I have been taking Trazadone 2 pills a night for pain and sleep. My neuro will not refill any more because he says it isn't for long term use. So now what am I going to use to help me sleep? Back to the drawing board. Insomnia sucks. Not sleeping sucks for me. Anyone else out ther having trouble sleep at night and staying asleep. Taking naps during the day. My fatigue is off the charts, so severe. Can Ambien be taken every night for longterm use? I have so many? Guess I need to go back to see my PCP for help.
Any suggestions?
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Redskinfan1977
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Even with using good sleep "hygiene," I still have insomnia. I tend to switch off between diphenhydramine (OTC Benadry), doxylamine (OTC Unisom), or if I'm having any vertigo, dimenhydrinate ( OTC Dramamine). I had only one good experience with melatonin, and it's not quite as safe as once thought. I should get some help from my PCP about it, but have just continued to slog along on my own for years. I used to take amitriptyline at bedtime to try to prevent migraines. It was only slightly effective, I guess, but I kept taking it because I could actually sleep at night. I had to stop due to palpitations.
I hope you will be smarter than I was and talk with your PCP or neurologist.
my neuro tried me on amitriptyline for my rls, but I had bad dreams and still kicked my hubbs at night, now taking Nortriptyline, with no problems🙂🙂.. I have been taking Lorazepam 1mg- 1 1/2 to sleep since the mid 1980's. Yes I know i'm addicted to it. Have tried ambien, trazodone and one other. I sometimes add a 5mg melatonin... I still wake up during the night occasionally. More so lately, I'm dealing with a very bad hip, waiting for replacement. Doc says to take Tylenol/arthritis which does help some, but not enough.
My sleep issues seem to worsen as my Ocrevus infusion wears off. I use the 4,7,8 breathing method with some success. Also listening to a uneventful audio book read by a calm reader often does the trick. I've used my migraine meds with some success like greaterexp
My sleep issues predate my MS by many years. I can't sleep in, take a nap (no matter how tired I am) or drink caffeine after 12 noon or I won't be able to fall asleep. Of course after falling asleep I wake up at least 3 times a night but have had periods of waking 8-10 times (that I remember anyway).
I started Gabapentin to help with vertigo and now take 600mg at bedtime which cuts down the number of times I wake up. I take Tylenol PM occasionally to get better sleep. I am afraid to take any sleep medicine every night as I don't want to become totally dependent where I can't sleep at all without it. Not to mention sometimes I have to be at work at 5:00am so need to be able to wake up early and not be super groggy.
Poor sleep really sucks! Every once in a while (maybe twice a year) I only wake up once and have deep sleep all night and feel so good the next day. I do not get the same feeling from sleep induced by medicine though. I truly envy people who sleep well every night!
As mentioned by others following good sleep hygiene can help but likely isn't enough. Even so I reccomend following all the sleep hygiene steps to have a consistent baseline to add interventions to so you can evaluate the effectiveness of what you try.
Huh. I've been on 1.5 for nearly 30 years! I think I've somewhat adjusted to it so I added a Benadryl to it. I take my night meds, climb into bed and read for about a half hour, then I can sleep until my bladder wakes me. Nobody has ever told me to change that med...
My neuro also has insomnia so he readily prescribed me Ambien CR so it puts me to sleep and keeps me asleep. I think i have been on it 2 years now. Before that i took regular ambien and my pcp took me off it and made me do a sleep study. Hard to collect data on a sleep study when u dont sleep!
I use Sonata. It's a short acting sleeping pill that helps with either trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.. It's only in the body about 3 hours so you could take it at 3 am and still function at 6 am. Ambien was way too strong for me. I even drove one time to Walmart at 7am and had absolutely no memory of doing so. Pretty scary - for me and everyone else who was on the road the same time I was. Yikes!!
Ambien I believe is ok for long term use. (Not a doctor though). I have no problems falling asleep but the extreme pain in my legs and hands I have a hard time staying asleep. So I take probably to much of melatonin, 40 mg a night. I still wake up with numbness but the quality of sleep is better than before.
I have heard to many stories of Ambien hangovers where you are awake but don't remember anything.
That happens when u take it and dont go to bed right away. I learned that the hard way! I take mine, go to bed 20 mins later and no more embarrassing texts or calls to worry abot the next day! 🤣
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