Insomnia Forum Posting

Posted by leological on February 16, 2002 at 14:26:19:

In Reply to: Re: Fell off the wagon posted by Addicted to Ambien on February 15, 2002 at 18:27:51:

Hi.
I too have to either take pills or get no sleep. Maybe 2x over the last 2 years I was able to get maybe 30 mins of sleep at a time without drugs, but what I'm finding out is that, by actually lowering the dose, say from your 5mg to 2.5 or even 0mg for one night and then try just going up to maybe 3.75mg, not only would you be withdrawing from it, but you may notice at least the same level of sleep that you were getting at the 5mg before it stopped working. I would recommend doing this even if it only barely helps to try and reduce and eventually free yourself from the drug. I know it sounds impossible, but I've been on ativan for over 2 years and could get almost 0 sleep witout it before I ever even started on it, and I've also had a few months worth of time added up when I've been on ambien when I couln't be a scrip for the ativan. I've worked VERY gradually down from 2mg of ativan per night, mainly really from 1.5 mg (I took that the longest...) to just .75mg per night and plan on keep rolling with it. I never would have believed I could sleep on less than 1.5mg at one point.,
Hang in there,
Leonard

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