9 minutes ago, connda said:

I've had to help a family member withdrawal from a benzo addiction.  It was not fun.

I can vouch for that, benzo withdrawal is worse than heroin or alcohol. Took me years to recover. 

38 minutes ago, BE88 said:

Side effects of melatonin are drowsiness, fatigue, headache, dizziness, and temporary depression.

I have no side effects from melatonin at all. Everyone's metabolism is different.  Like any drug (melatonin is a hormone) you take it and be aware of any consistent side effects and adjust as necessary.

15 minutes ago, Mormolin said:

I take only 0.5 mg (sometime, 1mg if I feel really stressed or anxious)

Once you build a tolerance to benzos, the stress and anxiousness you feel is the result of withdrawal.  Which is why nobody in their right mind steps on that roller coaster.  Just saying.

10 minutes ago, Mormolin said:

Those 200 tabs will last for at least the next 2 years or more! I take Benzos since about 5 years now. I often spend many days, even weeks, without taking it without any issue, as I am taking a low dose and not taking it everyday to avoid the dependence.

OK. You've got it in control mode.  Sounded like you had a habit.  If that's a 2 year supply and you're only taking them on occasion.  ????

2 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Oh yes, but actually it was a blessing in disguise ????

In a way it can be a blessing, i mean now you don't drink and that is not a bad thing. I don't drink because i just don't like the taste. 

13 minutes ago, connda said:

Once you build a tolerance to benzos, the stress and anxiousness you feel is the result of withdrawal.  Which is why nobody in their right mind steps on that roller coaster.  Just saying.

Your assuming that everyone responds the same that is a mistake. For me never a problem many others also never a problem. Though your warning is valid. But its not true that its equally dangerous for everyone.

 

 

 

 

As I work nights and have a hard time sleeping in the days, I found out the closest sleeping pills to Lorazepam, Clonazepam and Zolpidem at walk in Pharmacies these days that you can get is Desirel (Trazadone) which is a sedative and at only 60 bht for 10 pills, I take 2 about half an hour before sleep and I'm out like a light.

Try some exercise and dieting, stop drinking caffeine, tea/coffee/coke, take some essential vitamins/fats/protein

 

It puzzles me sometimes some of the easiest things for a human body to do, eat, sleep, use the washroom, is challenging for some, makes me wonder their bodies overall health. 

 

If you just want pills, melatonin can work

 

I have had insomnia most of my life and it just gets worse as I age. I have tried just about everything available to help me get to sleep and keep sleeping. Many years ago my doctor suggested that I do a sleep over in a hospital where they attach electrical probes to your head and monitor your sleep. My results showed that I suffered from mild depression.

 

After trying many different antidepressants with mixed results, I found that Tradazone worked for me. It helps me to fall asleep and keep sleeping until the morning. Unfortunately, it also makes you feel groggy in the morning. But after a cup of coffee, I feel fine.

 

One side effect is an erection, good or bad. 

16 hours ago, PAV123 said:

I then lie down to stare at the ceiling for 3-4 hours before I get maybe 2 more hours of sleep.

This part of the O/Ps post struck a cord with me. @PAV123 can you really see the ceiling? If you can then your bedroom is not dark enough. We evolved sleeping in complete darkness until Edison came along and ruined it for us.

 

It's been shown that any amount of light in the bedroom can adversely affect ones sleep. I became aware of this a few years ago and my bedroom is now as dark a cave. I recommend it.

 

I would also urge you to stay away from all these medications that big pharma would love you to indulge in The potential side effects are not worth the risk.

 

Gentle exercise and meditation are my recommendations. I combine the two in Tai Chi and Qigong. There's plenty of info on the web. Walking is also an excellent activity.

 

If you not familiar with meditation, once again turn to the web. There are a number of sleep orientated mediations available.

 

All the above recommendations are natural and can only do you good. 

 

Good luck.

16 hours ago, KannikaP said:

You can only play the real thing once a day.

True....but it takes me hours.....555

16 hours ago, Mormolin said:

I take only 0.5 mg (sometime, 1mg if I feel really stressed or anxious). It's doing the job nicely for me, without any side effects, and I am waking up very well rested the next morning. However, I am trying to not take it everyday, as Benzos addiction is very common and in some case, the withdrawal can be a real nightmare.

