The next time I make an appointment to address the insomnia will be the sleep disorders center, but since I have to travel for that and will need to take a day off, it will be a while.
I'm trying taurine now. The problem with herbal remedies is I am on other medications that have red flags against most herbal remedies. But I'm trying the taurine anyway. Someone mentioned it either in this thread or one of the other threads I've read in this forum addressing insomnia.
I took 1000 mg last night, organic non-GMO Project Verified pure powder. Fell asleep relatively quickly but only slept an hour. Lay awake for hours after that but felt relaxed even though I wasn't sleeping. I noticed less pain too. I could tell when it started to wear off, around 3 a.m. I did sleep another hour and a half sometime after 3:00, and woke up a few minutes before the alarm goes off at 5:00.
I read that if it wears off in the night you can take another dose, but there's that med interference thing. I am taking a heart med that causes lowered blood pressure, and the taurine "may cause blood pressure to go lower". I don't have high blood pressure to begin with, in fact it tends to be on the low side, even without this medication, the med is prescribed to heal the heart muscle after heart failure, and the cardiologist does not want me to stop taking it yet. She said we would reevaluate in 6 months.
I was looking into ashwagandha but that also comes with the low blood pressure warning, so I'll hold off that one for now. Taurine at least is a substance the body gets naturally with food anyway, and it's water soluble, so anything unused just gets peed out.
But I suppose I should start checking my BP regularly again. What a pain in the neck.
Last edited by catsmom21; 05-22-2024 at 05:31 AM..
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