Will I ever be able to sleep without the help of a sleep aide medicine?

I think it is worth trying to get off the pills. I have never taken any sleeping pills, but I would think it takes a few weeks to adjust. Do you drink a lot of caffiene? Make sure your bedroom is very dark. Also, I have read the best way to adjust to a new sleep pattern is to stay up later and later until you go around the clock to the new time. Like lets say you want to go to sleep at 10:00pm, but seem to fall asleep around 2:00am naturally. What this theory suggests is purposefully staying awake until 4:00am so you go to bed very tired, the next night would be 6:00am then 10:00am. It is like readjusting from bad jet lag.

They say tossing and turning waiting to sleep is not a good plan, and it normally takes people approx 20 minutes to fall asleep.

You shouldn’t have cold-turkeyed!! many drugs need to be weaned off. You might need prescription meds, or a sleep study. Try melatonin, chamomile tea, cut down on coffee. I have a sleep disorder so do take a sedative every night- no harn and it’s been 20 years.

Try weaning gradually. One pill first night, ½ pill second night, first week.

Second week, one pill first night, ½ pill second and third nights, etc.

Third week – ½ pill nightly.

Fourth week – ½ pill every other night…

Eventually you can have a crumb or two nightly and then just stop.

Allow me to offer my professional thoughts on this subject. I would not recommend you start taking the sleep aid. Instead What you should do is try something different to help you fall asleep. Like my be an hour or so be for you plan to go to bed, lay down and relax. Another thing you can do is like gailcalled said, wean yourself of them. If our 2 suggestions do not seem to work I would recommend that you seek professional medical help, Go to your DR and tell them what is going on. They can help you to stop with the sleep aid. This is a very touchy situation due to the fact the it is very very easy to get “hooked” on sleep aids but very hard to get off on them once you have been taking them for a long time. I hope this has helped you.
Thank You
Scotty Hicks.

You should talk to your doctor. Those over the counter sleeping pills can be worse than ambien!
edit:Chamomile tea might take the edge off too.

@JLeslie Good tips! You’re right, it is exactly like readjusting after bad jet lag.
@everyone else The only problem with slowly stopping the pills is that they are gel filled so cutting them isn’t an option…
@Judi Do you happen to know the side effects or long term health problems they can cause. I tried to do an Internet search but didn’t come up with too much info.

Can you tell us what you were taking?

It’s the generic version of Unisom. It’s sold at walmart.

from this website.

Drug tolerance. You may have to take more and more of the sleep aid for it to work, which can lead to more side effects.
Drug dependence. You may come to rely on the medication to sleep, and will be unable to sleep or have even worse sleep without it.
Withdrawal symptoms. If you stop the medication abruptly, you may have withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating and shaking
Side effects. There are several side effects to sleep medications, such as drowsiness the next day, confusion, forgetfulness and dry mouth. These side effects can be severe.
Drug interactions. If you are taking other medications, sleeping medications can interact with them. This can worsen side effects and be dangerous with medications like prescription painkillers and other sedatives.
Rebound insomnia. If you need to stop the medication, sometimes the insomnia can become even worse than before.
Masking an underlying problem. There may be an underlying medical or mental disorder, or even a sleep disorder, that if treated would provide more relief from insomnia.

@ItalianPrincess1217 I am a chronic insomniac. I had exhausted myself trying over the counter meds and remedies. Nothing worked! After I seriously had issues sleeping less than an hour or two a night for about two years, my husband convinced me (forced me ;) to get checked by the doc. He prescribed a low dose anti-depressant for the chronic insomnia (which also caused my chronic migraines to be unbearable) and my migraines to be taken each night at bedtime.

While it’s not a magic pill, amytriptyline has allowed me for the past two years to get at least 5–6 hours minimum sleep per night, and to suffer one to 3 migraines per month.

Go to your doctor and be honest. Let him or her know the whole story.

I googled unisom and I see that it could be diphenhydrinate which is primarily used to treat allergies and whose side effect is drowsiness. @SpatzieLover has it right. you could get something specifically ordered for you.

@faye Yes that’s what was in my medicine.
@SpatzieLover It sounds like you are troubled with the exact same sleep issues as me. I get the migraines also. It’s horrible. My doctor did put me on anti depressants in the past for my headaches but they made me feel like a zombie! I couldn’t function during the day. I felt more depressed than ever!

@ItalianPrincess1217 Did you tell the doctor that? What was the dosage? I take 10mg at bedtime (usually 5mg does the trick, though ;) and my doctor knows it).

@SpatzieLover Thats where I went wrong. I didn’t bother going back to my doctor. I got fed up and just stopped taking the anti-depressants. I believe the dosage was 10mg.

And to answer an earlier question, no I try to stay away from caffeine. I don’t drink much pop or coffee. The only thing I usually drink before bed is water and apple juice. Could apple juice be an issue?

@ItalianPrincess1217 Go back. Tell the doc you need the anti-depressants again. It takes three weeks to build it up in your system. During that time take half a pill each night. On weekend nights or nights where you know if you’re groggy in the AM it won’t be a big deal, take 10mg. There after take 5mg each night, and take the 10mg only as needed.

You can take as much as 25mg for pain therapy. So, if you’re ever having a bad spell, you can take more if the insomnia or the migraines get out of control again.

How long will you need to do this? Possibly for life. However, you should not be on the pills while trying to get pregnant and cannot take them during pregnancy.

Living with migraines and insomnia is clearly not working for you. It’s time to get medical help. I know you! :) You are probably being stubborn. I’ve been there. Get the prescription again.

