Does any one use xanax for sleep? So far I've only used it to calm my mind so I can get to sleep but I need something to use regularly.


Lilie

How much do you take?  I used .25mg for a couple of years when I couldn't sleep.  Now I take 1 mg of Klonopin at night and sleep well.  I've also used Trazodone before too, although it tended to make me groggy the next morning.

I'm  currently using btwn. .50 & .75 to "quiet" my mind so I can sleep.  Even if I am relaxed, tired, etc., just can't drift off to peaceful land.  Been doin that for apx. a month now, kinda gettin sick of it, but can't do without right now.  Good luck!

I take one milligram. I just was prescribed it and only have fifteen 0.5 mg pills to start but I need to ask my doc for something. It's really hard for me to get any sleep. Trazodone didn't work for me.

Lilie

Lilie...

Ask your doc for Klonopin.  It works even better than Xanax and it isn't as nasty!  If you are at .5 on Xanax, you should be taking 1mg of Klonopin.

Actually, the dose equivalency for .5mg of Xanax is .25mg of Klonopin.  Usually, the drug is taken in .5mg doses up to 2mg daily to begin with.  When I used it for sleep .5mg wasn't enough for me; I needed to take 1mg.

Karen

How is Konopin better than zanax?  I use the generic alprazalam.  I quiets my mind.  My Doc. said to take up to 2 mgs. at nite if I have to.  Talk to me-doxie

So klonopin is good? excellent I'll try that next. I hope my insurance will cover it. But what about depression the crazymeds log said it makes you depressed

Lilie

Klonopin is addictive too, but not nearly as addictive as Xanax at low dosages.  My pdoc told me that the only thing you can use to get off Xanax is Xanax.  Even at dosages of .25 and .50 of Xanax at night, I'd wake up shaking and jerky in the morning.  She said it was because my body didn't get any Xanax during the 6 or 7 hrs I slept.  I have never experienced that with Klonopin.

Karen is right regarding the strength difference between Klonopin.  I just meant that you can take 1mg of Klonopin in the place of Xanax and, not only will you sleep better, you don't build up that dependency like on Xanax.

As far as Klonopin making you depressed, I was already depressed before Klonopin, so I didn't notice a difference.  Besides, I doubt that low of a dosage would tend to cause you to be depressed.  Ask your doc.  I still keep Xanax in my stash for times when I feel extreme anxiety or a panic attack coming on.  I grab a .25 pill and dissolve it under my tongue.  But that happens rarely, maybe not even once a month.

I tend to build up reserves of meds.  Like one day I won't be able to get them or something.  And I have tons of meds I'd get a prescription for and not like them and go off them.  I have Depakote and Lithium and Neurontin and Topomax and Zoloft and others.  I tried to give them to the pdoc to give to people who had no insurance but she can't do that.

Anyway..if you can get the doc to prescribe it you should try Klonopin.

Dan~

Hi Folks, a couple of things:



doxie, it's not so much that Klonpin is better than Xanax, it's just that for some people the Klonopin works better.  Hence the expression that gets used a lot around here, "Your mileage may vary."  These meds just seem to work very differently for different people.



Dan, I find that very interesting...that your pdoc would say that.  I know that chimpmaster (my co-mod) had great success tapering off Xanax with Valium.

Karen

I find it frightening more than interesting.  When she told me that, and I had already begun what I considered to be a slight addiction to Xanax, I asked what was as good but not as addictive.  Of course, Klonopin.  I have read some scary stories about the problems people had getting off Xanax.  Maybe chimpmaster was lucky.  Maybe the addiction wasn't as bad as some are.  Who knows?  But, I believe what she tells me about meds.

Dan~

I'm taking Restoril right now for 2 wks, but it doesn't work well, so I usually end up taking 1/2 of a Xanax (1 mg) as well, and that does the trick.  We all are so different when it comes to Rx's but then, we all are so damned similar!  Trazedone worked well for me but I was taken off it.

Karen,

  thanx for the clarity. At times it just bothers me that Im taking meds, but they do the trick.  Panic is not a fun option -take care-doxie

I usually take Seroquel for sleep (not sure if this is strange or not?), and my doctor is getting pissy because he's not sure about using it long-term. If I take Seroquel too late though (after 12 or 1), it can really screw me up, and screw my mood over for the next day. So I can take a .25 dose of Xanax, and it usually just eases me in.

Xanax quiets my mind, but doesn't make me sleepy. But that's just me.

This is from Jerod's article on benzos on the Crazy Meds site:



Have you tried any of the non-benzo hypnotics? Sonata... Ambien... and the newly released Lunesta? Of the three, Ambien works the best for me. Except when it doesn't - but during those times, not much does.

They can be habit-forming (I think that's the right word), but that can be broken fairly quickly and easily. They are not addictive, unlike benzos (Xanax, Klonopin, etc.). Less likely to cause depression, too. Lunesta is the only one FDA approved for long-term use, but there are lots of folks here (myself included) that have been on Ambien long-term with no apparent ill effect.

~Sunshine

P.S. Whatever you do, don't take immediate release Xanax and Ambien at the same time. Unless you enjoy major hallucinations, that is! I assume this applies to other combinations of immediate release benzos and hypnotics, as well.

Ambien had no effect on me. The other two I haven't tried though from what I have been reading Lunesta doesn't seem to be a big hit. Maybe I'll try sonata.

Lilie