 

Also, I often prefer to take Clonazepam over Lorazepam as the effect last longer, so you are less likely to wake up in the middle of the night. But Clonazepam can take up to 1.5h to feel the effects (it takes only 10-15 minutes with Lorazepam).

 

In some extreme case, like if I am surrounded by a lot of noises or if I know I will not be able to sleep because I drank to much coffee or something like this, I am taking Zolpidem 10mg. That, it's really strong stuff. It will knock you out for sure, but you will feel a little bit hangover the next morning. But still, it's better to feel a little bit hangover than not sleeping for 3 days!

Thanks for that, interesting....thinking about it, I must have been taking 0.2mg....DOH!

15 hours ago, Screaming said:

I have had insomnia most of my life and it just gets worse as I age. I have tried just about everything available to help me get to sleep and keep sleeping. Many years ago my doctor suggested that I do a sleep over in a hospital where they attach electrical probes to your head and monitor your sleep. My results showed that I suffered from mild depression.

 

After trying many different antidepressants with mixed results, I found that Tradazone worked for me. It helps me to fall asleep and keep sleeping until the morning. Unfortunately, it also makes you feel groggy in the morning. But after a cup of coffee, I feel fine.

 

One side effect is an erection, good or bad. 

You should get your testosterone tested, I won't go into detail here but it helps a lot to have a good sleep, if its getting worse as you age, may be of help. 

 

Surprised you were diagnosed with depression from a sleep study.

 

I had a minor sleep problem... i joined a Gym, the exercise  helps me sleep better now 

19 hours ago, Nickelbeer said:

Clonoril may help.  Usually it is marketed as Klonopin. Some drug stores in Foodland carry this med. Be advised that it is a benzodiazepine, and may be addictive to some. Never bothered me but your mileage may vary.

wish this was true but doesn't sound right... normally pharmacies (especially around the likes of foodland) won't stock benzos surely??

16 hours ago, nightfox said:

As I work nights and have a hard time sleeping in the days, I found out the closest sleeping pills to Lorazepam, Clonazepam and Zolpidem at walk in Pharmacies these days that you can get is Desirel (Trazadone) which is a sedative and at only 60 bht for 10 pills, I take 2 about half an hour before sleep and I'm out like a light.

Lyrica sold OTC too, would be closer to benzos than trazadone

4 hours a night max, for the last 30 years.

I stopped fighting it years ago.

it is what it is.

your be fine, you just want to be the same as everyone else,

but your not the same.

Join the club,  use the free time.

and bolxtxtxtxtxtxt to the medical guys. ( medication )

Live your life.

 

 

 

 

17 hours ago, connda said:

I have no side effects from melatonin at all. Everyone's metabolism is different.  Like any drug (melatonin is a hormone) you take it and be aware of any consistent side effects and adjust as necessary.

I tried melatonin, it did absolutely nothing for me. Not even a side effect. As you say, everyone's metabolism is different.

18 hours ago, Will B Good said:

I was prescribed Lorazepam after getting rather stressed following an initial cancer diagnosis, which turned out to be benign lesion!

 

The Lorazepam did nothing for me at 2mg, can I ask what dosage you are/were taking?

Lorazepam is usually sold at 1 or 2 mg tablets here, because Asians are more sensitive to medications than Westerners. Genes and body mass.

I was quite amused when I was given 1 mg tablets of Lorazepam in quarantine, because my internet research was saying I needed 5 - 10 mg to be effective.

I took the 1 mg expecting it to be useless, and it was.

Not that I am recommending a higher dosage, I regard anything that is addictive as dangerous.

7 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I tried melatonin, it did absolutely nothing for me. Not even a side effect. As you say, everyone's metabolism is different.

The same with me Lacessit, as it did absolutely nothing to help my sleep.

 

When I was back in NZ around 2005 and had a severe burnout, as well as gastric reflux and a precancerous condition in my throat which resulted in me not being able to sleep, my wonderful NZ doctor took me under his wing and helped me get better, and one thing he did was to prescribe Triazolam to help me sleep, and it worked extremely well, and only on half of a 0.25 tablet per night when needed.

 

I didn't use them regularly and kept them for quite a few years, and when I went back to NZ in the recent past, I renewed that prescription, because they helped me to get to sleep, and also wake up feeling happy and refreshed in the morning, however now I have run out and would dearly love to get some again, but they are not available here.

