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Many years taking sleep medications

Posted by toren123 @toren123, May 23, 2025

I will be 86 years old in about 3 weeks. I have been taking sleep medications for 24 years. I have also learned CBT-I. That does not get me off sleep medications. Some meds that I tried never helped. Others used to help but don’t anymore. I have been taking lunesta for some time. It still works but not as well as it once did. Many doctors in the state I live in don’t want to prescribe controlled substances, as many sleep meds are, and are the ones that work. If I don’t take something to help me sleep, I’m afraid I would die before I sleep. This has caused me much anxiety and frankly I don’t know where to turn. I don’t know where to go to get off sleep meds and be able to sleep, even if that’s possible. I also have sleep apnea, but a bipap machine takes care of that and it’s not a big problem.
Any suggestions?

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toren123 | @toren123 | Nov 17, 2025
In reply to @con123 "@toren123 Some of us just need medication to sleep. My neurologist said it is much worse..." + (show)
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@toren123 Some of us just need medication to sleep. My neurologist said it is much worse on your health to not sleep than to take a sleep aide.

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@con123 I certainly agree with that.

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synthiaMaine | @synthiame | 2 days ago
In reply to @toren123 "I’ve taken trazadone, sonata, temazapam, Ativan, diazepam, mirtazapine, rozerem, belsomra, melatonin and other OTC pills including..." + (show)
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I’ve taken trazadone, sonata, temazapam, Ativan, diazepam, mirtazapine, rozerem, belsomra, melatonin and other OTC pills including magnesium, doxepin, seroquel, ambien, and lunesta, which I take now. Trazadone worked for a few years but then stopped. Sonata only helped for about 2 hours. Doxepin helps a little bit but not very well, even if I double the dose. I couldn’t handle the side effects of seroquel. Ambien puts me to sleep, but the side effects are also an issue with it. Blurry vision and depression. All the benzodiazepines work, but doctors here in San Angelo, Texas, where I live, won’t prescribe them. I guess they think it’s better if I just don’t sleep. We moved back here 3 years ago from Georgia. At that time I was alternating nights with lunesta and temazapam and it was working fine. But after moving here, temazapam was out. So I was left with Lunesta, but only 1 mg. I went to a neurologist, advertised as a sleep specialist. She would only prescribe doxepin and when I ask for something more effective, she wouldn’t help me anymore. So I finally had to drive 90 miles to see a neurologist in another town. He upped the lunesta to 3 mg. It still works, but not as well as it used to. He said those with chronic insomnia will always have to take medication. I don’t know what he’ll say when I see him again. I also follow the guidelines for CBT-I. So I’m still searching.

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@toren123 I take 3 mg of lunesta and it does put me to sleep but I have to get up to use the bathroom a couple of times a night but I always wake up at 3:00 a.m. and sometimes cannot go back to sleep or I ruminate. Doctor prescribed me to 1 mg of prazosin to take with my lunesta to calm my nervous system down. As I am two weeks weaned off of Seroquel for 15 years my nervous system is still high. I am still waking up getting an average of 4 hours of sleep, waiting for my nervous system to calm down. Seroquel was the worst drug I ever took because it was so hard to get off it made me depressed in the morning and lethargic during the day.

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toren123 | @toren123 | 2 days ago
In reply to @synthiame "@toren123 I take 3 mg of lunesta and it does put me to sleep but I..." + (show)
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@toren123 I take 3 mg of lunesta and it does put me to sleep but I have to get up to use the bathroom a couple of times a night but I always wake up at 3:00 a.m. and sometimes cannot go back to sleep or I ruminate. Doctor prescribed me to 1 mg of prazosin to take with my lunesta to calm my nervous system down. As I am two weeks weaned off of Seroquel for 15 years my nervous system is still high. I am still waking up getting an average of 4 hours of sleep, waiting for my nervous system to calm down. Seroquel was the worst drug I ever took because it was so hard to get off it made me depressed in the morning and lethargic during the day.

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@synthiame
I certainly know how you must feel. I don’t know anything about prazosin. Ativan might help, but it’s a benzodiazepine which doctors may not want to prescribe. Also gabapentin is a possibility. I wish you well.

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synthiaMaine | @synthiame | 2 days ago

Thank you I have clonazepam and I take that if I can't go back to sleep at 3:00 a.m. I have been on gabapentin and trazodone they don't help.

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