Posted by utopizen on March 16, 2004, at 2:15:55
In reply to (Clonazepam - Ambien )I dont understand why , help, posted by Tepiaca on March 16, 2004, at 0:00:19
I just went on Klonopin after not having any since December. I use to 1 mg 3x/day, and was very calm around withouts. after three months, this feeling diminished, and I would just take 3mg at night to battle insomnia.Eventually even that grew its own tolerance. Klonopin's sleep-inducing effect is not something to yearn for, as it will quickly just make you calm and nothing else.
I've given up on Ambien and others, especially with my stims. I am now simply doing sleep restriction-- not sleeping for more than 6 hours each night until my body associates my bed with sleeping.
I'm also taking walks three times a day outside to expose myself to the light, which releases melatonin, balancing your circadian rythms, making your sleep more efficient through the exercise, and relaxing you so your anxieties are reduced. The trick is to spread it out like your meals-- three 20-25 minute walks-- anyone can comply to that, it's not intimidating.
Because I take a stimulant, sleeping is hard, and so is eating, which makes sleeping harder unless I force feed myself. I'm hoping to go on Straterra in a few months, but until then the stims are here to stay so long as my mid-terms keep piling up along with way overdue incompletes from last semester.
Try walking three times a day, waking up at around sunrise to walk despite your mood or amount of sleep the night before, don't go to sleep until after midnight at least or when you normally feel tired, and eat three full meals a day at the same exact time daily. I use to spend $160/month on Ambien online, in denial that I had alternatives that would make me feel not only rested and alert each day, but with a brighter bood.
I wish I listened to common sense a long time ago, would have saved me a lot of anguish. Of course, sleep aides are great if you continue to obsess over making sure you're eating at the same hour three times a day, are not in your bed unless you're planning on sleeping for the average sum that you realistically sleep for without a sleep aide, and force yourself out of bed to take a 1/2 hour walk at dawn to program your body to reduce its energy levels by around bedtime. But otherwise, sleep aides will just let you maintain a low quality of life like I had, enabling an onset of depression due to avoidance of exercise and regular eating habits, and not to mention sleeping in to over-compensate for sleeping later, which will just make your problems more severe.
If you sleep past dawn, and I don't care if you began sleeping at 4AM, you will only cause your problems to exist for the rest of your life without pills. I've done this, and learned it was pathetic. If you miss a breakfast, a lunch, a walk outside for a half hour a few times a day, or lie in bed for a duration that's not realistic for how long you actually sleep at night on average, you just make your life worse, IMHO.
poster:utopizen
thread:324833
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040313/msgs/324849.html