...ha just deleted my l-o-n-g reply.
I was given Clonazepam for almost 20 yrs for sleep, along with Zoloft which is another story. Yes now government and Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons are telling doctors to get their patients off "Benzos"... taken by patients who by now usually are Seniors and NO HELP with withdrawal symptoms. And they are cutting off people "cold turkey"... it's disgraceful. My ex GP gave me them - 90 pills every 3 months without question, never even asked if I was taking them. As you say there are so many OTC drugs can be purchased which are habit-forming. Honestly, I would rather take no medications at all.... but I just cannot cope at the best of times, let alone when I have not had much sleep. and after all these years and at age 77 why not just let me continue to take them..... but if I want to buy marijuana etc. I can get it legally, as much as I want (I don't want)... its mind boggling. My spouse does not sleep well, nor my adult children .... actually I can't think of anyone I know who says they sleep well these days: pain, stress, and some meds even cause insomnia: but my dog is flat out right now dreaming of ? looks so peaceful: ... maybe in my next life????
Lacy, What time zone are you in? Ah, yes switching "Old People" off of Drugs! Interesting! About six or so years ago my old PCP retired! I got his Little "Hostess Twinkies" for my PCP. First thing she saw and said I would have to do is go off the Ambiem!! I was to go on a "Safer" Drug for "Old People"! Non-habit forming Drug! And all the other BS! Without tapering off the Ambiem I'd been taking for quite a few years!
I was on a 5-day business trip the next week, within about two days I was having 24/7 headaches and other withdrawals and reactions to the new drug! I recognized part of what was going on and quit the new drug! By about the fourth day the headaches were getting but still not great. I emailed the new PCP and told her how I was feeling ! She told me to stop taking it which I already had!! Drove home with the help of some Ibuprofen! For the first time in my life I got pulled over for speeding by a County Sheriff and didn't argue with him! Just told him to write the ticket and let me get home!
Felt better the next day, matter of fact went skiing with my daughter and grandson! Felt Great. That night at some point I got out of bed and walked to the stairs and did a dive! Nobody can answer why except maybe I had a seizure or some kind of blackout. Anyway went all the way down and did a face plant on the tile floor! The stairway looked like a scene from a Dateline Murder show with blood everywhere!
At some point I looked in the mirror downstairs and saw blood all over me!
Went back to bed and my wife asked me about an hour later why I was fidgeting! I said I had fallen not knowing what had happened! Turned on the light and my pillow was red! Long story short went to the ER, they patched me up and sent me home! !0 days later I started having seizures! The called the paramedics and transported me to the hospital where I had one last seizure! It was the last thing I remembered for 7 days! They had not spotted the brain bleed in the ER! What's called a TBI, aka Traumatic Brain Injury!
That was when I learned to get in doctors faces! It's my body, and I'm in charge! I am not afraid of firing one if I don't think they have my best interest at hand instead of what the administration tells them.
I have an Old time Geriatric doctor now as my PCP. He and I talk over what I need, and we go from there! In our state we have certain regulations that must be followed. Like urine test every six months and cannot fill the script before 3 days before it is due!
Even with the Ambiem I still have issues if I am having an Episode of either Lyme or Fibromyalgia! Especially if I have pushed myself to hard!
I've learned over the last half of my life to understand what my body is telling me!
So there is my 1,000-word essay!! Don't suppose it's gotten any warmer where you are! We have a heat wave going on here 43 degrees!
My Momma Red Healer just came in my office to tell me it's time for me to go to bed!
Have a Good nights rest!
Sundance(RB)
Hi @0616, I added your message to the Sleep Health group as well as the Aging Well group. I noticed that you mentioned in another discussion that you have sleep disturbances. Can you describe what disturbs your sleep? Do you fall asleep but sleep is interrupted?
