Posted by simcha on November 29, 2004, at 21:13:17
OK, occasionally I have Ambien for sleep. My insurance has it as a non-formulary drug. I'm lucky that the co-pay is only $35. They would charge much more for a 30 day supply. Still, for a poor grad-school student like me, it's a lot of money considering all of the other medications I have to buy for depression and asthma. I manage about eight medications.
I'm now going on their drug maintanence program where I pay 2 copays for a 3 month supply and have the meds delivered to my mailbox.
So, I called my insurance company and they have formulary drugs for sleep assistance. They are all benzodiazepines. I know that my doctor will not be adverse to prescribing benzos for sleep. I do know that my pdoc would not be very happy. He took me off of the Klonopin because it allegedly interrupts the stage 4 sleep. I was using it for bruxism and restless legs syndrome. Now I use Neurontin with decent success...
I only take a sleep med (Ambien) about two times per week. Most times I want sleep I'm fine. I've had chronic insomnia for my entire life. It's a great relief to have Ambien for the occasional real difficulty. I can also take extra Neurontin, with varying results...
Anyway, the formulary covers the following:
Restoril (temazepam) at $20 for 30-day supply (brand)
Halcion (triazolam) at $10 for 30-day supply(generic)
Restoril (lorazepam) at $10 for 30-day supply (generic)Does anyone have any experience with these three benzos? I have only had klonopin before. I think I got valium injected in my gludius maximus before a surgery before...
Anyway, if I were to choose a less expensive alternative, what would you recommend?
Do all of these mess up sleep architecture so that you are exhausted when you wake up? I never did find this to be the case on Klonopin no matter what my pdoc says.
So,
Please Help!
Confused,
Simcha
poster:simcha
thread:422047
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041128/msgs/422047.html