Final word on sleep aids and drugs.

andyomega · Post by **andyomega** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 10:41 am

DO NOT TAKE THEM !
DO NOT TRY THEM !
DO NOT LISTEN TO THE HAPPY LITTLE TV COMMERCIALS!
DO NOT TRUST THE DOCTORS !

I threw away the pills.
Yes, some of them put you to sleep but they ALL have side effects and rebound.
Rebound sucks and so do side effects.

I just hope I go back to normal soon. Its been 2 weeks ive been screwed up now.

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 10:58 am

that is why I only take melatonin, it works (for me), no side effects here other
than allowing me to sleep longer, no afternoon fatigue, no 3rd arm growing out of your forehead.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/melato ... -melatonin

but you have to decide on your own what works and what doesn't.

jburnham · Post by **jburnham** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 12:08 pm

hmm - while I would agree with you that sleep meds are way overprescribed (by a factor of 100x), I believe they do serve a purpose. IMHO, they may have some benefit for short term sleep disturbance - or more valuable for long term when used in combination with behavioral training. I would also agree with your rebound comments and people taking them should realize that it's like spending on the credit card - at some point you are going to have to pay the bill.

Now, do as I say and not as I do.... I've been taking a tiny dose of a medicine labeled for seizure control (gabapentin) for years and think I'd be in a rubber room or dead without it. I have twice gone off it for weeks to evaluate whether it is necessary. I am usually okay for a few days or so (disproving the rebound effect) and then return to waking up every hour.

For me (and apparently more commonly post-menopausal women ), it works wonders. I think it would be prescribed more if there were more money to be made. It is cheap, non-addictive, relatively benign, and won't make my testicals shrink like melatonin [sp] (possibly an urban legend, but I'm not up for testing it ).

Wyl · Post by **Wyl** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 1:30 pm

I think there are few absolutes with things like this where you can say everyone should or shouldn't do the same thing. I take 600mcg of melatonin usually 2-3 times a week, usually on nights when I've been working on something and need a little help shutting my mind down so I can get to sleep. But I've never suffered from the level of insomnia that some people do, and legitimately needs medication to treat.

I think in general, society at a point where our lives are so busy and we're so impatient that doctors are increasingly left with treating the symptoms of our problems rather than being able to really work through a problem to its core cause and cure it. As impatient people we don't want to hear about behavior modification or lifestyle management as means of solving our problems, stuff like that takes too long and requires too much effort and personal responsibility. So we demand quick fixes, and meds are often that answer. We have a fast food mentality to everything else in life anymore, so why should we expect it to be any different when it relates to our health? I'm not an apologist for doctors, but I think in a lot of cases people don't help doctors help them. Knowing a few doctors at church, I understand that they are usually just as frustrated with patients as patients are with them.

Sergey45 · Post by **Sergey45** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 1:49 pm

Did anyone try Valerian Root?

roster · Post by **roster** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 3:30 pm

andyomega wrote:DO NOT TAKE THEM !
DO NOT TRY THEM !
DO NOT LISTEN TO THE HAPPY LITTLE TV COMMERCIALS!
DO NOT TRUST THE DOCTORS !

I threw away the pills.
Yes, some of them put you to sleep but they ALL have side effects and rebound.
Rebound sucks and so do side effects.

I just hope I go back to normal soon. Its been 2 weeks ive been screwed up now.

My experience is similar to yours. I will take something now only if I am desperate and even then I know I will not feel my best the next day.

One should practice good sleep hygiene including a good diet and good exercise. One should have good social, work and family relations. If you do all these and still can't sleep, then look for a medical problem.

Of course, wearing a mask that is blowing air all night long might cause some sleep problems.

azaloune · Post by **azaloune** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 4:37 pm

Sleep meds are not for people who have minor sleeping problems. They are definitely prescribed too often in this country. That said, I don’t think anyone can make a decision that I (personally) will not take them as the final word.

I have 3 sleep disorders. The 2nd one is OSA. The first disorder is severe chronic insomnia. I have had it a very long time. It was first diagnosed when I was in my teens. I have had a very hard life; I make no excuses for my life. But, I have real issues, emotional and physical, that contribute to my inability to sleep. I have been on sleep meds for years, and have only recently switched from Ambien CR to melatonin.

My sleep Dr is very proud of my accomplishment of this change, but, I did not get his opinion before I did it. I did discuss it with my primary care Dr, and was given a green light to try. I had no rebound during the switch, and no side effects. I was a long term patient on Ambien CR, about 16 months on that medication. The one before that was Lunesta. The one before that was Vistoril. Before that was…well, you get the idea.

My 3rd sleep disorder, PLMD, seems to have resolved itself with my CPAP treatment.

I think this is a hot button topic that requires personal choice, medical information, and medical history of the patient. It also requires a responsible medical opinion. If you don’t trust the Dr you are seeing, FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR!!!

