Availability of Sonata?

I'm so sad, for some reason Sonata is no longer available where I am in Europe. The pharmacy says that the manufacturer is reporting a distruption of some sort, and in theory should be available again earliest in September.

Is it still available in the US? In other parts of the world? Anyone know what the deal is?

Sonata is the only sleep medicine that doesn't give me a hung-over feeling in the morning. Although I must admit I haven't used Ambien. Anyone try both? Are they comparable? Pharmacy says that there is no "alternative" listed for Sonata in their database.

Thanks!

Sonata is a nice light go to sleep quickly drug only lasting about 4 hours is what my Dr. says.
Ambien you really need 7 or 8 hrs. sleep on. Can leave you with a big time hang-over if you don't sleep good with it.
This has been my experience with each of these.
I like lights out, it a powder you mix with water about 2 oz. It's all natural. You drink it about 1 hr. before bed. Works great.

bump

I just need a sleep med to get to sleep, not to stay asleep, and I want to avoid the morning hangover.

of ambien, sonata, lunestra, sonata does have the shortest half life - then ambien - make sure it isn't the CR form

I preferred ambien - sonata alone wasn't much for me - half and half with ambien worked fine

thx jazzer & jules, sounds like ambien it is. What's CR form?

there is a immediate dissolve form and a "continuous release" form - at least here the "regular" is 5 or 10 mg and the CR is 6.25 or 12.5 mg

echo wrote:bump

I just need a sleep med to get to sleep, not to stay asleep, and I want to avoid the morning hangover.

I would also suggest staying away from the CR form because it's designed for helping with both getting to sleep and staying asleep.

Regular Ambien seemed to wear off after about four hours for me.

Is Sonota also a hypnotic? I'm not familiar with it. I don't have this problem but when my mom takes Ambien we have to hide her keys because she sleep drives and doesn't remember it the next day. She will also sleep eats and tends to eat foods that she normally hates.

Lunesta? Rozerem? (although Rozerem is not a very potent sleep aid)

thx guys, will ask for non CR form, lowest dose. I think my metabolism is still really slow (throid meds still too low?) so any medication I take seems to take ages to get out of my system (a morning ephedrine totally killed my sleep a few days ago).

I don't know if Sonata is a hypnotic as you describe it, I've never reacted to it like that. Wikipedia says it's a hypnotic (puts you to sleep) but that :

A meta-analysis of randomised controlled clinical trials which compared benzodiazepines against Zaleplon or other Z Drugs such as zolpidem and zopiclone, has found that there are few clear and consistent differences between Zaleplon and the benzodiazepines in terms of sleep onset latency, total sleep duration, number of awakenings, quality of sleep, adverse events, tolerance, rebound insomnia and daytime alertness.[16]

If you trust wikipedia (i try not to but sometimes i get lazy), here's an interesting list of non-benzo sleep meds:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonbenzodiazepine

Hopefully my visit to the sleep clinic next month for the delayed-sleep phase syndrome will resolve the need for sleep meds, but at the moment it's all I have (as my home treatment with the blue light + melatonin is working at shifting my clock but very slowly)!!

Hey I just wiki'd Rozerem and found this.

Ramelteon is used for insomnia, particularly delayed sleep onset. Ramelteon has not been shown to produce dependence and has shown no potential for abuse, and the withdrawal and rebound insomnia that is typical with other GABA modulators is not present in ramelteon. It is currently the only non-scheduled prescription drug for the treatment of insomnia available in the United States.[1] Some clinicians also use ramelteon for the treatment of Delayed sleep phase disorder.
...
No published studies have indicated whether ramelteon, in humans, is more or less safe or effective than the hormone melatonin which it mimics; melatonin is much less expensive and is widely available over-the-counter in the US and Canada.

So I don't know if it would be more effective than the melatonin i'm already taking. In any case, with my luck it's probably not even available here in Europe.

lunestra, ambien, sonata all act on GABA-alpha and are thus addictive. The manufacturer's literature might not say that but they are addictive and going off them can be as hard as going off a "real" benzo.

rozerem is a different kind of med - never tried it -

also never tried lunestra but it can leave a nasty taste in mouth as well as has a pretty long half life

interesting. i dont take the sonata frequent enough to get addicted, perhaps once a week to give my sleep cycle a boost on sunday evenings or on important days. a box of 14 pills will often last me for months. sounds like need to stay away from lunesta. i still have a couple of sonata tablets left, will try to use them sparingly!

If I remember correctly Rozerem boost your natural production of melatonin.

I've been using clonazepam, .5mg. It's supposed to be an anxiolytic, but it basically reduces general muscle pain enough for me to sleep solidly for about six hours. Like a lot of drugs, it's easy for your body to acclimate to it. When it stops working, I stop taking it for a few days. Don't take this with alchohol.