Insomnia: Trying to wean of temazepam (restoril)

Was 30mg keeping you asleep and 15mg doesn't?

Other than this, what was your general experience with 3 years worth of Temazepam ? How frequently did you take it? Side effects, damage?

Very slow taper, look up The Ashton Manual, free online PDF, conisdered the bible for benzo withdrawal.

I'm currently paying a nurse practitioner $175/visit (tele-video) in order to get 1 mg of alprazolam. I'll talk to the psychiatrist at the VA next week or my PCP who I see through Medicare, and see what they have to say about it. I did some online research and it looks like a wonder-drug for me. Thanks

I took 1mg xanax since 2011. Thanksgiving I started having withdrawals, long story but doctor that I saw that said she'd fill my RX didn't after a week of calling. I stayed with same company but since I went on disability, my doctor didn't take medicaid so they found another doctor that would. She lied. I wound up in hospital 2 times in 24 hours because of them. Didn't eat for 5 days, physically could not sleep for over 48 hours. Everything's scent was enhanced and I threw out milk and other food because I couldn't tell if it was bad. The nursing supervisor finally would up calling them in. I'm filing a formal complaint with board. Anyway, I said I am getting off the benzos. I'm down to 3/4 daily now. My tablets are 1/2 mg tablets and I was taking one in am and one in pm. 1mg daily. Now I'm almost ready to go to 1 pill daily which I will take 1/2 in am and the other pm. Withdrawals from benzos screws with your perception of things. It was a horrible experience. My doctor said he could give me a non benzo for anxiety if I wanted. The xanax if fast acting. I may keep them and not take anything, I'll see. I need something fast acting because I'm terrified of thunderstorms and I live in Florida, a daily occurrence this time of year. All I know is I do not want to be dependent on them anymore because if I'd had a gun, I'd probably have killed myself. That's how bad it got. I told the ER people it was something neurological, I had no idea it was withdrawals until 5 days later when my sister who is a nurse practitioner told me. I was fine within 10 minutes of taking one when I picked them up. I never want to go through that again. Low dose really doesn't matter. It can happen on those too. Be careful.

I can relate well what you're going through. When I came back to the US after living in Brazil for several years, I ended up in a locked ward in FL's main VA unit, W. Palm Beach. I was there for only eleven days, but I actually had no idea of how long I was there because I didn't get any sleep--none at all--the whole time I was there. It was more like a nightmare prison stay than a place to get the help I needed. I bounced in an out of panic attacks, was barely able to dress myself, and the medication they put me on helped to increase my paranoia until I finally ended up refusing to take any of the med's they were giving me. There were other combat vets who seemed to be getting along quite well, but since I was supposed to be there to treat me for Parkinson's, all I could think about, aside from being with my wife again, was that I was becoming demented, an eventual condition for many of us with PD. When I finally was released, I got to the air-b&b on Hutchiinson Island, and began writing letters to state officials, Veteran's service organizations, high-level hospital representatives, and anyone else I was able to locate on the 'net. I eventually got some decent responses, some which would not help me, but would help to improve the care of veterans who would eventually look to the VA for help; that was the best I could do. Now, I'm awaiting the results of my veteran's evaluation for PD, and not expecting much because the VN vets really got shafted compared to the volunteer service men and women of today. I'm still getting 0.5 mg of alprazolam from the same nurse practitioner in Orange County, CA, and am not faring too bad when I don't take any meds at all, but at least have something to help me out during anxiety attacks and the occasionaly panic attacks that seem to come on without any triggers that I am able to detect. I believe that after a certain amount of time, a person's brain goes through changes--chemically/neurologically that make stoppin the drugs, even if taken in small doses, a horrible experience.

Thank you for sharing a bit of your story. There must be many hundreds of thousands of people like us left alone to deal with the effects of witch doctors and Big Pharma. When I asked a psychiatrist many years ago about the long-term affects of the medication I was taking to treat my Bipolar disorder, the man didn't even look up from writing up the notes they're required to enter after each session, he kept his head down looking and typing into his laptop and merely said, "Can't be good." And he was one of the leading doctors in Ventura, CA at the time. I wish you well, but I trust that many of the quacks out there have to eventually face up to what they've done and continue to do to those in need who come to them for help; the help we all as human beings deserve.

Have you had a sleep study done? I originally had the sleep study to see it would find where internal vibrations are coming from. It didn't but it did determine I had a mild case of sleep apnea. I'd always wake anywhere from 1-3 in the morning. I slept 8+hours last night, thank God, and dreamed all night. I wasn't dreaming before. I had no problem going to sleep, it was staying asleep through the night. I had 31 episodes of sleep apnea in an hour. That's why I woke, you stop breathing and it's your body's life saving mechanism so you don't die in your sleep. If you aren't dreaming, or having very short dreams, you aren't in REM sleep, which is necessary for dreaming, which in turn means you aren't staying asleep long enough at a time. I didn't snore, never woke gasping for air, nothing that would indicate sleep apnea. I now have a nasal cpap which, don't ask me why it works like this, I use the 4 hour minimum BEFORE I go to sleep. I haven't had the vibrations for 9 nights now and I haven't slept until 6 in 2 years. I do take a muscle relaxer every night but at times even that wouldn't keep me asleep. Check into the sleep study. There is a reason you are waking from your sleep.

Exactly. That's why the taper down. I went a week without them and didn't know that suddenly stopping benzos could actually kill you. I had a brain aneurysm in 2011 and that's when I started taking them. I take beta blockers because of a very fast heartbeat. It runs in my family but my adrenaline pump doesn't cut off. That fight or flight feeling that produces the rush of adrenaline? yeah....after the danger has passed, mine keeps pumping and that's where the heart palpitations were coming from. My cardiologist says everybody has skipped heartbeats its just that I can feel every one I have. I take metoprolol and it's been really great so far. But anxiety leads to heart palpitations and that's why I take the xanax. I would LOVE something else but it says it takes 2-3 weeks for it to get into your system. If, when I get down to 1/2 mg daily, that amount suffices, I may stay there.

I have type 1 Narcolepsy. We have just as much trouble staying asleep as we do staying awake. I take 200mgs a night of Quetiapine for sleep. It's an antidepressant often used for it's sedating side effects. There's also Trazodone, another antidepressant used for it's side effects to help stay asleep. A lot of people like it too and find it's very helpful in staying asleep. Neither are addicting and are good options for people who need long term help with sleeping.

Hi all. I've been taking Temazepam for about 20 years. For the past few years, I've taken one 15mg pill at bedtime and another when I wake up in the middle of the night. If I don't wake up then it would obviously just be one. I've tried weening before but if I slept through without it, I would feel horrible the next day so, I decided to stay on it. Recently, however, I got a DUI and they included the Temazepam even though it was trace amounts. I'm also tired of going to my PCP for it so I'm tapering. I've been on 1/2 pill for about a week now and it sucks. I don't think I need a hospital bed but I feel very panicky. I almost feel too panicky to drive, which is ironic. Otherwise, I follow good sleep hygiene, take 3mg Melatonin with L-Theanine and valerian root. I'm still sleeping OK but just mostly feel horrible.

Hi I know this is a an old post , but I am in the same position with insomnia . Did the drug work for you and is it still really expensive? Hope you’re sleeping well.
Thanks