This is getting to be a more common problem as stress levels increase and problems only get worse. Some people will sleep like babies, while others think they have to stay up all night and figure things out.

Whatever the problem is, I can say that meds don't seem to cure it. If I get 3 hrs of sleep at night, I am grateful. (with med) no meds=no sleep.

Does anybody have any input on this problem? People that go without sleep seem to have problems concentrating and incoherent thoughts. If there are any doctors or people that have experienced this and might like to contribute, please do!

Thank-you,
Mizzzj

What meds are you taking to get three hours of sleep. If its Zolpidem then that makes sense as it has a very short half-life. Maybe you should try something with a longer half-life?

Sleep is very important, yes, I know from experience. (I have detailed the story in previous posts, but I had a bad experience with F2F doctor-prescribed Xanax for sleep -- it stopped working, I stopped taking it thinking I hadn't been on it long enough to have problems, I didn't sleep for more than five days, wound up in the hospital. Hospitals suck. At least I didn't have seizures.)

If you are sleeping that little... you may require a doctor's assistance. If you absolutely cannot afford to go to a doctor... well, the below is informational only.

Part of the reason I say hospitals suck is that I was treated as a psych patient. Lack of sleep severely affects a person's mood and emotions, as well as thought. Did you know that purposeful sleep deprivation can be a treatment for depression? Long-term lack of sleep can induce hypomania or mania, or in extreme cases manic psychosis, which is what happened to me. I worked with the shrinks for over a year to ensure that I did not have bipolar disorder, because I have worked in the mental health field (lowly MHT) -- I not only take mental health seriously but I don't feel a stigma should be attached to mental illness.

If they'd seen that part of my problem was withdrawal from doctor-prescribed benzodiazepines and Z-drugs (which they didn't learn until several days into my stay as I was admitted on a Friday night), I would have avoided time in the ICU. They first thought I was an emergent schizophrenic because I was about the right age for a woman's first episode. Typical antipsychotics (like Haldol) really suck.

-----

The reason I say this is that a lot of the non-benzo and non-Z drug options for sleep are antidepressants. If you've already been suffering from a severe lack of sleep.... antidepressants can push a person into hypomania or mania, if they're predisposed to it -- as a person would be who has been suffering from severe sleep deprivation would be.

Here is a list of the medications I've been given over my 15 years of suffering from a severe sleep disorder....

Benadryl/diphenhydramine -- anthistamine -- OTC. Not really good for your liver but better and cheaper than Tylenol PM, it's the PM part. 100 count generic available at Wal-type stores for usually about $5. Dries out your mouth and sinuses badly, especially at higher doses -- one Fibromyalgia website mentions doctors allowing dosages as high as 200 mg.

Vistaril/hydroxyzine -- antihistamine -- RX. Similar in action to Benadryl, is sometimes given for anxiety. I've been prescribed it for severe allergic reactions as well as sleep. At dosages prescribed to me did not cause severe dry mouth, but I presume they were low dosage.

Elavil/Amitriptyline -- tricyclic antidepressant -- RX. This is often prescribed for fibromyalgia, at a dosage that is generally not clinically active as an antidepressant. Helps some people, did not do much for me.

Flexeril/cyclobenzaprine -- muscle relaxant that is related to the tricyclic antidepressants -- RX. This did help my sleep, but I had what some have referred to as the "Flexeril rag" after taking it -- I was very moody and irritable. Seriously, it did feel like PMS. It happens in both men and women, I have known several people who have described it but I don't know how common it is.

Remeron/Mirtazapine -- piperazine tetracyclic antidepressant and "Noradrenergic and Specific Serotonergic Sntidepressant (NaSSA)" -- RX. First time I took it I was out for 16 hours. Lower dosages are more likely to be sedating, high dosages not sedating as due to noradrenaline release. Implicated in the Andrea Yates case as a drug misused by her psychiatrist -- she was given incredibly high dosages of this in combination with another antidepressant, and there have been questions about whether bipolar disorder played a part in her psychosis. Low dosages are generally very safe. Can cause weight gain, also can be an effective anti-nausea medication due to actions similar to Zofran.

Desyrel/Trazodone -- triazolopyridine antidepressant, closest relative is Serzone which was taken off the market due to liver damage -- RX. This one is a bit unusual, it's marketed as an antidepressant but it is often prescribed for insomnia. It has a wide dosage range, from 50 to 300 mg for dosages prescribed to me. I knew one person who had been prescribed the 600 mg dose and she said she had to quit it because of visual hallucinations at that high of a dose. When managing my sleep disorder after that ill-fated hospitalization, it was considered "safe" to give to a person who might be predisposed to bipolar disorder, even after they stopped the mood stabilizers I submitted to taking (allergic reactions to Tegretol and its like really, really suck.) It does work for sleep, for me at about 100-150 mg.

