HELP!!!! Can't Sleep!!!

Hello Everyone- I thought many of my problems were behind me, I have been doing better with the GERD and aerophagia and seemed to have some of my "quirks" worked out. Over the last 10-12 days I have been having trouble falling asleep and/or staying asleep. Last night after going to bed around 10:30 (close to usual time) and tossing and turning til about 1:44 I got up and took a Xanax to try and fall asleep. It took that another 45-60 minutes to kick in. I woke up at 8:00. Needless to say I am VERY tired. This kind of thing has been happening more and more frequently. I take my 20mg. Pepcid about 1 hr. before I hit the sack and was wondering if anyone had heard of acid reducers causing insomnia. I am at my wits end, nothing else has changed except that I have also stared taking a low dose anti-depressant (Prozac) but I took that for over a year before stopping in June and NEVER had this problem with it before, in fact it helped me to sleep and made me groggy during the day-that was the reason I stopped taking it. Any suggestions!!!! I feel like a zombie again!! Also, been thinking about switching to a Liberty FF mask- anyone had any success with this one???

That is a tough combination question to address, for anyone, IMO.

For one thing, as you of course know, every drug affects everyone differently, so a drug that makes one person sleepy can make another wired. Even the same person can differ in his/her reaction to the same drug, depending on hormonal, emotional, and stress factors. On top of that, once you start adding two drugs together, then three drugs together, there is no person on the planet who can factor in all the possible reactions and interactions for himself/herself, let alone for someone else. The only exception to that are the drugs that are designed to be used in combination and that have been studied that way.

It may help to become buddies with the neighborhood pharmacist. And when you google/research the drugs as far as individuals' reactions, you may want to do the research two drugs at a time instead of all at once, since it could be rare for someone to be taking all the same drugs you are.

The only other observation I might make is that sleep, much like hormones and emotions, can seem to run in cycles of days, weeks, months, years. Sometimes the best we can do is to take the best care of ourselves we can with diet, exercize, rest, etc. and then just let the cycles play out until we start sleeping better again.

Yeah, I know I merely stated the obvious with the above post, but my reply should serve as a "bump" anyway, right?

The reviews on the Liberty, at cpap.com, are entertaining if you haven't read them lately: https://www.cpap.com/productpage/mirage ... llows.html

Hope you're sleeping better soon.

Check with your doctor and see if you can alter the time that you take the prozac. I've heard that some people respond better taking it at night than in the morning, due to the sleepy issues you've mentioned. But your doctor is your source for changes, not me.

Hey grumpygirl,
Here's a couple suggestions -- I'm not a doctor so you'll have to take them for what they are......you may want to visit the doc as ractar28 suggests -- always a good option!!!!!

Instead of the pepcid for the GERD you may want to try some Prilosec OTC (I use the Target generic as it's about $7 per 6 week supply cheaper - actually cheaper than Costco...). It's a more "powerful" acid reducer, but it's not like pepcid for reducing or eliminating it spur of the moment -- it should eliminate your acid feeling completely after a few days...). I take both each night -- I've been taking the prilosec for at least 10 years and the pepcid even longer....

For sleep you might try benedryl. It's the sleep ingredient in most of the "PM" type meds (Tylenol PM etc.). It's an antihistamine so it will make you drowsy. I take 2 each night and have for years -- you can develop a tolerance, but so far just taking 2 hasn't had a tolerance affect on me.... Since I have allergies it serves me the double purpose of helping me keep my nose clear during the night.....

Good luck!!!!!
take care
cheers
goose

I have a suggestion on the GERD and you might end up hating me for it. Try changing your diet. I'm sure that not everyone responds to just a change in diet. I love tomato products -- my two favorite types of food are Italian and Mexican. It's not the spices as much as the blasted acid in the tomatoes. In my younger days, nothing phased me. Now that I'm nearing 40, my body has decided it's had enough of my "crap". For a week, try just avoiding spicy foods or tomato products (if you share my affection for that stuff) or whatever acidic product that you think could be contributing. If that means eating McDonald's burgers for dinner for a week, just give it a shot.

I fully respect that people have different "conditions" and different reactions to different stimuli, so it could be that you're choking down tofu for every meal already and that isn't resolving the issue. I just wanted to share my personal experiences and perhaps help someone else a little bit.