posted
I have rarely took it--but now since huge flare have totally stopped sleeping. I find the same thing- only a couple of hours max.
Just tried the ambien CR and same issue--maybe will take 2 tonight to see if that helps. (my prescription was 1/2 dose) VERY expensive!
Posts: 200 | From New England | Registered: Dec 2009
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posted
Didn't keep me to sleep either. For a while I took half a pill when I went to bed, then the other half four hours later when I woke up. This doesn't work for the CR.
Then my LLMD put me on Lyrica (drug used for fibromyalgia) and the Lyrica made me sleep through the night.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
I take Ambien with 1mg Xanax and I wake up in about 5 hours, then I take another 1/2 Xanax and go back to sleep for about 2 more hours. This is better than anything else I've tried so far and I've tried several different sleep aids.
Its just pure "insomnia". Nothing really gets rid of it, except getting rid of the lyme.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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cactus
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7347
posted
I used ambien for a while... it stopped working.
Switched to a very low dose of trazadone and slept like a baby.
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Please do not rely on commercials for your medical research. And, you might also close your eyes and listen to the side-effects that they mention when showing people living in bliss (which disables your ears from hearing what they are saying).
The commercials are not because the care about you, they want your money - for the rest of your life. They don't care about the fact people often pay with their livers, too.
Rather than being the weakest of the weak, Ambien actually can be the most dangerous of the dangerous regarding side-effects:
posted
My ambien used to work well. Recently, I have started waking up at 3 or 4 o'clock. Of course the one symptom I would give away if given the chance would be the fatigue, so it just kills me that I can't sleep.
I may ask to try something else. I have tried the trazadone and it gave me crazy dreams...the lyrica gave me terrible headaches, maybe I should ask for the restoril. But, my insurance is pretty finicky on what they pay at what tier and all that garbage.
Shalome
Posts: 893 | From Florida | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
For the last 1-1/2 years I have used a combo of several... Got off the clonazepam this fall(way bad side effects), down to 1/2 Zolpidem (Ambien), 1/4 trazodone and 1-2 Tran-Q.
Currently most nights I sleep fairly well but that is always changing! Trying to wean myself off of them....
-------------------- "His faithful love endures forever." Psalm 136 Posts: 189 | From MN | Registered: Dec 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- I remember after the honeymoon phase with Ambien that I would be awakened with a jolt to the sitting position and eyes wide open like "What?" as if my body had just been told a train was coming for my bed. I could not get back to sleep then, at all - ever - until I got off ambien. Trazadone seemed more gentle but even that did me in.
So many of these also caused severe dental disease from "dry mouth" and that can lead to more infections in the mouth, even affecting the heart. The mouth needs a good supply of saliva through the night to ward off infection. Anything that causes "dry mouth" can lead to many undesirable effects.
--------
Sudden awakening around 3 am can indicate a "hot" liver, working very hard.
So many of the sleep meds are very hard on the liver. While I'm not a fan of any of them (I've been beaten up by them all - long ago) . . . and with my liver I now know why so many caused me such trouble . . .
Still . . . for anyone on any sleep meds, please be sure to have excellent liver support every day with something like milk thistle, etc.
There are a lot of nutritional supplements that really can help, too. But, still with the toxicity of lyme, the brain is hyper-reactive. It takes a lot for a person with lyme to calm down but, in my experience, drugs have never been the answer for me, just added to the problems.
I don't mean to preach, really. I just don't want to see others try so hard to find the right drug when that can be such a downward spiral to the liver, the very organ that needs rest and fuels insomnia and anxiety when it is overwhelmed.
For any lyme patient who is dealing with elevated porphyrins and any kind of porphyria (such as KPU / HPU) most sleep meds can interfere with success of treatment in that aspect.
Topic: NATURAL SLEEP - Links to articles & supplements
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[ 01-08-2010, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
i think the best thing that worked for me is ole elavil. i only took about 5 mg but i slept all night.
sigh...i asked for it and he said no.. no explanation just no.
well, foot..
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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nefferdun
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 20157
posted
Ambien can cause aggression, which it did to me when I used it before the lyme and bart. If you have bartonella you sure don't need a drug that is pulling your rage trigger. It can also give you amnesia and with my brain already demented I do not need more of that! All of the chemical drugs for sleeping have serious side effects and are habit forming. I use the herb corydallis. It never loses it's affectiveness and it has no side effects. It is very strong.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
I use Ambien but like most of you, I too wake up after awhile.
My biggest problem was getting to sleep in the first place, so it was still an advantage over what I was doing before the medication.
My doctor also has me on a small dose of Klonepin at night as well on those rough nights.
As with any medication...sometimes they work for one person and not another. Our body chemistries are so different.
If you aren't having luck with it, I'd talk with your doctor since there are other medications they can try you on that would maybe work better.
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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Starfall1969
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17353
posted
My LLMD just prescribed Ambien. He also suggested I can try Sam-E to see if that helps.
I have had horrible--and I mean dangerous--reactions to Elavil, Xanax, Zoloft and Lexapro, so I am very reluctant to try another drug, even though he assures me that this is different from the rest.
I have no trouble falling asleep, but I wake up anywhere between 2am and 4am, than can't get back to sleep.
Posts: 1682 | From Dillsburg, PA | Registered: Sep 2008
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posted
I've had good results from Ambien. I do wake up sometimes, so now I use sixgoofy's idea.
I take 2/3 pill at bedtime and then 1/3 if I wake up in the middle of the night. Works for me!
( I thought street was back...)
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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Marz
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3446
posted
A sleep specialist MD told me he has patients who have been on ambien for 25 years and they're ok. I've been taking it for over a year now.
I still want to stop taking it ASAP though.But it did relieve my mind to know he thought it was ok.
I'm fortunate that I don't do things in the middle of the night like drive a car or eat a whole cake without knowing it.
Recently I'm able to take only half a pill. I still wake up but can sometimes go back to sleep without taking the other piece.
Posts: 1297 | From USA | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
I just saw what I believe is a new sleep product from Nature Made in Target yesterday.
It claims to be natural and 100% drug free.
It doesn't contain Valerian, so you shouldn't get the groggy feeling upon waking.
I bought a box, but haven't tried it yet.
There's also a natural product called Sleep Tonight that a Fibro doctor recommends. He also says to take the Sleep Tonight with, I believe, 3 mg of melatonin.
Posts: 217 | From Earth | Registered: Feb 2010
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posted
Marz.. I don't think ambien has been around quite that long. But I've taken it off and on for about 7 yrs. Got off for an entire year once... no problems going off.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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