 

For me, taking 0.125 mg of Triazolam when needed (a couple of times a month for example) was a godsend and nothing else I have tried comes close.

 

I may well try some of the suggestions on this thread to see if they can help, mainly because I am a poor sleeper.
 

You don't say how old you are but if you are 45+ and this is recent thing don't rule out low testosterone as a possibility you are sleeping badly. Do you have night sweats? This was my situation and was fixed it with mesterolone* - testosterone should do it too.

 

Now I go to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow and sleep like a log for the time i sleep,  but wake up too early, but that is likely age - 3 sleep cycles instead of 4.

 

*Note, right now Bayer are not importing it.

7 hours ago, Moonlover said:

This part of the O/Ps post struck a cord with me. @PAV123 can you really see the ceiling? If you can then your bedroom is not dark enough. We evolved sleeping in complete darkness until Edison came along and ruined it for us.

That's a good suggestion too.  I used to sleep with my computer on.  Not much light, but there was some. 
Now that you mention it, I started having an easier time getting to sleep after shutting off all the light sources and making the room as dark as possible. 

22 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

People are right when they say dont take sleeping tablets,you dont get natural sleep and feel like <deleted> the next day .

About 5 months ago i complained to my heart specialist about having foot problems ( can be a by product of heart trouble) anyway he gave me gabapentin, it is used for many problems,but did not work ,however it has a side effect it makes you sleep,and its natural sleep,google it i take a 300mg tab 3 hrs before bedtime and sleep so well ,you can buy them at a pharmacist and they are not expensive,check out sleep and Gabapentin in google ,believe me they have been a lifesaver .

Natural sleep? When you use medication to sleep, it is not a natural sleep, or what do you mean?
What about addiction? Side effects?

 

6 hours ago, Orinoco said:

4 hours a night max, for the last 30 years.

I stopped fighting it years ago.

it is what it is.

your be fine, you just want to be the same as everyone else,

but your not the same.

Join the club,  use the free time.

and bolxtxtxtxtxtxt to the medical guys. ( medication )

Live your life.

 

 

 

 

Yes indeed, live your life and do make the most of it because:

 

you never know what might be coming.

 

On 2/16/2022 at 7:20 PM, Neeranam said:

The problem with benzos is that you don't actually remember anything. I lost years of my life, just a blur. 

Do you remember promoting crypto investments? ????

 

I normally take 10mg of melatonin, along with 50mg of diphenhydramine HCl each night. Not perfect sleep, but waking up for just a few minutes a couple of times isn't a big issue.

 

Last night I tried a little experiment by skipping the diphenhydramine and was awake most of the night. In the past, melatonin alone hasn't done anything for me, so I'll try the diphenhydramine alone tonight and see how that works.

 

I never had any sleep issues until mid-60s. Prior to that, I'd fall asleep within a couple of minutes of my head hitting the pillow and not wake up until morning. The exception to that was before I retired, I'd occasionally wake up in the middle of the night with an "aha" moment having formulated in my sleep a solution to some problem at work, but then easily drift back to sleep.

On 2/16/2022 at 6:28 PM, Nickelbeer said:

Clonoril may help.  Usually it is marketed as Klonopin. Some drug stores in Foodland carry this med. Be advised that it is a benzodiazepine, and may be addictive to some. Never bothered me but your mileage may vary.

 

It is wildly addictive same as Valium or Xanax and it's a horrible withdrawal process.

14 hours ago, PAV123 said:

Natural sleep? When you use medication to sleep, it is not a natural sleep, or what do you mean?
What about addiction? Side effects?

 

Sorry to not have the medical terms,but please google the med,it can actually become addictive,but most people with problems take far higher doses  i only take 300 mm and get great sleep,and its natural,dont ask me why ,just read it on google,i feel normal in the morning unlike when i took Ativan ,gave it up after 3 times ,awful atuff.

OP please do nto self medicate with any of the (highly addictive) benzos mentioned.

 

You can try melatonin (take it immediately before going to sleep since your problem is not falling asleep but sleep maintainance) and consider getting a sleep study to rule out sleep apnea.

13 hours ago, AwwYesNice1 said:

 

It is wildly addictive same as Valium or Xanax and it's a horrible withdrawal process.

I have used it for years. I go on and off it as needed. I haven't noticed any addiction, it just fails to work when your system adjusts to it.