....oh you are a Dreamer too? I have always had the weirdest dreams all my life, as did my Mum and as do my two adult daughters but my husband says he rarely dreams: or is it a case of vivid dream recall with us? I once asked my doctor about it and he said : all you can do is write a book about them!! He also said if I went on sleeping pills (at that time no meds) then I would not dream. When I was given sleeping pills when in hospital in the 80s I didnt dream! I am not sure now if the dreams wake me up or if I happen to wake up in the midst of a dream but lots of them border on nightmares and are always complicated and am with people from way back in my past.....or I can swim, or fly!!!
As you say, thing is, then it's hard to get back to sleep. I wouldn't mind if the dreams were pleasant!!!
Lacy, What time zone are you in? Ah, yes switching "Old People" off of Drugs! Interesting! About six or so years ago my old PCP retired! I got his Little "Hostess Twinkies" for my PCP. First thing she saw and said I would have to do is go off the Ambiem!! I was to go on a "Safer" Drug for "Old People"! Non-habit forming Drug! And all the other BS! Without tapering off the Ambiem I'd been taking for quite a few years!
I was on a 5-day business trip the next week, within about two days I was having 24/7 headaches and other withdrawals and reactions to the new drug! I recognized part of what was going on and quit the new drug! By about the fourth day the headaches were getting but still not great. I emailed the new PCP and told her how I was feeling ! She told me to stop taking it which I already had!! Drove home with the help of some Ibuprofen! For the first time in my life I got pulled over for speeding by a County Sheriff and didn't argue with him! Just told him to write the ticket and let me get home!
Felt better the next day, matter of fact went skiing with my daughter and grandson! Felt Great. That night at some point I got out of bed and walked to the stairs and did a dive! Nobody can answer why except maybe I had a seizure or some kind of blackout. Anyway went all the way down and did a face plant on the tile floor! The stairway looked like a scene from a Dateline Murder show with blood everywhere!
At some point I looked in the mirror downstairs and saw blood all over me!
Went back to bed and my wife asked me about an hour later why I was fidgeting! I said I had fallen not knowing what had happened! Turned on the light and my pillow was red! Long story short went to the ER, they patched me up and sent me home! !0 days later I started having seizures! The called the paramedics and transported me to the hospital where I had one last seizure! It was the last thing I remembered for 7 days! They had not spotted the brain bleed in the ER! What's called a TBI, aka Traumatic Brain Injury!
That was when I learned to get in doctors faces! It's my body, and I'm in charge! I am not afraid of firing one if I don't think they have my best interest at hand instead of what the administration tells them.
I have an Old time Geriatric doctor now as my PCP. He and I talk over what I need, and we go from there! In our state we have certain regulations that must be followed. Like urine test every six months and cannot fill the script before 3 days before it is due!
Even with the Ambiem I still have issues if I am having an Episode of either Lyme or Fibromyalgia! Especially if I have pushed myself to hard!
I've learned over the last half of my life to understand what my body is telling me!
So there is my 1,000-word essay!! Don't suppose it's gotten any warmer where you are! We have a heat wave going on here 43 degrees!
My Momma Red Healer just came in my office to tell me it's time for me to go to bed!
Have a Good nights rest!
Sundance(RB)
Hello Sundance. I think I am in Eastern Standard Zone... in Ontario, three hours ahead of SanFrancisco and five hours behind London England. We put our clocks ahead an hour for the summer in March (something I don't agree with and is being discussed). Gosh people go into withdrawal from stopping drinking coffee, or smoking, or many non-medical things they have been ingesting for years: why do the Doctors think they can suddenly take you off a medication "they" often have been prescribing,... for many many years.
That was a horrible experience you went through and you could have died or become disabled! When I was going through my worst problems especially in 2018/2019 and spoke to a psychiatrist's assistant at a clinic especially for the elderly she basically told me I just had to put up with the side effects - of coming off some meds and going on new ones!! I searched til I was exhausted and found an interaction with, of all things, my Glaucoma eye drops. The doctors where I live are either too busy or work reduced hours (4 day weeks now) and no way can monitor all their patients to ensure the prescribed meds are not affecting other important body parts! So I/we try and find out what we I can from Internet - reputable sites, or even the manufacturer of the drug and the doctors/medical staff think we are problematic patients..."well, we have other patients on these meds and they are fine" !! Thats another reason this site is great... personal experiences and sharing information is so helpful.
