building up tolerance to sleep medication, help! - Sleep Disorders Message Board

melanie in mary · 03-14-2009, 07:00 AM

Hi all. I have had insomnia for around 6 years and have been to the doctor and in the past I have been prescribed meds like ambien, lunesta,klonopin,seroquel, etc. Here is my problem, I am told by the dr. to take one pill of ambien for sleep. I know meds are not supposed to be long term but the first night I take the ambien and it works the second night it might help some and the 3rd night it does not help at all. It is like my body builds up a tolerence quickly to these meds!!!! So after a while the dr. will put me on something else, like Trazadone and pretty much the same thing happens. The Trazadone helps for a night or 2 and then back to my insomnia. Should I just keep taking the med even though after the 2nd night or so it does not help me fall asleep? I just don't know what to do. I have tried not to take meds at all for sleep but I need sleep and have to function during the day. Sleep meds are the only thing I seem to build up a tolerence to. Does this happen to some of you guys and what do you do about it?? Thank everyone. I really value everyones opinions.

nochange · 03-15-2009, 07:36 AM

Hello. i also have the same problem. i'm not sure what to do either. my doctor doesn't want to increase my sleeping meds dosage. and i've also tried almost all the sleeping meds in the market. question: i've heard serequel is good for sleep. how did you manage getting that one from your doctor since it's only for biopolar. to hear hope from you. thanks

by the way, i also need sleeping meds to sleep. i cannot sleep without them. not sure what to do either. so me and you are in the same boat.

melanie in mary · 03-15-2009, 08:22 AM

HELLO. It was easy for me to get the Seroquel. I have a sister who is a nurse and she told me to ask the dr. about it, luckly I have an understanding female doctor!! As always with me the first few nights it helped but after about the 3rd night my insomnia came back. After this happens I usually just quit taking the meds ( am not sure if that is a smart decision or not). Maybe if I try to only take my med a few nights a week instead of every night, maybe that will make them more effective for me? Anyway, getting the Seroquel was easy but she only gave me 25 mg. She said take one every night. She said she could not prescribe anything higher than that since anything above that dosage was used for other issues and since I am only fighting insomnia she said 25 mg was good enough. I know some people take higher doses though, sometimes I think if I had a higher dose it would help me more but drs. are worried about addiction and all that when I just want to sleep at night!!

good luck!!

nochange · 03-17-2009, 09:57 AM

you will need to ask for a 100mg dose before you sleep otherwise it won't last. why i say it cause there is a girl here from australia who got it from her doctor but he gave her 100mg. you will have to push for it. it gives her 8 hours of sleep. addiction to meds is a problematic issue. i don't know what do about it. i cannot sleep at all(with or without sleeping meds). tell your doctor that no sleep will put you on a risk for diabetic and heart problem....like she doesn't know. ask for a higher dose for 8 hours of sleep = 100mg let me know what your doc told you. thank you.

LL37 · 05-23-2009, 05:31 AM

Oh, yes, ambian works for about 4ish hours, and in the end when i was on it, I'd take one before bed, and two more in the middle of the night. It's like I now need a horse tranquilizer in the evening for anxiety. I treid Lunesta, which did very little for me, so I took three, and then diazapam and went pretty high, so I'm way overboard and am still awake. I'm not thinking maybe buspar 45 minutes before bedtime and then normal doses or reasonably doese of ambian or something else right at bedtime make made a difference, I'll call the Dr. next week. Sigh....