Posted by utopizen on February 2, 2004, at 13:35:44
In reply to Xyrem Dilema, posted by femlite1 on February 2, 2004, at 12:38:00
If you only have insomnia, it's not worth it. I've been titrating on Xyrem since December now, and will be on my target dose in a week from now, and then I need to wait 6-8 weeks to notice a difference in my daytime sleepiness according to the studies.
The dose you start at is too low to incude sleep, which means you need to combine it with Ambien in many cases if you have insomnia, which apparently wouldn't work for you anyhow.
The side effect profile is actually very tolerable... all I got was a stuffy nose, but I had sinusitus anyway.
Benzos are better than no sleep, but Xyrem was a nightmare for me just to get-- I've had 4 sleep studies, a dozen docs, consults, appts., appts., and more appts., and I have narcolepsy. Trust me, you will not get it. It's hard to get with documented narcolepsy as it is, and titrating the dose takes forever.
Try these first before trying a benzo.
1. Increasing your dose of Ambien. Likely, your doc will say no, even though it's very safe.
2. Getting a Polysomnograph (PSG) overnight study ordered to examine your sleep patterns.
3. Light therapy.
4. Seeing a sleep doc. You may have like delayed phase sleep syndrome, or anxiety. Treating the anxiety, for instance, would help your insomnia.
poster:utopizen
thread:308520
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040131/msgs/308543.html