Yes cold spell for 2 weeks, minus 20C again this morning, am only letting our dog out ten minutes at a time to wander around the garden/yard. And with Covid hardly anyone even riving by or even walking... oh well in 2 or 3 months the snow will be gone!!! Does anyone post photos on this site or would it become a photo album ?
....oh you are a Dreamer too? I have always had the weirdest dreams all my life, as did my Mum and as do my two adult daughters but my husband says he rarely dreams: or is it a case of vivid dream recall with us? I once asked my doctor about it and he said : all you can do is write a book about them!! He also said if I went on sleeping pills (at that time no meds) then I would not dream. When I was given sleeping pills when in hospital in the 80s I didnt dream! I am not sure now if the dreams wake me up or if I happen to wake up in the midst of a dream but lots of them border on nightmares and are always complicated and am with people from way back in my past.....or I can swim, or fly!!!
As you say, thing is, then it's hard to get back to sleep. I wouldn't mind if the dreams were pleasant!!!
@lacy2 I have dreams a lot, and often they are about people way back. My father died when I was 15 but I had a dream about him the other night!
When I have disturbing dreams I have a lot of trouble getting back to sleep. I wake up with my heart pounding and it takes a while to settle back down, sometimes quite a while.
I used to always be running from something and I was running so fast that I took off into the air and flew! I read somewhere that means you are trying to escape something.
JK
@lacy2 I have dreams a lot, and often they are about people way back. My father died when I was 15 but I had a dream about him the other night!
When I have disturbing dreams I have a lot of trouble getting back to sleep. I wake up with my heart pounding and it takes a while to settle back down, sometimes quite a while.
I used to always be running from something and I was running so fast that I took off into the air and flew! I read somewhere that means you are trying to escape something.
JK
JK, That is horrible! I do have dreams also. Most of them are always ok! When I've had a Lyme/Fibromyalgia episode they can also wake me up with my heart pounding! Freud did a lot of research on dreams and what they mean! Psychology classes in college but I forgot it all!
Someone else may be able to lend in about where the people come back from our past?
Sundance(RB)
@lacy2 I have dreams a lot, and often they are about people way back. My father died when I was 15 but I had a dream about him the other night!
When I have disturbing dreams I have a lot of trouble getting back to sleep. I wake up with my heart pounding and it takes a while to settle back down, sometimes quite a while.
I used to always be running from something and I was running so fast that I took off into the air and flew! I read somewhere that means you are trying to escape something.
JK
Miss Lacy, talked to one of my very best old friends of mines wife today! He has some for of Dementia, not sure which one! He's 8 years younger than I! Anyway he has been getting worse over the last few weeks. They went to a New Geriatric shirk who put him on new meds! All of a sudden he was eating off the floor, eating paper napkins! Really strange things. She called the doctor who told her not to give him one of them! Sound Familiar!!! I've tried to talk her into looking on Connect to find people who may can give her some advice! She doesn't seem to want to take it!
It's really sad because he was such a Dynamic individual! He was President of a Fortune 100 company! He and I had traveled all over the world together!
It really hurts me! Going to do some research to see if I can find someone who may be able to lend some advice as to where to look!
Sounds like it's enjoyable up there! We have the first of three storms coming through the SW part of the US tonight!
Going up to see my family in the northern part of New Mexico on the Colorado boarder later this week! Haven't seen my grandson for several months!
Going up between storms on Wednesday! But not as Bad as you have them! It's 8:30 here in New Mexico with a light rain and 39f degrees!
Hope your poor dog doesn't freeze to long outside! My bed partners are already in bed to have a warm winters night sleep.
Really doesn't seem to matter where you live anymore the medical industry is not what it used to be even 20 years ago! SAD!
Are you all totally snowbound? Or can you get out?
I saw where they were having riots in the Netherlands because of Lockdowns!
I have a Trager message coming up Tuesday and looking forward to it!
Have a Safe and Healthy week.
