Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Health and Wellness
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 02-07-2019, 04:19 PM
 
8,192 posts, read 3,390,899 times
Reputation: 6061

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by jaminhealth View Post
I agree and so much other things to TRY besides the "memory altering" drugs.

https://www.ehealthme.com/ds/trazodo...m-memory-loss/

With so much info on memory loss and dementia more than ever, I believe the modern sleep drugs contribute to a large portion of this. Too too bad. And that pharma can't do a better job with their drugs.
Pharma can't do a better job with their drugs. The nature of most drugs is that they do not correct the causes of diseases.

It's easier to give a patient a drug to make them sleep than try to figure out why they can't sleep. Patients should understand their doctors won't do their thinking for them.

Modern life is often stressful and is often physically inactive. So there is an obvious recipe for insomnia.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-07-2019, 04:42 PM
 
Location: Wine Country
6,103 posts, read 8,779,786 times
Reputation: 12324
Quote:
Originally Posted by Good4Nothin View Post
Modern life is often stressful and is often physically inactive. So there is an obvious recipe for insomnia.
No there is not an obvious recipe. That is an ignorant statement. I have had insomnia off and on for years now. I am healthy and physically active. I am not stressed at all about anything.
Sometimes there is a reason for insomnia and it can be helped. But for many it's an ongoing frustration with no reason for it and no real help except with medication.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-07-2019, 04:47 PM
 
5,644 posts, read 13,193,918 times
Reputation: 14170
Quote:
Originally Posted by Good4Nothin View Post
Pharma can't do a better job with their drugs. The nature of most drugs is that they do not correct the causes of diseases.

It's easier to give a patient a drug to make them sleep than try to figure out why they can't sleep. Patients should understand their doctors won't do their thinking for them.

Modern life is often stressful and is often physically inactive. So there is an obvious recipe for insomnia.
60 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders like insomnia.....

Please let everyone now about your "obvious recipe" since you obviously know more than the thousands of educated medical professionals that struggle to treat this disorder.....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-07-2019, 04:51 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,649 posts, read 28,520,585 times
Reputation: 50476
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willamette City View Post
Thanks for responding! I've tried a lot of different medications to help me sleep. I took Ambien for a while, but that caused some bizarre sleep walking incidents, not robbing stores on anything, but stuff I did in the kitchen that the next day we looked at and tried to figure out what I was thinking. I've taken benadryl or as it's also called Diphenhydromine. That was pretty ineffective so I gave that up.

Right now I'm taking Lorazepam, Melatonin, Tryptophan and Valerian root. If I get 5 hours of sleep or better I call that a successful night. I think I had a rebound effect in going off Trazodone so that should settle out.


Let's all get some sleep!
Isn't it funny how these different drugs affect us differently? Fellow insomniac here ever since I was put on an antidepressant called Elavil long ago. Never have been able to sleep without pills since then--and it's gotten worse with age.

Trazadone makes me dizzy, tense, and completely unable to sleep. I've read that it works on serotonin.

The other neurotransmitter I keep reading about is gaba. I think some people need serotonin and others need gaba? Things that help with gaba are benzos (like lorazepam) and valerian root. Also passion flower and a few others.

Yet even within those groups we are affected differently. I sleep by taking a little bit of Klonopin (a benzo). My use for your Lorazepam? When I had to make a speech! One little bitty pill and I felt great.

Trazadone--a doctor tried that on me again last year. That was the first and last time that I went to that doctor because I don't want to feel that horrible again. Yes, we want sleep!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-07-2019, 05:46 PM
 
Location: San Francisco
21,452 posts, read 8,651,930 times
Reputation: 64611
I was on trazodone for about 10 years but had to quit due to side effects. It worked well for several years, and I was so pleased to be able to sleep like a normal person. But then I developed dizzy spells. I'd be sitting at the dinner table and out of nowhere, I'd feel a weird spinning sensation inside my head. Or I'd be lying in bed and suddenly felt as if I were spinning on a giant revolving turntable. These episodes were brief but scary. My sense of balance was so off that I took several nasty falls.

I gradually withdrew from the drug, tapering the dosage over a period of about two weeks. But the withdrawal symptoms were unpleasant. I felt uneasy, restless and ill, as if I were coming down with the flu. It took a few days before I started feeling normal again. In place of trazodone, I started using over the counter remedies containing dipenhydramine (Benadryl) or doxylamine succinate (Unisom), which worked well. But I have concerns about long-term use of these antihistamine-based remedies. Using antihistamines regularly as a sleep aid has been correlated with increased risk of dementia in seniors (I'm 70).

