Insomnia on bac

[Rusty]

Insomnia on bac

I have experienced insomnia on Bac if I take it later in the day. I take 2 Benadryl to fall asleep...and stay asleep. I've also taken Advil PM.

[Longshot]

Insomnia on bac

Greg;1101100 wrote:

I have read of a combination of 1.5-2 grams L-tryptophan, 50-100 mg 5-HTP, and 0.5-1 mg melatonin, but have not actually tried it. Someone who is knowledgeable about natural products may know more about the reason for combining these things that way. I have tried just 1.5 to 2.5 grams of tryptophan and it has seemed to help, as long as it is taken without any other amino acids or protein containing food.

This works


Good luck, others say the insomnia becomes less of a problem when the bac is taken well before bed, so hopefully that will help. Somebody here told me that Seroquel also helps with bac-induced insomnia but I have not tried that; presumably Seroquel in low doses acts as a 'super-antihistamine'.

This is what I used.

Seroquel was and is hands down the greatest sleep aid I have ever used.

After three months of high dosage baclofen my insomnia was fuck off vicious. And unbreakable Halcion, Zolpidem,Zopiclone ,Melatonin nothing work Seroquel broke the back of my insomina when I thought I was going to go insane.

[Cinders]

Insomnia on bac

I am the one that posted about Seroquel.

The SE of insomnia means nothing to me because all of my life, I have suffered from it.

I am one of those who thinks 5 hours of sleep is oversleeping.

Two meds were used in my two early rehabs at Bradford: Trazodone and Seroquel.

They prescribed one or the other. I am not sure what their criteria was.

I was given Trazodone the first time and Seroquel the second time.

Trazodone is not quite so sleep inducing but it does help. However, if you stay up past it's effectiveness, it is useless.

Seroquel makes you sleep. Period. Unlike Xanax or any of the benzos, Seroquel is non-addictive.

You need a prescription for either one of these meds but most doctors are willing to prescribe because neither med is addictive.

If the Melatonin doesn't work, consider going to the doctor and asking for a script for these. Never take them together. They are strong.

Melatonin is your better way if it works for you. You can take up to 6 mg, that is what they gave in Bradford if you didn't want a med. However, I find 3 mg actually works better. Start with that. Take it 30 minutes before you plan to go to bed.

Best of luck with this. I tend to do fine on little sleep but horrible on no sleep.

You need to find a way so that titrating down past your maintenance dose is not an option.

Cindi

[redhead77]

Insomnia on bac

I have the insomnia too. It comes and goes with different doses. I don't sleep more than 2 hours in a row, at the dose I'm on now. On a lower dose, I tried 0.5 of xanax one night and slept great. I tried .25 of xanax when I was in the 180's and I fell asleep the in the bathtub. I don't know. That just freaked me out. The thought of drowning in my bath, or being knocked out so bad, that I can't handle an emergency, has made me hesitant to try it again. I also have benadryl I used to take it on nights I wouldn't drink, when working a long shift the following day. It really works for me, but gives me a drug hangover the next morning. With all the other bac SE's, I don't think I need a hangover from anything!

That got me thinking about valerian root. I have that too. It's not quite as powerful as the others, but it does take the edge off. Have you ever tried it? It's very safe. I think I might give it a go tonight.

[Cinders]

Insomnia on bac

redhead77;1101139 wrote: I have the insomnia too. It comes and goes with different doses. I don't sleep more than 2 hours in a row, at the dose I'm on now. On a lower dose, I tried 0.5 of xanax one night and slept great. I tried .25 of xanax when I was in the 180's and I fell asleep the in the bathtub. I don't know. That just freaked me out. The thought of drowning in my bath, or being knocked out so bad, that I can't handle an emergency, has made me hesitant to try it again. I also have benadryl I used to take it on nights I wouldn't drink, when working a long shift the following day. It really works for me, but gives me a drug hangover the next morning. With all the other bac SE's, I don't think I need a hangover from anything!

That got me thinking about valerian root. I have that too. It's not quite as powerful as the others, but it does take the edge off. Have you ever tried it? It's very safe. I think I might give it a go tonight.

Let us know how the Valerian root works. As someone said above, take Melatonin and Valerian root at the same time.

No sleep sucks big time. I can work a full day on 3 hours of sleep but no hours of sleep is horrible.

Love,
Cindi

[Zephra]

Insomnia on bac

Hi Chi, I wonder if Gravol will help you sleep. I am only at 60 mgs so having the opposite problem of wanting to sleep all the time. Hope you get some sleep. z

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Insomnia on bac

Stay in bed!
I forgot to say that yesterday.
I know it sounds trite, and is near impossible at some levels. My experience was that I got so used to waking and being WIDE awake that I got used to it. Then I would pop out of bed, whenever.
Someone reminded me to guard my sleep and so I started doing just that. Especially in the face of those really vivid dreams!

I hope this suggestion is taken the right way! I've no previous experience with insomnia that wasn't related to self-loathing in the middle of the night and resolved with more booze...
Hope everyone gets a good night's sleep tonight.
Ne

[redhead77]

Insomnia on bac

I took 1000 mg of valerian last night. Slept like a log. Slept from 11:30 till 4:30. Woke up, got out of bed to start my day, and decided I wasn't ready. Slept from 4:30 till my alarm went off. Yippee!!

[Chi]

Insomnia on bac

Just wanted to update that I am still struggling with the insomnia. I took melatonin and it didn't help. The next night I had a brownie called "lazy cakes", which was melatonin and some other natural sleep aids..... still didn't help.

