Posted by sdb on August 24, 2008, at 1:55:03
In reply to Re: antihistamines/neuroleptics 2 put somebody sleep, posted by med_empowered on August 23, 2008, at 19:21:01
> Benadryl (diphenhydramine, others) is I think usually dosed out at 25-100mgs/nightly for sleep.
>
> If you're trying to choose between an antihistamine and a neuroleptic for sleep, I'd say go for hydroxyzine. The dosage varies wildly (some people doze off at 50mgs; I used to take 200mgs), but once you hit the right dose its relatively safe stuff...if I recall correctly, higher doses can help with anxiety. It occasionally causes tardive dyskinesia, but I think the risk is a lot lower than with neuroleptics.
> In some countries Nozinan (I think that's how its spelled) is used as a sedative. Its a densely sedating neuroleptic; the sleep-aid doses are pretty low, so I imagine the TD/NMS/EPS risks would be pretty small.
> Low-dose Seroquel is popular for sleep, but at very low doses the stuff is just an extremely expensive antihistamine. Low dose of Thorazine are still sometimes used as a sleep aid.in the literature hydroxyzine belongs to the same class as cetirizine (classic med used as anti-allergic) but with more sedating and less anticholinergic properties. Actually a good profile. I don't like so much the 1. class antihistamines like diphenhydramine, doxylamine etc. because these can people cause jerks, little seizures, urinary retention... There seem to be a lot of antihistamines used for vertigo, travel sickness and other stuff that could be used better as a sleep med than the official ones like diphenhydramine. Clearly there are the benzos and atypical benzos but it's better to avoid this IMO.
med_empowered: what's with the hangover effect the next morning due to its long half-life with hydroxyzine?
warm regards
sdb
poster:sdb
thread:847868
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080822/msgs/847945.html