Sleep ease with melatonin and Unisom

My doctor told me Unisom is stronger than Benadryl(diphenhydramine) so I take that now....with .5mg of Lorazepam.....Good Luck to you....some people have good results with CBD.... good luck to you! Have you tried Trazodone or Mirtazapine?

I HAVE NOT TRIED TRAZADONE, BUT MY WIFE HAS TAKEN IT FOR MANY YEARS ALONG WITH TEMAZEPAM, WHICH THE DOCTORS DO NOT LIKE TO HAVECHER TAKE AS A COMBO. THYE ARE POTENT SLEEP DRUGS. SHE HAS A MAJOR SLEEP DISORDER RELATED TO NIGHTTIME SEXUAL ASSAULTS BY HER STEPFATHER WHEN SHE WAS A TEEN, SO SHE NEEDS MAJOR SLEEP MEDS HELP.

Different people need different strengths of sleep aids....what your wife takes is probably just right for her....and would be too much for someone else.....you know what I mean? Doctors think something is very strong when, depending on the person, it may not be that strong to them....it's just what they need.....doctors don't seem to understand that people have different tolerance to meds.....what might be super strong to one person and knock them out.....may be exactly the amount of sedation the other person needs...

I agree with you. The doctor should work to ramp up dosages when and if necessary, with paying particular attention to how the response is over time. I had a doctor prescribe me 2 mg clonazepam 3 times a day when I only needed 2 mg before bedtime. He never asked me about the dosage, he was too busy wiring his notes and moving on after a 5-minute-long appointment. Just shuffled patients in and out as fast as he could. Probably a money thing for him.

laughlin1947, I wonder what state you are in because I am in Wisconsin and they would never just prescribe that much....wouldn't happen! I was sent to a psychiatrist because my primary doctor did not want to prescribe lorazepam long term....and I do not need a psychiatrist.....it's RIDICULOUS

I had a former well renowned doctor, an internist, who wanted to send me to a psychiatrist because of my need/preference to take only 2 mg of clonazepam before bedtime, for control of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), which I have had lifelong. So maybe he was protecting himself against future malpractice litigation in case things went bad for me somehow, but I was incensed by that, and I called him an asshole and walked out of his office, changing doctors soon thereafter. If they have a reason to refer patients to psychiatrists, they need to explain that ahead of time.

The only reason my primary doctor gave me for referring me to a psychiatrist was because of my Generalized Anxiety Disorder......and the fact that the he did not want to prescribe a "benzo" medication to me long term.....even though it's the only thing that truly works for my anxiety. I was told that doctors are watched very closely now by Federal Government to NOT prescribe the Benzodiazepine medications..... I think because of the fact that alot of people abuse them and get very addicted because they take them not as prescribed. Very unfair to the rest of us who use them responsibly, as prescribed.

You said you changed doctors after your doctor wanted to send you to a psychiatrist..... is your new doctor better? I mean, does your new doctor prescribe you the clonazepam?

Yes, my new doctor is open to me keeping up with 2 mg clonazepam daily. Unfortunately, it takes time to wean off any benzo, and she is not offering me an alternative to that benzo. I've stopped using it in the past without taking so much time to reduce dosages, but after 2 days, the anxiety disorder was back just as it was before, so I know the clonazepam is working. I don't think 2 mg is much of a dose on a daily basis anyway. The doctors are typically just worried about addiction to benzos. Some people are like that, but not me. I rarely get a very slight mood elevation from Percocet or Norco (I needed them after a fractured pelvis earlier this year), maybe my metabolism is able to process them differently. They definitely kill extreme pain however.

Such drugs make the brain become dependent on them. The very worst, if you can believe it, is plain ol' nicotine. The brain has two main types of neuro-receptors, muscarinic and nicotinic. The brain actually makes its own form of nicotinic neurotransmitters. When we smoke, we encourage the brain to begin to make less and less of what it ought to produce on its own. It's no wonder people cannot quite smoking, at least not with an insane amount of support, will power, and sometime substitute behaviors.
Anyway, you can wean yourself off the bzepines but it takes both determination and a methodical approach. You start with a teensy reduction, go a full week on that, then another teensy reduction, another week, and so on. It might take up to six months to get off them fully, and there might be some stubbed toes along the way. You must have an open mind to the thought of getting off them, and you must only act with the advice and monitoring of a competent physician.