Anyone use Visteril for sleep?

Hi my md just recently prescribed me Visteril to use for sleep.  She suggested I try 10 to 20 mg starting off.  I was wondering if anyone has used it?  She said I could use it on an as need bases. How long before you plan to turn in do you take it?  Any problems using it?

Thanks, Stillbelieving 

My pdoc had me try it for sleep too but it didn't help me. hopefully it will be helpful for you...I started at 25mg then 50 then 100...the good thing is I have noticed any side effects and is usually helpful with my daytime anxiety...good luck

Hi S(Stillbelieving)

I was also prescribed Visteral - known as Atarax here for insomnia. I was prescribe 100mg.  It did not do anything for me but just yesterday I posted Flip about it because she also takes it and she said even though it does cross the BB it does not affect the Gaba -  Good luck

 

Love

Meeee

I use visteril once in a while. It is an antihistamine ( they are not physically addicting lick benzos, but they can be psychologically addicting) and they do not mess with the same GABA sites as Benzos. I use antihistamines a lot to give me windows in my nausea and anxiety wd....and for sleep.

 

Visteril just seems to give me a little bit of a yucky feeling at the tail end of its effectiveness period compared to other antihistamines. Benedryl is my favorite but Phenergan ( need a script) is a close second if I am dealing with nauesa and not just anxiety. Third place goes to Unisom, which seems to put me to sleep the quickest but only for about 3 hours. Visteril and the motion sickness antihistamines (Dramamine) are in 4th place.

 

I build up tolerance to the antihistamines quickly so I try not to use them when symptoms are mild......I don't like going above 50mgs Benedryl, Visteril, and Dramamine; 25mgs Phenergan, and Unisom. But if I have a long string of bad days I will rotate and use different antihistamines to avoid tolerance to any one.

Hi S(Stillbelieving)

I was also prescribed Visteral - known as Atarax here for insomnia. I was prescribe 100mg.  It did not do anything for me but just yesterday I posted Flip about it because she also takes it and she said even though it does cross the BB it does not affect the Gaba -  Good luck

 

Love

Meeee

 

Hi Meeee,

Thanks for posting to me.  I slept last night, took 20 mg.  I do feel that it helps me for daily anxiety.

 

Now I am having symptoms from what I think is from trying to get off Elavil.  I have been on elavil for months for my sleeping 25 mg is what I was using.  That did help me.  We thou are eliminating it from my meds due to we are feeling that it could be causing me to have the jerking spells. My dr told me to just stop taking it. I looked up how to get off elavil and saw it was suggested to be tapered even at 25 mg. It is hard to say if how I feel is from cutting elavil 1/2 for the past 2 nights, or from being upset over the trap, or the state I have been left in with grief and w/d.

 

Past two days I was feeling I was pulling back out of this, but woke this morning not feeling that way. Sorry for rambling. Am feeling really lost.

 

Love, Stillbelieving  Dropped my other part of name due to security

let me know how you are doing Meeee 

My pdoc had me try it for sleep too but it didn't help me. hopefully it will be helpful for you...I started at 25mg then 50 then 100...the good thing is I have noticed any side effects and is usually helpful with my daytime anxiety...good luck

 

Hi akmom,

thanks for your response. I did sleep last night on 20 mg. of Vestaril.  I have also found that it helps with my day time anxiety.

 

Now I am trying to come off 25 mg Elavil. I think that is what has me so different feeling today. I cut my 25 mg elavil in half. I think it is too big of a cut. Will have to re think this move.

 

I see you c/t. So did I.  How is your w/d going. What symptoms do you have?

 

I'll have to go by your thread to see how you are doing.

 

hope today or what ever the time of day is for you that it is a good one.

 

take care

Stillbelieving

Vistaril helped me sleep and helped with anxiety as well.  I was on 25 mg. of it.

 

fg

I take vistaril on occasion and it does seem to help me. I take 25 mg. I wouldn't take it on a regular basis. It has broken a couple of cycles for me.

I have had success with Vistaril.

Hi

 

I just noticed you are online - how are doing today? 

I'm feeling rather down today only managed a couple of hours sleep last night and woke with a horrible panic attack.  I did take a Purbloka to try and just calm my heart rate.  I know many people are against it but I felt just terrible.

I was reading a post in alternative medication section and the member said she was tapering down her Atarax (Visteril)! gosh I did not know it would need to be tapered down.  I am going to take it when I do my next cut even if it does not work for the insomnia the feedback I have seen is at least positive re anxiety.

Take Care

 

love Meeee

I've taken an anti-histamine before and it does make you a bit drowsy but I get tolerant on that quickly, so it only helps if taken now and again.

 

Pembs x

My pdoc had me try it for sleep too but it didn't help me. hopefully it will be helpful for you...I started at 25mg then 50 then 100...the good thing is I have noticed any side effects and is usually helpful with my daytime anxiety...good luck

 

Hi akmom,

thanks for your response. I did sleep last night on 20 mg. of Vestaril.  I have also found that it helps with my day time anxiety.

 

Now I am trying to come off 25 mg Elavil. I think that is what has me so different feeling today. I cut my 25 mg elavil in half. I think it is too big of a cut. Will have to re think this move.

 

I see you c/t. So did I.  How is your w/d going. What symptoms do you have?

 

I'll have to go by your thread to see how you are doing.

 

hope today or what ever the time of day is for you that it is a good one.

 

take care

Stillbelieving

 

Stillbelieving,

 

My main symptoms now are anxiety and insomnia...the majority of my physical ones have gone away except for getting fatigued easily and some soreness...that could just be from sitting around too much though

 

Glad to hear the Visteral works well for you.  Some days I feel like it helps and other not so much...I am going to try Inositol for my anxiety...there are a few posts about it in Alternative Meds and therapies.

 

What are your main symptoms?

 

Stop by my blog sometime

Can I try melatonin and an antihistamine together?

Can I try melatonin and an antihistamine together?

 

Hi Benzo3, I used them both in the same day although I was usually taking 50mgs of Benedryl in the morning for nausea/anxiety and then 1-3mgs melatonin at night help me get to sleep. However, sometimes at night when I really wanted to get to sleep I took melatonin and 25 mg Unisom together (Unisom is an antihistamine....seems to work faster on me than benedryl...but not as long).

 

Do some research before you take more than 3mgs of melatonin and ...... I saved the antihistamines for when I needed them most because I tend to build tolerance to them quickly....most people do.

Thanks, Klondike.  I may already be building some resistance to the Unisom with the same active ingredient as benadryl. I may try the other this week and rotate them as I think you or someone else said they did. I'm going to try to sleep w/o, but not sure I can get much sleep at all. I have never tried melatonin, so I don't know what it will do for me.

Be careful with taking melotonin it caused me really bad depression, my doctor told me to stop it, its a very hard hormone to get right, you have to take the right dose, take it at the right time otherwise it can cause depression.

I found the effects to be similar to seroquel for me, somewhat helpful with regards to insomnia but ineffective for anxiety.

Melatonin did absolutely nothing for my sleep.  In fact, it kept me awake longer than normal and gave me a headache (along with a bad taste in my mouth).  I have not taken it again.

 

I read that Melatonin usually helps older adults who have a low Melatonin level anyway.  Most others are not helped by it.  Just a little fyi ...

 

fg