Unisom

[[id...]]

If you used unisom for sleep for a long time what was your experience getting off of it?

Unisom worked wonders for me at first and was a life saver after my second baby was born but then I started to wake up 4 hours after falling asleep, unable to sleep again until I had to get up. My panic attacks have gotten worse (I was free of panic attacks prior to unisom and giving birth) and it started to remind me interdose withdrawal.

I tried to do a long taper and then was on and off a tiny dose and I feel like I kindled. Now my panic attacks and agoraphobia are out of control. I was in a car accident too and my marriage is difficult so that's definitely a factor but there is a part of this experience that feels chemical the way my remeron and benzo withdrawal were.

I can't find anything about unisom withdrawal online aside from some generic and useless information. Did anybody have experience with unisom? How long does the withdrawal take?

[[or...]]

@[id...] I have taken Unisom off and on for many years. I never had a problem coming of it -- when I thought my sleep was better, I just dropped it with no s/x. However, if you are having problems, why not adopt the method that docs often use . . . reduce by half for a week, reduce the amount you have left for the next week, then (if there's any left) halve what's left or just drop it. Unisom loses its "oomf" fairly quickly and just plain stops working. At least it did for me. Tolerance, I guess. So at those times, I had no trouble just dropping it. It's a weird drug -- basically a sedating antihistamine that has a side hustle of promoting sleep. Hope you get on top of this. Sometimes I thought Unisom was more trouble than it was worth . . . but when it worked, it worked well. 

Best to you,

Katz

[[id...]]

Thank you, Katz.

I suspect I'm sensitive to antihistamines in general. They usually work the best for my anxiety but they upregulate those receptors so much that it's hard getting off of them.