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Meds and bathroom trips?

Posted by Gern on August 27, 2001 at 00:43:55:

Hi, Folks

I'm on federal disability for my depression, the latest bout of which has lasted five years (varying from dysthymia at best to suicidal ideation at worst). Concomitant with this has been almost unvarying serious chronic insomnia, which (without Ambien) presents itself as both taking about 3-4 hours to fall asleep and also waking up once or twice and being unable to fall asleep again for 2-3 hours.

Without trazodone (400 mg daily for depression) and Ambien (0.5 to 20 mg, depending), I'd have killed myself many years ago from the insomnia alone. I've been taking both for all five years (yes, friends, I KNOW Ambien isn't supposed to be taken for more than a couple of weeks). For the record, though, I NEVER take Ambien automatically: every night I try to see if I need it or not. Only after 2-3 hours of either kind of insomnia do I take some, always starting at 0.5 mg. Most nights this means I fall asleep from the trazodone alone and am only forced to take the Ambien as a result of waking up in the middle of the night and being unable to fall asleep again.

Also for the record, I seriously tried the sleep restriction/hygiene approach three different times, but after a more than a 15-20 trips in and out of bed and 48-60 hours of being unable to sleep (and consequently being on the verge of permanent insanity and hurting someone), I always opt for taking the Ambien rather than committing suicide.

I know all you anti-meds people out there will probably "tsk-tsk", but (with the impossible to establish likelihood of rebound insomnia, which I've never previously experienced from Ambien), I haven't noticed any side-effects for all these five years.

Until now. Maybe. Or maybe it's the trazodone.

The somewhat embarrassing truth is, for the last couple of months I've needed to have an inordinate number of bowel movements per day. Eight to twelve of them (not all of which are productive). And let me tell you, my butt aches!

After a number of tests and exams, my doctor has been unable to find anything wrong, and my shrink doesn't think it's caused by any of my medications (since I've tolerated them extremely well for five years). But while searching the web, I found one reference to someone who thinks Ambien is causing this problem for them.

So the question is: Has anyone else seen this from Ambien or trazodone? If so, how sure are you that the med was to blame?

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