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I'm pleading with you to only use sleeping meds (including "off label") for a short term fix! Do not go down the road of dependence on medications to sleep.
I am currently on that journey. My sleep cycles were severely altered by the birth of my first child. It all started with benadryl...first on occasion, then regularly. Didn't take long for my body to become completely dependent on substances to do a job that it capably did on its own. Until it didn't. When that drug failed, then it was on to the next, and on to the next in order to sleep. Now it's gabapentin, and it's the absolutely worst. The brain fog side effect is no joke and has interfered with my job. I am trying to kick the medication habit for good and detox at the same time.
Check out cognitive therapy for insomnia and try it. I waited too long (15 years) and now getting off the meds is harder and will probably be more expensive.
PS Trazodone never worked.
My cousin is in a memory care unit and I'm pretty sure it's from gabapentin. I was her legal guardian and she started calling me up and asking what year it was and I was getting calls from the police in her town about how she was forgetting her keys all the time and not being able to get into her house. Social worker had me call her drs and one was surprised that another dr had put her on a high dose of gabapentin. The drs discussed it, took her off the gabapentin, and she went back to somewhat normal for a while. Then she really went downhill. Before they took her off gabapentin she didn't know her own address and couldn't remember anything from one minute to the next. The dr said that older people (she was 70) should be very careful with gabapentin.
The other thing is benadryl. I'm pretty sure that it's on the list of medications older people are not supposed to take. Causes cognitive issues, mental decline. Turns out there isn't much that an older people can take for sleep. I don't think older people require less sleep, it's just that they cannot sleep so people assume they don't want to sleep or don't need to sleep. Maybe I'm wrong about that but that's what I see and I live in age restricted apartments. Older people tend to take naps to make up for not getting decent sleep during the night. Not me--once I am up, I am up, tired or not.
My cousin is in a memory care unit and I'm pretty sure it's from gabapentin. I was her legal guardian and she started calling me up and asking what year it was and I was getting calls from the police in her town about how she was forgetting her keys all the time and not being able to get into her house. Social worker had me call her drs and one was surprised that another dr had put her on a high dose of gabapentin. The drs discussed it, took her off the gabapentin, and she went back to somewhat normal for a while. Then she really went downhill. Before they took her off gabapentin she didn't know her own address and couldn't remember anything from one minute to the next. The dr said that older people (she was 70) should be very careful with gabapentin.
The other thing is benadryl. I'm pretty sure that it's on the list of medications older people are not supposed to take. Causes cognitive issues, mental decline. Turns out there isn't much that an older people can take for sleep. I don't think older people require less sleep, it's just that they cannot sleep so people assume they don't want to sleep or don't need to sleep. Maybe I'm wrong about that but that's what I see and I live in age restricted apartments. Older people tend to take naps to make up for not getting decent sleep during the night. Not me--once I am up, I am up, tired or not.
I never wake up tired. I am ready to run 10 miles everytime i get up. I only shut down around 9pm and i have been like that since i was in my 20's.
I was never a nite person even in my 20's and always went to bed around 930 or 10 and woke up around 6.
Now i go to sleep around 930pm and always wake up around 2 or 3. Sometimes even 4am if i am very lucky. I am always amped up and never get tired until around 9pm. I miss smoking but since it cost too much to smoke i won't start back up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LKJ1988
If i could force myself to stay up to a 11 maybe that would help. TV is so boring and my body shuts down around 9pm to the point i can't stay awake blake. Maybe i only need 5 hours. I went thru hell with my sister that lived with me and her bad health. Last 10 years was bad and the last 6 months she was alive about killed me. During that time i could not even go to sleep.
But when i stopped smoking my sleeping really changed.
You see what time my reply is? 1AM. I'm up. Similar issue as you're having but my hours are a little different. Once I wake up I can't get back to sleep.
I'm exhausted by 5 or 6, some days earlier. This started with the fall time change about 3 years ago.
During the school year, I'm up at least until about 4:30PM, when I get home from picking my grandson up, I'm on the couch until I wake up which could be anywhere from 10:30 to 2am.
A few weeks ago I was getting a 2 hour nap in the afternoon which seemed to help me stay awake longer, until 9 or so, then wake up about 3AM. I can't do that due to school starting.
Even if I go to sleep later, it does not always mean I will wake up later, it means that I'll go without sleep until the next night.
Sounds like you need a decent sleeping pill. Generic Lunesta (3MG) is what everyone I know takes. Get the Dr Reddy one. CVS sells it. There are many generics, not all work as good. Cut it in half, see if it helps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grlzrl
I have had insomnia for 7 years since I started hormone blockers after breast cancer. My doctor gave me Lunesta (generic) to try and it's not bad. I slept pretty well with the lowest dose. Still woke up a couple of times but before I was having vivid dreams all night and waking up feeling like I hadn't slept a wink. The first three nights on Lunesta, I didn't dream much so I feel much more rested. It's not perfect. Still feel a little drugged in the morning. And you get an icky taste in your mouth but that's improving a lot on Day 3. Tonight, I am not taking it. It's an experiment to see if your clock resets itself. I doubt it will for me but I think you can take it long term. Check with your doctor.
I've been on it long term.
Curious if your sleep reset or not.
Have you tried just taking a half of a pill or are you taking a full one? The ones everyone cuts are the 3MG, maybe you're on a smaller dose.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GearHeadDave
The problem with Lunesta and Ambien is that over a few weeks you generally start building a tolerance and must increase the dosage to get the same effect.
I've been on the same dose of lunesta for 20 years. Started with the brand until generics came out. Trial and error on which generic manufacturer worked similar to brand but that's the only issue I have.
