LymeNet Flash: another sleepless night

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Posted by arg82 (Member # 161) on :

I'm having another sleepless (or close to sleepless at least) night. This is the third night in a row that it has been pretty much impossible for me to fall asleep. I always have sleeping problems (trouble falling asleep, waking up during the night, etc.) but not as bad as it's been this week. I'm exhausted but can't shut my eyes or turn off my brain or something.

I take 300mg of Neurontin before bed for sleep. I just tapered off Ambien and I tried 5-HTP but it didn't help that much. I have an early doctor's appointment tomorrow and I was hoping to get a good night's sleep and tried to go to bed early but it seems other things are in the plans for me tonight. Any ideas of other sleeping things to ask my LLMD about? I've tried Elavil and Trazodone, too, but both of them left me very groggy the next day. I had to taper off the Ambien because it's not meant for long term use and I was starting to have some of the side-effects that happen when you're on it too long. But it was helping me sleep.

Thanks,
Annie

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``The best way out is always through.'' -Robert Frost

Posted by HaplyCarlessdave (Member # 413) on :

Ask your doc's advice on trying melatonin.
Another possibility is valerian, but valerian is very powerful stuff. There's a tea by celestial seasonngs called 'Sleepytime Extra' that actually has sme vakerian in it, though the dose is probably pretty low. The herb skullcap may help.
I get this tea made by 'yogi tea' called "Bedtime Tea" which seems pretty strong, and has no valerian. I don't remember right of what herbs are in there. Everybody's different when it comes to sleep. On occasion,, coffee has made me sleep incredibly soundly, but I think I'm unusual in that regard. Above all, relax. Don't get yoour shorts in a bundle; Just think about stuff, and relax- don't feel you actually have to pay a visit to dreamland to become much more rested!-- just let yout mind wander and let it break free of the tyrannical grip of worry and stress. Before you know it, the vista of dreamland itself might appear when you were least expecting it.
(because of this possibility- be sure to set your alarm and brush your teeth nice and early, if you must get up in the morning early!)
Hope you find your way there soon, or at least to a reasonable facsimile....
DaveS

DaveS

quote:
Originally posted by arg82:
I'm having another sleepless (or close to sleepless at least) night. This is the third night in a row that it has been pretty much impossible for me to fall asleep. I always have sleeping problems (trouble falling asleep, waking up during the night, etc.) but not as bad as it's been this week. I'm exhausted but can't shut my eyes or turn off my brain or something.
I take 300mg of Neurontin before bed for sleep. I just tapered off Ambien and I tried 5-HTP but it didn't help that much. I have an early doctor's appointment tomorrow and I was hoping to get a good night's sleep and tried to go to bed early but it seems other things are in the plans for me tonight. Any ideas of other sleeping things to ask my LLMD about? I've tried Elavil and Trazodone, too, but both of them left me very groggy the next day. I had to taper off the Ambien because it's not meant for long term use and I was starting to have some of the side-effects that happen when you're on it too long. But it was helping me sleep.
Thanks,
Annie

Posted by griswoldgirl (Member # 5365) on :

I am having trouble with sleep lately too. Just cannto shut down. It does not help that with all the abx I am running right now inorder to do them 12 hours apart and give appropriate time between taking probiotics I end up just getting up off the couch at 1 am flushing my lines.

I have had night sweats and bad dreams lately, on mepron, clindamycin and rocephlin and perhaps I am just afraid to go to bed to only be awakened again.

When I do wake up it is so abupt, as if someone jolted me awake lately--herxing so I guess anything is possible these days.

Just wanted you to know you are not a lone--I also take meds for sleeping which are not working lately. Stinks

Cathy

Posted by JillF (Member # 5553) on :

I have been taking Amitriptyline and it hasn't seemed to be working these past two weeks.

So, I know exactly what you mean about not getting any sleep.

It sucks.

Ambien never worked well for me. Flexeril helped me fall asleep but didn't keep my asleep. Flexeril and Amitriptyline combo seemed to work the best for me. The doc who prescribed Flexeril will not refill the prescription now.

I take the Sleepy Time tea but that doesn't seem to help.

I'll have to look for the Yogi tea and perhaps get some Valerian also.

