lei Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 Hi, Through therapy (generally weekly), a low dose (generally 2.5mg 3x/day) valium, yoga and other good practices, my daytime anxiety has been reduced to quite manageable. Thank goodness. But I still get nightmares. Most nights I get what I call the general anxiety kind -- I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong things and too much to do. Sometimes, especially if I get a slight bit of gas, I'll have scarier ones, with evil people and dangerous situations and such. I'm continuing therapy etc. but also looking for a new med to address the nightmares. I will see my pdoc soon but want to read people's opinions/experiences first, as pdoc is very open to my suggestions. Thanks in advance to anyone. ETA: I had no problem falling asleep, especially with melatonin or valerian root. It's just the nightmares that are a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lysergia Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 i have no answers, but boy oh boy i hope someone does. it's hard to stay anxiety-free with those nightmares intruding into your consciousness. i've considered a baseball bat liberally applied to the forehead, but i wouldn't recommend it wishing you peaceful sleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 Hi, Lei - Prazosin has been looked at for mgmt of nightmares associated with PTSD. It works stunningly well for some people. It's usually started at a low dose and inched up every few days til effective or until it's not tolerated and not working. It is often a "yes-no" drug - you see it working (usually needs to be at last 4 mg) clearly or it doesn't- no waiting around for weeks to find out. Prazosin is an alpha-1 blocker. It is an anithypertensive, also used to improve urinary flow in prostatic hypertrophy, also used off-label for 'hot flashes' by some. Terazosin is the other alpha-1 blocker that might be useful for this. The other "-zosins" may have been looked at - I just haven't come across it in my reading. Flomax (an a-1 blocker used for prostatic hypertrophy) is very selective and probably wouldn't do much at all. I can post cites, etc., later today. If you wanted to look around Medline or Google on your own, Raskind at the Puget Sound VA has done a lot of work with prazosin. Because Seroquel has some significant alpha-1 affinity, I'll bet it has been looked at for nightmares as well. Couldn't tell you off the top of my head. However, prazosin has some fair evidence, and, I might add, it's extremely inexpensive. Will edit in citations when I get a chance. I should add: if the issue is night terrors, rather than nightmares, it's a whole different ball o' wax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Elvis Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 Topamax kicked mine in the ass. All my dreams, really. It made me think of the stuff Nancy took in the third nightmare on elm street movie so she wouldn't dream at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lei Posted November 9, 2007 Author Share Posted November 9, 2007 Thank you, lysergia for your empathy, Silver for all the info and ideas, and VE for your experience. VE - Do you no longer dream, or remember dreaming, at all? And what have been the main side effects for you? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Elvis Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 If I had them, the memory was super faint. I was as dumb as a rock for the first month after a dose increase but then was pretty much OK. Aphasia was pretty bad at times. I lost the better part of 50 pounds and could make a six pack last a couple weeks. After a couple years it started getting a lot less effective at the dose I was on and since i was paying out of pocket I flat-out couldn't afford to increase it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatM Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 Seroquel helped me a lot. Mine are PTSD related. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lei Posted November 9, 2007 Author Share Posted November 9, 2007 Thanks to both of you. I really appreciate that this board is here. Will continue to appreciate any input. Aloha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stasis Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 I have terrible Nightmares, Rod Serling and H.P. Lovecraft, would stay awake to avoid them. When I'm having a cycle, I can feel physically ill, after a night of horror, and try to stay awake, the daytime sleep dreams can be worse. In the last month,I fouled up my Soroquel,was off it for ten days, The worse of it is tapering off now that I am getting back up on my dose. Now I just feel stupid from the seroquel, Stasis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lei Posted November 15, 2007 Author Share Posted November 15, 2007 Thank you, Stasis, for your input too. And, you may feel stupid, but FWIW, your posts are always brilliant to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stasis Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Thank you, Stasis, for your input too. And, you may feel stupid, but FWIW, your posts are always brilliant to me. Thank You, "Blushing", It must be my gift of madness. I love it when it just rolls out of my head. And Lei, I'm not really Leonard Cohen. Lets all sleep well,Stasis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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