A great place to start Disorder information source Rated and Reviewed Sleep Links Entrance to all monitored Sleep Forums Search all of Sleepnet.com


Insomnia Forum
Posting


Archived Insomnia Forum19 viewing only. To post a new topic go to the Insomnia Forum Homepage.

Decreasing sleep meds

Posted by judyzz on April 29, 2003 at 20:19:43:

Hi helpful folks-
I don't know how useful this experience is to others, but here goes. I took Klonopin for about 6-8 months, at increasing dosage (.5 mg up to 3.5 mg) when my aid of choice at that time (homeopathy) had become very unreliable and I was under huge stress and wanted to count on something. Of course, Klonopin kept pooping out, and my doc increased the dosage. Eventually, she said no more, and I decreased gradually, but when I went below .5 mg, I slept much worse, so she said ok to keep taking .5 . Not that it helped, but it warded off whatever reaction that was. Eventually I was sleeping so badly, and trying another med (Serazone, no help), i thought it couldn't get worse and would be good to get off Klonopin. Down to .12 mg (approx, isn't splitting pills fun), seemed no worse. But when I stopped taking it at all ( I think i did 1 week at each level), sleep went from bad to awful, almost no sleep. Doc said it couldn't be rebound insomnia because it would have gone away (it didn't). I went back to .12mg, and sleep improved noticeably, tho still bad. Then I followed the directions in Peter Haurri and Shirley Linde's Book, _No_ More_Sleepless_Nights_, cutting the pills even smaller, for a week,and then alternating nights before i gave them up. That time, it didn't make things any worse.

The moral of all this is, some of us (and we don't know until we try) are sensitive to meds, and going off them can mess you up and confuse the issue of whether something else is helping.

Cheers, hang in there
Judy (insomnia for 14 years, now doing sleep restriction with moderate success)

Follow Ups:



Archived Insomnia Forum19 viewing only. To post a new topic go to the Insomnia Forum Homepage

  • IMPORTANT : Information not intended as medical advice. If you suspect that you have a sleep disorder you should seek care from a qualified professional. Read Terms of Use.
  • The Sleep Forums are not to be used for commercial purposes.
  • Commercial products and services are not endorsed by Sleepnet.com.
  • Sleep Deprivation due to Sleep Apnea and insufficient sleep are common and can present as insomnia, narcolepsy, or idiopathic hypersomnia. In infants and children sleep problems commonly present themselves as ADD or ADHD.


Copyright ©1995-2005 Sleepnet.com., All rights reserved