How many here take Ambien and Mirapex

[dieselgal]

After trying ever trick and every natural and homeopathic thing I can find, I finally decided to use Ambien ( the smallest dose ) to get some sleep about 3 days a week. It doesn't make me sleep through the night but I have less wakeups and therefore I reason that I get more rest. Recently I had my Dr. prescribe me Mirapex to see if that might help with PLMD. I was hoping that might be what is still causing my wakeups. So far I haven't taken the 2 together and I am wondering if others do and if there are any issues.
Thanks in advance.

In case your wondering I have checked my numbers and they are always good even when I wake up 15 times a night so I know the therapy is where it should be.

[sam1234]

I occasionally take ambien. I usually cut them in half and take the half dose. I take it to help me settle down to sleep. The frequency is probably not more then twice a month. Apparently, ambien can be addictive. My physician knows that I only take it sparingly, because she doesn't have to write a script for #30 more than once a year.

[DoriC]

My husband takes low dose Ambien because he can't fall asleep without it. After about 3months on it and having adjusted pretty well to the mask, he's going to try to ease off it. Dr. is not too concerned, he said there's a difference between addiction and dependence. With Ambien, you might become dependent on it for sleep but you won't need higher and higher doses to get the same effect. He said many of his patients take it for years at the same dose. As for the PLMS, my husband's were severe but now that he's sleeping without apneas, he's really quieted down without medication.

[Sleepy Boy]

I just started taking It (both) a week ago. I take the Mirapex 2 hrs. before bed and the Ambien 30-40 minutes before bed. I'm a recovered alcoholic (22 yrs.) so I can get "hooked up" on any "feel good" stuff, but this doesn't seem to do that. I take the Mirapex for restless legs.

[dieselgal]

Thanks for the replies. My dosage on Ambien is the 5mg. What irritates me is that I am not taking it to go to sleep I take it to try to KEEP me asleep. I wake up at least every hour and sometimes more often. With Ambien I usually wake up every 2 hours or so.
When I started CPAP that really settled the PLMD down for a while but I am wondering if it isn't as settled as I think and maybe causing some of the wakeups.
During my sleepy study it appeared to almost stop with therapy.

[Velbor]

I take both, an hour or two before bedtime.

Ambien, anything from 5mg, 10mg or the 12.5mg CR, depending on how I've been feeling and sleeping. Not so much to fall asleep, but to lower my "arousal threshold" and help me to stay asleep. I take the Ambien for 3 or 4 days, then switch-off to clonazepam (generic Klonopin), 5mg or 10mg, {EDIT: that should have read one or two 0.5mg tablets} for the next 3 or 4 days, for the same purpose. This pattern gives each agent a few days time to be eliminated, thus avoiding concerns about either development of tolerance (the drug becoming gradually less effective over time) or dependence.

As for the Mirapex, I take 0.25mg or 0.50mg. Once weekly I skip a dose; again to forestall tolerance. On the day I skip the Mirapex, I generally take 10mg of clonazepam, {EDIT: that should read 1.0mg of clonazepam} which in the "old days" was itself a standard for PLMS. And once every three or four months, I go off Mirapex for a week, cold turkey. The PLMS, according to my wife (who has taken movies of me sleeping and kicking), never quite goes away completely; I continue to have jerking movements, particularly early in the night, which gradually subside after an hour or two. I've been told that CPAP itself is known to exacerbate PLMS early in the night; I've never seen documentation of this phenomenon.

I've been doing this routine for years, without problems. Hope you have success. Regards, Velbor

[packitin]

I took it for a while on a couple of occasions. But it wears off after about 2 or 3 months. When I did the sleep study, I took Ambien, and also Trazadone. Couldn't sleep. So I took a Trazadone, then another. The doctor was amazed. I still didn't sleep much (about 250 minutes, they said)
Now I'm trying Restoril. So far, that's the best for me, because there is not as much effect the next day, such as drowsiness and headaches. But its much better to take nothing, if you can.
Jay

[skittles]

I also tried all the "natural" remedies, when the ambien and Sonota way. Finally my doctor dx me with OCD - I have known I had it for a long time, but did not realize it interfered with my sleeping.

She put me on Zoloft to stop my mind from racing during the night, and letting me relax and sleep. It did help also, but
Since my CPAP therapy started, I get much better sleep too!!