You and I can talk again when you are pregnant or have a babe. There are some options available safe to baby when that time comes

NO, the apple juice is not harming your sleep. You’ll need it or water at your bedside for as long as you take an anti-depressant, as the pills cause dry mouth. The only bad thing I can say about apple juice is that fruit acids can eat away your tooth enamel

@SpatzieLover Great advice! And yes, you caught me. I was being stubborn. I’m heading back to the doctor for sure. And within the next couple years I’ll be sending you a pm about how to safely sleep while pregnant :) I do remember how terrible the dry mouth was while on the pills. And constipation if I recall correctly:(

@ItalianPrincess1217 I don’t suffer constipation as long as I drink plenty of water and get a good fill of V-8’s and other fiber filled drinks/fruit & veg servings…but the dry mouth does cause the need for the bedside water

@SpatzieLover I will definitely give them another shot. And this time I’ll make sure I keep hydrated!

@ItalianPrincess1217
Sending ((((((((((((Healing Thoughts and Pleasant dreams))))))))))))) your way!
It’s tough to be stubborn! I currently have an ear infection that’s returned and my husband asked me tonight when I’ll be making the appointment for. I’m always so sure I’m beating “it” whatever “it” is ;)

@SpatzieLover Thank you! I’m feeling better already;)

If it’s really just related to a stressful job, my advice really would be about changing the ways you do your job. Sleeplessness might be due to (mild) burnout syndrome or general anxiety about your job, your boss or colleagues, or to some other reasons. In Germany larger companies offer confidential counseling sessions. Sometimes it’s possible to reduce stress while actually increasing results and quality of results. Self management techniques are just one example of how this can be achieved. Sleeping pills should be the exception and doctors should prescribe it for medical reasons.

If you try anti-depressants again don’t try the same one, sounds like that one was not working for you, even though you didn’t stay on it long. My vote is to NOT try the anti-depressants yet, if you are not depressed. I realize they are used for other problems, but I tend to lean towards no drugs if possible. Also, a specific routine for sleep sometimes helps. I saw this special on tv and in the middle of the day they showed a father draw the curtains and then read their son a book in bed and stroke his head as they always do before he goes to bed. The child fell asleep, like it was bedtime. I relate to this. If I lay down next to my husband and he rubs my forehead and bridge of my nose I usually get so relaxed I fall asleep no matter when it is.

You are WAITING to fall asleep, which is a very frustrating feeling. Don’t lay down to bed until you are very tired. You can be in bed reading or watching tv, but don’t put yourself down in the covers hoping sleep will come until you are actually tired.

@JLeslie Amitriptyline in this usage is not for depression. In low dose it is used for pain management. Besides insomnia, @ItalianPrincess1217 also has migraines. Often it’s a chicken & an egg scenario….which came first the insomnia or the headache. Her doctor will be able to explain this all to her, as mine did to me.

I have never had any symptoms of depression. I thought it was an odd prescription to be given until I did some Internet searching, and saw these reviews and others

I too use Amitriptyline (10 mg) at night for chronic insomnia. It is a life-saver and not a mood-enhancer. It used to be called Elavil and was, in higher dosages,one of the earliest anti-depressants.

@SpatzieLover I know. I had chronic pain years ago and they tried me on elavil (I could not function, I can see why people sleep well on that drug) and then on prozac and it was awful for me (I am not against antidepressants I have a few friends who have become their former selves after years of problems). No matter what the use, it is still an antidepressant.

@JLeslie I think anyone that isn’t an insomniac can’t fully understand the nightly battle. I went years without having a proper night of sleep. Years! A low dose at bedtime has been life saving.

@SpatzieLover I’m sure that is true, that I probably do not understand the full impact of having chronic insomnia. I just think @ItalianPrincess1217 should give it a try without drugs. Not years, I would never suggest trying for years, at some point the stress on the body and mind of coping with pain or lack of sleep is much more detrimental than taking a medication. I am not against medication, I am just against turning to them for a quick fix before trying other methods, except in accute cases for temporary relief like during a tragedy or time of very high stress.

@JLeslie I would agree. However, if her doctor thought her migraines were affecting her sleep prior to this and gave her low dose anti-depressants for pain management, I think she should follow through with the treatment this time to see if it can help her live a normal life. Personally, I don’t think migraine suffering insomniacs belong driving on roads without treatment.

@SpatzieLover I just also want to encourage her to pay attention to her own body and not just do something because a doctor says so. I am not arguing against what you said, just adding my two cents. I think it all is true and all counts, listen to your doctor, listen to your own body, and remember sometimes it takes time to find the right answer.

@JLeslie :) Honestly I am not attempting to contradict you. I agree. It took me over 25yrs to find a solution to my headaches. I had been through a battery of neurological tests and a slew of drugs, all while keeping fit, eating healthy, meditating doing yoga…basically anything I could to find normalcy.

Any chronic health issue requires some patience and keying in to figure out what feels right or wrong to the patient.

One visit to my family doc, who also suffers from migraines, and the issue was nearly resolved completely with a much safer drug than the past ones I’d been prescribed.

@SpatzieLover I didn’t think you were, just wanted to be sure you knew I too was not trying to contradict you. :).

@JLeslie sometimes it’s difficult, because I think I’m being conversational, but others read it as debating. ;)

@SpatzieLover I worry about the same thing, that is why I made the statement that I did not want you to perceive me as contradicting you, rather just adding to the conversation. I should have realized you get me after you appreciated the gift from my husband for my crystal anniversary.

@JLeslie I will NEVER forget that anniversary! I wants one too! :0)