Never taken an Rx--what do I try?

[EMilo]

Elizabeth,

Not sleeping is just awful. I am also super sensitive to meds and wanted to share my experience about some meds I tried.

When I took melatonin I got depressed, and when I tried phosphorylated serine I had insomnia ALL NIGHT and was super groggy during the day. Flexeril caused me major mood swings.

I understand the hesistancy about Rxs, but I did have great results with a low dose (0.25-0.5) of Alprazolam. None of the other benzos work for me.

Also, since you're in Seattle, try medical cannabis. An indica strain will be great for sleep. This has been the most successful medication for my sleep, pain, and migraines.

Best,
Sabrina

Sabrina, it never occurred to me that melatonin was making me depressed!!! I just keep thinking, Who wouldn't be depressed with this?! Also, phosphorylated serine caused me insomnia, too! My doctor switched me to phosphotidyl serine and that seemed to stop the new insomnia but not help the old insomnia.

Regarding medical cannabis, I am so happy you gave me some advice on this. I smoked when I was a teenager, but I'm a different body now AND my lungs are very sensitive to inhaling things. I very tentatively tried smoking cannabis and nothing happened expect I could feel lung irritation. So I tried a vaporizer. Same thing. Fumey lung irritation, but no other effects. I could try more, but I've been a bit nervous. I could try cooking/eating it, but I've been very nervous. Thank you for mentioning indica. If you have any other advice on that, I would love it. I can't take any pain pills, any NSAIDS and having something calm down my system would be wonderful.

Thank you!

 

[Valentijn]

Regarding medical cannabis, I am so happy you gave me some advice on this. I smoked when I was a teenager, but I'm a different body now AND my lungs are very sensitive to inhaling things. I very tentatively tried smoking cannabis and nothing happened expect I could feel lung irritation. So I tried a vaporizer. Same thing. Fumey lung irritation, but no other effects. I could try more, but I've been a bit nervous. I could try cooking/eating it, but I've been very nervous.

Brewing it in a tea might be easier than cooking, and a better way to control dose if you decide to give ti a try. I have a nice metal reusable tea ball that I use for loose teas (just rooiboos so far ), and that's pretty easy for normal tea at least.

 

[taniaaust1]

My husband is going to get me some doxylamine succinate today. What's the lowest dose possible?

I think some people use as little as 4-6mg can be enough for some. I bought 25mg pills of it which seemed to be a standard dose (kirlands "Sleep Aid" its called) and just took quarter of a tablet there for a while and at that dose it worked for me for a month? before I had to increase. Take care thou to break from it at times as if you take it daily, you can end up building up a tollerance to it where it stops working (so I suggest to break for it for a couple of days straight per week or only use for 4 days per week). I never thou reached having to take a full pill (cause I started using it more cautiously and taking breaks from it at times once I discovered I do build up tollerance and then was able to stay on it without increasing dose further due taking it only a few times per week.. I used to then do a swap with other drugs on other days of the week).

And guess what, I seemed to have GREATLY improved the hypnagogic problem by not staring at my phone screen for 2-3 hours before sleep (I was wearing amber-lensed glasses, but I guess it wasn't enough)!~

With good sleep hygiene best avoiding phones before bed.. also avoid computers 2-3 hrs before bed. These things give off the kind of light which affects sleep. Take care too if you have any light displays in your room eg electric clock or DVD displays may affect sleep too (I had to get rid of all that).

another thing which was affecting my sleep which took me a couple of years to realise was that going to bed with the electric blanket on also severely can affect my sleep. I must be senstive as far as sleep going to Electromagnetic frequency

 

[taniaaust1]

Regarding medical cannabis, I am so happy you gave me some advice on this. I smoked when I was a teenager, but I'm a different body now AND my lungs are very sensitive to inhaling things. I very tentatively tried smoking cannabis and nothing happened expect I could feel lung irritation. So I tried a vaporizer. Same thing. Fumey lung irritation, but no other effects. I could try more, but I've been a bit nervous. I could try cooking/eating it, but I've been very nervous. Thank you for mentioning indica. If you have any other advice on that, I would love it. I can't take any pain pills, any NSAIDS and having something calm down my system would be wonderful.

