Being guine pig to try new insomnia medications

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I have been an insomnia for more than 40 years.  I have been on many, many different medications.  My only problem is that I can't sleep.  I am not depressed and have no medical issues other than arthritis.

I recently went to a psychiatrist (at suggestion of friends).  He took my history and said I needed to be a guinea pig and "we" would try different medications to see how they worked. #1 was Mirtazapine and it was orrible; I was awake for hours and then resorted to taking Temazepam for a few hours sleep.  The second was Valium. Same effect - no sleep, and i relied on the Temazepam.  Third one is Trileptal.  I do not fall asleep with it and end up taking Temazepam and then I can sleep.

 

My question is:  What good does something like Trileptal do if it causes wakefulness and then I rsort to Temazepam.  I give the Trileptal a chance and after 1 1/2 hours, I take Temazepam. Is there value in taking a drug along with a secondary drug which is the one that is helpful in letting me get some sleep.  Temazepam isn't always beneficial, but it is most of the time. Trileptal is a drug, mainly for seizures but also for bipolar conditions.

 

Should I keep trying new drugs.  And how will I ever taper from the Temazepam if I am taking a new "replacement."

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Guest [ba...]]

Phyl - I was much like you.  My sleep doc prescribed klonopin, but we played guinea pig for a while after the klonopin started to not work for me.  I think that I ended up trying four different meds.  None worked as well as klonopin used to work for me.  I ended up on Ativan, but I had clearly become tolerant to benzos, and started working on getting off of it.

 

It's really difficult for insomniacs to find replacements when they try to drop a benzo.  I had used Unisom (doxy) before I started in klonopin.  It worked pretty well before benzos; it didn't work hardly at all during withdrawal.  I also tried trazedone, and it also didn't work worth squat.  I had to get free of the benzo for a while before much of anything worked for me.  So there were many nearly sleepless nights for a while.  I sure felt lousy, but it didn't kill me.  You may need to do the same (get free of the benzo) before you find a replacement that works for you.  Most doctors do not appreciate the potential severity of benzo withdrawal.  They just throw another drug at you and it often doesn't go well.  And they suggest simply dropping/replacing the benzo or doing a rapid taper.  For those of us who have become tolerant/dependent, these approaches do not work very well. 

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My old psych tried all drugs too. None of them worked and some made be crazy anxious and thus even worse sleep. Then I got put on Klonopin and it worked until it didn't work. I got little sleep at the beginning because unknown to me at the time, I became paradoxical to it and lucky me I took most of it at bed. Then my new pdoc did a partial C/O to Valium and that helped a lot. The lower I got in my K dose, the more sleep I got. The sad thing about this is my new pdoc said I had situational anxiety from a very stressful job. He said therapy and finding a new job will give me the relief. And so it has. Though as I get lower in my Valium dose I sleep the 8 hours, but it is all chopped up sleep. I wake up in the morning feeling that I got no sleep at all. I now refuse to be a guinea pig and just want off all of them. Not sure if the Valium taper is the cause of my sleep issues or it's my brain trying to realign itself. I had one blessed window and I wonder if I will ever have one again? Now I realize that psych drugs are pure poison. I just want off! But so scared of terrible insomnia. My worst fear.

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I have been an insomnia for more than 40 years.  I have been on many, many different medications.  My only problem is that I can't sleep.  I am not depressed and have no medical issues other than arthritis.

I recently went to a psychiatrist (at suggestion of friends).  He took my history and said I needed to be a guinea pig and "we" would try different medications to see how they worked. #1 was Mirtazapine and it was orrible; I was awake for hours and then resorted to taking Temazepam for a few hours sleep.  The second was Valium. Same effect - no sleep, and i relied on the Temazepam.  Third one is Trileptal.  I do not fall asleep with it and end up taking Temazepam and then I can sleep.

