Posted by yxibow on December 19, 2006, at 20:38:34
In reply to Re: Allergic cross-sensitivity between benzos? » yxibow, posted by Phillipa on December 18, 2006, at 21:19:05
> Jay I'm adding it to the valium at bedtime. How come I only get about 3 hours sleep out of l5mg of valium and .5mg of xanax? And then wake in a hot sweat(not hot flashes) with the temp 66%, repeat now 5mg of valium and to get body temp down 2 motrin. For some reason motrin seems to help me sleep. Doesn't make any sense to me. But to you it might. Love jan
Well for some people (generic) ibuprofen (which is all Motrin is) make them sleepier. For me, its not a great antipyretic (fever reducer). In fact, acetaminophen and aspirin are really the only major fever reducers out there; largely ibuprofen serves as a pain reliever. But I guess perhaps for you, maybe there's a difference. For odd, "heat feelings" that I experience, I take generic acetaminophen. There's no actual fever but it somehow reduces some complex internally generated process.
After all this time you may have reached a grand point where you are habituating to Valium somewhat -- although the dose you're on is not particularly high or worrysome from my laymans observation.
You're kind of waking up from a "catnap" and I frequently have hot sensations waking up from such a short period. Sometimes headaches, heat sensations, muscle tightness -- whatever has gone on, you're abruptly returned to the world during a possible thrashing dream you will never remember and the brain just reacts a bit. That's about as scientific as I can get on it -- but I definately know that naps of varieties while they may be restorative to my disorder can leave me in exactly the state you're saying.As I've said before, not to be offensive, you do not have to post your age, but I gather you are postmenopausal; as we age, sleep also becomes more interrupted at night, REM changes -- so it may not be entirely benzodiazepine related.
I think you already went through the Lunesta/Ambien/Sonata circle ? If not its worth a try. As I've posted before, and yes its true not everyone gets depressed on it, I suppose you could take melatonin once or twice a week just to "reset your clock", but I know you have issues of anxiety and depression and I wouldn't want to mess with your hormones and thyroid.
I don't know if your doctor is willing to give you a trial amount of Restoril or Dalmane, which is the only other thing I can think of -- there would be crosspollinating since they are benzodiazepines, but in the short term they might provide some relief. In the long term you could become quickly acclimated, unlike Lunesta and Ambien which would take longer.
But as for the heat sensations and all that, those are primitive instincts of the autonomic nervous system -- everybody has them, without it, our fight or flight mechanism would not be productive. I had large amounts of them when I had bad OCD in high school. If the Motrin works -- and you can get generic, its so much cheaper, but if you like the brand, that's fine -- then go ahead. The tolerance for error on ibuprofen is much higher than on acetaminophen. 400mg of ibuprofen (I think yours comes in 200s) is not particularly harmful since you don't take much else. For me, only acetaminophen or possibly high dose aspirin would work. Don't worry too much about it -- and you're continuing to see consultation about thyroid issues, which I definately can't tell you about, so feel free to mention these things there too.
-- to better sleepJay
poster:yxibow
thread:714696
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061217/msgs/715116.html