Now I use a combination of medical cannabis, CBD and melatonin. Like Luckyd609, I don't enjoy the fuzzy-headed feeling of being stoned. But at bedtime that woozy feeling does help me drop off. If all else fails - as it did last night when I'd had too much caffeine - I will take the occasional Benadryl, and that does the trick.

For those who have tried antihistamines without success, you might try cutting the dose in half. Some people are sensitive to these substances, and too much can cause nervousness. A smaller dose might actually work better for you.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-07-2019, 06:06 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,649 posts, read 28,520,585 times
Reputation: 50476
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bayarea4 View Post
I was on trazodone for about 10 years but had to quit due to side effects. It worked well for several years, and I was so pleased to be able to sleep like a normal person. But then I developed dizzy spells. I'd be sitting at the dinner table and out of nowhere, I'd feel a weird spinning sensation inside my head. Or I'd be lying in bed and suddenly felt as if I were spinning on a giant revolving turntable. These episodes were brief but scary. My sense of balance was so off that I took several nasty falls.

I gradually withdrew from the drug, tapering the dosage over a period of about two weeks. But the withdrawal symptoms were unpleasant. I felt uneasy, restless and ill, as if I were coming down with the flu. It took a few days before I started feeling normal again. In place of trazodone, I started using over the counter remedies containing dipenhydramine (Benadryl) or doxylamine succinate (Unisom), which worked well. But I have concerns about long-term use of these antihistamine-based remedies. Using antihistamines regularly as a sleep aid has been correlated with increased risk of dementia in seniors (I'm 70).

Now I use a combination of medical cannabis, CBD and melatonin. Like Luckyd609, I don't enjoy the fuzzy-headed feeling of being stoned. But at bedtime that woozy feeling does help me drop off. If all else fails - as it did last night when I'd had too much caffeine - I will take the occasional Benadryl, and that does the trick.

For those who have tried antihistamines without success, you might try cutting the dose in half. Some people are sensitive to these substances, and too much can cause nervousness. A smaller dose might actually work better for you.
I wouldn't want to take Benadryl but am somewhat interested in the cannabis. It's not legal yet for insomnia in the state I live in though.

I was reading recently about mild serotonin syndrome. It seems that if we stay on serotonin (Trazadone and others) for too long, it can cause insomnia--something to do with too much serotonin depleting the gaba which is the other neurotransmitter that I keep reading about for sleep. The articles I saw said that this syndrome is VERY rarely diagnosed and is more common than expected.

Which leads me to think that maybe some of us who were put on serotonin drugs for a long time now need something to lower the serotonin levels.

So those of us who need benzos (Lorazapam, valerian root, Klonopin, Xanax) might just be too high in serotonin. It's the MILD serotonin syndrome that is being missed and might account for some cases of seemingly impossible insomnia.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...t/drc-20354764
Serotonin-production blocking agents.

If other treatments aren't working, medications such as cyproheptadine can help by blocking serotonin production.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4445202/ --Mild serotonin syndrome.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-07-2019, 07:02 PM
 
Location: planet earth
8,620 posts, read 5,609,738 times
Reputation: 19639
I can't believe so many people take drugs to sleep.

There are tons of natural sleep remedies - tons - sleep hygiene - magnesium, B vitamins, fan or sound machine in room, comfy bed, cotton sheets, right temperature (cooler, better), good pillow, essential oils, hot bath with Epsom salts before bed, limit alcohol, exercise (but not before bed), try CBT/THC "mint," thought control techniques, etc., etc.

The number of natural remedies (and their effectiveness) is quite amazing.

If you don't have side effects now from the toxic substances you are taking, do you wonder how they might affect your organs long-term? From kidney/liver/heart concerns to Alzheimer's???

Edited to add: Sleep mask! This is super helpful!

Last edited by nobodysbusiness; 02-07-2019 at 07:50 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-07-2019, 07:20 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,649 posts, read 28,520,585 times
Reputation: 50476
Quote:
Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness View Post
I can't believe so many people take drugs to sleep.

There are tons of natural sleep remedies - tons - sleep hygiene - magnesium, B vitamins, fan or sound machine in room, comfy bed, cotton sheets, right temperature (cooler, better), good pillow, essential oils, hot bath with Epsom salts before bed, limit alcohol, exercise (but not before bed), try CBT/THC "mint," thought control techniques, etc., etc.

The number of natural remedies (and their effectiveness) is quite amazing.

