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What has helped more with your sleep?

Oci

Senior Member
Messages
261
Lol,I know right?

The amitriptyline hits me in about 4 to 6 hours
And when it does I become paralyzed litrerally.

So if Im not in bed my legs will not work
I have to practically crawl to my bed,LOL..........

How much amitriptyline are you taking?! I take 10 mg of Doxepin for sleep maintenance. It is a also a tricyclic antidepressant. http://www.currentpsychiatry.com/sp...nsomnia/75ff2d4b0fc220dcd81488d265795a16.html
The problem with it and likely amitriptyline too is the grogginess in the morning.
There is a pharmaceutical now that is 3 mg or 6 mg of Doxepin - apparently enough for sleep and with less of the side effects. I often open the 10 mg capsule and dump out a bit. Not very scientific.
 

Oci

Senior Member
Messages
261
I take amitrip 25mg.
Best.to build it up from 5mg.
Its heavy duty. Will put you on your back no messing. Wipeout job.
Take 3 hours pre bed.

And how do you feel the next morning? Do you then need a lot of caffeine to get moving? Do you have good tolerance for caffeine? I have the CYP1A2++ variant that means I do not metabolize caffeine well. It also means that my metabolism of estrogen may be diminished by my taking of caffeine. Not good.
I am trying to eliminate caffeine - hard for me to do! Apparently some of us metabolize caffeine so slowly that it still has an effect on us at bedtime. I know that my nephew, who had horrible insomnia found a great improvement in his sleep when he totally eliminated caffeine.
 
Messages
5
I was taking 10mg Elavil/Amitrip, and recently went up to 20mg. I don't find I have that much grogginess the next day at that dose. I don't do caffeine - it has never agreed with me.

In the day time, I take low doses of klonopin (like 1/2 of .5 tab twice a day) and 25mg lamictal.
 

CFS_for_19_years

Hoarder of biscuits
Messages
2,396
Location
USA
How much amitriptyline are you taking?! I take 10 mg of Doxepin for sleep maintenance. It is a also a tricyclic antidepressant. http://www.currentpsychiatry.com/sp...nsomnia/75ff2d4b0fc220dcd81488d265795a16.html
The problem with it and likely amitriptyline too is the grogginess in the morning.
There is a pharmaceutical now that is 3 mg or 6 mg of Doxepin - apparently enough for sleep and with less of the side effects. I often open the 10 mg capsule and dump out a bit. Not very scientific.
Liquid doxepin has been available for a long time and at a low cost. This helps if you need to adjust your dose.
 

hellytheelephant

Senior Member
Messages
1,137
Location
S W England
Lol,I know right?

The amitriptyline hits me in about 4 to 6 hours
And when it does I become paralyzed litrerally.

So if Im not in bed my legs will not work
I have to practically crawl to my bed,LOL..........
I would like it if mine worked that well! Am on 30 mg at night, and I do feel sleepy and it sends me to sleep, but I can still have nightime waking episodes. I am not at all groggy next day. Doc said she was worried if she upped my dose there would be sleepiness, I said hopefully, yes!!:balloons:
 

Tired of being sick

Senior Member
Messages
565
Location
Western PA USA
I would like it if mine worked that well! Am on 30 mg at night, and I do feel sleepy and it sends me to sleep, but I can still have nightime waking episodes. I am not at all groggy next day. Doc said she was worried if she upped my dose there would be sleepiness, I said hopefully, yes!!:balloons:
How much do you take? I've just started and I'm still trying to figure out the best dosage for me.
Max 150mg
 
Messages
87
Location
Kaneohe, HI
Just thought I'd mention. There's an app called f.lux you can install on your computer that reduces the amount of blue light. This definitely has helped me sleep after doing late night computer work.
 

heyitisjustin

Senior Member
Messages
162
This is why I love this site and the people in it. It is inmensely helpful.

@leokitten Good points risen and I will make well sure I do something everyday, to the extent of my daily capacity. Lots of days I barely can walk though :( Today I have a surge of energy! However, I for one had my melatonin tested in urine and I am defficient. So supplementing makes sense at least for a while.

I know this is old, but what time of day was your test? I would think that if you tested in the morning you wouldn't expect much melatonin
 

heyitisjustin

Senior Member
Messages
162
I have very high blood cortisol and extremely low saliva cortisol 24 h. Urine is low as well, actually. No one has reported something like this ever in any health forum that I have read (and I have read a bunch!!).

I am similar but to closer to normal. My blood is consistently high in the morning, but not super high.
My saliva and urine have mostly been normal. Have you learned what this means? It might not be as bad as you say. Perhaps there is some unknown sex hormone binding globulin type things that converts between the blood and saliva/urine? Did you ever get a dex suppression test?
 

Beyond

Juice Me Up, Scotty!!!
Messages
1,122
Location
Murcia, Spain
I am similar but to closer to normal. My blood is consistently high in the morning, but not super high.
My saliva and urine have mostly been normal. Have you learned what this means? It might not be as bad as you say. Perhaps there is some unknown sex hormone binding globulin type things that converts between the blood and saliva/urine? Did you ever get a dex suppression test?

The only thing I learned is that "depression" patients show high blood cortisol in tests.

I am pretty damn depressed, but mostly because of 5 years of illness that I have had to research and treat on my own.
 

heyitisjustin

Senior Member
Messages
162
The only thing I learned is that "depression" patients show high blood cortisol in tests.

I am pretty damn depressed, but mostly because of 5 years of illness that I have had to research and treat on my own.
I would think depression would universally lower cortisol (or perhaps whenever you were awake and thinking depressed thoughts). I am not sure why depression would explain why your (and mine) urine/saliva cortisol looked normal while the blood cortisol was off.

I tend to sometimes get depressed, for other reasons but can mostly dealt with it after years. I try to view it pragmatically. Either there is no afterlife and we should seize this ephemeral opportunity or there is and this is just a quick run that will be followed by something entirely different.
 

Beyond

Juice Me Up, Scotty!!!
Messages
1,122
Location
Murcia, Spain
I would think depression would universally lower cortisol (or perhaps whenever you were awake and thinking depressed thoughts). I am not sure why depression would explain why your (and mine) urine/saliva cortisol looked normal while the blood cortisol was off.

I tend to sometimes get depressed, for other reasons but can mostly dealt with it after years. I try to view it pragmatically. Either there is no afterlife and we should seize this ephemeral opportunity or there is and this is just a quick run that will be followed by something entirely different.
Everything points out to me that life is temporal, but existance is eternal.

And now, some google scholar for ya: http://www.pnas.org/content/111/9/3638.short

http://journals.cambridge.org/actio...e=online&aid=8826732&fileId=S0033291712000955
 
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