Posted by Viridis on October 7, 2003, at 3:54:21
In reply to Choosing Sleep Meds, posted by truman on October 6, 2003, at 20:34:27
I haven't tried Ambien, but it's highly recommended by many people, even for long-term use.
I find Xanax (alprazolam) the best, but it's notorious for tolerance when used as as a sleep med, so seems best for short-term use. I still use 1 mg or so occasionally when I have trouble sleeping.
I pretty much stopped having problems with insomnia when I started taking Klonopin (clonazepam) daily for anxiety. The catch is that supposedly, tolerance builds to the anti-insomnia effects yet not the anti-anxiety effects. So, by using it for anxiety, I seem to have solved the sleep problem too, but my pdoc doesn't like to prescribe it as a sleep med although he's quite comfortable with using it long-term for anxiety. I also find that it has good antidepressant qualities (probably because my depression is mostly anxiety-based).
Maybe Klonopin would be worth a try, with the caveat that if tolerance to the anti-insomnia effects develops, you'd need to taper off it. This is definitely something to discuss with your doctor. It causes no side effects for me (although it took a week or two to get used to).
BTW, I really disliked Trazodone and wouldn't use it again.
poster:Viridis
thread:266116
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031004/msgs/266225.html