Sundance(RB)
@lacy2 I have dreams a lot, and often they are about people way back. My father died when I was 15 but I had a dream about him the other night!
When I have disturbing dreams I have a lot of trouble getting back to sleep. I wake up with my heart pounding and it takes a while to settle back down, sometimes quite a while.
I used to always be running from something and I was running so fast that I took off into the air and flew! I read somewhere that means you are trying to escape something.
JK
JK, FYI, I'm on Ambiem and I dream almost every night! I wouldn't say I was floating in heaven! But somewhere between there and bad! I've just learned to accept them for what they are! It is better having dreams than not being able to sleep!
Been to that Rodeo before!
Good Luck!
Sundance(RB
Hello Sundance. I think I am in Eastern Standard Zone... in Ontario, three hours ahead of SanFrancisco and five hours behind London England. We put our clocks ahead an hour for the summer in March (something I don't agree with and is being discussed). Gosh people go into withdrawal from stopping drinking coffee, or smoking, or many non-medical things they have been ingesting for years: why do the Doctors think they can suddenly take you off a medication "they" often have been prescribing,... for many many years.
That was a horrible experience you went through and you could have died or become disabled! When I was going through my worst problems especially in 2018/2019 and spoke to a psychiatrist's assistant at a clinic especially for the elderly she basically told me I just had to put up with the side effects - of coming off some meds and going on new ones!! I searched til I was exhausted and found an interaction with, of all things, my Glaucoma eye drops. The doctors where I live are either too busy or work reduced hours (4 day weeks now) and no way can monitor all their patients to ensure the prescribed meds are not affecting other important body parts! So I/we try and find out what we I can from Internet - reputable sites, or even the manufacturer of the drug and the doctors/medical staff think we are problematic patients..."well, we have other patients on these meds and they are fine" !! Thats another reason this site is great... personal experiences and sharing information is so helpful.
Yes cold spell for 2 weeks, minus 20C again this morning, am only letting our dog out ten minutes at a time to wander around the garden/yard. And with Covid hardly anyone even riving by or even walking... oh well in 2 or 3 months the snow will be gone!!! Does anyone post photos on this site or would it become a photo album ?
Good evening @lacy2, nice to read your very active story. I live in snow country in the midwest. My landing grounds have always been in and around beaches, sunshine, and warm weather. This is very new for me. We had a sunny day today.....and folks thought I wasn't appreciative enough. It is a good thing I have you to chat with on Connect. What else would I be doing when it is 19 degrees and cloudy?
Last year I had the experience of tapering off one medication and ramping up a new one. That was quite confusing for me. I messed it up a couple of times.....wrong dose, wrong time, etc. My worst experience was with Ambien which I just went off cold turkey. I ended up wandering around Costco looking for a home. My surgeon was very concerned because he thought that at my age I would have known better than to try that one. He took responsibility and was careful to become more involved in the medication education.
You're so right to acknowledge the breadth of experiences we have access to here on Connect. Keep telling your stories. You are appreciated by many.
JK, That is horrible! I do have dreams also. Most of them are always ok! When I've had a Lyme/Fibromyalgia episode they can also wake me up with my heart pounding! Freud did a lot of research on dreams and what they mean! Psychology classes in college but I forgot it all!
Someone else may be able to lend in about where the people come back from our past?
Sundance(RB)
@sundance6 I haven’t had any of those heart pounding dreams very recently, and when people dream of their long since deceased parents I think maybe it’s a longing for simpler times when we were cared for and didn’t have things weighing us down as much.
I’m glad I no longer have the dreams that ended up with me taking off in flight.
JK
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Lacy, What time zone are you in? Ah, yes switching "Old People" off of Drugs! Interesting! About six or so years ago my old PCP retired! I got his Little "Hostess Twinkies" for my PCP. First thing she saw and said I would have to do is go off the Ambiem!! I was to go on a "Safer" Drug for "Old People"! Non-habit forming Drug! And all the other BS! Without tapering off the Ambiem I'd been taking for quite a few years!
