Posted by F43 on July 03, 2008 at 17:33:16:

In Reply to: Rebound Insomnia? posted by ptownrl on July 02, 2008 at 14:24:58:

Reading notsleepingagain's comments, and thinking more about your question (how do I avoid raising my anxiety level when experiencing "rebound insomnia"), I think the answer is, you probably can't control the increased anxiety it causes.

I think what you can do though is figure out how much increased anxiety you're willing to tolerate before going back on the Ambien. My own tolerance for that anxiety was pretty low, because my insomnia was all-night, for days. So I made a deal with myself: I would take the Z whenever it was clear I wasn't going to fall asleep within two hours, cause that meant an all-nighter. I had no ambitions to set any Guinness World Records for most number of sleepless nights ever, which is how my insomnia pattern ran, nor was I after any "most virtuous" awards for refusing to take medication while being wrung out and ill from yet another viral infection.

I stopped the Zopiclone when I began sleeping partial nights (which gradually turned into whole nights.) Like notsleepingagain, I've always had some trepidation when I've done this ("oh my god! what if I don't fall asleep!")...followed by marvelling each morning when I've woken up and realized I fell into a med-free coma less than 10 minutes after lights out, every time ("What? It happened again?!!")

Let us know how it goes and what you discover!

Janet

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