Posted by Ritch on February 20, 2003, at 23:48:55
In reply to Ritch, posted by Rainbowlight on February 20, 2003, at 19:21:50
> Do you take any type of sleep med/benzo at night? I find without one I can't get to sleep at all and I will toss and turn for hours until I finally fall asleep. I am getting very good sleep on the Elavil/1 mg. Ativan combo. I am soon going to try just the Elavil alone. Changing my sleep cycles screws my mood up really bad. For instance I have been taking daily naps for the past week or so due to an upper respiratory infection (and antibiotics). Today for the first day I didn't take a nap and I feel very depressed and tearful. I also know that Lamictal is very activating for me and I can't sleep at all without a sleep med on it. Could it be that the Effexor is doing the same thing to you? Geez, I know what you mean about that waking up early, tossing and turning. Yuck, that's awful!
Forgot to mention, about your question. I slept like a baby on the Remeron. Would fall asleep about one hour after taking it, sleep for like 9-10 hours and wake up and feel great. Never any daytime grogginess or wanting to take a nap.I take my Depakote (currently 250mg) at bedtime with .5mg Klonopin. Usually I have to add a little Benadryl to sleep better (12.5mg). Elavil and doxepin (and low-dose Remeron) in the past were surefire sleep inducers for me. I just get hungover so badly from sedative meds the next day! You are lucky you could function the next day on Remeron. NOT ME. About the time I was ready to go to sleep the next night, my brain would just *begin* to start to clear up. My pdoc told me to increase the dose so I would feel more alert. I went from 7.5mg > 15mg > 30mg and I got *insomnia* from the stuff (light sleep-lucid dreaming-@30mg) and felt just as tired and foggy the next day as ever. Effexor, Wellbutrin, all SSRI's wreck my sleep. Even Serzone/trazodone didn't work very well. What works the best is to avoid/reduce those culprits that *cause* the problem, and to use something with antihistaminic and/or anticholinergic activity at bedtime. For sure, SSRI meds caused the worst sleep disruption for me than anything.
poster:Ritch
thread:202263
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030219/msgs/202341.html