Posted by Ron Hill on March 22, 2002, at 11:45:41
In reply to Re: Sam-E and Anxiety Disorder » Ron Hill, posted by beardedlady on March 22, 2002, at 7:18:21
> What's a full dx?
A "full dx" is when the author of the post has been up all night and has become incapable of writing a coherent sentence. What I was trying to ask (and you have already answered, no) was: Have any other disorders been identified in addition to the anxiety disorder?
> Serzone is, according to my pdoc, an anti-anxiety med at low doses (300) and an AD at high doses.
Yes, but what does this have to do with the reason you are tapering off Serzone?
> So the key to curing my panic is curing my insomnia, and if SAM-e helps me use my energy wisely and lets me sleep at night (which the B vitamins seem to do!), I won't be worried into a panic about not sleeping.
SAM-e might help ease your insomnia, but it might not! SAM-e does a lot of cool stuff like improves mood, eases joint pain, and detoxifies the liver, to name a few. However, to my knowledge, SAM-e is not necessarily an excellent sleep aid. In fact, as I mentioned in an earlier post, if one takes it later than about 5 pm, not only is it not a sleep aid, it can CAUSE insomnia.
What or who gave you the impression that SAM-e is an appropriate treatment for insomnia? What does your pdoc think of the SAM-e trial? I feel sure that SAM-e will not harm you in any way, however, using it specifically to treat insomnia is, as I understand it, untried.
Why hasn't your pdoc prescribed either sleeping pills or benzos to combat the insomnia?. About a year ago or more, I had insomnia as a side effect to an AD trial. Therefore, I did some research, decided that I wanted to try the prescription sleep aid Sonata, and therefore, asked my pdoc to prescribe Sonata so that I could have some in my headboard to use on an as needed basis. It worked good and I still have half a bottle left in my headboard (although it's probably expired by now). Sleeping pills should not be used for more than a few weeks. But if it is as you say (insomnia causing panic), then maybe a couple weeks of good quality sleep could solve your problem. You could keep the remaining sleeping pills on hand for use on an infrequent, as needed basis.
I have zero experience with benzos, but, as I (layman) understand it, these too can be used to treat insomnia. Also you can do a search on the web (and on this site also) for the term "sleep hygiene" which is a set of rules (e.g. no sleeping during the day, etc) for the patient to follow in order to facilitate better quality sleep. I'm probably telling you a bunch of stuff that you already know and you're just eager for me to shut up.
Do you have the type of insomnia that causes you to wake up in the middle of the night and then preclude you from getting back to sleep, or do you have the kind of insomnia that makes it hard to fall asleep from the get go? Or do you have trouble with both? Also, how do you know that the key to curing your panic is to cure the insomnia (first). How do you know it is not the other way around (solve panic to cure insomnia)? What does the pdoc think, chicken or egg?
-- Ron
poster:Ron Hill
thread:98301
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020322/msgs/99471.html