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.