**Yes, another Clonodine question**

[NautyOne]

Okay, I guess i a really frustrated !!  Clonodine.....prescribed to me for PMDD hot flashes and night sweats courtesy My Aunt Flo......I hate that witch!!.  anyway, I am prescribed to take it every night, but i didn't do that for a while.  I would take it with the Ativan only 2weeks out of the month.  Well, I started taking as prescribed a couple months ago, and I am finding that if I don't take it.......I CAN'T SLEEEEPPP....and I mean the God Help Me....I CAN'T SLEEP that you get with withdrawal.  I posted before questioning if I am addicted to it.  I can't stand anything controlling me since I got off the Vic's and now ..when I don't take the clonodine I get flash-backs of those long and sleepless nights of withdrawal.  

What is going on?...has anyone had this problem?.......I don't necessarily want to stop taking it, but lets say I do.  Will I suffer long-term sleep deprivation ......God knows I need that.......has anyone stopped taking it after a long period of time and how long till you got sleep.  I forgot to take it again tonight...its midnight and I know i will be up for another 2 hours.......grrrrrrrrr

I hate Drugs !!!!!

luv,
nauty............

[jref]

YOU GUYS SHOULD TRY NEURO SLEEP. i get it at 711 , krausers , it has melotonin l theanine , some great stuff. i had the same problem as you guys. neurosleep saved my life

[NautyOne]

Jimmy, you are a "Flirty-Bird"....lol.  All that buzzing in your ears is all the ladies talking about you........;-))

[PromisedLand]

No, wasn't flirting with the Yaz lady...the lady who does the yogurt commercials in the grocery store by removing the product from it's container...(shudder)...actually no, this was about 10-12 years ago..

re: Benadryl...be careful with benadryl....I used it for a long time to sleep and developed a case of tinnitus..constant ringing or buzzing in your ears)...of course alot of the meds we were/are addicted to can do the same.   I hate not being able to sleep and it's a frequent problem with me.

sleepy beargimo

[NautyOne]

Wow!  that is pretty good if you normally take that many Benedryl and trams.  I have heard of the teas, and the Kava.  I remember using Kava many years ago, an it did work well for anxiety.  I have read that Kava is really hard on your liver so be careful with that esp. if you are taking a lot of tramadol..well, wait....does tramadol have acetaminophen in it?.....even so, be careful.  Kava is not easy to find anymore....

Hmmm?  I probably will keep up with the clonodine, but it just makes me thoroughly angry.

grrrrnauty.........

[sammie02]

Well, I have been having some major issues sleeping as well... So I took a field trip to Sprouts Farmer's Market yesterday, and picked up some Celestial Seasonings NightyNight tea and some Kava Kava. I read up on the Kava, and it is supposed to help with anxiety, depression, and insomnia... And since I have been trying like the devil to stop taking my tramadol on an (out-of-control) daily basis, I figured I would try something natural. The tea smells and tastes amazing, with chamomile, lemongrass, spearmint, and valerian root... I just added about one dropperful of the Kava (which smells and tastes AWFUL, but it mostly covered by the taste of the tea)... and I slept like a baby without taking my normal dose of 4 Benadryl plus 10 Tramadol. I only took one Benadryl, and two Tramadol. I actually had a FULL NIGHT of sleep, without taing all those pills! Maybe that could help you... Just thought I would throw in my two cents...   :)

[NautyOne]

LOL  Jimmy.......were you flirting with the YAZ lady???........hehe.  Will not even consider Ambien or the big butterfly........nope.  Would take a hammer to my head first!!

I've had to a few times.......hmm.  maybe that's it?

MsGoat.......Hey! no problem.  I am not far from LA.....Shoot me a PM when your in town........I'm always up for some "girl action".......lmao!!

nauty..........

[PromisedLand]

I have ambien around when I can't sleep but i don't think I've taken it for 6 months..I've always gone right to sleep with it...heck, you practically have to be sitting in bed when you take it...but I've also had some of the other side effects..not recently..but several years ago I had hallucinations, would carry on conversations with people i'd have no recollection of (one of which I still hear about from my wife)....

so, I'm a little nervous about taking it these days...last night I couldn't sleep for first time in months but decided agains take ambien...just lived through it..but I hate it....the biggest fear in my life (well..second fear) is not being able to sleep at night...I used to go weeks without sleeping when i was younger.

Jim with 3 refills left on the ambien.....eeeesh


Jim

[mtgoat911]

oh sorry i thought you were on sub at one point i thought we talked about it via email, thats my bad, its hard for me to keep up sometimes
if the otc meds are helping you sleep they are probably safer than a precription sleep aid, i would not loose sleep over taking them, tee hee
i would have started on clonidine but my doc said that tenex would be better for me because i forget to take it all the time same with my thyriod medicine, she said that you cannot abrubtly stop the clonidine so she decided on a different bp meds, now that i am thinking about it, its probably been 3 to 4 days since i have taken my thyriod medicine, oh well going to take care of that now
hope you have a great day, i think you are so funny, i do wish we could hang out sometime, i will be visiting la in a few months not sure how close you are
i am taking my youngest son (7) to see a hip hop show then i am going to see the derby dolls

[NautyOne]

Okay, the clonidine was given to me for a purpose.  I would only take it about 12 days before Aunt Flo, and then would stop.  I do take Ativan...oops sorry i forgot.  I take it about 6 days out of the month.  No problem with Ativan!......

