brokenchina Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 I've had severe issues with insomnia since I was about 8 or 9 years old; I'm 17 years old now, so about half of my life so far. First medication I took for sleeping was Tylenol PM I think, then I went on to melatonin supplements and benadryl, and about four years ago I was put on trazodone. Currently taking trazodone, melatonin, and benadryl at night, plus my lamictal in the evening because it makes me feel a bit drowsy. Trazodone was great for the first two or so years I started taking it, then I needed an increase because of some bipolar stuff that made it harder to sleep than usual. Now it's about, I'd say 20% as effective as it was to begin with, and I'm at the max amount I can take... My problem is the steady decline in effectiveness I've been experiencing, plus the fact that going sleepless or having bad quality sleep really fucks with my moods and I get unstable. There are obviously quite a few other sleeping medications on the market, but I think my mother and my (until today) pdoc are both extremely hesitant for me to be put on most of them because they have the potential to be "extremely addictive"... who knows, new pdoc may think differently. I have an addictive personality, but I've never abused substances and I'm cautious with medicines so I'm not personally worried about myself with them. I guess the point is that trazodone isn't working for me to the point that I can't even have even semi-consistent sleeping patterns (0 hours one night, 2.5 the next, 13 the next, 5 the next, waking up 7 times a night, etc.) but I haven't really been on any other prescription sleeping medications and I'd like some insight into maybe some signs that you need to change sleeping meds? I look at a lot of the other, more potent medications as a sort of "last resort," but I may be a bit misinformed as far as that goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluechick Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Have you considered seeing a sleep specialist? My feeling is that there is something deeper that is not being properly treated. It may be physical, mental or environmental. Try to get to an expert. My severe insomnia lead to a rather bad alcohol problem. My doctors didn't dig deep enough (damn Kaiser) and I spent many years drinking myself to "sleep". I did it out of desperation. It is now twenty five years later and I have finally gotten the right care to help tackle my insomnia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokenchina Posted May 17, 2013 Author Share Posted May 17, 2013 Have you considered seeing a sleep specialist? My feeling is that there is something deeper that is not being properly treated. It may be physical, mental or environmental. Try to get to an expert. My severe insomnia lead to a rather bad alcohol problem. My doctors didn't dig deep enough (damn Kaiser) and I spent many years drinking myself to "sleep". I did it out of desperation. It is now twenty five years later and I have finally gotten the right care to help tackle my insomnia. I haven't, but I briefly had a pdoc mention a sleep study last year for possible sleep apnea or similar problems... even just if it's ruling them out. I haven't followed up with it even though I probably should have by now. If I didn't have this mood stuff I'd probably not really have much of a problem with weird sleep, but fuck me, that's obviously not the case (anymore) so it's really becoming a big problem. I've had relatives who have had sleep studies and both I've talked to have said it was nightmarish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderful.Cheese Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 What about remeron? Or low dose seroquel? Or zyprexa? Or rozerem? Those have all worked better for me than the more addictive sleep meds. I currently take klonopin, seroquel, and trazodone, just to sleep. And even then I wake up during the night usually. Ugh. I feel ya on this one! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagar Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Amitriptyline is a sedative antidepressant that worked very well for me for a few months with sleep. I don't think it's addictive. Now I take Ambien and it works wonders but is more along the lines of what I would consider addictive. Trazodone did nothing for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savannah Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 Rozerem gave me my life back from insomnia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookgirl Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Saphris helps me to sleep. It also helps tamp down mania, so it might be of benefit for your bipolar disorder. Seroquel is also an option. Neither is addictive. Personally, I don't see any problem with something like Lunesta even though some people build up tolerance - it's not the type of drug you're going to steal things to access or land in Narcotics Anonymous for, and it's not a gateway drug, so I think your pdoc is being overly cautious here. Some pdocs are like that, unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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