Need help w/sleep med..... - Pain Management Message Board

kittencaboodle · 11-05-2005, 04:40 AM

Okay, I still can't get a couple of hours of sleep even if hubby hit me over the head w/ a 2x4. Like many here, I am a CPer going on 7yrs now. This insomnia hit a little over a year ago. Why then? No clue. You would think with the pain meds I am on I would be sleeping 24/7. Not a chance. Wide awake and tired all at the same time. This is really getting on my nerves.

I was first given Ambien 10mg which helped me sleep for about 3 hrs. Then he upped it to 15-20mg at bedtime. Okay, now I sleep walk and talk all the while I look wide awake. I have even been in the kitchen cooking........nothing edible, mind you, but none the less..........cooking. Mfg company of Ambien calls this Transient SleepWalking and has had many others call up about doing this. My fear was to end up in our swimming pool. Next, I was switched to Lunesta. Dosage was 3mg at bedtime. Not a bit tired since day 1 of taking it. It is like taking an aspirin. I get more sleepy w/ a Tylenol PM than Lunesta. Anyone else have the same problem? I just don't know what to do at this point. I'm sure the lack of sleep is just a bothersome annoyance and isn't a cause for alarm since I don't think its a problem that leads to anything serious. I just want a good 6.....8 would be great.....hours of sleep at least once a week just to get my mind straight. It's like I can't turn my brain off. Hubby jokes that I am listening to the 'voices in my head'......haha.....no voices there, its more like your thoughts going a mile a minute and you can't slow them down to relax.

Okay, now that I have thoroughly taken up way too much space on something this silly.......does anyone have any words of wisdom or another med to try that will work this time? But adding a new pill is the last on my list to rectify this situation unless its absolutely necessary. I don't drink/smoke or anything that I can stop to relax the ol' body at night.

Thanks for any help you can throw my way......Kitt@3:41a.m. PST!!!!!!!! now up for 37hrs and counting....I think....brain is mush.

springflowers · 11-05-2005, 05:00 AM

hey, i used to have that problem really bad...stayed up one time for 5 days!!! anyhow, what they put me on, and i know you said new meds were last on your list, was trazadone, and the first couple of nights the 50 mg was doing ok, then i built a tolerance to it, (how my dr put it).. then upped it to 100 mg. (recently ive gone back down to 50 mg) anyhow, i think its the best thing ive tried, and the first besides tylonal pm's, and calm forte ect. would be the only thing i can think of really, if the other stuff isnt working, otherwise, maybe meditation might help too, i use whats called the learning center sometimes before bed, and it is just a stack of cds, (like egyptian sounds, waterfalls ect)...and flashing lights, and when you close your eyes you kind of picture yourself in that situation...i know it sounds weird but it helps me get to a dream state lol. (was told i was snoring one time and i almost never snore lol)..anyhow, other than that, just general meditation, like pictureing a bouncing ball, as you breathe, breathe in, and the ball goes up, breathe out, and the ball goes down, (like counting sheep lol), but keep your eyes closed, and it might help.

feelbad · 11-05-2005, 08:38 AM

What are the 'normal' everyday meds that you take?I had this problem as well.for some reason,many years ago when I was taking lortab(vicodin?)sleep was rather elusive at best.there is something with this particular med that actually makes you feel rather energized?When I stopped the med,i slept.now, my sleep is hindered sometimes by pain and the lack of actually being able to find a comfortable position.i had been on neurontin for like two and a half years but unlike most people,to me,it felt like i was taking absolutely nothing.No change in mentation whatsoever.but when My new PM(at that time) switched me to gabitril(a much purer form of GABA) wow,i felt like sleeping the entire day.what a difference.So now,i moved my biggest dosage to right before bed,and what a difference in my sleep.There is just something about this med that just makes me extremely sleepy.So much so that i can only handle one half of a 4mg tab in the morning and take the rest at night.tolerance,which i figured would be coming along fairly shortly after i had started it,didn't come into the pic until i had been on the same 12mg dose for over a year.i just recently was placed on one more pill per day.Still sleepin like a baby,at least until it is time to get up and go to the bathroom anyway.But even then,i usually can go right back to sleep.If you have any sort of nerve pain,try this stuff.Honestly it works much better than any actual sleep med that I have taken in the past.Good luck,marcia

bulletinboard25 · 11-05-2005, 08:58 AM

Are you opposed to Ambien completely?

Because Ambien just came out with a CR version, Ambien CR... they actually will give you a free 7 day trial of 12.5mg's if your doctor writes a script for 7 days.

A lot of people I've talked to have said that the CR version helps them stay asleep much longer than the 3-5 hours of the regular version....

Might be worth a shot.

BrittleBones · 11-05-2005, 09:07 AM

Hi Kit. What kind of pain meds are you taking? I know I've read discussions on this board before about certain narcotics acting like "UPPERS" instead of like sedatives.There's a chemical reason for this and Shoreline (Dave) has posted the nitty-gritty of it previously, you might want to search for it. I personally have experienced the same thing. While taking any of the morphine type meds, especially Dilaudid, I felt like I was on speed. I couldn't get to sleep and if I could, I'd wake up within an hour or two. The docs put me on Lunesta and along with the Trazadone that I've taken for years, it seemed to help a little. About 2 months ago my PM switched me from Dilaudid to the Activ lolipop (I think that was the name of it). It was a fentanyl based medicine. That really kept me awake! It got so bad that I had to stop taking it and now I'm back on the Dilaudid. The average person would be in a coma if they took half the medicine I take just to help me sleep!

Anyway, I hope you find some relief. Sleep is so important for recovery and healing. Take care.