Ambien or klonipan for sleep on solumedrol?

I am on day number four of solumedrol and last night I barely slept at all even taking the ambien 5mg.

My question is what do you think would work better for sleep tonight.

Should i take two of the ambien, 10mg total or should I take a 1mg klonipan?

I am not really familiar with sleeping pills.  If I need help sleeping under normal circumstances, I usually take a melatonin or a benydrl and that usually does the trick.

These steroids are revving me up but I really need some sleep.

Tanks for the advice.

Hopefully I'll get some answers in the next couple of hours.

Kerri

[Starryeyes2]

I take 10 mg of Ambien and it does the trick. I also have Klonopin but am nervous to take it. I'm pretty happy with the Ambien.

Good luck and sweet dreams! (I hope)

Kristi

[Sumanadevii]

Yes, I too took 10mg Ambien...and you might ask for xanax, too.

[wildcat2x]

I've been taking the 10 mg of ambien as I have issues falling asleep, when I was in the hosital on the steriods they gave me 5 mg, as I had prednisone when I got home we discussed it and upped it to 10 mg, which works well for me.

Wildcat2x

[kerrtelli]

Thanks.  I took the 2 ambien last night and I fell asleep and slept about 7 hours.

I only have 1 pill left for tonight so we will. See how it goes tonight.

Today is my last treatment.

[COBOB]

Ambien is pretty expensive.  Given the issues with spastic legs waking me up every two hours, my PCP added 10 mg of Valium at bedtime.  I have not slept this well in several years.

Bob

[Quixotic1]

I vote for the 10mg of Ambien.  It is a pretty safe med.  Clonazepam (Klonopin) is not appropriate for occasional use for sleeping.  It takes a few hours to reach maximum effect and it is better suited for use with chronic conditions so that it's long action can have continuous effect.  It takes 30 to 40 hours for your body to clear half of it.  It's use is good for ongoing problems like spasticity (as Bob notes), RLS, anxiety, seizures, and such.

A shorter acting benzodiazepine like Xanax or Valium is better suited, but can be addictive when used for a lengthy period of time.  


See if your doctor won't add another several tablets so you can sleep tonight and tomorrow night.  You might even need 5mg for a couple nights after that.  It takes upwards of 15 to 20 hours for your body to clear 1/2 of the steroids that are in your body, so you can be revv'ed up for a while after you stop them.

Quix

[Quixotic1]

Oh, and there are multiple generics for Abien (Zolpidem).  Much cheaper.

Ambien can be addictive in some.  Mostly, though, for a few days after you stop it after long-term use, you don't sleep as well.  I have been able to start and stop pretty easily even after years of use.

Quix

[michelleric]

The Nurse-Practioner @ the "pain" neuros office, ordered me Serequel to sleep while on IVSM.  I stopped now, since I am done. but that knocked me out!  I will save them, until my next bout with IVSM, which hopefully will be never!  :)