I was on a 5-day business trip the next week, within about two days I was having 24/7 headaches and other withdrawals and reactions to the new drug! I recognized part of what was going on and quit the new drug! By about the fourth day the headaches were getting but still not great. I emailed the new PCP and told her how I was feeling ! She told me to stop taking it which I already had!! Drove home with the help of some Ibuprofen! For the first time in my life I got pulled over for speeding by a County Sheriff and didn't argue with him! Just told him to write the ticket and let me get home!
Felt better the next day, matter of fact went skiing with my daughter and grandson! Felt Great. That night at some point I got out of bed and walked to the stairs and did a dive! Nobody can answer why except maybe I had a seizure or some kind of blackout. Anyway went all the way down and did a face plant on the tile floor! The stairway looked like a scene from a Dateline Murder show with blood everywhere!
At some point I looked in the mirror downstairs and saw blood all over me!
Went back to bed and my wife asked me about an hour later why I was fidgeting! I said I had fallen not knowing what had happened! Turned on the light and my pillow was red! Long story short went to the ER, they patched me up and sent me home! !0 days later I started having seizures! The called the paramedics and transported me to the hospital where I had one last seizure! It was the last thing I remembered for 7 days! They had not spotted the brain bleed in the ER! What's called a TBI, aka Traumatic Brain Injury!
That was when I learned to get in doctors faces! It's my body, and I'm in charge! I am not afraid of firing one if I don't think they have my best interest at hand instead of what the administration tells them.
I have an Old time Geriatric doctor now as my PCP. He and I talk over what I need, and we go from there! In our state we have certain regulations that must be followed. Like urine test every six months and cannot fill the script before 3 days before it is due!
Even with the Ambiem I still have issues if I am having an Episode of either Lyme or Fibromyalgia! Especially if I have pushed myself to hard!
I've learned over the last half of my life to understand what my body is telling me!
So there is my 1,000-word essay!! Don't suppose it's gotten any warmer where you are! We have a heat wave going on here 43 degrees!
My Momma Red Healer just came in my office to tell me it's time for me to go to bed!
Have a Good nights rest!
Sundance(RB)
Dreams will awake me and cause me to stay awake for some time.
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Helpful -
Hug
2 Reactions....oh you are a Dreamer too? I have always had the weirdest dreams all my life, as did my Mum and as do my two adult daughters but my husband says he rarely dreams: or is it a case of vivid dream recall with us? I once asked my doctor about it and he said : all you can do is write a book about them!! He also said if I went on sleeping pills (at that time no meds) then I would not dream. When I was given sleeping pills when in hospital in the 80s I didnt dream! I am not sure now if the dreams wake me up or if I happen to wake up in the midst of a dream but lots of them border on nightmares and are always complicated and am with people from way back in my past.....or I can swim, or fly!!!
As you say, thing is, then it's hard to get back to sleep. I wouldn't mind if the dreams were pleasant!!!
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsHello Sundance. I think I am in Eastern Standard Zone... in Ontario, three hours ahead of SanFrancisco and five hours behind London England. We put our clocks ahead an hour for the summer in March (something I don't agree with and is being discussed). Gosh people go into withdrawal from stopping drinking coffee, or smoking, or many non-medical things they have been ingesting for years: why do the Doctors think they can suddenly take you off a medication "they" often have been prescribing,... for many many years.
That was a horrible experience you went through and you could have died or become disabled! When I was going through my worst problems especially in 2018/2019 and spoke to a psychiatrist's assistant at a clinic especially for the elderly she basically told me I just had to put up with the side effects - of coming off some meds and going on new ones!! I searched til I was exhausted and found an interaction with, of all things, my Glaucoma eye drops. The doctors where I live are either too busy or work reduced hours (4 day weeks now) and no way can monitor all their patients to ensure the prescribed meds are not affecting other important body parts! So I/we try and find out what we I can from Internet - reputable sites, or even the manufacturer of the drug and the doctors/medical staff think we are problematic patients..."well, we have other patients on these meds and they are fine" !! Thats another reason this site is great... personal experiences and sharing information is so helpful.
