As-needed Equivalent To Ambien

[Chava]

Would like 3 Unisom do anything?? I'm waiting for my doctor to refill ambien. If she won't, I'll have bad nighttime panic attacks. And this is also something I am not hassling her on this week because I am already at the end of my self-advocacy rope with trying to get some follow-up to a few abnormalities found on an MRI, including a spinal lesion that the neurosurgeon didn't mention or show me (found out later because I really didn't trust the clinic and asked for all records). To make a long story short, I'm re-triggered in ways I can't articulate, don't need my doctor thinking I'm "crazy" because I want to be taken seriously if I have a spinal lesion, and honestly I have this icky part of myself resurfacing...like if I can't get ambien refilled I will just have to start drinking again because I can't tolerate my life and nighttime is the worst (I've been sober for nearly two decades...I will wreck my career and die if I start again because it was very bad, but things are feeling very bad, like I just want to die...I feel so powerless and at the whim of a dysfunctional clinic and my insurance company).

Anyway, melatonin does nothing. Ambien does almost nothing, but helps. I also probably need to call my doctor but I want her to focus on getting some info or referrals regarding the bad MRI. It's like they really wanted to find nothing, call it "chronic pain", and medicate me for life. The radiologist noted a couple congenital malformations, likely causing cysts. And NO FOLLOW UP. I can't deal with it....I have done all I can (send messages, check on another clinic and waiting for images from first clinic, etc...I'm just at a stand still waiting for the right doctor to give a shit or know what to do).

I don't care if extra unisom isn't safe either. I'll take any ideas because they all beat vodka or mouthwash.

 

[Justmehere]

Self advocacy with doctors is something I find to be a very frustrating and exhausting process.

The active ingredients in Unisom are antihistamines. None of us here can really give you medical advice on what to take. I do know that either of the active ingredients can actually increase anxiety, so I would only take as directed on the box. Maybe you could call the pharmacy and they can send a refill request over for you?

Have you ever thought about seeing a sleep medicine doctor? I had several docs dismiss my insomnia and prescribed medications that didn't really work. A sleep med doc helped me find a sleep medication that did work for me (in my case it was trazadone that finally worked for me) and he took my sleep issues much more seriously than any other doctor.

 

[sun seeker]

How long do you need it to work for? I think I understand you are looking for a temporary measure. The thing with Unisom is if you take it for more than a few days in a row, it stops working and you are back where you started, only worse. I've never tried taking more than it says on the box so can't advise you there.

It's really hard to say for anyone else. Unisom does work for me but only once a week or so. Amitriptyline worked, but you need a prescription for that. Trazadone made me so sick I ended up in the ER after taking two of them. Melatonin, as you say, does nothing. It's really an individual thing. I'm sorry that doesn't help right now when you are desperate. Crossing my fingers for you...

 

[StellaBlue]

I occasionally take diphenhydramine (Benadryl) to sleep. It looks like at least one of the Unisom products contain this. As @Justmehere says, it's an antihistamine and it has sedative properties. For a temporary solution, it's probably harmless and could possibly help. For me, I've found it leaves me with a bit of a hangover in the morning - so I only use it when I'm rolling on several days without sleep. If you're prescription for Ambien is refillable but is out of refills (if that makes sense), the pharmacy can call the doctor to refill (again, like @Justmehere suggested).

 

[joeylittle]

Benadryl, tylenol pm, nyquil pm, sominex: these are diphenhydramine; one type of antihistamine.

Unisom is doxylamine, mostly; apparently this is different in canada. This is another type of antihistamine.

One might work on you and the other might not.

But give the recommended dose a chance to work. These active chemicals are different from ambien, so you might not need "more" unisom to equal an ambien.

Something I realized I was doing to put myself to sleep til I started drinking - this is absolutely not a long term idea - but carb overload. Like, eat a couple of muffins and drink a glass of milk. Knocks me out pretty good.

 

[KwanYingirl]

I use Benadryl. A few times, I used up my Sonata before the month was up and my psychiatrist admonished me and said he'd never let me get it filled early again. But he's done it for me a few times. If you're out and it's too soon to fill it you can try calling the doc on call. As long as you know your dosage, they'll probably call it in for you.
Any psychiatrist worth his salt knows PTSD doesn't exist in a vacuum. As a recovering alcoholic with 23 years sober, I find myself teetering towards picking up because I can't stand my nocturnal demons. My docs know I supplement my meds with Benadryl. Because I happen to have developed sinus polyps from my chemical exposure. By the way, I never got my results from a CT scan and then years later after a fall down the basement stairs my left leg was numb and I had an MRI and was sent to a neurologist. He told me my MRI was normal but it wasn't. I had a herniated disc that was the cause of my leg problems. He told me to walk with a cane at age 55. Like hell I was settling for that. My Chiropracter healed me. You just have to be your own advocate with those schmucks. Are there any Integrated Health centers near you? They're staffed by progressive doctors who believe in all sorts of healers. They tend to be humble people not on the ego trip so many docs are on. I wish you lived in Maine. Christiane Northrups women's health center was founded here and you would get to the bottom of your pain.
Sorry to hear about a spinal mass. Keep us updated OK? Meanwhile, one of my tricks to sleeping through the night is to stay up really late. I may get only 5 hours sleep, but it's a deep sleep. Once when my psychiatrist gave me grief about my meds, I looked him straight in the eye and told him if he had lived my life, he'd put himself on a morphine drip. Sometimes he just stares at the wall and I think he is really trying to help me sleep. Reiki helped but I can't afford it right now cuz I bought a bunch of Alex and Ani bangles. Retail therapy.