Thank you!

i used to do illegal cannabis when young at times (was never a heavy smoker of this just party smoker or occassional use when there was a need.. eg getting over a boyfriend breakup lol). Ive had it once since Ive had ME and for me, well I didnt react to it how I did when I was young. I dont know what happened but it knocked me out and I woke up 2-3 days LATER with no memories at all of those 2-3 days. I remember just before I passed out, freaked out completely thinking I was about to die as I'd gone into severe breathing issues and couldnt breath... like a severe asthma attack or something (and the idiot guy I was with.. left me unconscious on a bed for those days..he's lucky he wasnt left with a body to deal with). Ive no idea why that one happened.. the ME???? Anyway.. Im NEVER going to touch that stuff again.

 

[NilaJones]

Flexeril and amytryptiline are closely related. If you do ok on one I would think you would probably do ok on the other. You might find one suits you better than the other.

I take about 1mg of amytryptiline. Yes, that is 1/10 of a pill. This dose gives me some relief from pain and some help sleeping, but does not aggravate my apnea too much. For comparison, I think the dose for depression is several hundred mg.

I wish you luck. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture :/.

 

[EMilo]

I made one of the biggest recoveries during my 16-year illness during a period where I was getting 10-11 hours of sleep, but due to the medication I gained 30 lbs and had high cholesterol. I think trazodone would be the sleep med I'd recommend first and after that maybe Elavil/amitriptyline. There's still a potential for side effects with either of the ones I mentioned, but nothing like the one I was taking where gained the weight/cholesterol. Also, certain generic brands are better than others. I'm assuming you've already tried supplements like melatonin, etc. There are a lot of supplements for sleep. They don't work for me, but I'd definitely try those before any prescriptions. I only take prescriptions because I've tried all the other options.

Lotus, my doc called in an Rx for trazodone. I'm nervous because I haven't tried all the natural options, but I am at my wit's end. Even one night of good sleep would help my situation. I'm in the grips of an 8-day migraine and need relief from bad sleep and pain. Do you have any advice about when to take it, how much, what to watch for? Can I take it for a few nights and then stop? Thank you!

 

[Lotus97]

Lotus, my doc called in an Rx for trazodone. I'm nervous because I haven't tried all the natural options, but I am at my wit's end. Even one night of good sleep would help my situation. I'm in the grips of an 8-day migraine and need relief from bad sleep and pain. Do you have any advice about when to take it, how much, what to watch for? Can I take it for a few nights and then stop? Thank you!

If you're sensitive to side effects then you might want to start with 25 mg. If your prescription is for 50 mg and the tablet is scored it might be easy to break in half. A knife might work. Otherwise you could get a pill cutter. Despite what some people might tell you, all generic prescription drug brands are not created equal. For trazodone, Apotex is a good brand. Pliva/Teva USA is a bad brand. I don't know if there are any other brands, but you can either call a pharmacy to see if they carry Apotex or you can contact Apotex (they have a website with contact info) and find out which pharmacies in your local area carry their brand.

 

[EMilo]

Yeah you are at the point where you NEED to do something about sleep.



Your brain state.. sounds like you are a little over wired.. Klonopin may be part the answer to help calm your brain down. (If you take it..do read previous posts at this site about it about the warnings as there are not so good ways to use it). You'd probably thou need in in combo with something else.

Get your pain treated better if possible as that must affect your sleep too.


If you have IBS-C Do not trial Amitriptyline!! (a low dose, short term trial of it prolapsed my bowel as one of the physiological effects of that drug is it slows down bowel peristalsis).



Dr Sarah Myhill has a good page on ME/CFS and sleep somewhere online and about the supplement etc combos which can be used for it. Seeing you have trouble staying asleep.. maybe trial slow release melatonin over the normal kind. Ive heard some say that slow release melatonin works better for them (for me its the opposite).



