Can you see any problem when taking these sleep meds?
I take several meds for differing reasons at night before bedtime. Lately I've seen that adding gabapentin 100 mg along with my other meds has given me better sleep. I wake up after 6-1/2 hours feeling refreshed and not hung over, same as before. I get up twice a night to use the bathroom, but other than some temporary balance issues, that is the same as before. I think my doctor would not approve of the gabapentin I've just added because she is too worried about respiratory depression when it is combined with the other nighttime meds, in particular the clonazepam. So, my nighttime meds are these: gabapentin 100 mg; Lyrica 50 mg for back and leg nerve pain relief; clonazepam 2 mg for general anxiety relief; melatonin 5 mg sleep aid; meloxicam 15 mg NSAID for back pain; doxylamine succinate (OTC sleep aid, an antihistamine) 25 mg. I also take thyroid medication - levothyroxine 150 mcg for hypothyroidism. It has no effect on sleep quality. I am 77 years old, male, 185 lbs., 5'10" in height.
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I’ve been taking my levothyroxine first thing in the morning and delaying breakfast since 2005. Things became more difficult when I was prescribed alendronate which also needs to be taken alone on an empty stomach 1 hour before eating.
Thank you for your response. Medicine marches on, and I haven’t kept up! Now that I only have to to take alendonate, life will be considerably less complex!
Search on iodine supplements Mayo Clinic - Apparently iodine deficiency is rare, and added iodine supplements can make Thyroid problems worse.
So probably not, except the unlikely case of a primary MD or endocrinologist recommending extra iodine.
Best wishes
Do you have any scientific data to support adding iodine to our diets? What is your reference information?
Thank you for your thorough, intelligent presentation of information. Taking thyroid medication in the morning --waiting an hour before eating--can be an inconvenience. Taking in at bedtime, instead, is an appealing option--something I will consider.
It seems we are starved of iodine. Doctors on YouTube recommend taking iodine.
Here is some information from the NIH. Main source of iodine in the United States is iodinizes salt which 88% of Americans use. At risk for dificiency in the US includes pregnant women, vegans , others listed on websites. Most of the iodine deficiency is not in the US. Link also shows high iodine foods
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iodine-Consumer/#h2
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1 ReactionGet off the clonazepam, but do it slowly. It will likely cause you all kinds of problems. It will stop working, and you will have to keep taking more to get the same effects. In the meantime, it is destroying your GABA receptors and leaving your system flooded with glutamate, the fight or flight neurotransmitter. These drugs should be illegal. They should never be taken for more than two weeks. But doctors are ignorant and keep prescribing them. Lyrica is similarly dangerous. You are polydrugged, and it’s very dangerous.
Thank you for your insights. I wouldn't mind getting off clonazepam, but I need a proven alternative first. I was on 10 mg zolpidem tartrate for a while, and I thought that worked well until my doctor got all jacked up about those obscure side effects where people were reportedly sleepwalking and doing zombie like behaviors. I looked up the federal agency study that debunked the side effects and showed how minimal they are. He refused to read the report and that led to prescribing the benzo. I
I've tried to wean off the clonazepam several times and each time, I needed to go back on it due the general anxiety effects that prevented me from having normal daily basis activities. I think my dose is pretty small, but like I say, I'd get off of it if something else worked as well. Maybe hydroxyzine. I've been on clonazepam for several years now. I'm not certain that Lyrica is doing me a lot of good, but I have such broad-based back injury/damage with resultant back pain all the way from my lower back thru my legs and feet, that I thought it would help me hold off on more epidural injections if I took it at bedtime. My doctor seems like she is more concerned about suppressed pulmonary function when taking it at night rather than any other side effect.
Do you have a clinical report detailing those side effects with clonazepam? Thank you , again!