Insomnia medicine- questions | ADHD Information
Some Benzo's work for some, other's have no affect at all on others. I went through differnet types and dosages before my doctor settled on XANAX (alazaproam(Sp??) I tried vailum, and ativan. and the valium didn't do a thing, the ativan worked, but doctor wanted to stay away from it if possible and find the most affect medicine while taking the losest dosage possible. I take .50mg of Xanax and it is fast acting, so I become sleepy within an hour of taking it. I should also mention that I took Lunesta and Ambien for sleep problems, but they are SO expensive, I try to stay away from them unless absolutly necessary!!
Hope this works! Ask your doctor about different types of benzos and see what works for you. It took a couple of tries for me, but I think we found what works best for me!!
Red
I haven't had any experience with this sleep med but I took various sleeping pills for over 25 years and am now off them thanks to Ritalin. I started Ritalin in July, 2005. My Dx is severe ADHD.Although the pharmacists often suggest you not take Ritalin in the evening, I find that for the first time in my life, I am getting a good night sleep AND without sleeping pills as a side effect from the Ritalin taken during the day. This is wonderful.
I take my last dose of Ritalin (10mg) between 8:00pm and 9:00 pm.
If I get to bed by 11:00 pm, I go to sleep quickly and get up to 8 hours sleep a night. If I stay up past 11:30 my mind starts racing and I just can't turn it off. I might stay up all night then. If I take 5mg of Ritalin even at 2:00am, I am sleeping quickly.
I hope this helps someone.
- Vic
Marmalade_man38732.2757986111Yes, I have taken it- I liked it, didn't really make me sleepy but did make me really mellow!--I can't remember any bad effects.Hey GPK,
You looked so lonely out there, I felt any anwser would make you feel better.
Hopefully someone will have the experience you seek.
Best wishes,
Davidno
[QUOTE=psychgirl]Yes, I have taken it- I liked it, didn't really make me sleepy but did make me really mellow!--I can't remember any bad effects.[/QUOTE]
Thanks psychgirl :) I took it last night for the first time. Didn't fall asleep quickly, but slept for like 13 hours. Woke up feeling a little confused. Gonna see how it goes :)
It's a cousin to valium. I have tried most of them, for anxiety, one of them being Ativan. It produces a calming affect in most people which allows them to sleep. If the ativan doesn't work for you, there is xanax, valium, clonoplin (sp), etc etc, some will work for you, others won't affect you at all. I just know from personal experience, when I went 3 days without sleep back in July, and ended up in the ER....the first thing they did was give me a dose of ativan and send me home with a prescription of the stuff. I took a dose when I got home and slept for 2 days. ( I was really tired from lack of sleep)
hope this helps!
Take care!
Red
Thanks redhead. I took the pill at like 1130 pm and here I am at the comp at 3:15, no hope of sleep.. it's just 1 mg Well the medicine is totally not helping me sleep= 3 AM and no tiredness. And i think maybe it is cancelling out the adderall somehow???--like during the day I am in a fog from the sleep pill and then the adderall just gets lost in the fog...yaaawnGPK---this is long, but I know the struggles of not sleeping 
First of all, I used to LOVE to sleep! 
This whole not sleeping thing really didn't work well for me. Over the course of a couple of months I landed myself in the ER just from pure exhaustion and anxiety from not sleeping. So I have gone through MOST treatment options. Here is ONLY my opinion, and again my doctor explained that the body reacts to some very well, and others it is like taking a sugar pill, just depends on your own body.
I started off with the shot of Ativan, and a presciption from the ER when this all started. Yes this worked well for me, but my family doctor wanted me to try a low dose of Xanax as a maintaince med to help me relax and also Lexapro to call me down and hopefully allow me to sleep. Xanax is fast acting (but also means it is shorter in duration) So I was more relaxed during the day, but was having to take it 3 times a day (.25mg x2) but still not sleeping the best. Lexapro did nothing for me, no bad side or good side affects, but I kept taking it.
My family physician ( I had not been diagnosed with anything by a psychiatrist yet at this point) started me on Lunesta 3 mgs. I did drop off like a hat at night, sometimes not even knowing that I had even bothered to try to go to sleep. So YES this does work. Two downfalls. For 15 pills I paid 65.00. That's 130.00 a MONTH just to sleep (at this point I was prepared to do it) But I also did not wake up "refreshed" I drug myself out of bed everyday, many times being late to work, even after 8 hours of sleep. Left me very groggy throughtout the day and left a bad taste in my mouth (what is up with that) ?