 

[Seasounds]

Mixing anything beyond anti-histamies can cause side effects, with your other meds.
Speaking of milk, which has Tryptophan, L-Tryptophan, (800mg capsule form), and Kava, are over the counter options, that might work.

Ambien, increased my light sensitivity, and I get headaches from Melatonin. Anti-histamines work about the same, for me, as L-Tryptophan and Kava.

Also a heating pad, that turns off, after one hour, promotes falling asleep, as does a hot shower, with no noise, or electronics-for the hour prior to sleep.

 

[Friday]

Fair warning:
- For most adults antihistamines cause drowsiness.Hence the inclusion in sleep aids & nighttime cold medicine.
- For most children & some adults, antihistamines cause a case of the screaming heebie jeebies. Serious hyperactivity, manias, etc. Similar to most kids / some adults reaction to corticosteroids.
- For some adults (in both hypo & hyper) antihistamines can cause depressed respiratory response. For most, it's pretty negligible: like sleep apnea, you gasp yourself awake. For some it's fairly serious.
- For some adults antihistamines disrupt the sleep paralysis function: either triggering sleep walking, or the inability to move after you wake.

Soooooooo.... While antihistamines work as a good sleep aid for most adults, if you find yourself manic, waking repeatedly gasping, sleepwalking, or unable to wake up? It's a reaction to the meds & not new PTSD stuff to sort out.

 

[KwanYingirl]

@Saetva a heating pad that turns off automatically????? Where can I find one of those? I make feed corn bags that I heat in the microwave. My upstairs neighbor wondered why her closet smelled like popcorn!!

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Actually, unison liquid gels are the SAME as benadryl. It's the non-liquid gels that are a different drug.

I HATE that stuff because it has the power to drug you to high heaven and still not let you sleep. If you can't sleep because of a wired, racing mind, skip this one.

I agree with seeing a sleep doctor. A GP or psychiatrist knows nothing about sleep. They will throw sleeping pills at you even if you don't need them. My sleep doc is AWESOME! She spent two hours with me during my initial intake in order to determine the best course of treatment for me. She took me off all sleep meds except for melatonin and gave me a ton of things to do every day as part of my "sleep" routine. My first appointment was after a solid month of sleeping no more than an hour a night of twilight sleep, with many of those nights without any sleep. I think she expected a bad reaction from me when she told me she wouldn't give me any meds, but I was like PRAISE THE LORD, I DON'T WANT ANY! Her methodology worked, and my sleep is TONS better.

I have one of those microwave heat thingeys. I've had ones with beans, rice and wheat. The wheat ones seem to hold heat the longest.

Oh, and I have this liquid supplement called "Dream Water" that I LOVE! It works so very, very well at getting me to fall asleep. Its not the cheapest at around $1.50 a bottle (dose), but since its in liquid form it works so much better for me as opposed to melatonin pills or sublingual melatonin. Sublingual melatonin works well but MOST of it has B vitamins in it (which I can't take as they agitate me) and the only one I've found without B vitamins is full of sugar (and I'm kicking the sugar habit now). Dream water has other sleep aids in it, and its definitely worth $1.50 for a good night's sleep!

Ok, so scratch that. Dream water is not usually that cheap, rather I was able to get an awesome deal on Amazon last month. Now I'm trying to scout out places I can get a good deal on it....

 

[Chava]

Thanks everyone. Unisom (gel version) used to work okay but then they stopped working. But also, once in a while, they gave me like the crazy restless zoomies. So I understand them not working when I'm really hyper. I really want more ambien. I feel like a junky. I'd love to not need sleep meds, that's a goal for sure, but I can't handle any big changes or new challenges right now. new insurance will only pay for a few months with my therapist and I have this cyst and brain malformation stuff up in the air. IF I do have some of this stuff they really also need to do a sleep study because of connection to sleep apnea, but I gotta go one specialist at a time for the moment and tomorrow will have info tossed between radiologists then back to neurosciences.

It is really like a get-drunk-now kind of stress that I'm just done dealing with. I'd get a little boozey or drunk if I could but somehow my body didn't stop me before like .36 or seizures...like I just didn't barf or pass out but somehow kept drinking in a blackout well past the point of poisoning myself. Very toxic. But I love sedatives (and on ambien I really actually go to sleep)

Anyway, I just did a bunch of leg presses. It will help to get some of the energy down to manageable. then maybe try unisom, heading pad, etc. I wonder if I can do unisom and tryptophan capsules together. And milk and fat. And call for renewal of ambien after some of the crazy spinal junk settles.

@KwanYingirl , I have a shiatsu massage pillow that also has a heat setting and it shuts itself off automatically after 20 minutes in case you fall asleep. It's too clunky for me to use for the heat maybe, but I didn't realize this was a thing either. I have a really cheap-o heating pad but might look for something like this. It's just so hard to beat that feeling of just knocking yourself out.

 

[joeylittle]

Oh, and I have this liquid supplement called "Dream Water" that I LOVE!

I have always wondered about that stuff. It's nice to read that it's been working great for you. I think I might give it a try.

I'd love to not need sleep meds, that's a goal for sure, but I can't handle any big changes or new challenges right now.

I just wanted to say that I think it's totally fair to not push your body through every change all at once. You've got things going on right now, and sleep is important. I hope you can find some temporary sleep aid that works.