You're very lucky AmbienCR even works for you (even though you cannnot for the life of you sleep without it!).  Like all the others, doesn't do a thing for me.  Too bad a hydro or an ativan can....

Don't go down the merry go round with sleep aids. Behavior modification is more effective in dealing with sleep issues. Google it. Then if u try the techniques, and they don't work, go with Ambien CR. That is what works for me the past 2 yrs. The only problem is that I CAN NOT sleep without them. Period. Pisses me off that I cant. But glad I can. Wish I woulda tried behavior mod first. Lunesta is the worst! Metal taste 24hrs after a dose. Rozerim (abe) commercial stuff is no more effective than placebo, (read studies) So be careful, and meet me online in the morning btwn 0800-0900 in the am. I'll disscuss it with you via gmail. Not much for posting anymore....Love u tho, and I make exceptions for you.

Manonfire

Hey there!  I haven't been around much in the past few weeks (son's baseball season has taken over all my time!)....but I'm here at 2:00 in the morning trying to catch up a LITTLE at least.  

I've tried everything for sleep.  Started having major sleep issues during my first pregnancy 9 years ago....and things just went downhill from there.  I've tried them all, OTC stuff, antidepressants (for sleep), melatonin, lunesta, ambien, ambienCR, sonata, there was another one, can't remember the name.  Anyway, I don't like sleeping pills period.  They do weird things to me and my brain.  I sleep MUCH better on ativan....but have to deal with the fact that my body has become severely dependent....and if I want to seriously go off of them (but why would I do that -- it would put me back in the same boat?!), I'd have major withdrawals.  So, I'm in a pickle.  Cuz I'm also sure that 2 mg per night is going to increase at some point to 3 mg per night, then to 4, etc. etc. etc.  Right down that wicked path.  The only thing is, sleep is my shelter.  I can't survive without sleep.  I NEED decent sleep.  So I stay on the ativan.  For life?  I don't know.  I couldn't get a straightforward answer from my pain mgmt doc.  


Anyway, I can feel your agony over the sleep issue.   Let me know if you find something that works well for you!

Thanks,
K.  

.. as for insurance and the sleep meds, mine doesn't pay much for mine either (Sonata - which I love, btw.  I too, have been a chronic insomniac for years..)  They said they would only pay for Ambien..  They cover a little bit of the cost for the Sonata, but not much...

Said it had something to do with "off-label" or something like that.  And their approved list of drugs, which Ambien was, and mine was not.

If the meds are on their regular, approved (I take it that means they get it cheap, or there's a generic form of it) list of drugs, they cover it, but anything out of their norm, they don't (or not much of it, anyway..)

fyi... just some boring info I thought I'd toss out there. :-P

-mj

I'm on the Wellbutrin 150 mg once a day.  I hadn't thought about that but I might ask the doctor to reduce mine because I don't like that feeling of being so "ramped" up and that might be interfering with my sleep too.
Thank you,
Yoda

Hi I have been taking Rozeram for a year or more, since it first came out. It works pretty good for me and I have a monster of insomnia. It's tha one that the commercial has the beaver and Abe Lincoln. Just thought I'd let you know what helps me.

Hey Roof, glad to see you posting again!  Anyway, I've never taken anything prescribed for sleep.  I've tried OTC things like Unisom which gave me a horrible headache the next morning.  And Tylenol Pm but it makes me feel like I have a hangover the next morning.  So I'll ask the dr. about the Lunesta.  
Thanks for the suggestion!
Yoda

Lady S., I will definitely let you know how it goes.  I think my next appt. is on July 13th (I think that's a Friday, ooh...)
Gypsy, you just gave me a good laugh because I've seen that commercial so many times.  Maybe the doctor can give me samples of the Rozeram and the Lunesta so that I can see which one works best.
Roof, I wonder why insurance wouldn't pay for something like that.  I have crappy insurance, (better than none though), but if yours doesn't pay for the Lunesta, I'd bet mine won't either.
Thanks all,
Yoda, the sleepless one

Have you tried Lunesta for sleep?My doc gave me a rx for two weeks and i loved it .except it gave me a metal taste for the first few days.i slept great .no hangover either.kinda expensive and my insurance wouldn't pick it up.

i also sometimes take lunesta and i like it also.. my insurance covered most of it... If i payed cash it would have been 150.00  with my insurance its only $50.. I am lucky to not have experienced the metal taste people sometimes get.. others i have tried with success are trazodone.. cheap.. without insurance its 10 bucks...some people find they have to raise the dose after a few months though.. Sonata is another one that i tried and worked... now i am taking a 'sleep blend" from GNC with a L-theanine and my calcium magnesium supplement and that works well too... If needed I take a 1mg melatonin...

I would say ewwww to Lunesta!  It just didn't help me at all and waking up with a metal taste in your mouth that doesn't exactly go away...not fun!!

Currently, I'm taking trazadone as a sleep aid.  At 25 mg, it is still way too strong for me (makes me oversleep and feel like a bus hit me).  But, I don't wake up at all during the night.

Thanks to all of you for the suggestions.  If we can get me to sleeping decently, I may have to have a party and invite all of you!  Seriously, I appreciate the input.  Now I'm going to start getting ready for bed.  I'm tired but I dread going to bed because I just get aggravated more when I don't sleep worth a darn.
Thank you very much,
Yoda

I'm hoping you sleep well :D  I know how it goes to be frustrated by going to bed...!!

Hey.. I just went on Welbutrin a few weeks ago (and was on it a number of months back, for a few months) and I gotta tell ya, it really works for me.

But the first time I tried it, I started on a low dose - 100mg - then tried a little more.  Even the little more was too much.. I got way too ramped up on it.  So went back to the 100 mg. which is what I am taking now.  Any more was too much...

How many mg. are you taking?  Many they can reduce it?

-mj

I've been on elavil for an antidepressant for years. I started on 50mg and was pushed up to 75 where I stayed for a few years. Now I'm taking 300mg, which isn't and unheard of dose, but probably more than you will ever need. Taking it at bed time allowed me to sleep fairly good during my whole taper and w/d. In a way you're on two antidepressants, although, elavil is being used to treat pain now, also. It's a very old drug but I think a good one. Wellbutrin didn't help me, but all of us are different and it's helped a lot of people I know.
When I take my elaivl at night I better be in bed in about 40 minutes to an hour or I'm out like a light no matter where I am. I can't tell you how many times I have slept at my desk. lol
Talk to your Dr. and see what he things...be sure to let me know, ok??
Take Care.......C

I don't know about Elavil, but I did take Wellbutrin for several months. Glad you got through the first wekk of it. It made me want to cry at anything. I did loose weight on it though.