Question:

Hi Everyone, I’m wondering about insomnia.  My friend who also has ptsd has insomnia really bad and has been taking Oxazepam (Serax) for about the last 4 years, takes 10 mg per night, sometimes with Tylenol pm.  It gets her to sleep, but she doesn’t stay asleep.  She wakes up, feels anxious, can’t go back to sleep. I’m taking Temazepam, 30 mg, started with no more than 2-3 nights a week until I started seeing the VA who now has me on it every night. We both don’t like being dependent on drugs, but whenever each of us tries to get sleep without them we just end up sleepless and miserable. She doesn’t have nightmares, I do.  I take the meds mostly to get away from the nightmares, but I’m finding out that Temazepam loses it’s effect over time as my body gets used to it.   So, I’ve gone for two nights without it, then two nights on.  The nights without it leave me feeling like sh*t the next day, eyes feel like two swollen monkey pusses in a snowstorm.  The nights I do take it, my memory is shot the next day, I’m confused, groggy and not worth much. I know that each of us responds to meds differently, so I guess my question is has anyone got any ideas about sleep?  We’ve both read a workbook on insomnia, but I was just wondering if anyone has any input on the subject? Thanks in advance, Z55

Response:

Hi morceaux, Thanks for the response.  I stay away from alcohol pretty much, only one or two beers or glasses of wine a year about.  120 hours with no sleep would have me so brain burnt I’m not sure I could take it! Interesting about the benydryl, although I don’t like the way it drys me out.  I’m wondering if the Temazepam is as addictive as the Ambien. I think I’ll try putting on a language tape, that way if I don’t sleep at least maybe I’ll learn something useful! Z55 les morceaux <morce…@recoverynhealing.zzn.com

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hoy z55, I’m taking Temazepam, 30 mg I take the meds mostly to get away from the nightmares, but I’m finding out that Temazepam loses it’s effect over time as my body gets used to it.  So, I’ve gone for two nights without it, then two nights on. The nights without it leave me feeling like sh*t the next day, eyes feel like two swollen monkey pusses in a snowstorm. The nights I do take it, my memory is shot the next day, I’m confused, groggy and not worth much. I know that each of us responds to meds differently, so I guess my question is has anyone got any ideas about sleep? at my best, my body thinks the earth turns every 30 hours. at my worst, i’ve gone close to 120 hours without any sleep. i take 10-20 mgs of ambien once a week. the rest of the week, i take what sleep i can get with nothing, and if i go 3 days without being able to sleep more than 4 ours a night, i take a couple benedryl. i like ambien because it lets me sleep, but it doesn’t knock me flat on my ass the next day. also, it allows me to dream, so i actually get good rest from the sleep. benedryl works for getting me to sleep, but not as well as my ambien script. i sometimes feel a little groggy the next day when i take benedryl. i don’t know how much it affects my dream state, but i don’t think i dream as much on it as I do on ambien. neither of them makes me have nightmares. i’m prone to nightmares, but as i’ve gotten older, that problem seems to have gotten better. i still have nightmares, but i don’t have the hellish all-nighters i used to have. ambien is very addictive, which is why i don’t take it every night. the one time i took it four nights in a row, i ended up not being able to sleep at all for 4 days. ambien is also a bit dangerous because when i mix it with a fairly small dose of alcohol (three glasses of wine or a couple mixed drinks) i get totally plastered and usually have a black- out. it’s fun to do that way, but dangerous because of the addictive aspect. i don’t allow myself to play with it like that more than once a month. morceaux — For a new email address, try http://recoverynhealing.zzn.com — She stared people down and appeared remorseless because the only choices she knew were predator or victim.                              –Shankar Vedantam — My mind is a bad neighborhood. I try not to go there alone.                              –Unknown — The best thing about my childhood is it’s over. The worst thing about it is I’m not over it.                              –Bailey Trebble

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