Benzos not helping Sleep

After success with sleeping with Ativan for the last year and a half they pretty much quit working.  I have switched over to Valium with the plan to ease off benzos altogether.  Valium not working that well either for sleep.  Dr. has prescribed 15 mgs of Remeron also now so we will see.  Good luck everyone.  Not sleeping really sucks.

All of the benzo's turn on us, if we used them for sleep, then we can't.  If we used them to control anxiety, then it becomes unmanageable.  If we used them for panic attacks, they begin to happen more often.  Getting off of the drug is your only hope of finding natural sleep.

Jackson,

 

I am sorry to hear you are not sleeping well....

 

 

As Pam said....for many people...after a while the benzos just quit working...then you are faced with the decision of going up in dosage or getting off the benzos...

 

Going up...just makes it all that much harder to quit when you have to quit them...because..of course even if you go up in dosage..in a manner of time...you will reach tolerance there as well....and then would have to updose again...it is sort of an endless cycle....

 

I wish you well in your valium taper..and if you have any questions feel free to ask....we will do our best to help...

 

TC

Part of why I ended up on benzos in the first place is because all the Z-drugs stopped working for me.  Ambien in particular is a nasty, nasty thing to be on long-term.

 

If your doctor didn't share this little bit of info, let me:  Remeron is a fantastic appetite builder.  I don't know if it helped me sleep or not, but it gave me a kind of hunger that was worse than the worst case of munchies I ever had, and it did it every night.  Fun fact: a vet friend was Remeron (by it chemical name, not its trade name!)  to her elderly dog near the end of his life; not because he was depressed or couldn't sleep, but because he wasn't eating enough.  She told me that this is a common veterinary practice.

 

Just wanted to say welcome and wish you luck with your Remeron therapy and valium switch.  I, too, suffer terribly from insomnia and the benzo I was taking also quit working.  I also made the switch to valium and am trying to taper from it.  I haven't had any bad s/x's but my insomnia did return after my last cut.  I may have been cutting too fast so I've re-instated to the last effective dosage and will taper much slower from there.  My fear is that there is just some level of benzo that provides me some sleep and no matter how slow I taper when I get below that amount my insomnia will return.  However, as others have said, the benzos will turn on you and in the long run you just have to get off of them.  All those other psych drugs prescribed for insomnia scare me and I really don't want to be dependent on a drug for sleep so I've resisted using any of them (with the exception of one brief trial of an old tri-cyclic a/d which did not go well).  I'm curious how the Remeron works for you and wish you all the best.  Insomnia and benzos are just such a mess.  Welcome and good luck. 

 

John

 

Will update on how the remeron (mirtazapine) works.  It is supposed to take a couple of weeks to actually work I guess.  Thanks.

Will update on how the remeron (mirtazapine) works.  It is supposed to take a couple of weeks to actually work I guess.  Thanks.

Jackson- how did the Remeron work? are you still on it?

the problem with sleeping aids no matter what kind is - they mess up a normal sleep. No matter what you try then - out of my experience you have to go through the insomnia hell and let your brain alone, without any meds, to heal and recreate a normal sleep again.

I know for you in your situation its the last thing you wanna hear. But as an oldie here when it comes to taper different meds, several sleeping aids, z drugs, benzos - it is all shit. pure shit.

 

I am now able to sleep properly without any interruption, and its a good sleep no comparison to the knockout sleeps or the light sleeps under meds.

I spend weeks with 2 hours sleep per night but after a while the brain keeps you going even with such little sleep its unbelievable.

 

Many of us have gone through the insomnia mode - and have now a normal sleep - thats the thing no one tells you when you get the prescription - a little trip to hell. And thats why these pills were made that way - cause it keeps patients on the med.

Anyone remember Mandrax?  Getting folk of that was a blast. Got attacked my normally benign old ladies. I think it was the first drug to be withdrawn with no warning for Gps.

Sadly we didn’t know better then and switched to nirazepam.  Haven’t allowed that for 25 years thank goodness.

Rock on warnings on benzo packs like on cigarette packets. “Can seriously damage your health”

Dickie