Yes cold spell for 2 weeks, minus 20C again this morning, am only letting our dog out ten minutes at a time to wander around the garden/yard. And with Covid hardly anyone even riving by or even walking... oh well in 2 or 3 months the snow will be gone!!! Does anyone post photos on this site or would it become a photo album ?
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 Reaction@lacy2 I have dreams a lot, and often they are about people way back. My father died when I was 15 but I had a dream about him the other night!
When I have disturbing dreams I have a lot of trouble getting back to sleep. I wake up with my heart pounding and it takes a while to settle back down, sometimes quite a while.
I used to always be running from something and I was running so fast that I took off into the air and flew! I read somewhere that means you are trying to escape something.
JK
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsJK, That is horrible! I do have dreams also. Most of them are always ok! When I've had a Lyme/Fibromyalgia episode they can also wake me up with my heart pounding! Freud did a lot of research on dreams and what they mean! Psychology classes in college but I forgot it all!
Someone else may be able to lend in about where the people come back from our past?
Sundance(RB)
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 ReactionMiss Lacy, talked to one of my very best old friends of mines wife today! He has some for of Dementia, not sure which one! He's 8 years younger than I! Anyway he has been getting worse over the last few weeks. They went to a New Geriatric shirk who put him on new meds! All of a sudden he was eating off the floor, eating paper napkins! Really strange things. She called the doctor who told her not to give him one of them! Sound Familiar!!! I've tried to talk her into looking on Connect to find people who may can give her some advice! She doesn't seem to want to take it!
It's really sad because he was such a Dynamic individual! He was President of a Fortune 100 company! He and I had traveled all over the world together!
It really hurts me! Going to do some research to see if I can find someone who may be able to lend some advice as to where to look!
Sounds like it's enjoyable up there! We have the first of three storms coming through the SW part of the US tonight!
Going up to see my family in the northern part of New Mexico on the Colorado boarder later this week! Haven't seen my grandson for several months!
Going up between storms on Wednesday! But not as Bad as you have them! It's 8:30 here in New Mexico with a light rain and 39f degrees!
Hope your poor dog doesn't freeze to long outside! My bed partners are already in bed to have a warm winters night sleep.
Really doesn't seem to matter where you live anymore the medical industry is not what it used to be even 20 years ago! SAD!
Are you all totally snowbound? Or can you get out?
I saw where they were having riots in the Netherlands because of Lockdowns!
I have a Trager message coming up Tuesday and looking forward to it!
Have a Safe and Healthy week.
Sundance(RB)
JK, FYI, I'm on Ambiem and I dream almost every night! I wouldn't say I was floating in heaven! But somewhere between there and bad! I've just learned to accept them for what they are! It is better having dreams than not being able to sleep!
Been to that Rodeo before!
Good Luck!
Sundance(RB
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Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 ReactionGood evening @lacy2, nice to read your very active story. I live in snow country in the midwest. My landing grounds have always been in and around beaches, sunshine, and warm weather. This is very new for me. We had a sunny day today.....and folks thought I wasn't appreciative enough. It is a good thing I have you to chat with on Connect. What else would I be doing when it is 19 degrees and cloudy?
Last year I had the experience of tapering off one medication and ramping up a new one. That was quite confusing for me. I messed it up a couple of times.....wrong dose, wrong time, etc. My worst experience was with Ambien which I just went off cold turkey. I ended up wandering around Costco looking for a home. My surgeon was very concerned because he thought that at my age I would have known better than to try that one. He took responsibility and was careful to become more involved in the medication education.
You're so right to acknowledge the breadth of experiences we have access to here on Connect. Keep telling your stories. You are appreciated by many.
May you be content and at peace.
Chris
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Helpful -
Hug
2 Reactions@sundance6 I haven’t had any of those heart pounding dreams very recently, and when people dream of their long since deceased parents I think maybe it’s a longing for simpler times when we were cared for and didn’t have things weighing us down as much.
I’m glad I no longer have the dreams that ended up with me taking off in flight.
JK
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Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 Reactions