Insomnia. What seems to help?

Posted by terryb1 @128128terry11t, Jan 7, 2017

@josephene I am having terrible insomnia as well. Nothing seems to help. Any specific suggestions? Many thanks.

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Lisa Lucier, Moderator | @lisalucier | Aug 26 4:06pm

In reply to @toren123 "I’ve been on sleep meds many years(age 87). Doxepin never helped much. Now not at all...." + (show)

@toren123 - I moved your message here to this discussion so you could chat with others talking about what helps for insomnia:

- Insomnia. What seems to help?https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/josephene-i-am-having-terrible-insomnia-as-well-nothing-seems-to-help/

So many times, members want information on what does indeed help, so thank you for your suggestion of the Doxepin with Eszcopiclone (Lunesta) working for you.

Did your doctor come up with this combination of medications for you to take? Are you feeling better now, with 7.5 to 8 hours of sleep each night?

judybradford | @judybradford | Aug 27 6:01am

I have had very good results with Cognitive Behavior Therapy-Insomnia (CBT-I), which I did online. It was with Pacific Integrative Therapy. Expensive, but they teach you how your nervous system works, and how to go through your day to lead to a more successful sleep cycle. They teach you how to relax about sleep, how to not expect perfection (almost everyone wakes up during the night; It is related to our human history), and what to do when you just seem stuck in old patterns. You can find them online.

flourface | @flourface | Aug 27 6:53am

Hi, I take 3 mg Lunesta, 100 mg pregablin ) Lyrica) ( helps sleep, neuropathy in feet tingling and neck pain) , magnesium glycinate 240 mg. An hour before sleeping. I had a sleep study and my feet moved a lot, but iron was fine and no sleep apnea. So it didn’t help me. Hope you get help and better sleep.

ranpattiwagner | @ranpattiwagner | Aug 27 11:49am

Nortriptyline help me a lot taken with Gabapentin.

toren123 | @toren123 | Aug 27 4:05pm

In reply to @lisalucier "@toren123 - I moved your message here to this discussion so you could chat with others..." + (show)

@lisalucier
I feel much better now that I’m getting anywhere from 7 to 8.5 hours sleep per night. I can get through the day without feeling like I need to take a nap.
The doctor didn’t suggest this combination. I was already taking 3mg Lunesta, but it wasn’t working as well as it once was. I ask him for Doxepin even though I had taken it before with little benefit. But I wanted to try it in combination with gabapentin which I was now taking. That combo did not work, so I decided to try it with Lunesta. It worked great the first night and has ever since, almost 2 months now. That’s 3 mgs Lunesta with 25 mgs Doxepin. Ten mgs Doxepin works fairly well also. I told the doctor, who is a GP, as the insomnia doctor I was going to retired. He didn’t have much to say about it negatively or positively. Right now this is working for me. But we’re all different. I take very little gabapentin now as it has a side effect of blurry vision.