help sleeping

I know that there has been discussions about sleep issues, relaxation techniques, cutting back on caffeine and sugar etc.

But if you need to take something to help you sleep, what do you take? How long have you or should you take it? What quality of life do you have with your med? (are you too loopy to enjoy your evening, do you have a 'hangover' the next day)

I have been taking amitriptyline for the past 3 years, at doses varying from 5mg when I first started to 50mgs. Right now my script is for 25mgs, but I have been cutting it in half for the past couple months. I take it at about 8:30 to finally go to bed about 11 to midnight. Yet even taking it that early, I have a hard time gettign up in the morning. But at this low dose, my sleep isn't always the best, and I can wake several times a night or have vivid dreams. I hate thinking that I may need to be on a sleeping pill for the rest of my life, but I can't seem to get any sleep without soome kind of aid.

I am considering asking my NP to review my med and maybe try something else. Something that is safe long term and won't give me a hangover every morning, but strong enough to work properly.
Thoughts?

I was on Ambien for years and began combining it with Flexeril and Ativan because it eventually didn't work by itself and I had nothing but problems from it, but didn't realize it at the time. I weaned off ALL of it. I also was going through psychotherapy for a year. The therapist recommended that I make my bedroom my "sanctuary" and for me that meant sleeping alone. My husband snores LOUD. He doesn't like any noise in the room, like a radio or lights from the TV and I found music soothing. So after 30 years, I moved into a bedroom by myself. I keep a radio playing softly all night long. I no longer take any sleeping medication. I do occasionally take Flexeril for muscle pain/cramps and rarely take an Ativan .05 mg for anxiety. The Fibromyalgia Network News publication published a study that was done where they combined melatonin, zinc and magnesium and people with fibro were able to sleep with that combination. My rheumy warned me, though, that it is not good to stay on melatonin long term, because your body will eventually stop producing it and then you'll never be able to sleep. He suggested going on and off of it every 30 days.

Hope this helps,

Miriam

I get my best sleep from Melatonin 3 mg 1/2 hr before bed, plus 5 mg Ambien 5 min before lights out. I don't want to get dependent, so I only take both when I'm anxious about something. I only take each one a couple of days, then off at least a couple of days. Both pills come in higher doses, but I would rather not take anything more than absolutely necessary.

I would ask my doc about the zinc/magnesium. I read the study too, but it was really small. It might be worthwhile to ask about getting zn and mg tested to see if levels are low. There are lots of people who say mg helps all sorts of pain, sleep, etc. So there may be something to it. I've tried melatonin with and without, but couldn't tell the difference.

I don't have chronic anxiety, so I haven't been given anything else for sleep. I have a lot of pain, so I try to take my tramadol right before bed, also some Advil if I need it. Unfortunately none of these meds last long, so I usually wake up about 1 AM, but at least I can get back to sleep if pain is not an issue. Ambien does come in time release, but I don't want to chance waking up sleepy.

My main sleep trick is to go to bed at the same time every night, get up at the same time every morning, even weekends.

Hi mamanan,

I was on sleeping pills for a few years and they didn't work well for me and caused side effects the next day. I then tried a couple sleep supplements and what works for me is Melatonin and L-Theanine. What's nice is if I wake again I can take more. With sleeping pills you can't do that.

I've also found eating foods with omega 3's like fish helps me to sleep and not consuming sugar or caffiene helps me too. One other thing is I can't watch stressful type programming at night like football or violent type shows which I don't care for anyway. My boyfriend is being very supportive about all this.

Good luck to you.

What works for me is going to bed at the same time, reading something or listening to soft music before bed. It 's like preparing yourself for bed. Sleeping medication works, but if I run out of them it's a nightmare. So I just don't like that kind of dependency. I been down the wrong road with dependent meds before. I am lucky because I don't work and I can sleep in.

I take zoplicone and amitripoline every evening, some nights I fall asleep easily and soundly others I toss and turn. I have tried sleeping without and that means no sleep.

My Dr. recommended Trazadone if my sleep habits don't improve. He said it's non addicting. I might go for it as I'm getting desperate. I wonder sometimes if this is part of Fibro or just age as I hear from other non-Fibro friends that they're having the same problem. I'd love to get back to a normal sleep pattern. I'm working on a couple of things and if any of them turn out to be the "answer", I'll certainly post it. Take care and stay positive - Anne