BTW, just as an aside to the topic, my sleep Dr says that Rozerem is, a proprietary blend of…melatonin. How is that for being a money hungry pharmaceutical company!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:00 pm

It's really strange, I can sleep 10 hrs in a motel or at our condo at Nags Head, N,.C but I am lucky if I can sleep 6 hrs in my ow bed.

JZ · Post by JZ » Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:46 pm

I certainly agree about not relying on the marketing campaigns of pharmaceutical companies. We are all paying for that with higher medication costs and as a society are rapldly becomming more and more over medicated.

However, as with any number of medications, sleep medications have been a great help to some people. They are not that different from any other prescription medication in that there are ways they can be abused, over used, misused, and there are potential side effects.

I do my best to research any medication my doctor suggests and at least get a good layperson's understanding of it. I have chronic insomnia and have sparingly used sleep meds. For example, when on vacation in June, I took an Ambien every night because I have even more sleep difficuly when away from home. I have not used any Ambien since then. I personally have not experienced rebound. Like jburnham, I am using a medication (Lyrica) that is for another purpose (pain of peripheral neuropathy), but is beginning to be used off label to assist with deep sleep. My sleep doctor slowly increased the dosage. When I got to a dosage that produced a negative side effect, I went back down to a lower dose.

There are no absolutes wtih prescriptions. Everyone is different. And, everyone should learn as much as they can about any prescriptions or supplements they are going to use.

Janna

andyomega · Post by **andyomega** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:55 pm

Sergey45 wrote:Did anyone try Valerian Root?

YES, it did nothing at all for me. Tried it for days, tried it with Melatonin also.

RosemaryB · Post by **RosemaryB** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 6:25 pm

Anonymous wrote:It's really strange, I can sleep 10 hrs in a motel or at our condo at Nags Head, N,.C but I am lucky if I can sleep 6 hrs in my ow bed.

Oceanpearl, do you think it's the ocean or being close to nature? I sleep much better in settings like that. I think we are somehow disconnected from nature and it messes up our sleep cycles and things like that. But then, I'm a tree hugger (and maybe an ocean hugger, too ). I'm assuming that the motel is when you are on vacation, of course.

roster · Post by **roster** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 5:06 am

[quote]............

BTW, just as an aside to the topic, my sleep Dr says that Rozerem is, a proprietary blend of…melatonin. ..................

lilsheba · Post by **lilsheba** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 7:00 am

As impatient people we don't want to hear about behavior modification or lifestyle management as means of solving our problems, stuff like that takes too long and requires too much effort and personal responsibility.

That may be true but I think WE are all a living example of doing this very thing with the cpap therapy. It may have an instant affect for some but for the most part it's a slow process, and a lot of us are using the pur-sleep to help get us and keep us to sleep as well.

We certainly aren't taking the short attention span theater approach here. Now I'm not knocking anyone on here who is taking sleep aids as well, some people really do need them. I'm lucky that I don't, the aroma therapy and cpap machine are putting me out and keeping me there all by themselves.

dieselgal · Post by **dieselgal** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:45 am

The over medication issue is very close to me right now.

The problem I have is with my mother. I personally feel like my mother is addicted to
medication of any kind and especially sleeping medication. Visiting with her has become a chore and that makes me feel guilty.

Mom is 77 and for many years has been quick to take something for pain or to make her go to sleep. Then if she still can’t sleep she will take something else. The result is that when she is awake she is groggy and tired and depressed.

She doesn’t exercise or move around other than to eat and watch TV and then she is pooped and ready to go back to bed and sometimes take another pill. She constantly feels sorry for herself, cries and feels like nobody loves her. She always cold and part of this is because she never makes her blood pump with any activity.

Then she wonders why people don’t come over to visit or only stay a few minutes when they do. After a while I have to say I just get sick of hearing it.

I have flat told her that her problem is to many drugs and she acts like I must be insane because she would like more drugs because she is always hurting or says she is hurting. I sometimes wonder if she is in pain or just wants more drugs and this worries me because I don’t want to be ignoring something important.

Don’t get me wrong at 54 I have aches and pains and problems too, so I realize she must have different levels of pain and different problems but you can’t take a pill for everything!

Basically mom is a prescription drug addict. If one Dr. doesn’t give her what she wants she just goes to another one and the fact is that they will give her something just to get her butt out of their office.

It is very sad to see a woman that was so strong through out my childhood in such a state.

lilsheba · Post by **lilsheba** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 10:02 am

My mother was like that too she had a bunch of prescriptions for I don't know what all. She always had a steady supply of codeine for sure. And she didn't move around much either, watched tv or read. OR flapped her lips at me constantly if *I* tried to watch tv or read so I couldn't concentrate!

Anyway she's another story unto herself.

Final word on sleep aids and drugs.

Final word on sleep aids and drugs.

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