You are seeing what is called hypnagogia images. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia (this is something which some actually aim to have). This can mainfest in far more ways then what you are currently experiencing some of them quite scary. (Im quite familiar with things like hypnagogia as Im into Lucid Dreaming). Getting hypnagogia this means your brain is stuck in a transitional state between sleep and wake. (your brain waves are a bit messed up.. maybe that's something Klonopin ..which is probably the most commonly prescribed benzo for ME/CFS which is usually well tolleranted by us can help with)



I suggest to also give over the counter antihistamine doxylamine succinate a go for sleep (but be aware that if used all the time one builds up tollerance to it so dont use all the time).

After being on a combo of benzo Temapazam, melatonin and Doxylamine (if you trial anything intollerences build up too make sure you rotate your drugs), Im now on just on clonidine (a BP balancing drug which can drop BP if one has orthostatic hypertension with the ME) which many doctors use off label for sleep. (probably not a good idea thou if you have low BP with no high BP spikes.. good for those who have autonomic dysfuntion and get both high and low BP)

I am so grateful to you for the doxylamine succinate tip!!!! 1/4 pill has given me the best nights' sleeps of the year. Still not great sleep for normal people, but, for me, heaven on earth. Thank you so much!

 

[EMilo]

If you're sensitive to side effects then you might want to start with 25 mg. If your prescription is for 50 mg and the tablet is scored it might be easy to break in half. A knife might work. Otherwise you could get a pill cutter. Despite what some people might tell you, all generic prescription drug brands are not created equal. For trazodone, Apotex is a good brand. Pliva/Teva USA is a bad brand. I don't know if there are any other brands, but you can either call a pharmacy to see if they carry Apotex or you can contact Apotex (they have a website with contact info) and find out which pharmacies in your local area carry their brand.

My Trazodone Rx is manufactured by QUALITEST. I tried calling Apotex and our pharmacy to no avail. Does anyone know if the pills made by Qualitest (NDC 00603-6160-32) are ok? Thanks for the help!

 

[cph13]

If you're sensitive to side effects then you might want to start with 25 mg. If your prescription is for 50 mg and the tablet is scored it might be easy to break in half. A knife might work. Otherwise you could get a pill cutter. Despite what some people might tell you, all generic prescription drug brands are not created equal. For trazodone, Apotex is a good brand. Pliva/Teva USA is a bad brand. I don't know if there are any other brands, but you can either call a pharmacy to see if they carry Apotex or you can contact Apotex (they have a website with contact info) and find out which pharmacies in your local area carry their brand.

I know this is v. old but I would like 2 + my experience since SLEEP IS SUCH AN ISSUE for many.
As written by @Lotus97............" trazodone, Apotex is a good brand"

Surprisingly Teva-Traz. worked for me. I only needed 1-50mg (I use it sporadically); I throw it in my "back of tricks" so I can mix it up n not hit tolerance, for sleep. I was delighted to find Apotex, last week; it took 6 calls to find a pharma. that would even get that brand which I thought strange but moved onto the next call. I took one 50-mg. No response. I tried again 50-mg; than added another 50mg...I was awake all evening at 5am I dozed til 10:00. Last evening I took 100mg sleep with ehhhhhhhhhh results. I would rather take 50-mg of such a med than 100mg to get unacceptable sleep qualtiy. I must say "for me" Teva is the preferred generic. I have found this time and time again with other meds. i.e. klonopin (teva vs activis)...Teva ......far better (took me many years to reach tolerance on Teva). Also, i read somewhere there had been qualtiy and safety issues with Apotex....I do believe, Apotex, back in 2009 or 2010 got shut down by he FDA if my horrid memory serves me. JMHO, n an UPDATE of TRAZADONE. Be well and careful xo C

 

[undcvr]

well don't try SSRIs that's for sure ...

i actually like most drugs made by Teva, I've tried most of them
but yea not all generics are made equal