Blue Crab

I had a bad night - so broken up and just lying there so much. Maybe slept 2 to 3 hours - Fitbit can't track it. And that's even with zolpidem around 4:30. The new DORA class med didn't help - seemed to make me sleep worse.

All we can do is stay strong. I laid there from 2:20 AM or so until my alarm rang at 6:00

I feel your pain. I can get around that much with zolpidem taken overnight, but it takes me about 2+ hours of awake time overnight along with it to get there - never solid. Last night was much worse, though.

I'm trying a newer sleep med (DORA class) called Quviviq. I woke before 1 AM and couldn't sleep, then had the strangest sensation from several times over a half hour or so. It really freaked me out the first time like I was having an OBE. I could even coax it into happening by imagining I was slipping into sleep. But I never did fall asleep again until I took another sleep med at 3:30.

Running your sleep brokenness is interesting. Me and you and seem to have opposite problems. My problem is I cannot sleep after waking. I hope you can find a med that works for you. Find a PCP that will work with you. I was lucky the 1st PCP I went to was open to me trying things.

That's my problem, too. I usually fall asleep initially ok, and I might wake and get back to sleep once or twice, but by 3AM, I am less likely to get back to sleep without zolpidem. Last night was worse cause woke by 1 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. And even if I sleep again, I wake too early closer to daylight and can't sleep again. Will try it again.

50% equates to about a 6 dB drop in volume. It's definitely better than nothing. I have an irregular cycle of my T levels varying, so I'm still not sure how much I can attribute to Ativan taken occasionally. I thought it was helping, only to rebound to a new higher level baseline afterwards. Today, it doesn't seem to be reducing T, but it may be delayed.

Basically I'd say that clonaezpam takes the edge off. I notice it less in the office and when I'm sitting in the car at a turn signal, as an example. It's still perfectly noticeable in my bed room or if I'm sitting in my car in a parking lot with the engine off and no other ambient noise.

That's good you have gotten relief, but I'm always concerned about frequent use of benzos due to building tolerance quickly. Are you still taking 1 mg per day, or did you scale back?

Honestly, the last two days I took what my doctor recommended, that is 1mg clon at bed time and .5 mg in morning. Inexplicably I only got 4 hours sleep last night :(

Also - the sleep was very good last night. I *might* have broken 6 hrs. Although Im not positive

I actually slept 4 1/2 hours solid wit no meds last night before waking up and taking Zolpidem about 1.3mg. I rarely make it that long without waking. Near morning was more broken, though, maybe 6 hours total. Skipping Lorazepam today.

Same here.. my sleeping was terrible for such a long time.. i also started taking sleeping meds, but don't wanna use it every night.. sometimes i take supplements, sometimes a drink.. sometimes nothing.. and trying to cultivate mindfulness.. struggling with t.. i sometimes tell myself.. okay patience.. patience.. but to be able to sleep and rest well.. that's so important and good

Thanks - I can give those a try next if my new thing doesn't work. Doc gave me clonazepam 1mg at night and .5 in the morning. This will be with the Zolpidem CR.

1 mg Clonazepam is pretty potent in itself, even more so alongside Ambien. It should work in the short term, but taking those benzos regularly always is a concern. I have Lorazepam 0.5 mg prescription for anxiety and don't take every day. It's about half potency of Clonazepam per mg.

Thanks Running. I'll take it all together 1 time to see what happens. Maybe reduce tomorrow. I agree its a lot of stuff to take at once

Oh, turning it off wouldn't work for me, so that's still no good in my case. I always wake up multile times through the night, sometimes for quite a while - it's pretty broken. I woke up the first time within an hour after going to bed last night, which isn't unusual, so getting back to sleep multiple times is important. Ambien is sometimes needed.

Ah okay, the Apple Watch lets you enter "sleep mode." It starts counting sleep about 15-20 minutes after you enable it. It will disable at a specific time, sleep schedule, that you can preprogram or you can do it manually. In our cases, the manual mode is more useful to get a more accurate read. With your sleep broken up, I do agree that it will be very hard to to measure though

That manual mode sounds like my Fitbit. I enable sleep when I get in bed and disable it when I'm certain I'm done sleeping. So last night, my Fitbit was set to sleep mode for over 8 hours, says I slept about 7, but I estimate about 6 actual hours of broken sleep. About 2 years ago, when I didn't sleep at all, it still reported a few hours of sleep.

I think tolerance builds fairly quickly when you up the dose, so I always try to keep it low as possible. When I first started, I took 5mg at bedtime and would sleep 2 to 3 hours. My current method on lower doses works better. I remember back to back nights when I didn't sleep at all 2 years ago.

Good feedback on the tolerance. I shifted to Lunesta/Eszopiclone (3mg) last night and got a solid 5. I was on 12.5 mg Ambien CR just the night before. However, your comment makes me think I should split my Lunesta into 1.5 mg halves or ask the doctor for a lower prescription. I think my doc defaults to the highest dosage.

I would just split it first to see if it's sufficient to be helpful. Lunesta has about double the half life of my Ambien, so the middle-of-the-night dosage may not be as useful if you're taking it at bedtime. I didn't take Ambien until almost 4:30 AM this morning, none at bedtime.

That'll do it. Try to remind yourself 4 hours is better then 0. And hopefully you'll catch up tonight.

I had sleep difficulties for months.. and really.. sleep is such a basic need. Recently i've been able to sleep more/better. My advise would be to really check out all options, which promote a good night's rest, it's so important

I've been taking Ambien for 2 years. I don't use it to initially get to sleep, but I usually take it overnight to get back to sleep. 1 mg last night. Those OTC and other antihistamines don't seem to do much for me.

Wow that’s a super low dosage of Ambien. I’ve used 5, 10, and 12.5 mg, the last one being CR. I’d like to get off it but I wasn’t getting sleep as reliable with other options. Agreed on the OTCs

Sometimes I need a second dose. I normally split my 10mg pill into 8 pieces. I took 2 pieces overnight last night plus a Lorazepam about 5 AM, which allowed me to get about 7 hours of broken sleep. Usually I get more like 5 to 5 1/2 hours.

Thanks! I lived in Maryland, so it fits me. Hope to move back soon