 

My question is:  What good does something like Trileptal do if it causes wakefulness and then I rsort to Temazepam.  I give the Trileptal a chance and after 1 1/2 hours, I take Temazepam. Is there value in taking a drug along with a secondary drug which is the one that is helpful in letting me get some sleep.  Temazepam isn't always beneficial, but it is most of the time. Trileptal is a drug, mainly for seizures but also for bipolar conditions.

 

Should I keep trying new drugs.  And how will I ever taper from the Temazepam if I am taking a new "replacement."

 

Thanks.

 

 

YES ! You should keep trying new drugs !!!!!! You are the doctors guinea pig and the doctors are good people, you should take whatever they prescribe you ... Hey ! These are only forum regulations !!!!!! Go look it up ! Forum regulations tell us we should take medical advice from a doctor above the advice of benzo buddies. This means that if a doctor prescribes you 7 to a 100 of different drugs you should ALL try them out because that would be considered "medical advice". Don't listen to people that say doctors are dangerous idiots because that would be "doctor bashing". Again these are Colin's words, the creator of this forum. You should always take medical advice above benzo buddies. It's useless coming in here if you think about it ... Good luck !     

 

 

 

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TR:

 

 

I think you are hammering that TV a lot. My pdoc is fine. The other one, blah.

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Phyl, you sound somewhat like me--I was on Dalmane for 20 years (intermittently, not continuous!), and Elavil for 35 years. With an assortment of other drugs mixed in now and then.

 

My hope for you is that you can find the strength to get of ALL drugs. I believe all of us have the ability to sleep without drugs if we can give our body a chance to heal from them. It would probably take a fair amount of time (and some insomnia along the way), and very careful work on sleep hygeine, diet, light exposure, etc...

 

I am doing SO much better, and never thought I would have the ability to sleep 7.5 hours without any drug. And not be depressed at all. My sleep is still very fragile (drank not even a full glass of hard cider last night, slept only about 5 hours of poor quality sleep). But if I am careful, I can sleep!

 

Please think about getting off the roller coaster. There is no good sleep drug, they all fail.

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TR:

 

 

I think you are hammering that TV a lot. My pdoc is fine. The other one, blah.

 

 

  Hi benzogirl,

 

 

  I use a hammer because otherwise my fist would get too sore. I do have a bit of pain in my shoulder though.   

 

 

I do hope you know what F.I.N.E or fine stands for :  Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional.     

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Hahaha TotalRelapse, when I saw the thread title I knew you must be there!  You couldn't resist a bit of doctor bashing, could you? 

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Hahaha TotalRelapse, when I saw the thread title I knew you must be there!  You couldn't resist a bit of doctor bashing, could you? 

 

 

  NewOgril,  how could I possibly stay out of this one ?!? But I'm being a good boy though ! I'm currently functioning as a guinea pig for my doctor as well and doing everything my doctor is telling me to do. I love my doctor and I have great respect for all psychiatrists. I'm so honored to be a lab rat for them and I'm always listening to the medical advice they are giving me.   

 

We need to help and assist and all be humble, little, quiet and silent guinea pigs and lab rats to these magnificent, incredible and fantastic good people God has send on our journey and way in life to help us out.   

 

 

 

 

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TR:

 

 

I think you are hammering that TV a lot. My pdoc is fine. The other one, blah.

 

 

  Hi benzogirl,

 

 

  I use a hammer because otherwise my fist would get too sore. I do have a bit of pain in my shoulder though.   

 

 

I do hope you know what F.I.N.E or fine stands for :  Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional.   

 

And all along I was using FUBAR.

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Same boat.

Dormicum, Rivitrol, Serquel, Remeron, Phengren ++

No workable drug solutions I have found.

These days I try and structure my life around the insomnia.

Success in this is questionable.

 

 

[[Ba...]]

Phyl,

 

Totally relate. a lifetime of insomnia.  Benzos maybe 40 years or so.

 

Not sure how ever get off them and sleep.  Been on them more years than off.