Need help with sleep

[msa1633]

I have been on the clinical trial of NM283 and pegasys for 28 weeks before rising VL forced me off the trial and on to Riba. (never missed a shot of IFN) So now at week 4 with the Riba (and procrit) I can't get enough sleep. The riba seems to have me wired up a bit and I can't shut off my brain to sleep. I am a person that needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep while not on tx and now I am only getting 5 or 6 on tx. I work in a very mentally demanding job with a lot of stress.  Each day I get more stressed and this causes more problems with going to sleep. I can't do anything on weekends except re-charge by napping when I can. I maintained a very positive attitude the 28 weeks of tx in the trial, now I am starting to feel depressed and getting the riba rage. I am just before loosing it. I have to get some sleep.
I have moved my evening Riba to 4PM with a snack. Eat dinner at 6PM. On an empty stomach at 8PM take 1 to 1.5 mg zanax and one 12.5 ambian CR. Lights out at 9. Background noise of simulated rain sounds going. I usually can't go to sleep until midnight or later. I usually wake up at 5:30 even though alarm doesn't go off until 6:30. I just can't go back to sleep.
I don't want to go on anti-dep. My wife thinks I should take zanax during the day to stop from getting so keyed up. I want something to knock me out at bedtime so I can get the sleep I need. At the Hep C support group last night someone recommended amitriptyline which I think is generic for Elavil. Would this be good or are there any other suggestions? I can handle being a little groggy in the AM for good sleep.

[goldyn]

I found that ativan calms your nerves for a longer period of time were as xanax may hit you quicker ativan lowers your nerves for a longer time, and they are not a anti dep so you can take em when you want,ativan has been around for years so docs arent shy to to give it to you i take 1mg at 12:00 noon then 1mg, at 9:00 at night  about 1 hour before bed and that usually helps me sleep alot , of course you wake up to pee but i seem to go back to sleep ok only had to use ambien a few times ......

[OnAPrettyPoison]

I had lots of sleep troubles while on treatment.  The riba wired me out.  I could go to sleep but couldn't stay asleep.  I rotated sleep stuff around so no one thing got where it didn't work.  I started with the benadryl, OTC sleep aids, prescription antihistimines, and graduated to Ambien.  I rotated it all around saving the Ambien for the few days after shots.  Being that you are already on some pretty effective stuff, you may want to request something like Lunesta and kind of rotate your sleep stuff around.  That finally let me go to sleep and feel like a human being when I woke up.  Lack of sleep can make you feel extra bad on top of the treatment drugs....Hope you feel better soon.

[mycoldfeet]

I take valium three times a day to take the edge off the riba and it helps me sleep, not to mention cheap (like me) but it lets me sleep and I dont wake up groggy, of course there is a lot of sleep aids out there, ambien,  lunesta and a bunch I forgot, your Dr. has a bunch of samples he can give ya, try em out before you get a script for a month.

[bnowik]

what i did is tell my dr. i also went to ambiencr.com and signed up to receive a weeks worth of free ambiam cr.  sign up, print out, have dr. sign it and the pharmacy will give you 7 free.  






oh by the way y'all in the forum hello!!!

[msa1633]

Just a final comment. I have taken zanax for years off and on as needed and .5 to 1mg have always been sufficient to calm me enough to get a good nights sleep. Now, I can't feel any effect from 1.5 mg. Maybe I should up the dose. Just don't know if that is the right thing to take to fight the riba. Need your suggestion of what to try so I can the list to my doctor next week.

[goldyn]

I found that ativan calms your nerves for a longer period of time were as xanax may hit you quicker ativan lowers your nerves for a longer time, and they are not a anti dep so you can take em when you want,ativan has been around for years so docs arent shy to to give it to you i take 1mg at 12:00 noon then 1mg, at 9:00 at night  about 1 hour before bed and that usually helps me sleep alot , of course you wake up to pee but i seem to go back to sleep ok only had to use ambien a few times ......