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Re: Restoril and Ambien

Posted by leological on May 30, 2001 at 17:30:31:

In Reply to: Restoril and Ambien posted by Joan on May 25, 2001 at 05:47:45:

Joan,
Hi. I just wanted to respond to the restoril addiction possiblilities. I've taken ativan, a drug in the same class as restoril, the benzodiazepines, for about a year and a half with about 3 months total off it and on ambien when I couln't get a scrip for the ativan. I first started out with insomnia that grew worse and worse 'til I couldn't sleep but 15 minutes at a time. After trying about every possible remedy like herbs, vitamins, minerals, diet changes, over the counter pills, nyquil, etc... I got the scrip for the ativan.
Well... Over the past year and a half, I've started developing various new symptoms as time has been going by. I've just assumed it has been because I cannot sleep, but I ran across some very interesting info when I typed in the words benzodiazepine withdrawal at the msn.com search engine. About every symptom listed on one of the sites (I think it was called benzo.org.uk or something like that) I've experienced since being on the ativan. Apparently, a person can develop withdrawal while still taking the drug because of developing a tolerance to it without keeping on raising the dose.
A person's GABA-A receptor sites in his/her brain apparently become accustomed to having the drug in your brain to activate the sites (which seem to have a decreasing effect on neurotransmitters that cause excititory responses). therefore, without the drug, it seems that a person experiences the opposite effect of the intended purpose of the drug: insomnia, anxiety, possible seizures, muscle relaxing effect, and also the amnesia effect people seem to experience while on this type of drug can get worse for a while.
You might try to find this site yourself, and other sites like it just to see what you think for yourself after reading them.
For me, that ativan has been the only effective drug to help with sleep, but I'm not sure of the cost still, and I always wonder if I'd just hung in there without ever trying sleeping pills if the insomnia may have resolved itself at some point. Oh, well... I'm trusting in God at this point so I feel better myself and wish you the best on your remedy and information gathering.
Leonard

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