So my family physician suggested this stuff called Ambien. He thought that this would have fewer sider affects so he wanted me to give it a whirl. WELL, it made me very drowsy, but instead of sleeping, I would start hallucinating. I would see double, start talking weird stuff with the hubby, so I called the doc and said that "didn't like that too well" might as well go back to Lunesta since I was at least sleeping at night. ( yeah Ambien is expensive too, so switching from one to the other and then back, boy was the husband just about ready to by a mallett and just knock me out lol ) j/k he has been my rock throughout all of this.
After months of tests, and various treatment options, I was finally referred to the psych. (we all know the story) But thank goodness I finally went.
She wanted me off the sleeping pills ( I didn't argue, just told her I just wanted to be able to sleep) She first wanted to try Diazapam (valium) 10 mgs up to 4 times a day. She said that this is a longer acting medicine so might benefit my even more. Gosh, I was taking so much ( and I really am not a pill taker) and I felt NOTHING. I was worried that something was wrong with me. My psych told me that the body works differently and that some BENZOs just don't work on some people.
Next step, after years of struggling, all the test were in and I was living with ADHD. SO, she immediatly put me on the adderall xr 10mg 2x a day, and then took me off the valium since it didn't work at all and put me on Seroquel for sleep. This worked well for me. But again the Seroquel would make me very drowsy and groggy throught the next day of taking it.
By some unfortunate circumstances (my grandfather and father passed away exactly a month apart) I called the doc with some help for the anxiety. I was a wreck. So she put me on the xanax again to help me out for awhile. I have since found that since I don't need it during the day anymore, I take 2 at night and sleep very restfully. I have since thrown the Seroquel down the toilet. Doc said that she thinks my body is finally where it needs to be, it just took awhile and various trial and errors before they found the perfect combo. SO now she is prescribing me just the xanax for bedtime and the adderall for the daytime.
Gosh, sorry, long story short. I finally found what works for me after many trial and errors and many tears and frustrated nights. I also have the priveledge of being a wife and mother to 3 children, so I hated to see them suffer because I was suffering.
I am now JUST on
Adderall xr 10 mg twice a day
and
Xanax .25mg twice a night.
works like a dream............
I really hope this helps.
Please reply with anymore questions, I know the frustrations. Or you can always PM me!!!
Shelly
[QUOTE=GarbagePailKid] [QUOTE=psychgirl]Yes, I have taken it- I liked it, didn't really make me sleepy but did make me really mellow!--I can't remember any bad effects.[/QUOTE]Thanks psychgirl :) I took it last night for the first time. Didn't fall asleep quickly, but slept for like 13 hours. Woke up feeling a little confused. Gonna see how it goes :)
[/QUOTE]
My doc calls this effect a med hangover.
Tell your doc, as this may be a diagnostic for him.
Good night!
[QUOTE=redheadmom03]
It's a cousin to valium. I have tried most of them, for anxiety, one of them being Ativan. It produces a calming affect in most people which allows them to sleep. If the ativan doesn't work for you, there is xanax, valium, clonoplin (sp), etc etc, some will work for you, others won't affect you at all. I just know from personal experience, when I went 3 days without sleep back in July, and ended up in the ER....the first thing they did was give me a dose of ativan and send me home with a prescription of the stuff. I took a dose when I got home and slept for 2 days. ( I was really tired from lack of sleep)
hope this helps!
Take care!
Red
[/QUOTE]There's also Ambien, and Ambien CR. Kick ass stuff.
And Red, interesting. My longest wakefullness was 40 hours. Took Provigil to achieve it, though. And lots of work.
Hey countrygirl. Maybe we can trade? Because it is still not working...going back to the doc...first have to make an appt, sigh.. Ask for some Ambien CR.
You'll sleep 15.5 hours.
Straight.
[QUOTE=GarbagePailKid]
Hey everybody, I was just put on a medicine for insomnia called Ativan. Anybody have experience with it?
[/QUOTE]
Ativan is an anti-anxiety med kinda like valium. It does cause drowsiness, but, it is used for insomnia? Guess it knocks some people out. Have a niece that takes it, ok for her, but it isn't used like that. I use Ambian to help with sleep. It helps me go to sleep, but wake up after 6 hours. Maybe I need your anti-anxiety meds.
Countrygirl38736.8584259259No. LOL thanks David. its a benzo. maybe im calling it the wrong name. hmm whatever.
Hey everybody, I was just put on a medicine for insomnia called Ativan. Anybody have experience with it?