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Ambien stopped working
Hi everyone. I’m hoping to get some advice as I feel a little lost and the doctors I’ve spoken to so far haven’t been able to come up with a solution to my problem.
I’ve had insomnia and also wake up a lot for year. It started with noisy neighbours and construction work (before then I had no issues). During this time I also developed chronic pain that made it even harder to sleep.
My dr prescribed “light” sleep medications to begin with. Some didn’t work, some gave side effects, and some did work for some time. But since I had no control over the noise in the area, eventually I had to move on to Ambien (and gigantic ear plugs).
So, I was on Ambien for a few months, started at 5mg but then noticed I had to take 10mg as my body was getting used to them. Eventually I moved and got rid of the noisy neighbours, but my body was so used to my crazy sleeping habits that I couldn’t go back to my regular hours. I would still wake up the hours my neighbours used to wake me up.
I tried my very best to stay at 10mg of Ambien but eventually I found myself waking up every second hour or so, having to take more to fall back to sleep. I got scared and called my dr, who gave me diazepam (5mg) and told me it should help me break this vicious cycle.
It did. The very first night I slept all night and only needed one Ambien. It stayed like this for a few months and my plan was to taper off everything, but then bad things happened in my life and it didn’t feel like a good time. I was too afraid to not get any sleep while going through so many struggles.
And now I’m kinda back to where I started. My body is so used to Ambien that sometimes I can’t even fall asleep on 10mg (even tho I’m still on diazepam as well). If I do fall asleep, I wake up after 4 hours, sometimes after only 1-2 hours, and it’s impossible to go back to sleep (my chronic pain isn’t helping).
Since I’m already on Diazepam I can’t use this to control the issue this time. My dr told me to try 7,5mg Diazepam and even 10mg but for some reason it’s not working. Quite the opposite. So I’m staying on 5mg.
What can I do? Has anyone been in a similar situation? I really want to get off both Diazepam and Ambien, but at the momemt my goal is to just find a safe way to sleep through the night because I haven’t slept in months!
Could I maybe slowly taper off Diazepam and add something else so that 10mg Ambien will be enough to sleep through the night?
Sorry this got so long. I’d be so grateful for any ideas or advice.
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I must have replied in the wrong thread, sorry! No my dr didn’t give me endless supply.. But im seeing a specialist now and am tapering off slowly.
Fala was someone else I was responding to...glad you have a plan setup with your specialist. Good Luck!
7.5 mg
I've been using my Alpha Stim every night along with 150mg Seroquel and 200mg hydroxizine. Last night I feel asleep at 1230. Woke up at 3 to use bathroom and went right back to sleep until 8am!!
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1 ReactionI'm so happy for you! I don't know what hydroxizine is...but it's working!
Thank you. I haven't had anyone say that to me in a long c time. I appreciate that more than you know.
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2 ReactionsWish I lived closer to you....so I could give you more one on one support....hang in there...
I used to have trouble sleeping and had no luck with drugs. What finally helped me was getting into an exercize routine, a good vigorous walk with some hills to test the heart/lungs. I try to do it at least four times/week for about an hour at a shot. Also, a bit of resistance training to stave off muscle atrophy ( I'm 66). Actually, I focus this on lo-lbs, hi-reps which also gives a good cardio workout. So, you can kill two birds with one stone and can probably skip the walk, if time constrained.
As for the noisy neighbors, If you're already up late, wait for them to turn in, then stand outside their bedroom window with a freon-powered air horn and let 'er rip. They'll get the message.
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1 Reactionkawanhee, as you said above, "if someone is doing well with Ativan, then they should do what works for them." Yes, it is working for me...for both my issues, anxiety and sleep.
I’ve done exactly what you have done with cutting pills and slowly backing off. But a bad night and begging for rest and I’m back on it again. Over the last month I’ve had some nights where at two in the morning I’ll take a second 10mg. I’m still up by 5:30 no matter. I’m 72 and a good nights sleep is gold to me. I wish I could get off of these mind numbing things. Best wishes
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