How do you sleep?

[Isolde]

How do you sleep?

spacebebe01;1209640 wrote: Does tyrosyne help with daytime sleepiness and therefore by keeping you awake in the day helps night time sleep?

If that's how it works, then I'm screwed. Because I'm plenty awake during the day. And I fall asleep without any problem. Just can't stay asleep!

[bobsd]

How do you sleep?

I am not sure exactly how it works, but it doesn't give me a "jolt" during the day... Just helps me keep alert. I know that it was banned by the FDA for 10 years for an idiotic reason (a contaminated batch killed a bunch of people in Japan- not the drug's fault but the manufacturer).
It is definitely worth a try. It's cheap enough. Good luck with it!

[SlipperyPete]

How do you sleep?

RedThread, you make Seroquel sound so underground and dodgy :H
It's one of the best selling drugs out there and I think is actually a good idea for bac. Seems anxiety would be cut to zero, but aren't you exhausted during the day? Maybe not on such a low dose, but Seroquel is weird in that lower doses are prescribed for sleep, while higher doses are used for the anti-psychotic effect.

[RedThread12]

How do you sleep?

Hey Pete;
I've been on this board a long time. Things have changed a lot in the last year. There was a time when I was reluctant to post about Seroquel because is was one more push against the envelop and those weren't always welcomed.

But, yes, Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) is an awesome sleep aid, at low doses. And no, I'm not tired during the day because . . . duhh . . . . I get plenty of sleep at night, thanks to Seroquel. But it does take some getting used to. The first night I took baclofen and Seroquel together I got up to go to the bathroom and walked into my closet. Sitting down on the vacuum cleaner helped me clarify things and made me laugh. But not everyone is prepared for the level of sedation that can come with Seroquel. If you're not ready for it, it might be uncomfortable.

Thanks for pointing out its benefits and agreeing with me that it's a possible solution for baclofen-induced insomnia. Certainly worked that way for me!! I don't know if it has an effect re anxiety or not. When I was taking higher doses and NOT taking baclofen, that was definitely true. It's been 3 years now that I've been taking baclofen. I dropped the Seroquel to low dose long before I started taking baclofen, but I could never deny that there is not some anti-anxiety effect from even a low dose of Seroquel. I'm just happy to have found a happy and workable balance for myself. It's healing just to know I can sleep every night!!

[Equivoque]

How do you sleep?

Thank you for so many replies. Much appreciated.

[beatle]

How do you sleep?

Equivoque;1209439 wrote: I am contemplating pharmaceutical options to suppress the cravings following a couple of weeks of abstinence. How the hell do you sleep when off the alcohol, because I sure can't? The first couple of weeks, I will be on valium which helps loads, if they give you enough but after the detox, HOW do you sleep? I've been an alcoholic for 30 years.

It has been pointed out here on this thread that baclofen will decrease cravings, but won't help with sleep. Actually, at low levels (up to 40-60mg/day?), bac eliminated my sleep problems entirely. I had never slept so well and easily in my life. I think it's only when you get up to the higher doses that the bac has the opposite effect.

(This also applied to anxiety for me -- at low levels, the baclofen dampened the anxiety, at higher levels it heightened it.)

At any rate, I have spent a good part of my life trying to combat insomnia, pre-alcoholic, mid-alcoholic and post-alcoholic.

(From your post, it sounds like you are interested in pharmaceuticals for cravings (maybe baclofen), but it is not clear whether you meant that also for sleeping.)

My experience is that there are a number of natural remedies (vitamins, aminos, herbs, etc.) that can help you sleep very effectively -- better and more naturally than pharmaceuticals. Most of these I have come to after detoxing, and they work very very well. My post-detox insomnia has been fairly manageable with these non-pharma products (all inexpensive and widely available):

L-tryptophan, lithium orotate (not lithium), melatonin, taurine, magnesium, Bs, valerian (hard on liver, though), and many more. I use them all (except for the valerian) every night. And there are many more. If you are interested in the non-pharmaceutical sleeping aids, I suggest you pop over to the holistic healing forum for more information.

However, my experience has always been that while these non-pharmaceutical remedies work wonderfully when I am sober, they don't do as much when I am drinking. Then I have to fight poison with poison, and occasionally resort to pharmaceuticals (zolpidem being my sleeping drug of choice... after the alcohol has worn off).

But however you do it, natural or not, it is, as you know, imperative that you somehow get sleep. It will be the deal-breaker, I believe.

[Isolde]

How do you sleep?

Beatle, I hadn't heard of taurine to aid with sleep. I've got a bottle of that which I was using in conjunction with something else, but that I now don't know what to do with. How much do you recommend to aid w/sleep?

By the way, I took 500mg of L-Tyrosine last night. For the first time in WEEKS, I woke up to the sound of my alarm this morning! However, I can't credit the tyrosine for this, as no amount of xanax or klonopin was even able to do that for me. I'm positive it was the hot yoga class I took yesterday evening which gave me such sweet sleep.
In any case, I'll keep taking the tyrosine!

[bobsd]

How do you sleep?

Great to hear Isolde... One more thing. Take on an empty stomach.

[PJS]

How do you sleep?

To sleep perchance to dream

7th day of sobriety. With the exception of one night of six hours of sleep I've slept about three hours per night. I'm taking two 375mg (?) Camprel three times a day. I don't really think it is doing anything, I've been taking it for months. So what worked? Fear. My liver has been hurting on and off for months and mostly on recently. The NP in ER told me "Alcohol Will Kill You". Even that didn't really work, not the first night anyhow but fear has a way of reinforcing reality and I've been sober for a week. Just wish I could sleep.

[Cinders]

How do you sleep?

It seems to take forever to start getting a good night's sleep.

It does come, though. In my case, it takes a good five to six weeks before I realize I am actually just going to bed and getting a good night's rest.

It is worth it. You will get there.

In the meantime, do as others suggest. Exercise, take herbs or meds to help. Concentrate on staying sober and not on getting rest. Just stay sober.

Then over time, sleep will come.

Cindi

[Greg]

How do you sleep?

Not sleeping is probably my pet hate in life, so I can relate to how annoying it can be. I had a bad run for a while after detoxing, and even after short relapses I have found it hard to sleep again for a week or more.

If you really need medication, I'd say try not to rely on the same drug on a nightly basis, if you can possibly avoid it. Tolerance can build very quickly to some sleeping drugs if used every night. I'd also say avoid benzodiazepines if you can get some other sort of sleep aid. I have rotated doxylamine, trazodone, gabapentin, and L-tryptophan sometimes, basically 1-2 nights at most on the one thing before changing...that's just an example of course. Others find some herbs helpful, but I haven't done much research at all on most of them.

(Be careful not to use an antidepressant like trazodone and tryptophan one night after the next I'd say, due to risk of serotonin syndrome due to both of them elevating serotonin levels; it would be safest only to use one or the other really).

[Nelz]

How do you sleep?

Ive had sleep issues my entire life, even as a youning. When I stopped drinking I slept like a baby on ludes......But that soon changed back into fighting sleep. Ambien worked for a spell, but now, I need one to get to sleep, and one around 2 am.

The only problem is my doctor has some sort of issue giving me the ambien......need a black market somewhere