sleep meds, anything new on horizon

[heapsreal]

Hi all,
Anyone know or heard of anything new in the way of sleep meds. A few years ago there were suppose to be a few more z-drugs (like zolpidem, zopiclone) being developed, I just havent heard anymore about them.

Insomnia would have to be one of my worsed symptoms, if i could get good sleep i would be laughin. Zopiclone would have to be my favourite type sleep med but its affects are wearing off, I use it imtermittently to reduce tolerance and occassionally swop to a different benzo for awhile and have a total break from it . I use to get 6-8 hours from zopiclone now its like 4hours, so something new would be nice.

cheers!

 

[Countrygirl]

Hi all,
Anyone know or heard of anything new in the way of sleep meds. A few years ago there were suppose to be a few more z-drugs (like zolpidem, zopiclone) being developed, I just havent heard anymore about them.

Insomnia would have to be one of my worsed symptoms, if i could get good sleep i would be laughin. Zopiclone would have to be my favourite type sleep med but its affects are wearing off, I use it imtermittently to reduce tolerance and occassionally swop to a different benzo for awhile and have a total break from it . I use to get 6-8 hours from zopiclone now its like 4hours, so something new would be nice.

cheers!

Hello Heapsreal,

Insomnia is my worst problem too and has been all along. It is wretched and it would make an enormous difference to experience restorative sleep. I would love to know why we have this problem. I have theories, but I do not know for sure. Maybe our sympathetic nervous system is too up-regulated or the GABA receptors are malfunctioning. I'm sure someone will correct me! (Think I read somewhere that XMRV dysregulates the balance between the GABA and NMDA receptors and I wonder if this could be the cause.)

Have you tried baclofen? It worked wonders for me, providing I took it with a little ginger wine. The alcohol makes it more potent and, providing I didn't take it too often, I found it invaluable. Sadly, now it has lost much of its efficacy for me, but for a very long time (years) it was the most effective medication I have taken. A warning though: don't take it too often because the withdrawal symptoms were terrible.

Hope this helps.

 

[heapsreal]

interesting, I have heard/read about baclofen, but mainly to do with muscle spasms etc, i have always wondered if it would be useful as a sleep aid, may have to try it, what dosage did u use?
Just read about a few meds in the pipeline, eplivanserin, esmirtazapine and almorexant, by the sounds of them they work differently to current sleep meds but some can be used for chronic insomnia. I think there still going through trial phases, would be interesting to hear from someone who has tried these.

 

[glenp]

Still on zopiclone here

I have been taking one zopiclone every night for about 6 or 7 months now, not a miracle but it does help. It still takes 1 1/2 hours for me to get to sleep but can usually sleep for 4 hours now unless the dog wakes me up. If I havent fallen asleep by 3 hours I get up and also take an adivan or cessamet but only have to do that once every week or 2. I found that I need to take it right when i go to bed as I dont feel it kick in. At first I stayed up waiting to kick in but that didnt work and when I went to bed I didn't sleep, so now it is right when I go to bed.

glen

glen

 

[Nielk]

Prazosin for sleep?

Has anyone tried Prazosin?
One of my doctors mentioned it to me that he heard that a lot of people have success with it.
But, I never heard of it.

 

[Otis]

re: Prazosin for sleep?

Has anyone tried Prazosin?
One of my doctors mentioned it to me that he heard that a lot of people have success with it.
But, I never heard of it.

After a quick search it was develpoed and for and is primarily used for lowering high BP.

It's been studied in post-combat PTSD to relieve nightmares but I found no referance to use as a general sleep aid or with CFS/Fibro sleep issues. I would stay away unless you have high BP and then I'd still ask about side effects and why this might help your with your specific sleep concerns.

 

[heapsreal]

I have read some info about baclofen saying that it increases growth hormone in a similar manner to xyrem and hell of alot cheaper, sounds interesting and promising as good sleep that increase growth hormone would go along way in treating this illness. More personal experiences on this would be good.

 

[JT1024]

I've had sleep issues for quite awhile but recently came across something that works. I had been prescribed .5 mg Klonopin (clonazepam) at bedtime and that was fine for helping me get to sleep but I was continually waking up. My primary care physician then prescribed 50 mg of Trazadone.

