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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by yxibow on December 24, 2006, at 3:53:23
I'm currently test using Rozerem to wash out Ambien from my system because at 20mg Ambien does very little. I may return to either it or Lunesta (although Lunesta would have to be at 4+ mg) later on.
Apparently according to my psychopharmacologist, it has 17x the power of OTC Melatonin (targeted at MT1 and 2).
I did try OTC Melatonin 5mg once and I can safely say it gave me... a bit less than 4 hours of sleep and I woke up in the middle of some REM cycle in some pseudo-psychotic state of night terrors. It was pins and needles tossing for the rest of the night -- I hadn't had such wierd night experiences since I tried Risperdal about 5 years ago for unrelated things.
Anyhow, Rozerem 8mg with 5mg of Ambien to taper gives me just under 8 hours of sleep, at least at first try. I'm an insomniac, because this is also with nearly 800mg of Seroquel.
Sleep is very important to my very complex and aggravating anxiety disorder -- it tends to be supportive.
- tidings
Posted by jimmygold70 on December 24, 2006, at 13:35:55
In reply to Rozerem -- any stories?, posted by yxibow on December 24, 2006, at 3:53:23
May you please tell a bit more about yourself and your history, as insomnia itself inflicts half of this planet (-:
it never comes on it's own.J
Posted by psychobot5000 on December 25, 2006, at 2:21:22
In reply to Rozerem -- any stories?, posted by yxibow on December 24, 2006, at 3:53:23
Tried it as an alternative to benadryl, ambien and Lunesta, and others. It helped moderately in getting me to sleep, but didn't last more than three hours or so. I stopped it because it wasn't giving me too much benefit, and also because melatonin tends to make me depressed--not that I noticed any such effect from Rozerem.
No side-effects to speak of. I would think it's be useful for some people, but not so strong as the benzos or "nonbenzodiazepine" sleep meds. It is not habit-forming.
Posted by yxibow on December 25, 2006, at 10:36:21
In reply to Re: Rozerem -- any stories?, posted by jimmygold70 on December 24, 2006, at 13:35:55
> May you please tell a bit more about yourself and your history, as insomnia itself inflicts half of this planet (-:
> it never comes on it's own.
>
> JI have had a lifetime history of OCD, although it didn't peak until the end of high school -- I had gone through hoarding and such which dissipated but the washing and showering put the YBOCS score off the map. I was hospitalized for several months and it basically went down to nearly nothing comparatively. I didn't actually start taking an SSRI (Prozac) until after I was mostly better. Went to a treatment program.
Had dysthymia and probably some form of GAD or whatever during college but it wasn't as intrusive. There was always this dichotomy of wanting to be where I was in college and yet wanting to be back home and back again. Still, I passed with fairly flying colors comparatively. It was the best experience in my life I never realized.
Briefly worked, and drifted a bit trying to find a job and became frustrated. By 9/11 I was paranoid beyond others around me and always checking the news. Around Nov 17, 2001 something changed that has not reversed itself in pattern (though intensity it has) -- I became very sensitive to my surroundings; mostly visual, things were brighter or more contrasted than they should (not LSD bright but psychiatrically annoying) -- e.g. headlights and traffic lights, blinking signals, patterns on the carpet. All things almost always visible to another person but filtered out in a microsecond. Except myself.
So that's the psychiatric history -- sleep disturbances I've had since 10 or so, odd sleeping patterns, sleeping in the doorway out of fear or something as a child. I mean I can remember at 8 having a book on my nose when I woke up -- never again have I had that luxury. By 18 or so, medication or inherent insomnia was pretty much ingrained. Its hard to decipher whether things are medication induced or inherent but I think it is both.
In college I took Trazodone -- repulsive stuff and actually for anyone (not myself) who has psychotic tendencies, the metabolite mCPP is not a good thing. Priapisms are much more common than stated. Tried doxepin, that ate an entire weekend, I was knocked flat, went back to Trazodone anyhow. Briefly had a stint of Ambien when I was given Effexor (not a drug good for me) and the first time I took Ambien, wow, it was almost a psychadelic trip saying "sleep, good.." - - also never able to repeat again. Among the few really good feelings I've had on medication, and I don't do recreational drugs, but that was amazing.
Anyhow fast forwarding, I've been taking Ambien at 20mg fairly continuously, switching to Lunesta at 3mg and back to Ambien and then Lunesta at 4mg -- Lunesta has that just sparkling nickel taste. Which I don't hugely mind if it does wonderful things but its not as strong as Ambien. Probably would have to have 5mg if that wasn't dangerous.
So, now I'm embarking on flushing the Ambien out temporarily because I may have cross-pollination with benzodiazepines and some tolerance, with Rozerem. It gives about 7 to 8 hours of sleep, when I really need 9. And I even take Seroquel for my Somatiform NOS [not otherwise specified] (the visual disorder), and that still doesn't put a full night.
That's where it stands and I had about 7.5 hours of sleep at the moment. I usually end up returning to bed again. Some of it is probably sleep hygiene and napping which though is restorative (usually) to the visual disorder simply because of some process of calming whatever is triggering things down inside, naps also interrupt the daily cycle and probably contribute eventually more to insomnia because you've already slept during the day. But its hard to avoid sometimes, especially when feeling rotten in the evening.That's basically my insomnia -- I think its hereditary to a degree, my mother has always been an insomniac as long as I can remember.
-- tidings
Jay
This is the end of the thread.
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