Take Care

Skittles

[kteague]

Velbor, thanks for your explanation of your efforts to avoid dependence and/or tolerance of those meds. I have been on different dopamine meds for over 10 years, and tolerance has repeatedly been an issue. My problem with taking off days is that my dopamine meds require building up to a therapeutic dose, so that complicates it a bit, and there are risks in stopping it abruptly (I found out the hard way). As far as CPAP exacerbating limb movements, it's my understanding that resolving arousals caused by apnea provides enough sleep for the limb movements to then fully express themselves. Not that they are new, just that they've been supressed.

Dieselgal, if you got both prescriptions filled at the same pharmacy, most have software to catch meds that shouldn't be used together, but it wouldn't hurt to call the pharmacist to ask specifically about those two. I have not taken Ambien. I am currently on Ropinerole (Requip) 3mg and take TylenolPM nightly with it. Keep hoping the limb movements will get under control enough to get off the sleep aid, but that hasn't happened.

I think we've talked in the past about PLMD. If it is causing your arousals, only getting it under control will give you real rest, although sleep meds can help take the edge off. Getting another sleep study while using your cpap would tell how disruptive your movements are at this point. Then again, home movies can sometimes tell the tale. I've got one of those myself - if I were rich I would fear it would surface as blackmail.

Hope you get some relief soon.
Kathy

[jules]

With Ambien, you might become dependent on it for sleep but you won't need higher and higher doses to get the same effect.

Sounds like you need a new doc.

[yorkiemum01]

I know some may shudder, but Ambien has given me the first full nights sleep (6 hrs) I've known
in my lifetime. Since my Dr is very aware of my chronic Insomnia, as well as sleep apnea, he's supportive
of low dose usage. He'd rather I ' sleep'..and maintain my therapy...every night consistently.
Dont mean I use it 7 nights a week, but usually 4-5 nights, when I know my work schedule in advance.

[JOMOMA]

I had some issues sleeping related to a problem child and the Doctor prescribed Ambien. I thought I was sleeping great. THe problem was I wasn't remembering the things I did when I woke up. Things like the "Great Sex" my husband talked about the next morning and I was wondering who he had it with because I was sure I slept all night. My kids would wake me up to tell me they where home and the next morning I would yell at them for not telling me when they got home. I finally decided top go off it when I came to and realized I was at work but had no idea how I got their or where I had left the car.

I didn't do things I wouldn't normally do I just didn't remember what I did or when I was awake.

Jo Ellen

[MrSandman]

I take both, an hour or two before bedtime.

Ambien, anything from 5mg, 10mg or the 12.5mg CR, depending on how I've been feeling and sleeping. Not so much to fall asleep, but to lower my "arousal threshold" and help me to stay asleep. I take the Ambien for 3 or 4 days, then switch-off to clonazepam (generic Klonopin), 5mg or 10mg, for the next 3 or 4 days, for the same purpose. This pattern gives each agent a few days time to be eliminated, thus avoiding concerns about either development of tolerance (the drug becoming gradually less effective over time) or dependence.

As for the Mirapex, I take 0.25mg or 0.50mg. Once weekly I skip a dose; again to forestall tolerance. On the day I skip the Mirapex, I generally take 10mg of clonazepam, which in the "old days" was itself a standard for PLMS. And once every three or four months, I go off Mirapex for a week, cold turkey. The PLMS, according to my wife (who has taken movies of me sleeping and kicking), never quite goes away completely; I continue to have jerking movements, particularly early in the night, which gradually subside after an hour or two. I've been told that CPAP itself is known to exacerbate PLMS early in the night; I've never seen documentation of this phenomenon.

I've been doing this routine for years, without problems. Hope you have success. Regards, Velbor

Serious - 10 to 20mg of Klonopin ? I take a half mg on occasion and have doubled the dose to 1mg a few times and I don't usually feel like it does anything then my Wife finds me in the morning on my knees with my head on the sofa asleep and I don't remember how I got there and I have even wet myself taking 1mg when I wake-up in the middle of peeing and figure out I am not in the bathroom. .

I think 10mg would kill a person.

[junie]

I take both of them, ambien 10mg, and mirapex 25mgs, I make out ok but I'm on alot of other meds.for pain and my health problems,

[Velbor]

.... I take the Ambien for 3 or 4 days, then switch-off to clonazepam (generic Klonopin), 5mg or 10mg, for the next 3 or 4 days ....

Serious - 10 to 20mg of Klonopin ? I take a half mg on occasion and have doubled the dose to 1mg a few times .... I think 10mg would kill a person.

Thank you, Browser. I am so bad. I misplaced my decimal point, and should have written one or two 0.5mg tablets. Thanks for catching my slip.

Velbor.