JH44 said...
Yes it's for short term use. Only enough for a couple of weeks.
JH44 there are none addictive alternatives. Melatonin slow release is one of them. Magnesium Glycinate type too.
Other alternatives here posted by other members are more natural approaches you could try, but even natural treatments like passion flower or valerian for example are also shown to result also in tolerance because they use the same benzo mechanism like benzos, except naturaly, but in other people, they do not develope tolerance to them, its individual, but the most safe to try before more strong drugs.
Other drugs like gabapentin or lyrica would also be an alternative and less addictive, since there are studies confirming the efficacy on benzo replacement for sleep, but there are some people who find gabapentin and pregabalin also addictive, but only on the recreational aspect of it, drug addicts are the one who use it for this purpose. Pregabalin and Gabapentin do not act directly on gaba neurotransmitters like benzos, they act on them in an indirectly way, thats why they are less addictive then benzos. For example, lyrica is licensed for general anxiety on EUROPE, gabapentin and lyrica shares similar mechanisms, but are different in effectiveness, potency, doses, etc and if one can work for some group of people the other does not and vice versa. But both work on anxiety, and thus, in sleep, since anxiety is almost always the most cause of insomnia. Benzos are prescribed because they work in sleep and anxiety but mess directly with benzo receptors on brain. Gabapentin and lyrica have the same effect on anxiety but dont interact directly on benzo "gaba a" receptors. They do that in an indirect way, wish is more positive to most people, although there are people who dont tolerate them, but the same with antibiotics and bla bla.
Main recommendation for everyone: Search forums on google or other search engine, speaking about
this alternatives and reactions from people, search research trials made for sleep on this drugs, and issues like widhdrwal and tolerance and then reunite everything and speak with your doc and make your own decision.
Here are some articles on melatonin and gabapentin:
Melatonin:
A slow release melatonin would be a good choice because it continues to work after one hour unlike the immediate release wish is the most sold on herbal stores. You can find an example here on amazon,plus you can check the reviews on the bottom of amazon page. Not advertising nothing here, its only and example found. There should be other slow release sold, just searcb for it or you could use this one.
https://www.amazon.com/natrol-melatonin-time-release-tablets/dp/b001hcm7aqMelatonin is used also to quit from benzo sleep addictive drugs like Activan and has no dependence or withdrawal issues like benzos.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/bf03324897Gabapentin:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc4968045Other:
https://www.ommegaonline.org/article-details/gabapentin-neurontin-an-adjunct-for-benzodiazepine-withdrawal/606Misuse of recreational GABAPENTIN
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc5573873Effective in primary insomnia.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20124884The problems is some docs prescribe benzos like activan for first line treatment for insomnia, wish is wrong and look, the manufacturers them self's, say in their leaflets not to use them for more than one week. Why would a doctor prescribe it for more time?
Of course this results dont mean they work or not for you, it could be good or bad, but that is what doctors do with patients, they experiment on them and the only ones who can say if it works or not, are the patients, because everybody is different, but for many docs benzos, are the one size fits all way for sleep, wish is wrong. So, doctors have the doctor title wish give them the power of the pen.. but it is only the patient who reveals the results and also the consequences of taking the pill, because not everybody reacts or withdrawals the same way. There are people who take benzos for a while and quit and be fine, there are other, (most of them] who get addictive on it and develop tolerance, wish is the main problem from benzos like activan, they will stop working some day. There are also reports on gabapentin tolerance, but not as much as benzos. Again its individual, but reported to be less addictive.
Benzos and antidepressants are the worst drugs to take for sleep in my opinion, because they all act directly on neurotransmitters, forcing the brain to make changes and adapting. The brain will adapt to these type of drugs and loose their effect on people, also called as "pooping out". On the other side, anti-epileptic drugs wish some are also used for sleep licensed for pain, like gabapentin, lyrica, are know as anti-kindling wish means they are harder to lose their effect with time. Many variables here, once more time, its individual
Post Edited (isitlyme) : 3/4/2021 4:37:36 PM (GMT-7)