Posted by King Vultan on August 10, 2004, at 23:15:09
In reply to 75 mg Natdil...insomnia and restlessness--help!, posted by gardenergirl on August 10, 2004, at 20:45:39
I had similar insomnia problems on Nardil, except that I would wake up even earlier, but I did not have the extreme restlessness you describe. You might want to consider trying Restoril, which is a powerful benzo that is good at maintaining sleep, as opposed to falling asleep. Even if your doctor will only let you take it every other night (which would probably be a good idea to avoid dependence/tolerance issues), you might still have a chance of getting one good's night sleep out of every two. I took (and am still taking) Halcion, a shorter half life benzo, alternating with Benadryl. I have almost completely tapered off the Nardil but am still suffering insomnia from REM rebound syndrome, something that was not even on my radar screen to begin with. Well, you learn all sorts of interesting things when dealing with these antidepressants.
There is a prescription antihistamine my pdoc suggested to me as perhaps a more effective alternative to the Benadryl. It's called hydroxyzine (Vistaril is one of the trade names) and is apparently very anxiolytic. I haven't tried it, but if I were in your place, I would consider alternating between some short half life antihistamine like this and a benzo like the Restoril. I think taking two drugs, each every other night, will tend to lower the chance of developing tolerance for either one.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:376183
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040805/msgs/376227.html