When that brand stops working as well, I fill at one other pharmacy for 3 months, then go back to the brand I like. It's enough of a reset for me.
Don't let the worry mongers scare you, the evidence that low doses of xanax cause dementia is quite weak. Stay active physically and mentally and eat healthy. Go to the doctor and explain that it has helped you and want to try it but only under his/her careful supervision because you know it can be addictive.This will reassure the nervous Nellies that you are less likely to abuse it. Then make sure you don't abuse it.
I have taken 1/8 mg to help me sleep for years. That's half of the smallest mg pill they make. I've never increased. In fact I take less than ever because I used to take it for anxiety too and rarely do now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LKJ1988
Odd i feel much better and have way more energy than i did 30 years ago.
You see what time my reply is? 1AM. I'm up. Similar issue as you're having but my hours are a little different. Once I wake up I can't get back to sleep.
I'm exhausted by 5 or 6, some days earlier. This started with the fall time change about 3 years ago.
During the school year, I'm up at least until about 4:30PM, when I get home from picking my grandson up, I'm on the couch until I wake up which could be anywhere from 10:30 to 2am.
A few weeks ago I was getting a 2 hour nap in the afternoon which seemed to help me stay awake longer, until 9 or so, then wake up about 3AM. I can't do that due to school starting.
Even if I go to sleep later, it does not always mean I will wake up later, it means that I'll go without sleep until the next night.
Sounds like you need a decent sleeping pill. Generic Lunesta (3MG) is what everyone I know takes. Get the Dr Reddy one. CVS sells it. There are many generics, not all work as good. Cut it in half, see if it helps.
I've been on it long term.
Curious if your sleep reset or not.
Have you tried just taking a half of a pill or are you taking a full one? The ones everyone cuts are the 3MG, maybe you're on a smaller dose.
I've been on the same dose of lunesta for 20 years. Started with the brand until generics came out. Trial and error on which generic manufacturer worked similar to brand but that's the only issue I have.
When that brand stops working as well, I fill at one other pharmacy for 3 months, then go back to the brand I like. It's enough of a reset for me.
Re: the bolded above. It sounds to me like your hours are just mixed up. If you fall asleep around 5pm and get up between 10:30 and 2am, you're getting 5.5 to 9 hours sleep right there. That's plenty for most people. Even 9pm to 3am is still a good 6 hours. That's about all I ever sleep, and really all I need. Occasionally I'll get 7 hours. I usually stay up until 11pm or 11:30, and wake up about 5 or 6am, ready to go.
DH has middle of the night insomnia, usually about 3-4 am, so he gets up and reads for an hour or two until he's sleepy and then goes back to bed until about 8:30 or 9am. If I ever have a rare sleepless night, I go downstairs, get comfy lying down on the couch, and watch undersea documentaries with the lights off. The pretty pictures and gentle voice-overs lull me to sleep in minutes.
I think one thing that helps is just not viewing your wakefulness at night as a bad thing. As long as you get 6 or more hours of sleep somewhere in the 24-hour period, that's fine. Maybe that's 2 hours in the day and 4 or 5 at night, or whatever your body dictates. Being stressed about lying awake only makes it more likely you won't fall asleep. In retirement, I don't operate heavy machinery or do open heart surgery, so my daily activities aren't really ones that would be affected by a lack of sleep anyway, so I don't sweat it. There are plenty of things to do around the house with the extra waking hours.
Last edited by TheShadow; 09-22-2022 at 09:52 AM..
Don't let the worry mongers scare you, the evidence that low doses of xanax cause dementia is quite weak. Stay active physically and mentally and eat healthy. Go to the doctor and explain that it has helped you and want to try it but only under his/her careful supervision because you know it can be addictive.This will reassure the nervous Nellies that you are less likely to abuse it. Then make sure you don't abuse it.
I have taken 1/8 mg to help me sleep for years. That's half of the smallest mg pill they make. I've never increased. In fact I take less than ever because I used to take it for anxiety too and rarely do now.
You quit smoking.
They work like a champ. My sis was taking it and roxy's and many other hard core pills jill for years.
My cousin is in a memory care unit and I'm pretty sure it's from gabapentin. I was her legal guardian and she started calling me up and asking what year it was and I was getting calls from the police in her town about how she was forgetting her keys all the time and not being able to get into her house. Social worker had me call her drs and one was surprised that another dr had put her on a high dose of gabapentin. The drs discussed it, took her off the gabapentin, and she went back to somewhat normal for a while. Then she really went downhill. Before they took her off gabapentin she didn't know her own address and couldn't remember anything from one minute to the next. The dr said that older people (she was 70) should be very careful with gabapentin.
The other thing is benadryl. I'm pretty sure that it's on the list of medications older people are not supposed to take. Causes cognitive issues, mental decline. Turns out there isn't much that an older people can take for sleep. I don't think older people require less sleep, it's just that they cannot sleep so people assume they don't want to sleep or don't need to sleep. Maybe I'm wrong about that but that's what I see and I live in age restricted apartments. Older people tend to take naps to make up for not getting decent sleep during the night. Not me--once I am up, I am up, tired or not.
Gabapentin honestly scares me. I take it because I have no choice if I don't want to be up all night. But it's horrible and it has withdrawal symptoms. I'm looking into detox facilities because I need to solve the entire problem - the insomnia and the medication dependency. It's not gonna be cheap
Insomnia also seems to prey on seniors. My 74 year old mom has medication dependency just like me. Slept like a baby when she was younger but no longer.
This topic helps me see that so many of my fellow americans are plagued with insomnia and I think it's still poorly studied. The number of doctors who truly specialize in insomnia are few. Most are neurologists who specialize in apnea and restless legs. I've yet to find a doctor that has addressed my issues.
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