Phenergan/promethazine -- a phenothiazine tranquilizer/antipsychotic with prominent antihistamine affects -- RX. Often given for nausea, even added to Demerol in the medication known as Mepergan to offset nausea induced by opiates. Do not take this for very long for sleep or nausea -- not because of addiction but because it can damage your CNS. It and other typical antipsychotics cause drowsiness as a side effect, but can cause tardive dyskinesia (permanent damage, muscle control problems), extrapyridial side effects which are temporary but cause problems with movement and speech, and neuroleptic malignant syndrome -- which really, really, REALLY sucks. ICU is very expensive.

Zyprexa/olanzapine -- atypical antipsychotic -- RX. Main bad things about this medicine is that it can cause weight gain and type-2 diabetes, similarly to other atypical antipsychotics, when taken for long. Yes, it knocks you out. It knocked me out for 12-16 hours when I took it. It's been given for treatment of mania in bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression.... so if you are worried about your mental state and feel that taking a vacation for a few days to sleep would be a good thing, it's a reasonably safe medication to "drop" someone and force them to sleep, and it's unlikely to make a person have mood effects. But I wouldn't consider it a long-term solution for insomnia that wasn't related to a significant mental health condition. I've never been given any other atypical antipsychotics such as Risperdol or Seroquel, but I think all of them act in a similar way, and all of them are unhappy drugs to take for a long time.

Rozerem/Ramelteon -- melatonin receptor agonist -- RX. I was very unhappy to learn that this did not work for me. I had really high hopes for a sleep medication that targeted the melatonin receptors considering my doctors think my sleep disorder is complicated with non-24 hour sleep disorder -- my circadian rhythms are really off.

-------------

I've also, of course, been given benzos and Z-drugs for sleep. Ambien works best for me. I work nights, so my regimen is Ambien on the days I have to sleep so I can go to work that night, and Trazodone for the times I don't as it seems to leave me with a bit more drowsiness the next day.

If you have the money/insurance, I would seriously recommend getting a sleep study done and going to a sleep disorder specialist. They are aware of the mood and thought impairment that lack of sleep can cause, and are aware of the side effects of many of the drugs out there to treat sleep. Second best place to go for treatment of sleep disorders, in my opinion, is your local community mental health center. Even if you have no other psychological conditions, they are able to treat insomnia and many are willing to prescribe Z-drugs and benzos. You will have to go through an evaluation process to ensure that your insomnia is not caused by an underlying psychiatric condition, but they are not likely to send you to the hospital in trying to treat your insomnia.

If you already know what works for you, PCPs are often willing to prescribe more than you'd expect, but it was a PCP who gave me the Xanax. Right now my PCP is the one prescribing my Ambien/Trazodone regimen, and he would be willing to prescribe Ambien full-time but I don't want to take it every day.

Thank-you Moriah...

I guess I basically have tried everything and combinations, plus herbal remedies. Its just basically a stress factor, I think, but it runs in my family, as well. Benedryl used to work wonders, and when that stopped working, .5mg of Ativan worked, then I had Ambien and Sonata.

Sonata and 1mg of Ativan worked for awhile to get me six hrs of sleep. Then of course my Dr. who I had that was absolutely wonderful left and moved away. The next Dr. was an azz told me I was bipolar, which was just really arrogant, and b1+chy. The next Dr. is the one I still have, but she is paranoid about prescribing any benzo, or sleeping pills. I had plenty of Drs offer SSRIs and I just can't take those at all. Tried several. All very bad for me and, of course, being a guina pig is no fun either.

I do have insurance, but I am sick of dealing with Drs because its time consuming, and its so hard to find a good one. I asked my sister, who has the same type of sleeping problem, why we can't just go to the d4mn Dr. and get what we need. She told me that they would be investigated, and it would be embarrassing for them to even write it in the first place. She works in the health care field, and I understand what she means.

One Doc I went to was a psychologist and not licensed to prescribe meds, but told me that I wasn't sleeping enough, and that its so important to sleep that I just needed to do whatever was necessary to get sleep.

Its just that I always feel so foggy and forgetful, I do things I don't remember doing. The best sleep I have ever gotten was when I was with the father of my children, and didn't have to worry about getting up and taking care of everything that I do now. I have been a single parent for 15 years, and have given up on finding the right partner.

I have read through some of the other posts and can't believe what a problem Insomnia really is. Its outright dangerous to be sleep deprived. What I have read some people describe is way worse than anything I could imagine.

The theory that people go into a mania when sleep deprived is very accurate. It severely effects emotions and decision making. Thanks again to all, and I will keep reading...and hoping to...

Mizzzj