ManWitPlan Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 My last doc got me off of ambien because he said it negatively effects brain development in people under 25. I have yet to come across a sleeping pill that doesn't have cognitive, neurological or metabolic effects. So is there anything out there that doesn't cause memory problems, metabolic syndrome/ movement disorders etc? Or are these all they have? Or how about this question I am trying to decide whether I should take seroquel, trazodone or ambien. All three seem to cause me problems. The seroquel causes me restless legs/ akathisia. Trazodone didn't seem to do a good job with keeping me asleep. I took it at 8 pm one night and was in the bed for 3 hours before I gave up and took ambien. As far as the ambien/ ambien cr I took it around 8 pm like the trazodone and it seemed to not have worked cause I was up around 11-12 clock. Lets say I take it at 8 pm and if im lucky fall asleep at 11 pm. Then I wake up at 5 am then take more pills and wake up at 12 pm. Then when I try and take the pill at 8 pm im usually up at 12 am. Its possible I just woke up too late and thats why it took so long to sleep I dunno. But if you guys have any sleep tips or suggestions let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow-white Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I'm no expert on sleeping medication but I was given Seroquel as one of my medications because it would help me sleep but it was terrible and I could never wake up on time and slept through alarms. I now take melatonin when it suits me and I have found that it works really well. Have you tried that? It's a natural hormone that's already in your body so it's nothing super toxic or anything. You can get it at grocery stores or drug stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpladybug Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Ambien affects brain development? well it also can cause sleep eating, sleep walking, sleep driving, I woke up in the living room with my front door wide OPEN - evidently I took the dog out in the middle of the night, on Ambien, and left the door open and was sleeping ten feet away in the living room Currently I like Temazepam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muriel Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Temazepam, being a benzo, carries its own risks. Without knowing what else the OP is on, it may be a very bad idea. Or not. Recommending a drug offhand like that is irresponsible under the rules of our community. I'm sure it works well for you, ladybug, but for others, it may not be an option. I've never heard that Ambien affects brain development, and AFAIK, most brain development is done well before 25. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Another Random Person Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Imovane is good--doesn't leave me sleepy in the morning. Melatonin is good too--especially since it's on the shelves and you don't need a prescription. I worry that I take it for much longer than the bottle recommends though. I'm not sure what the dangers of taking it long term are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eccentrik_drummer_chik Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I use Ambien, and the thing is that once it hits, that';s the peak, and it wears off pretty quickly after that. If you are taking it at 8am to hope to fall asleep by midnight, it will have long worn off (at least for me). So take it about an hour before you want to sleep. Also for me, I'm not finding Ambien to be enough all the time. Tylenol Sleep (just an antihistamine without the acetaminophin) is an over the counter sleeping aid. But you want to be sure you have at least 8 hours of sleep so you don't wake up groggy, don't take it towards the end to be able to fall back asleep. I used Melatonin for years and it was enough.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloGirl66 Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Tylenol Sleep (just an antihistamine without the acetaminophin) is an over the counter sleeping aid. Diphenhydramine (Generic Benadryl) is the active ingredient in Tylenol's Simply Sleep and is much cheaper . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
water Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Tylenol Sleep (just an antihistamine without the acetaminophin) is an over the counter sleeping aid. Diphenhydramine (Generic Benadryl) is the active ingredient in Tylenol's Simply Sleep and is much cheaper . I took this for years on an as needed basis. Then I switched to Advil PM. (diphenhydramine & ibuprofen) The next day I was always groggy for hours but as an OTC med, it worked very well for me. Now I take ambien every single night. I love it. For the first time EVER I look forward to going to sleep. My demons come out at night and this drug has been as important to my mental health as my magic combo. My hot flashes still wake me up but I go right back to sleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vapourware Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I found Seroquel a BIT too good for sleep - 25mg would make me sleep 15-17 hours, and I would feel hungover the next day. Then again, I've been described by my pdoc as being "sensitive" to medication, so perhaps my response to Seroquel is atypical. I take Imovane [aka zopiclone] now and again if I can't sleep. 7.5mg helps me drift off to sleep in about 20-30 minutes, and I wake up feeling refreshed and not impaired by the drug. I've never heard of Ambien negatively impacting brain development. If anything, a quick search on google produces articles where Ambien may have been useful for people suffering from traumatic brain injury: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9215-sleeping-pill-may-rouse-coma-patients.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
water Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I've never heard of Ambien negatively impacting brain development. If anything, a quick search on google produces articles where Ambien may have been useful for people suffering from traumatic brain injury: http://www.newscient...a-patients.html That's good to know! I only take ambien once I am settled down in bed ready for sleep. So far no midnight snacking on frozen food or driving while sleeping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I also use tomazepam (Restoril) and I have no side effects. It might not work for anyone else in the world, but it works great for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallowedink Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 You have lots of choices. I've used temazepam, valium, zopiclone, and melatonin, all without any negative side effects. Any of those are worth trying, especially melatonin, because as has already been mentioned, you can get it OTC and it's a naturally occurring substance in your body. There are lots of other sleeping meds, or there are meds that have sedation as an effect. You mentioned Seroquel, which is one that lots of people here on CB seem to use. There's also Remeron (mirtazipine), which is a sedating anti-depressant. I don't know if you've tried that. I'd talk it over with your Pdoc and see what he says, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloGirl66 Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 Really, sleep meds can affect people very differently. Talking your options through with the doc is good. A lot of times it comes down to trial and error - docs prescribes something and then you give it a try. Seroquel seems to work for a lot of people, but I had a horrible horrible adverse reaction to it that sent me to the hospital and freaked my doc out. He felt so guilty but had no idea I'd have a reaction like that. Remeron helped me sleep, but made me jerk my legs in my sleep so much my hubby kicked me out of bed. Melatonin makes me hyper. Ambien occasionally works and out of the 26 different sleep med combos I've tried the Ambien and Xanax regimen works better than anything else. But YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilylola Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 Seroquel 50mg works great for me, but I also fear that I'll have to up the dose one day...and it was damn near impossible for me to get off of (I just did a 2-month stint off Seroquel, and nothing helped me sleep, so back on). Ambien works great to send me to sleep, but only gives me 4 hours of sleep, and causes really bad depression the next day if I take it more than once in a blue moon. I know that Trazodone is very safe, and supposedly not so hard to taper off of. It works intermittantly for me...about 60% of the time. But if it worked all of the time, I would totally take it over Seroquel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scatty Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 I need high doses of trazadone or amitriptyline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 To be honest, I think it's a bit too individual to the person to say "this drug is the best/has the least risks". I have heard that the brain does not fully develop until 25, but I've never heard that ambien would "harm" that, you could certainly ask pdoc where he got this information. That being said, there are a great deal of different choices, each carrying their own risk. My own particular sleep cocktail totally depends on where I am in my cycle. It's a bit on the heavy end at the moment. I like ambien. But that being said, I never had weirdness from it. Seroquel has been a part of things for as log as I can remember but I never got RLS from it. I believe there are things you can take for the RLS if seroquel works well for you otherwise and pdoc likes it for you. You might try asking. There are other sleep drugs to try though. Trazodone never did jack for me either-- it's so individual. I take temazepam currently, it was kind of an emergency thing to keep me SANE and sleeping, but it can be a hard medication to wean from...... Anna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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