I started taking the clonodine as prescribed.  1 @ bedtime.  I did notice it made me sleepy.  On a few occasions lately I either forgot to take it at the normal time or didn't refill and found that I couldn't fall asleep to save my life...even with the tylenol PM...that creeped me out!  I can see that that stuff has taken me over in the sleep dept. and it worries.

G-Guy....I do need the clonodine it really does help with PMS/PMDD symptoms.  I found that it works better when I take it as prescribed, not teeter totting with 2 weeks on ...2 weeks off.  I guess I am just venting because i a mad that it's controlling me, and wondering if I ever do stop taking it, how long will it take for me to sleep again...months, years???oiyy

MsGoat..baaa.......I have never been on sub.  thank god, but my sleep problems are all because of me.  I screwed it all up with the Nyquil and Tylenol Pm.....I have given in to the fact that I probably have to take the OTC"s for life.  I'm okay with it, but I'm not thrilled.  I dont' abuse the stuff.....It just helps me sleep.

Thanks Guys!

NautyBeachBunny..........

[GA Guy]

Nauty..have you ever considered swapping to another nonaddictive sleep aid and tapering off the clonidine? Maybe swapping to one that doesn't monkey with your BP would make it easier to get off them all. Trazadone and especially Atarax (hydroxyzine) come to mind. Atarax worked very well for me at one time.

[mtgoat911]

i am not sure you are physically addicted to the clonidine, but people with addicted personalities can become addicted to harmless meds in other ways
you could always talk to your doc about sleep meds (non-narcotic), trazadone helped me sleep but i was unable to get going in the morning
congradulation on getting off the sub., that could be what is causing sleep problems
and dont feel bad that you have to take something for sleep, some people have sleep disorders, its common, you can even schedule a sleep study
fyi......to me you will always be a 20yr old beach baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NautyOne]

I take Neurontin 800mg down fro 1800mg.  I drink a minimum of 2 liters of Pepsi a day and completely destroyed any chance of normal sleep.  I have used a otc sleep aid since I was 18 yrs old.  That would be only 2 years if I were the hot beach babe from Florida...lol.  So, back to reality...I've been doing this for a lonnng time.  I don't even want to try to humor myself by trying to get a nights sleep without something.  

That's all I take, and the Pepsi is not the cause......

Clonodine....1mg and tylenol pm 21/2 tabs.......and I am knocked out!.... i tried just the ty pm and now it doesn't work.....ahhhhhh  dammm clonodine.  If I had only known...just following drs orders.......never again!!

luv,
nauty.......

[mtgoat911]

it maybe helpful to list everything you are taking, i can ask my friend from work if there is any reaction to the combination
i have trouble sleeping too, and i am on a bp med called tenex, the bp meds do not knock me out, i will occasionally take otc pm meds, usually after several nights of not sleeping, a few weeks ago i almost wrecked my car because i was so tired
whoever said lack od sleep never killed anyone, was an idiot
people think once you detox sleep will come natural but in my experience you go back to the way you were before the drugs, i have always had a hard time with sleep, even as a small child, but when my husband got off sub he began to fall asleep without any issues, he did not have a history of sleep disorder
i also want you too keep in mind that clonidine, atavan and suboxone are not the best combination and can become a problem for your respiratory system, ever since my friend died from a similair combination i am scared to see people combine these meds,
i use a heating pad at night to help me sleep, not sure why but it relaxes me, then i read until i fall asleep, if you can even call it that! i am a fan of melatonin but my doc requested that i stay away from kava which is a good natural sleep aid but hard on your liver
i also make up my bed right when i get up, this prevents me from getting back in the bed during the day
i should stay away from caffine but i am just not there with this drug, i love frapps and sodas
sometimes if i do something during the day that i know i should not have done i cannot sleep because i am thinking about what i have done or said, so the 10th step helps me with obsessive negative thoughts that are common with people who are addicted or been diagnosed with adhd
i also use meditation to help me sleep, i start with an inspirational quote, after taking the time to reflect, i seem to loose some of that fear and worry that keeps me awake, i try to let go off all that and fall asleep
and last but not least i have accepted that i am not one of these people who will be getting a ton of sleep, i have leanred to function with whatever sleep i get, i learned this working ems,

[NautyOne]

Well its obvious it has taken me over!!......I can't sleep without it.  I take tylenol pm on top of the clonodine to sleep.  Sleep has always been an issue with me.  My sister got me started on Nyquil and i never
ever looked back.  I am totally dependent on substance to sleep since I was 18 years old.  Sad.  Before the clonodine the tylenol pm worked fine, but now I need them both.......

Oiyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy   What I would give to just fall asleep without a helper...it suks!!!!!!!  

Thanks you guys.......Mary....my obsession!!..lol.  I can always count on you...:-))

[PromisedLand]

I had the same problem...On the other hand the stuff turned me into a zombie and all I wanted to do was sleep.  My daughter came home one night and found me sleeping sitting up at the computer.


Jim

[allaboutmary]

I feel the same way Nauty. Hate having to take any pills on a daily basis. I can't live without my Advil though.  My guess is your body is dependent on it. The same thing would probably happen if you took a Benadryl every night. Maybe try and taper down. Break the pills into 1/4's, and reduce a 1/4 every 4 or 5 days. If you go cold turkey from them, you might have a few sleepless nights, but I'm sure it will eventually come back.