Posted by Nance on June 14, 2001, at 19:12:47
In reply to Re: Sleep problems » Maisy, posted by Cam W. on June 13, 2001, at 8:22:39
I had the same reaction to Imovane (zopiclone) that you did, Cam - a horrible bitter taste in my mouth that lasted almost 48 hours. Drinking water made it even worse - try avoiding water for 2 days! I much prefer Starnoc/Sonata (zaleplon), although I too have to take 2 capsules (20mg). Product monographs indicate that 20mg is the accepted maximum dose (only if the standard 10mg dose doesn't work), but it's only effective for initiating sleep, not maintaining it (half-life of one hour, lasts about four hours), as you pointed out. I especially like the fact that I'm not foggy when I wake up in the morning, and that there seems to be little risk of tolerance developing for as long a year.
Reference: Zaleplon Safe And Tolerable For Long-Term Treatment Of Insomnia
http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/12EA62.htmI would include one caution, though. Taking it after you've eaten a high fat meal can reduce its effectiveness, but make sure you've eaten _something_ for dinner. I took it one night when I had eaten very little during the day, and found that my stippled bedroom ceiling had turned into an amazing white skyscape of small, fluffy, pulsating 3D clouds with stipple raindrops! I rather enjoyed this hallucination (but then I'm an aging ex-hippie, and I've been there before!), and I couldn't really see it when I took off my glasses, but I'm sure a lot of people might find this effect very distressing. I want to make it clear that I am most certainly NOT recommending that anyone try this intentionally - it's just an advisory for people with depression- and/or medication-induced anorexia.
For complete zaleplon info, including possible drug interactions, see http://cp.gsm.com/ - select monographs. This is my favourite drug info site, and I can't recall if I've seen it referred to here. The Drug Interaction reports are terrific - you enter all your meds, click "Generate Report" and voila! - all possible interactions are listed and explained. The downside of this site is the registration requirement (I registered as an educator, which I am, but not in anything remotely connected to medicine), and the fact that it may become a pay site on Aug. 1 ($500 for info that is currently free - sob, sob). They were originally going subscription only in April, but didn't, so maybe they'll wait a while longer until they have a sufficiently large paid subscriber base.
Hope this has been helpful. - Nance
poster:Nance
thread:66282
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010612/msgs/66513.html