Does Rozerem help for sleep?

[Madison55]

I have sleep anxiety and only sleep 4 to 5 hours a night.  I feel exhausted most of the time and I am able to fall asleep with melatonin but only helps for about 4 hours.  I've tried Ambien, Clonazepam and everything over the counter. Clonazepam seemed to work but it's a controlled drug so I would like to get off it.  Has anyone tried Rozerem? It's not a controlled drug.  Thoughts or experience on Rozerem would be appreciated.

[GettingOlder]

Just about three years now.

[Paxiled]

Keep in mind that what works for one won't necessarily work for another.  Also, this drug isn't a sleep remedy, it's an antidepressant that has sedation as a common side effect.  The same reason clonazepam sometimes works for sleep -- it's sedating as an unwanted side effect.  The manufacturer of remeron would be a lot happier if it didn't make people so sleepy, but it did.  Doctors often prescribe drugs for their side effects, but that doesn't solve anything, and antidepressants can poop out at some point.  It might be the best solution, or it might not be.  Remember, at the same time this drug is making you sedated it's also targeting brain neurotransmitters.  As for weight gain, this drug causes the most people to suffer weight gain of any antidepressant on the market.  It's often given to the elderly who have stopped eating because it makes almost everyone want to eat while taking it.  On the other hand, there have been people on this forum who found this the best anti-anxiety drug they ever took and who gained no weight at all on it, so everything depends on the person.  My main point is that it is probably not a great idea to recommend specific drugs to others because we can never tell how a particular drug will affect someone else.  We can say what it did for us, and let the poster discuss it with their psychiatrist.  But everyone does need to know when a drug is doing something because of side effects so they can also know that it also has effects they might or might not find attractive.

[Madison55]

Thank you for your responses Paxiled and GettingOlder.  
Paxiled you sound extremely knowledgeable when it comes to different medication. My goal is to NOT to be on any drug. I am tapering off Lexapro after 6 weeks and I noticed it helps me fall asleep but does not give me the deep REM sleep that we all long for.  It gives me a calming effect but overall don't like all the side effects it gave me.  Before I got on Lexapro, I took Clonazepam occasionally.  It gave me a good 6 to 7 hours of deep sleep.  However, ever since I started Lexapro it no longer does that for me.  Lexapro gives me the feeling of  feeling half awake and half asleep.  It gives me vivid dreams too.  I'd rather get off it and use Clonazepam when I need it until this stressful time of my life passes. Lexapro is not for me, but it's worked so well on other people.  I actually purchased the Fisher Wallace Stimulator to help with my anxiety.  Have you heard of this machine? Some people swear that it works.  I'm willing to try it to get off my meds for good.

[Paxiled]

Sorry, haven't heard of it.  The fact is, almost all drugs that are sedating or affect brain neurotransmitters, including benozs like clonazepam, are known to interfere with REM sleep.  That's not the deepest sleep, by the way, that's the dream part of sleep, as I understand it, but it's quite important.  But if clonazepam is the only thing that works for you, if therapy hasn't worked and meditation doesn't work and exercise doesn't work, etc., again, the fact it's a controlled substance isn't really what you should focus on.  If you only take it on an occasional basis it will still be easier to stop taking and do less altering of your brain than taking an antidepressant daily.  Pot is a controlled substance and it's a whole lot easier to stop taking than virtually any medication affecting brain neurotransmitters.  It's just a legal description.  The key is how hard is it to get your brain back to normal if you choose to stop taking it.  

[GettingOlder]

Just for the record, after 3 years my weight has gone down 15 pounds, so yes, I guess it's different
for each individual.

[GettingOlder]

I take the lowest dose (15mg) and don't have any problem with weight gain. I take it about
30 minutes before going to sleep and I sleep soundly for 7 to 8 hours with no morning drowsiness like some of the PM tablets.

[Madison55]

That's amazing. How long have you been taking it? I'll ask my Dr about this medication on my next visit.

[Babytike]

What drug is it that's helping with no weight gain?? Roserem????

[specialmom]

Do you take a medication that is weight neutral or are you looking for one Babytike?

[GettingOlder]

You might want to ask your doctor if mirtazapine will help you. It helped me a lot!

[Madison55]

Thank you. I've read about mirtazapine. I heard it's very potent and makes you gain weight too. Is that true? How many hours of sleep does it give you?

[Paxiled]

Just read a bit about it.  It seems to be one of a new class of drugs that began in Europe that are basically looking at melatonin rather the usual suspects.  But melatonin will only work well if the problem is your Circadian rhythms are off -- if your sleep problem is from another cause, this might not work.  One thing about using melatonin is the dose -- most people take too much, thinking more is better.  With melatonin, less is usually better -- when it was first studied it was determined not to work because they used too high a dose.  This drug appears to mimic melatonin kind of like neurontin mimics GABA.  The fact a drug is controlled or not isn't really what we worry about.  What we worry about is the side effects and difficulty quitting a medication that alters the way the body works naturally.  As this seems to be a newer drug, there probably isn't a lot of info yet on how people do with it long-term.  Remember that antidepressants are not controlled substances but have pretty much the same difficulties when you try to stop taking them, depending on the person.  I'm guessing that if clonazepam, which is not  a sleep remedy but an anxiety remedy, worked for you, your problem is anxiety and not a melatonin problem, but that doesn't mean either melatonin or this drug might not work for sleep.  It does mean it won't solve your problem if it's an anxiety problem and not a sleep disorder alone.  Only trying it will probably tell you how it will affect you.