Posted by velaguff on August 28, 2002, at 21:13:02
In reply to Long-term insomnia since quitting Ambien, posted by Jaded on August 27, 2002, at 14:06:59
This isn't medically approved, but it works fairly well for me. Believe me, your doctor probably won't approve. I just got lucky. There are, I think, only 2 types of OTC sleep aids: Doxylamine (Sp?), or Unisom, and Diphenhydramine (Sp?) Sominex. I have an RX for Ambien. 10mg is the maximun allowable dose. Insufficient. I need 20mg. I rotate a double dose (twice the recommended amount on the box) of the Doxy and Diphen, along with 20 mg Ambien. Every 3rd day, a double dose of Doxy, Diphen, or Amb. It works. I never develop a tolerance to any ONE medication, and I nearly always sleep at least 5 hours; most times that's enough. The desire to sleep more isn't due to necessity, but to the desire to escape depression via sleep. I told my MD that I was taking a double dose of all these things, and, given my history of resistance to medications, (thank god) he didn't object. I think that there's a large margin of error in the dosaging of most sleeping pills, and most other meds. What is that they call it, the amount of a drug that will kill 50% of those who take that amount? LD-50, I think. That'd be a great name for a heavy metal rock band.
poster:velaguff
thread:117949
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020821/msgs/118088.html