I could only wish for 5 hours of sleep! I have tried many different sleeping aides and none of them have worked for me. I am luck if I cam lay long enough to take an hour snooze much less sleep lol. Sorry I couldn't have been of more assistance.

Hello.

Klonapin is a fairly strong drug... it may be the reason you feel like you've been hit by a truck the next day.

There are a lot of alternatives that are much milder. I use desipramine and flexeril, but I have read dozens of other options on the threads on this board. You can look back through them and find lots of options you could speak with your doctor about.

I know people who have developed severe addictions to Klonapin, and one close friend who died from an overdose... so it's definitely not a drug to be taken lightly.

I'm sure if you talk to your doctor you can come up with something that will make you feel better the next day rather than worse. Or you could go with the natural options - melatonin, tryptophan, St. John's Wort, chamomile... there are lots of choices.

My problem is not staying asleep, but getting to sleep. I have been taking Ambien for about a year now and it's working well for the most part.

I do wake up groggy most mornings but that passes quickly once I get up and moving.

i am on restoril at the time but not satisifed,so i will b asking advice from my rheumy on 26.i did get me a memory bed though and it has helped me to sleep with less interruptions during the night.i dont remember waking up in pain because i need 2 change positions.i need a med that will help me reach the level of restorative sleep.i am very thankful to god that even though im not where i want 2 b with my sleep im not where i was and im anticapting ,expecting more great results.the sleep will benefit me deeply.much love many prayers,maddiesgrammie,

As we know we are all so different. I tried the ambien and i didn't sleep any better. Tried trazadone (sp?) and was awake for 48 hours.

soma (muscle relaxer ) helped me fall alsleep but was awake in 3-4 hours. Got so bad I was shaking and couldn't concentrate. As a last resort I tried Ativan and I now sleep 4-6 hours, at least 4 of good sleep. I've seen many say it's highly addictive but my doc (and a few good people here) said not to worry if you take according to directions which I do. I even try to take less than what they prescribe. these days I feel almost human!!

Just a heads up on any herbals: Check with your doc before taking. Some are in general considered safe: Chamomile (I think), lavender, etc. but if you have liver problems, stay away from St. John's Wort and always check for drug interactions. Herbals ARE drugs. I use them myself, just be aware.

I tried klonopin for a short time, but it made me feel noticeably worse the next day. I take skelaxin, a muscle relaxer, and 1/2 a xanax at night. I sleep all night, only getting up once to go to the bathroom.

Like Toni said, there are many options to try.

I've tried Ambien, Loranzapam, Lunesta and Soma and none of those worked at all for me. Tried Melatonin before that.

Xanax works best for me but I've been on it for about 12 yrs and I think it's losing it's effectiveness. Benedryl is my latest drug of choice. It just knocks me right out.

I still feel like I've been run over by a truck every morning. That has not changed in the 13 yrs since I've been sick.

Thank you all for your input. I haven't tried skelaxin. Will ask my doctor about it. Would you pleas tell me the dosage you are taking? Thanks again.

I've used a combo of Xanax and Ambien for years just because of very resistant insomnia. Now, adding muscle and joint pain into the mixture and needing to use fairly heavy pain meds is kind of scary.

I missed out on Easter celebrations at my church because of this and was so disappointed! I had had a surge of energy the day before and washed and waxed my car so it would look all shiny and pretty for Easter. By ten that night, I was hurting and took some medium-heavy pain pills. By midnight, the pain was literally head-to-toe and no way could I sleep.

I tried a warm bath plus topical pain relieving gel (prescription stuff, BTW) - and I read for a while, to try to distract myself. By nearly 4:00 in the morning, I felt like a lumber truck ran over me. I thought - "Hmmm - according to the clock, it's a new day now, so I can take another pain pill." (You can take two a day.) So I tried one more pain pill, and that finally allowed me to sleep, but between pain and lack of sleep, I just couldn't handle getting up for Easter services at church, and was SO disappointed.

I felt a little better after some sleep, and some of our kids and grandkids came over, and that was nice. but this new element of pain dogging your steps every time you attempt any kind of project. . .I think I can get real tired of this in a hurry. How do you deal with the frustration of wanting to accomplish something but being afraid you will hurt terribly afterwards???

insomnia has always been a very bad problem for me. i can start on a new med and then be resistant to it in a week. the drs even put me on thorazine to make me sleep but it didn't work either. now i do controlled breathing and meditation. i sleep when i can. i take a 2 different pain pills, 2 muscle relaxers and a valium at night along with my vitamins, lyrica and melatonin. i can sleep 3 hours at a time. so i try to doze during the day. it takes about 4 days before my body totally gives out and i can't move. you can try aromatherapy, too. camomile and lavender together are nice so is nag champa. also maybe a snack before you sleep may help. turkey has a chemical that helps you sleep. just some thoughts

I kind of took another approach withthe no sleep thing and on nights where I know it isnt going to happen I stay up and draw, or read, or play my computer games. I found for myself once I stopped trying to force it, the sleep will eventually come. However I might have a few night were i only get 3 or 4 hours, by the third night I am so naturally tired I sleep hard for 6. I have ambien as well but only take it if I dont get any good sleep for a week. The little bit of sleep I get without the pills is better then the 8 hours I get with them it seems :(

Sleep is something I think all of have some problem with or another. Some nights, I don't sleep at all. When I do sleep, I have extremely vivid nightmares and I don't often wake up feeling all that great after those.

The best I can do is sleep when I'm sleepy and just do my normal stuff when I'm awake. Read, do stuff on the computer, etc. At least then I'm not just laying there knowing I'm not going to fall asleep.

My sleep hasn't been that great for a long while but I was having insomnia, waking up in the wee hours of the morning and It was getting worse to the extent that I was finding it hard to function through the day. I ended up going to the doctor over a month or so ago and he prescribed me Ambien. Well I took it for a couple of days and I just didn't like the way it made me feel. Morning headache, drowsy all day long. ugh. And doc said to skip days, not to take it every night. so on the nights i didn't take it the insomnia was even worse! awful.
So I went back to finding something natural which I have tried in the past before.

I then started Alteril as suggested by one of my DS friends. It is an over the counter natural formula and i have tried other brands before but this one seems it has the right combination of herbs and melatonin and the right dosage and is helping me sleep more soundly and longer. I am not waking up at 3 in the morning and I am not feeling so tired so I must be getting some kind of restorative sleep which I was so desperately needing.

Alteril is available from various pharmacies and also online. I pay $15. for a pack of 30 tabs and I take 2 tabs as directed. I sometimes take 1 but 2 is better.
Alteril Contains
L-Tryptophan (5HTP) 666mg
Glycine 50mg
Melatonin 4mg
Proprietary blend 260mg
GABA, skullcap herb extract, valerian root extract, chamomile herb, hops strobile extract, passionflower herb extract.

I agree with Dats, I sleep when I am tired and get up when I am not. Reading, watching TV, whatever so I don't wake my hubby up.

What I have noticed recently is that I get tired between 2am and 4am, and I feel my best if I sleep until 11am. This makes sense, my latest sleep study showed that I didn't achieve REM sleep until 5am.

Maybe some of us have had our internal clocks adjusted.