When I took the initial does, I did not take the Klonopin since I didn't want to take two meds. I had a hard time falling asleep but once I was asleep, I slept like a rock. I had a horrible time waking up. When I viewed the sleep resources page on this website, I learned that many of the best CFS/FM doctors prescribe one med to initiate sleep and another med to sustain sleep.

With that in mind, I took a half (.25mg) of the Klonopin tablet and half of the Trazadone tablet. This combination works extremely well. My only problem is I want to sleep too much! When I get out of bed, my head is very clear and not groggy at all. Turns out trazadone helps with stage 4 sleep as well.

I'm including to links that might be helpful:

http://www.aboutmecfs.org/Trt/TrtSleepPrescrip.aspx

http://www.revolutionhealth.com/drugs-treatments/rating/desyrel-for-fibromyalgia-syndrome-fms?rid=44218

 

[Nielk]

After a quick search it was develpoed and for and is primarily used for lowering high BP.

It's been studied in post-combat PTSD to relieve nightmares but I found no referance to use as a general sleep aid or with CFS/Fibro sleep issues. I would stay away unless you have high BP and then I'd still ask about side effects and why this might help your with your specific sleep concerns.

Thanks Otis for taking the time out to search this for me.
I do not have high blood pressure so thank you for your warning.
I will stay away from this drug for now.

Thanks again,
Nielk

 

[Galena1]

Hi All - Posted this elsewhere on Phoenix.
Here in the UK I'm prescribed Zopiclone/Zimovane for sleep and they are very effective. The pills are described as being taken to 'reset sleep patterns' and, for me at least, are only prescribed and issued 21 pills at a time. I guess that 21 x 1 tablet (a three week course) would be viewed medically as sufficient time for most people (non ME) to get their sleep back on track.
I've been taking them for many months - no pill = no sleep. I've raised concerns with my GP re the lengthy period I have been popping these pills and he has assured me that this is not an issue.
I have managed to cut my usage back to only half of the 7.5mg dose prescribed and find this suits me better (less hangover in the morning) and reasonable sleep most of the time.
Downsides -
1. Wrap these pills (or half) in something before you put them in your mouth (I use a small bread 'pellet'). If you don't and the pill doesn't go straight down be prepared for the most awful taste that you have ever experienced
2. Personally, I discovered that the 7.5mg sometimes made me sleep too well and pain that would normally wake me would manifest itself in some pretty terrible nightmares. Reducing the intake to half a pill seems to have resolved this but, occasionally, the pain does still wake me.
3. I normally take this medication about an hour before bedtime but sometimes (less frequently now) they do not work at all for some reason.

 

[wciarci]

All that I can add is this: good sleep hygiene, 40mg doxepin and in bed between 8 and 9 pm (most nights). I have used valerian root in the past but it makes me sleepy the next day. I usually sleep 10 hours a night and may wake up for short periods but not unless I am really stressed.

Wendy

 

[heapsreal]

thanks for all the replies,
The best benzo type med i have used is imovane/zopiclone but have been using this intermittently for a couple of years, sometimes i just take an extended break from it then when i resume it, it starts working again. Other things i have found effective are mirtazipine/avanza and seroquel and i need to take breaks from these every few weeks as they stop working if i use them all the time. I have used doxepin in the past and it was really good but its sedation effects wore off, if i use it once every2-3 weeks it works but using it semi regularly it stops working too quickly. I sometimes use restavit/doxylamine(antihistamine) and when i first used it, it was more sedating then any med i have used since but tolerance to it happens quickly. I havent used it for a few months and took it the other night and had a great sleep and woke up feeling good. I have found using neurontin or lyrica improves the effectiveness of other sleep meds, on there own they havent helped much for sleep.

Im still waiting on my order of baclofen, hopefully i get it this week and can let u guys know how it go's. When i see my doc next Im going to ask him about a med i have found researching on the net, surmontil/trimipramine, which is a sedating tricyclic and its said that it doesnt interfere with natural sleep cycle, most people who have used it find it effective for sleep.

I remember watching happy days and the fonz had a different girlfriend for each day of the week, i need to have a different sleep med each night of the week, ahhhhhhhh, lol