Question About Sleep Aids

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M

MovingLess

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Just a question about sleep aids. Everyone on here is down on them it seems. If I was getting little to no sleep for a long period of time and the doctor prescribed ambien to help me sleep, isn't that better than no sleep at all? I mean I understand the whole dependency thing but the no sleep thing, to me, is more debilitating than having to take ambien every night. Just curious as to what everyones thoughts are. I for one am of the opinion that ambien has, in essence, been a big part of my return to normal.
 
If you are not getting any sleep and the ambien is doing the trick and your doctor says it is okay then yo have to do what's best for you not everyone else. I take klonopin which allows me to function, run my business, and be able to sleep at night. I am all about symptom control and as long as my neurologist feels this is the best course for me this is all the permission I need.Mary
 
I have only taken ambien as needed, usually a couple times a week, for the last 2 months. I still have some of my original month long script left. I really think the value of good sleep cannot be emphasised enough.
 
I would like to know more concerning experiences with Klonopin. My doctor gave me a prescription since I mentioned I was having difficulty sleeping. What side affects have you noticed? Do you feel drowsy the next day? Etc?
 
Webfoot, I finally started taking the klonopin when I could not stand the twitches anymore. I had one in particular in my abdomen that would not go away so he put me on .50 2 or 3x daily as needed. At first I started out with .25 (cutting them in half0 2 x daily. When I really began to ramp up my exercise he increased them to the full dosage. No they do not make me sleepy at all I function beautifully on them during the day and I have to be sharp because I have my own business so I sort of do a lot of everything all the time. They have greatly reduced my twitches and helped my sensory sypmptoms and when I take it a night before I go to bed I fall asleep easily an remain twitch free all night. I wake up refreshed, not tired or hung over feeling and take each dose about 12 hours apart. They have not made me feel goofy or high or tired, they have actually made my syptoms manageable and less noticeable and have reduced any anxiety greatly. I tried anti depressants but could not tolerate them they gave me heart palpitations. NO side effects with these. Pm me if you have any questions.Mary
 
I actually think Klonopin works great. Too bad it's addicitive. I take a very small dose when things get bad but I don't take it on a regular basis. My neuro told me the same thing. Don't stay on it for too long because of the addiction.
 
I take gapapentin occasionally. Knocks me out in about 30 minutes. Sometimes I take them, sometimes I just fall asleep without them. I can fall asleep fairly easy now despite my twitches, which have steadily gotten worse from day one. Twitching alone never kept me from falling asleep. It was the "Im going too die from this crap" thoughts that were attached to the twitching. Just so you know, my twitches arent the little ones. Whole sections of my arms, legs, neck ect will start quivering.
 
Thanks for your reply. I did some looking and seems I hve the twitching but also the myoclonic jerks. A part of my body with jerk like my elbow, hand, head/neck, shoulder, etc. Is that what your 'quivers' are?
 
No. what I mean by quivers is the group of muscles will start quivering like rapid fire twitches, just bigger than at the start of this stuff. Can last for 10 to 30 seconds burst. I get the myclonic jerks also. Depends what position my elbow, hand ect... is in. Read through my post. I have had everything under the sun as far as"weird"stuff.
 

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