If you don't have side effects now from the toxic substances you are taking, do you wonder how they might affect your organs long-term? From kidney/liver/heart concerns to Alzheimer's???
Look, you are preaching to the choir. In my case, I have posted on here for years about the remedies I am going to try. And I tried them. And they didn't work. I'm practically the Queen of Magnesium, btw, LOL. I take magnesium glycinate and have tried many other forms of magnesium and it must help with some things but it does not help me to sleep.

I take B vitamins, a decent brand. No Help. Fans and sound machines do nothing. I love my mattress. I use vintage 100% cotton percale sheets only. Cool temperature, perfectly dark room, room darkening shades, sleep mask over eyes. I love my down and feather pillow. Epsom salts don't help me to sleep. Neither does magnesium oil rubbed into my skin. I don't drink except New Years Eve. I swim at the fitness center. I do Yoga. I listen to sleep meditations.

I have done massage. I do not consume caffeine except for a cup of tea in the morning. I do not drink coffee or soda. The list of supplements and other remedies I have tried would probably fill a book.

Some people just do not sleep. Maybe it's one of the side effects of some medication some doctor gave us a long time ago--for me I think it is. If they could UNdo what they did, I wish they would. When people have spent a load of money and time trying everything, the only thing left is a medication that they would rather not take. In my own case, there is no choice--the medication I take makes some people dizzy and relaxed but with me, it knocks me out/puts me to sleep. Sleep is essential. It hasn't caused memory loss in all the years I've taken it. Benadryl probably would but I won't take Benadryl. Ever.

I know you mean well but...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-07-2019, 07:51 PM
 
Location: planet earth
8,620 posts, read 5,609,738 times
Reputation: 19639
Quote:
Originally Posted by in_newengland View Post
Look, you are preaching to the choir. In my case, I have posted on here for years about the remedies I am going to try. And I tried them. And they didn't work. I'm practically the Queen of Magnesium, btw, LOL. I take magnesium glycinate and have tried many other forms of magnesium and it must help with some things but it does not help me to sleep.

I take B vitamins, a decent brand. No Help. Fans and sound machines do nothing. I love my mattress. I use vintage 100% cotton percale sheets only. Cool temperature, perfectly dark room, room darkening shades, sleep mask over eyes. I love my down and feather pillow. Epsom salts don't help me to sleep. Neither does magnesium oil rubbed into my skin. I don't drink except New Years Eve. I swim at the fitness center. I do Yoga. I listen to sleep meditations.

I have done massage. I do not consume caffeine except for a cup of tea in the morning. I do not drink coffee or soda. The list of supplements and other remedies I have tried would probably fill a book.

Some people just do not sleep. Maybe it's one of the side effects of some medication some doctor gave us a long time ago--for me I think it is. If they could UNdo what they did, I wish they would. When people have spent a load of money and time trying everything, the only thing left is a medication that they would rather not take. In my own case, there is no choice--the medication I take makes some people dizzy and relaxed but with me, it knocks me out/puts me to sleep. Sleep is essential. It hasn't caused memory loss in all the years I've taken it. Benadryl probably would but I won't take Benadryl. Ever.

I know you mean well but...
I wonder what the root problem is?

Thanks for mentioning a sleep mask - that is an important aid - I went back and added it to my post.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-07-2019, 08:31 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,649 posts, read 28,520,585 times
Reputation: 50476
Quote:
Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness View Post
I wonder what the root problem is?

Thanks for mentioning a sleep mask - that is an important aid - I went back and added it to my post.
No problem. Some of us are veterans at trying to sleep. As I posted already, my latest theory (very slim chance) is that GABA (a neurotransmitter that influences sleep) was depleted when they had me on an antidepressant a long time ago. The antidepressant raises levels of serotonin. Serotonin is what Trazadone is about. So IF my serotonin is too high, that would explain why I feel awful on Trazadone instead of it putting me to sleep. I take Klonopin, which raises GABA. GABA and serotonin are neurotransmitters that make you sleep.

I have bought and tried GABA in supplement form but it doesn't work at all. It is said to work in a few people but usually doesn't cross the blood brain barrier. So that was another waste of money but i want to be able to say I've tried everything and wanted to get off Klonopin.

A few nights a week I take Rx Gabapentin/Neurontin that some people take for pain. For me it does absolutely nothing for pain. What it does is puts me to sleep.

So I have two sleep aids. There are also foods that are supposed to raise GABA levels but they don't work for me. See? This is really boring and tedious. But I am not the only person who is stuck with chronic insomnia that doesn't respond to anything except a prescription.

There are lots of different reasons for insomnia and they include stress, thyroid issues, pain, and maybe just some chemical imbalance in the brain.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Health and Wellness

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top