Insomnia returns, questioning why I am even bothering

[[he...]]

See sig for latest taper info.  In short, was around 1.25mg/night at peak, then down to .5mg/night for the last 6 months or so.    Read the alzheimer/benzo news article on Sept 10 and started tapering again.  Dropped to .37 and was still able to sleep.  Now I stepped down to .25mg and my insomnia is back.  The same thing I started taking this medicine for.

 

I need my sleep.  Can't function on 4-5 hours a night. 

 

So frustrated.  Zero support from my family.  Starting to think more about exit strategies down the line (not now).

[[he...]]

Is there ANYTHING out there that helps insomnia that isn't a benzo and won't make me dependent? 

[[Be...]]

Hi Kitty,

 

Have you tried Kalms? It's a herbal remedy and it works for me. I don't get insomnia very often from withdrawwal but when I do Kalms works fine. I had really bad insomnia when I was pregnant with my daughter and it worked then too.

 

I'm in the UK but I think you can get them everywhere. They are on Amazon.

 

Insomnia is awful.

 

Bella

[[bu...]]

Is there ANYTHING out there that helps insomnia that isn't a benzo and won't make me dependent?

 

Remeron (mirtazipine) is a very effective sleep aid (7.5-15 mg).  I took it for about 3 years and had absolutely no problems discontinuing.

 

 

I have also found doxylamine (OTC antihistamine)  to be very effective.

[[be...]]

Is there ANYTHING out there that helps insomnia that isn't a benzo and won't make me dependent?

 

Like Builder said, Doxylamine. Or Trazodone. Script only.

[[Ma...]]

I second the Remeron.  I sleep like a baby and could sleep 12 hours if I didn't make myself get up.  Currently tapering down rather fastly.  Only bad side effect I'm having is horrible vertigo and slight depression.  Remeron is awesome.  First time I tried to taper years ago I had to stop because of insomnia and waking up in puddles of sweat.  Not so bad this time around.. so far!

[[co...]]

Insomnia is such a beast. I'm sorry you're having to deal with it right now. :'( Please know you're not alone and it will eventually pass. I've had some wicked bouts of insomnia but with perserverence I've made it through. 

 

It sounds like you've got some good supplement/medication suggestions in this thread. I don't know if you've read my post on tart cherry juice, might be worth checking out: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=117370.0

[[Ki...]]

I take 30 mg  Remeron. I sleep well most nights.

[[sn...]]

I can't sleep!  This really hurts during withdrawal and I have severe bronchitis.  I'm praying for all of us.

[[Ra...]]

You could always try a dose in between .37 & .25?  Something like .30?  Make sure you're stable then cut again?  Just throwing out a possible suggestion that the last cut was maybe a bit too much.

[[he...]]

I am on the autism spectrum and have had trouble sleeping all of my life.  I am also epileptic and take phenytoin for that.  Thankfully I have some old medical records where my neurologist noted I complained about insomnia when I was late teens.  So it's not my imagination.

 

Comments or Questions about the above recommendations:

 

Remeron - Is it addictive?  What side effects?

 

Doxylamine - Is it addictive?  What side effects?

 

Trazadone - tried this in 2012.  workekd slightly for a short time then I guess my body acclimated and I started taking more, then got used to that.  Stopped taking.

 

I am open to a second medication to help with insomnia but I don't want to discover years later that there is a remeronbuddies type website for people who have/had issues with that med (just using remeron as an example).  Nobody told me how awful benzos were until too late.