Posted by arg82 (Member # 161) on :

Just wanted to thank you all for sharing with me. My LLMD said that it seems like the Neurontin is helping me STAY asleep but not FALL asleep and the 5-HTP I was taking was helping me to FALL asleep but not STAY asleep so she came to the very obvious conclusion that I could use both of them and that would probably work well for me. I'll try it out tonight and see how it goes.

--Annie

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``The best way out is always through.'' -Robert Frost

Posted by smiles (Member # 5635) on :

I still have issues with going to sleep. I find the most success is when I get into a routine.

Such as... no computer, TV, paperwork or reading novels within an hour of bed. I try to put on some quiet music and listen to it for a half hour before going to bed.

I rotate between valerian, melatonin, and muscle relaxers (when I can't sleep because of discomfort).

Now I can definitely tell you that when I stray from this it takes longer for me to sleep i.e. turn on TV and get caught up in a movie or read 'just one more chapter' of the book, or 'one last email'.

Not sure if this is helpful or not, but hope you are able to find something to help you sleep. Not getting enough sleep, must exacerbate your symptoms

Posted by guiney (Member # 4550) on :

Hi there-sleppless buddy

!! I too have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep!I've tied Ambien but my llmd said to stay away from that

so I stopped. It made me feel weird and really didn't help me stay asleep.I take muscle relaxers too, but it seems when I'm on abx

I don't sleep to good. I've been up since 5:00 this morning! I haven't taken my zithro in a week and I seem to feel better when on it but last night I took it and

I think there's a pattern here. When I first start taking it I'm up all night. Unless I take like 4 soma's!!!! I can't do that every night.

Anyway, you are not alone!!!! Sleep tight Jamie

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Posted by arg82 (Member # 161) on :

Well, last night I tried the combination of the Neurontin and the 5-HTP and it worked really well for me. I fell asleep pretty easily and stayed asleep pretty well. Still not feeling very rested when I wake up but I think that will get better as I improve in general.

Hope everyone else is getting some sleep! Sounds like there are a lot of sleepless people here - not surprising.

--Annie

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``The best way out is always through.'' -Robert Frost

Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :

Annie, How much 5htp are you taking? I take a ton of meds in order to sleep. On top of Ambien, flexeril, trazodone, and neurontin, I take melatonin. I tried to take 5htp instead of the Ambien, but it didn't work.

It's pathetic!

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oops!
Lymetutu

Posted by guiney (Member # 4550) on :

What is 5-HTP? Never heard of it.Jamie

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Posted by arg82 (Member # 161) on :

Hi,

Too, I'm taking 100-200mg for trying to get to sleep. When I was just taking the 5-HTP for sleep I would also take 50-100mg in the middle of the night when I'd wake up but it seems like I don't need to worry about that - the Neurontin takes care of that.

Jamie, 5-HTP is L-5 Hydroxytryptophan. My bottle says "AMNI's 5-HTP capsules contain a natural source of L-5-Hydroxytryptophan exctracted from the seeds of the Griffonia plant." I don't know if that answers your question, but that's about all I know about it. It's a supplement but it's not available in a lot of stores because I guess a few years ago there was a problem with some of it and it was pretty much taken off the market. I get mine from my LLMD's office.

--Annie

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``The best way out is always through.'' -Robert Frost

Posted by tjtighe (Member # 4057) on :

Annie,

For years I have been taking what some Chronic Fatigue docs (Paul Cheney,etc) were having the patients use and it works very well for me. It's 1mg Klonapin with 15 mg of Doxipen Elixer (it must be the Elixer).

Tess

Posted by DELT/1 (Member # 5711) on :

I HAVENT SLEEP EVER SINCE I STOPPED AMBIN,,

I STILL TAKE TWO TEMAZEMPAM AND THREE VALARIEN ROOT AND MY
ATIVIAN, AND LOOK AT THE TIME STILL GOING , CANT HELP IT

TOTAL STINKS.

DEBBIE FROM WARWICK

IM NO YELLING I AM SO SICK OF MY PASSWORD ITS IN CAPS AND BY THE TIME I LOOK UP I AM ALMOST DONE,

JUST DONT FEEL LIKE RE TYPING TONIGHT. WONDER WHY 3 IN MORNING MAYBE

SORRY
DEB

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