This is really a horrible side effect for me at this point. I'm hoping that tonight I will sleep out of sheer complete and total exhaustion. I had a hard time at work today, burning eyes, just not a good day at all due to lack of sleep for days on end.

I should probably add that my shifts have varied this week, and there is also a lot of stress right now as we are trying to sell our house. I'm laying awake thinking about all the house stuff- what an ordeal it is to sell a house! So it's not ALL bac, I don't think. Still, I so need some sleep tonight.

Can anyone tell me if the insomnia subsided without reducing the dose? If not, I may have to go down a bit to get some sleep. This seemed to have become a problem for me at the 90-100 range. I know I wasn't having this problem last year when I stayed at 50-75.

Still seems so odd to me that bac does this.... maybe the stress right now is a bigger part of it? I dunno.

Hate to be a broken record on this.... but it really does seem to be my most difficult side effect. Too bad the brain doesn't have an OFF switch.

[Chi]

Insomnia on bac

Ne/Neva Eva;1101362 wrote: Stay in bed!
I forgot to say that yesterday.
I know it sounds trite, and is near impossible at some levels. My experience was that I got so used to waking and being WIDE awake that I got used to it. Then I would pop out of bed, whenever.
Someone reminded me to guard my sleep and so I started doing just that. Especially in the face of those really vivid dreams!

Ne just read this again.

THANK GOD I do not have to be out the door for work at 5:15 AM tomorrow, so maybe I can stay in bed longer and get more sleep.

You might have a good point here. I will be keeping it in mind.

[Chi]

Insomnia on bac

Well I did sleep last night. Unfortunately it was after five beers. I slept eight hours which is more than I have slept in awhile, and now I am "refreshingly" hungover. Ugh. Feeling all kinds of guilty, but also trying to figure this out.

I really didn't want the beers. I wanted to pass out. This is not the answer to insomnia. I think I will have to go down on the bac, and while I may lose the total indifference to AL I know I will still have the reduction in craving so I will have to use my will power to stay the course. I know one thing I've gotten to the point I hate hangovers more than I like being drunk, so this is a deterrent too.

[ignominious]

Insomnia on bac

Aw Chi. I hate to see people tapering before they reach the switch. It really is a reality waiting to happen and the SEs are a sign that baclofen is doing its thing.

I'm just going to offer some thoughts. Don't worry about the drinks, I drank all the way up to my switch. One day I just forgot to open a bottle and that was it, the switch is real.

Long term insomnia would be torture, so this is what you need to address. Longshot and Greg both suggested taking your last dose well before your bedtime. Have you actually done this. Try to take your last dose before noon if you can, maybe the SEs, an hour later will be stronger but if you can sleep at night and remain on course I think it would be worth while. I know one person who takes 70mg a day in one dose in the morning.

The other thing that always makes a difference to me is physical exercise. Work up a sweat for 20 mins a day and it will improve your sleep. But you must do it, walking up a few flights of stairs or having a tiring day doesn't mitigate it.

Best wishes

[Cinders]

Insomnia on bac

Chi,

If I were you, I would seriously consider asking your doctor for Seroquel.

It is non-addictive and it works.

At least you would be able to stay at the level you are currently at with Baclofen and still get some sleep.

My dad and I both suffer insomnia. Well, he doesn't anymore, he sleeps off and on all day but he is 87 years old now.

His advice to me when I was a teenager who suffered insomnia, how weird is that? Most teens sleep long hours. But, I did. He told me he was the same way and what he does is what Ne suggested, stay in bed. He said, at least you are resting, stay in bed and keep your eyes closed and try not to think. It does help. Not a lot but it is better than getting up and doing things. Sometimes it even lets you go back to sleep.

Yes, drink makes me "sleep," too. But you know it is not good sleep and the hangovers suck big time.

Please consider the Seroquel.

Love,
Cindi

[Evey]

Insomnia on bac

Hey Chi, I am having a terrible time with insomnia too. It really started becoming an issue around 90mgs. I have had issues in the past with insomnia but was usually able to find some relief even with OTC meds and natural sleep aids. Once I started getting up there in mgs on Bac, nothing was helping. Yesterday, I dropped down from 140 mg to 120mg because I found it really hard to function at work. I have been taking 140 mg for the last few days. I took 500 mg of Valerian Root and 5 mg of Melatonin. I slept for almost 7.5 hours, I woke up a few times and looked at the clock but was able to go back to sleep relatively quickly. I never slept that good on 120 mg before. I think it was the reduction of dose that helped me.

[Longshot]

Insomnia on bac

Chi;1103324 wrote: Well I did sleep last night. Unfortunately it was after five beers. I slept eight hours which is more than I have slept in awhile, and now I am "refreshingly" hungover. Ugh. Feeling all kinds of guilty, but also trying to figure this out.

I really didn't want the beers. I wanted to pass out. This is not the answer to insomnia. I think I will have to go down on the bac, and while I may lose the total indifference to AL I know I will still have the reduction in craving so I will have to use my will power to stay the course. I know one thing I've gotten to the point I hate hangovers more than I like being drunk, so this is a deterrent too.

Yeah I found I was drinking because of my insomnia.

Don't beat yourself up over it. Someone once said to me that sobriety and insomnia were completely incompatible.

That being said I found the Seroquel made me incredibly dopey and a bit depressed.