SONATA

 

Does anyone take Sonata or another type of sleeping pill to help the chronic insomnia or is it highly advised to just not take anything?

Sonata is just a different flavor of Ambien and can cause just as many problems if used over a long term, or used during a benzo or Ambien withdrawal. It is a temporary answer at best, but it can also make your insomnia much worse.

Thank you, looks like I won’t be filling that script. My insomnia is horrible, awake after an hour  with a/d sx. Do you have any suggestions for sleep?

After a pretty long bout of bad insomnia, the best advice that I can give is to not expect or hope too much for sleep each night. I wasn't always successful, but my nightly goal was to view bedtime as a time to rest my body and if sleep happened it happened. Resist the urge to follow the basic sleep hygiene rule of getting out of bed for awhile and return later to try again. When suffering from withdrawal insomnia, sleep will come no easier later on. Instead, try to remain calm, don't fret over the following day and just try to preoccupy your mind with storylines. Often a storyline will be replaced by a brief dream as you fall into a microsleep that you may not even be aware of. These short sleeps will help sustain you until normal sleep slowly begins to return. They cannot happen if you left your bed to do something else.

 

Taking a benzo or a z-drug such as Ambien or Sonata during this period will only delay your healing. It is a very hard thing to go through, but you will get through it in time. I now fall asleep within minutes of going to bed most nights, but there was a time that I was worried that my sleep would never return and I would have bad insomnia for the rest of my life.

Thank you for sharing that with me, that is helpful and I appreciate it!

Best, M