Posted by jacquie on April 18, 2000, at 15:49:47
In reply to Re: Hi Jacquie, posted by Cam W. on April 16, 2000, at 10:08:47
> Hi Cam- thanks for the sound advice. I wen to doctor today seemingly pretty sad the last few days and we agreed to up the celexa to 40mg and wait and see for next 2 weeks. they also prescribed ambien which is zolpidem. According to pharmacist it goes through the system faster and isn't too terribly addictive like benzodiaz. The sleep problem simply didn't correct itself and i couldn't go too much longer. I am a professional gardener and entering our busy season. I get atleast 6-8 very active days in exercise wise and this is what perplexed me as to why i wasn't sleeping evenbetter, plus i would walk 3 miles when i got home and do the usual floor exercises. guaranteed to awake at 11pm.1am and again at 3am. thoroughly nuts, and i had rem sleep. very vivid dreams, mostly about fears.... thoughts???. thanks, Cam.
> Jacquie - If the Celexa is working at 20mg, I would not want to raise it unless the doc wants to give it a try. The 20mg daily is a average dose. Many people need more, but some people need less. When you see your doc on Tuesday, ask him/her about this. Since the depressive symptoms are being controlled, there is probably no need to raise the dose. Actually, your sleeplessness might be caused by too high a Celexa dose (for you). Ask your doc about this as well, although, since the Celexa is working he/she might not want to lower the dose.
>
> There are a number of tricks to combat insomnia without drugs. Exercising about 3 hours prior to bed, warm milk (no kidding, but yuck!), maybe a chamomile tea (not too much), trying to go to bed an hour earlier than normal and read, etc. There are others, but I cannot think of them now. Maybe asking this question on a new thread will give you many more answers.
>
> As for the sleep inducing drugs. Low doses of Desyrel do work (eg 25mg in your case), but if that is out, Ativan does work. The problem with Ativan is that it can become habit forming. The same can be said for the other benzodiazepine hypnotics (nitrazepam, temazepam, triazolam, etc.). Zopiclone is another shot term alternative (Imovane in Canada). The hypnotics like Ambien, I do not know anything about, as we do not have them here in Canada.
>
> Still, it is best to look for non-drug methods of falling asleep. The two I would lean towards would be dose reduction (ask doc first), warm milk, or going to bed earlier. None of these are foolproof, but they may help you.
>
> Good luck again. - Cam W.
poster:jacquie
thread:29270
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000411/msgs/30467.html