Posted by Greg on January 9, 2001, at 14:40:55
In reply to options for sleep meds, posted by super on January 9, 2001, at 13:20:25
I take Ambien (10mg) for insomnia and have for nearly two years. It has worked very well for me. Being very disciplined with it and your sleep patterns seem to be very key. I always try to take it at the same time every night and about 20-30 minutes before going to bed. I also try to be very consistant with my bedtimes, this seems to help.
A potential side-effect, there always seems to be one of those... A lot of people I've talked to report some degree of memory loss with Ambien. Mine is confined to things like being woken up after falling asleep on the couch and not being able to remember the conversation I had with my wife. I've never had anything long term. On the other hand, I rec'd an e-mail from someone a few days ago who had taken Ambien for the first time. He said that he woke up at 1am and informed his wife he was going to the grocery store to shop for that evening's dinner. He proceeded to get into his car and totaled it by driving into a tree. He doesn't remember anything about what happened. So as with most meds, Ambien is not for everyone. I hope some others will give you ideas for some alternatives so that you can make an informed choice with your doc. Please let me know what you decide to do.
Good luck,
Greg> Hello,
>
> I'm seeing my p-doc this week and I am going to ask her for something to help me sleep. I'd appreciate it if you could share your experience and/or recommendations concerning sleep meds. I have taken Xanax off and on for nearly two years and have developed a slight tolerance to it. I could just increase my Xanax dose, but I don't want to become addicted. Generally, when Xanax has worked, I've been happy with it and I wake up in a much better mood, and with much more alertness than when I don't take it. But I've heard so many horror stories about Xanax that I would like to switch to something else if possible. I don't want something that will make it difficult for me to wake up, or something that will knock me out immediately, or something that will play with my memory (which is already very poor).
>
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have.
poster:Greg
thread:51274
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001231/msgs/51280.html