has been taking zzzquil and melatonin for last 9 nights.

damn it.

300mg of zzzquil and 1mg of melatonin for last 9 nights.

did not help a lot on my sleep. but at least, i was able to rest in the bed or have hover sleep for a long time.

did i take too much or too long for these?

.

you don't say how much melatonin you were taking?  you might try adding some magnesium.  You need to sleep for adequate healing to take place so even the hovering is better than nothing... you do need to get some real sleep soon.  I've used Tylanol PM and also benadryl has worked.  Also, making sure your sleeping space is very dark... go to bed at the same time every night... don't take naps, I put Pandora radio on because i can ride my brain on the music as i drift off, but the sound will go off by itself. I can pick the music Iwant and drift off to sounds that I like.  Whether you are aware of it or not, it sounds like your anxiety is running rampant.  When I couldn't get out of bed, I did what I called bed exercises... just keeping muscle working and it helped w/ the anxiety.  Lately it manifests more as facial tics, but muscle has to be exercised or it atrophies and that creates problems... pushing myself through the anxiety to exercise has been one of the hardest things I have had to do... second to getting out of the house which I also finally did.    Sorry to hear you are having a hard time... you do such a great job of encouraging the rest of us.  :angel: for your day!  Njoy

Pacific I take melatonin but I take 3 mg. I'm a little older so think my body probably needs a little more. Read that on a medical site somewhere. That, plus a chlor tab (sedating antihistamine) puts me to sleep in about half an hour and keeps me asleep for 5 hours. After that I doze.

 

I read an article in Pub Med recently that followed a bunch of "elderly" folks getting off benzos (!! yes) and they were given 3 mg of time-release melatonin which worked well for them. I haven't tried that yet but I might.

 

I'm reluctant to take any supplements (well, any other supplements) as taking stuff -- the original pills that got me into this trouble -- is just a no-no for me. But that's just me.

 

I read for about an hour before I take my melatonin and chlor tab and try to calm down from the day. Oh, I drink a cup of double strength chamomile tea, too. My pdoc suggested this. It seems to work, too. Who knows if it really is helpful or not? But it's not harmful.

 

Hope any of this is of use to you and good luck. Please share any tricks you try that might help those of us with sleep issues.

I recently read, and have ordered, time release melatonin.  Apparently the regular stuff clears so quickly that people tend to wake up after about 3-4 hours of sleep because the levels drop off so quickly.  The time release helps the brain keep thinking it should be asleep.  I read on LEF that Benzos actually deplete our melatonin supplies so our sleep on them is artificial and melatonin supplementation is beneficial to get the levels back up.

Benadryl, zzzquil, tylenol PM all contain the same antihistamine, diphenhydramine.  I've seen several posts on here about switching out the sleep aids... like try diphenhydramine one night then try another antihistamine,  doxylamine succinate, another night, etc.  The chlor tabs mentioned by someone are another antihistamine:  CHLOR-TABS (chlorpheniramine maleate). 

hi there, I cannot advise you on how much to take...however I have recently seen my benzo w/d specialist doctor and this is the advise he gave me on sleep... http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=88443.msg1142558#msg1142558 take care, Alabama.xo

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30ml zzzQuil and 6mg melatonin puts me under for awhile.

damn benzo brain.

it's suppose to 30mg of zzzquil not 300mg of zzzquil.

One buddie suggested Gabapentin, especially for when the taper doses get lower and after jumping. He says it helped him a lot with anxiety and sleep issues. Does not impact GABA.

One buddie suggested Gabapentin, especially for when the taper doses get lower and after jumping. He says it helped him a lot with anxiety and sleep issues. Does not impact GABA.

hi obsid,

what is gabapentin?

is this by prescription only?