sleeplessness

I have been taking Ambien for about 12 years now to sleep. I must say that it helps me although I am sure its not the best thing to take for so many years but I dont know what else to do. My nightmares and night terrors are horrible!

seroquil will help but side effects are bad. doctor went to this after two ambien stop working

your problem sounds a lot like mine. I have had sleeping disorder of insomnia for 30+ years, started when I was in the Army and had to do a lot of shift work. Improved for about 15 years with just occasional bouts of insomnia, and then all of a sudden around 46y/o BOOM.....could not sleep. Have been on ambien, trazadone, klonipin and everything else under the sun. Now, nothing works b/c I think I have drug sensitivity. I am to try mediatation and hypnosis. I was doing hypnosis while in the military with the psych dept and it truly was the only remedy that helped. I learned self hynosis and am hoping that this will help again. Going to doctor on Monday.

I've been having sleep problems since I was 10 years old. Mostly it was a small problem that was just off and on for many years until I went through serious emotional changes in my mid 30's an dnow at 42 I sleep only about 4 hours most nights. I don't like taking meds but have tried Ambien. Also tried anxiety meds which seem to help the most. Lack of sleep really affects my productivity and my relationship with everyone in my life. My quality of life stinks most days. Physical activity like going to the gym seems to make it worse as I can't fall asleep even though I exercise very early in the day. My mind seems to take off and i can't control my thoughts and I lie awake for 3-4 hours without really knowing it's been that long. My doctor doesn't like aniety meds because she feels they are addictive. I feel like I've tried it all - tea, natural remedies, yoga, meditation, ending a bad relationship. I think I'm just prone to bad sleep but I lost a job recently because the pace of it was too much for me on so little sleep. So this is a costly real problem for me.

I have had sleeping problems ever since my last surgery. Ambien and the whole pile of herbs, did nothing. I have recently used an over the county Alteril. One tablet, I sleep six hours!

Hi Catalonia, I will tell you, your story is like mine for the last 3 months. I have had a bad yr to start with-I had a Nasophyngeal Lesion, that appeared on an MRI of the brain for something else. Had the lesion removed in 2/11 and it was Neg. Then at the end of March I started to Hemmorage and ended up calling 911 as I was getting dizzy, and sweaty. They referred me to my GYN who tried several different meds to stop the bleeding as I am post-menopause since age 42 (I am now almost 49). My GYN referred me to a GYN surgeon as she felt I would probably need a Hysterectomy. Well, the surg. said she felt as if it was hormone related. Which it ended up being as she performed a D&C/Hysteroscopy (to try and see where the bleeding was coming from) and the biopsy proved her prediction. I had excess estrogen, my levels of DHEA were low, prolactin level was off, and many others. So she started me on a new regime and I COULD NOT SLEEP FOR ANYTHING...MANY TIMES UP FOR 3 DAYS STRAIGHT until my body adjusted, but in the meantime, I had to start seeing a psychiatrist for the 1st time b/c I was a nervous wreck-esp with no sleep. The meds he prescibed have worked for me, so maybe you should give it a try. Here is the kicker-I had a portion of my tongue removed in 6/11-yup, 3 surg in 6 months...The biopsy on my tongue also was Neg....I wish you well and most of all, SLEEP!!

thank you all for your suggestions. i'm so sorry you all have to go through this. It is unpleasant not sleeping, mainly for everyone around me. LOL. I am definately looking into your suggestions and see what will work for me. I wish you all the best of luck.

Your body needs to work out or exercise. Try to avoid drinking of coffee, soda, chocolates and other sweet foods. Try to tire yourself from work then when you got home, just eat, rest and go to sleep.

I say get a different doc. Sometime ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do! I've tried it all and one thing I've learned you have to rotate what your trying are taking are your body gets too use to it and it doesn't work anymore.

I been on fental patch for 13 years for a cyst in my spinal cord. It acts like taking speed after 8 years of being on it. I cant fall asleep, 3 days with no sleep, would fall asleep for 5 minutes than wake up feeling more tired. Took lunesta for years it started to act like speed to. Tried ambient 6.25mg cr didnt work, tried ambient 12.5mg cr to strong hang over kept falling asleep during the day. Tried ambient 10mg not cr it worked for 6 hours, woke up feeling great. But only lasted for about 4 months and started to make it hard to breath and adominal pain. Then tried restroil 15mg, I sleep but I am hung over for 20 hours after you feel teriable. Been to 2 sleep centers no help. WE CAN SEND A MAN TO THE MOON BUT CAN NOT HELP PEOPLE SLEEP!