Posted by med_empowered on December 27, 2005, at 3:29:35
In reply to Re: Problems with SLEEP, posted by yxibow on December 27, 2005, at 1:59:52
Hi! the other poster brought up some other options. Remeron helps alot of people, but it can cause noticeable weight gain very, very quickly..if you go this route, going for 30mgs+ instead of the usual 15 might help.
Personally, I'd avoid Seroquel--some people swear by it, but it really shouldn't be first line for insomnia, unless you can't sleep b/c you're psychotic.
Barbiturates aren't used very often, but they can be very helpful if all else fails (even then, though, you're only going to want to take them for 2 weeks tops).
Some people love this new Rozerem stuff. I haven't used it, but its non-controlled (unlimited refills, no abuse potential), so thats a definite plus. Lunesta and and the other new ones usually dont cause too many problems w/ withdrawal, but they are schedule IV, so there could be refill issues.
Vistaril is an antihistamine, and I dont like it very much, but it is good stuff sometimes for hardcore insomnia. 200mgs seems to be pretty standard for nite time sedation.
Prozac sometimes makes sleep problems more pronounced--in the original Prozac studies, a lot of the patients were also on anxiolytics (Valium, Ativan, etc.) and/or sedatives. You could try switching to another AD in the same class, or trying something new like Effexor or Cymbalta. If you tend to be super-anxious all the time, and your doc won't go for a benzo, adding BuSpar might help--you could adjust the dosing so most of it is at nite, which will help you sleep for a little while. BuSpar also sometimes makes antidepressants work better, although this doesn't happen for everyone.
Herbal supplements could help...if you're interested, valerian, kava kava, and the like sometimes help people get to sleep. So does melatonin, although people with depression should probably avoid melatonin.
poster:med_empowered
thread:592356
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051221/msgs/592369.html