Re: OT: Sleep meds (was Elderly parents)

[Guest guest]

Hi Barbara & Marie,

When I first started treatment for LD I had been having trouble sleeping quite

regularly. I started taking tinctures of valerian and kava-kava and they really

helped me sleep, but I was never really awake during the day, and had to stop

driving. Then before my hip surgery I was not allowed to use those, so Dr.B and

Dr.J helped me find alternatives. I switched to Melatonin plus Melatonin

Sustained-Release plus 5HTP, and that combination worked fine--and I have no

trouble driving (except on expressways). Once a month I take a break from

almost everything, and only take the 5HTP that night, which usually works fine.

I was able to give up the Melatonin S-R. I tried giving up Melatonin entirely,

but was only able to reduce it from two little 3mg capsules to one. I tried

skipping the 5HTP 100mg, which seems to be OK once in a while, but not usually.

So I will wait until my general health has improved a little more and try again.

But I have made some progress in that regard!

Khaya

>

> > **

> >

> >

> > Hi Kahay

> > I tak ealso a additive sleep medecin here is what is recommanded to get

> > rid of it

> > decrease of one drop at a time but every other day go back to the revisou

> > dosage until it is ok because the body remmebr so if we trick it like this

> > he accpts better the lower amount as it oscilate between the used to amount

> > and the lower amount . then stay at th elower amount when the sleep is back

> > to close to normal every day wait a while for stablisation and do it again

> > removing on edrop every other day .

> > an other way is to alternate the medecine to sleep so it is not he same

> > and the addiction does not come due to diferent medecin so we do not take

> > one long enought to get addicted . Thsi has been explained ot me by a dct

> > specialised in sleepind desoroders when I di dnto knwo what it iwas coming

> > from .

> > Thsi is not andvis eit is just my experience . It is still stuff thought

> > but faisable . I am doing it now not a peice of cake and th eless drop the

> > mor ediffcult the last two drops are all a swing .

> > Kindly Marie

> >

> > *From:* Barbara Pierce

> > *To:* Lyme_and_Rife

> > *Sent:* Monday, March 12, 2012 8:32 PM

> > *Subject:* Re: Re: OT: Elderly parents

> >

> >

> > khaya,

> >

> > yes on the valium, but not by choice. i think you remember reading about

> > my benzo 'hell' story. had been on conazepam (klonipin) since 07 for

> > sleep, i thought. dr didn't tell me the dangers or almost impossible to

> > get off. had been told by nd hard to get off, 3 yrs later. so i slowly

> > tried to taper off of it. 4 days after last dose had convulsions,

> > seizures, 'flight of ideas " , thinking i was dying, and many other

> > symptoms. paramedics labeled me a phsych patient who 'had a history of

> > self diagnosed diseases and today she thinks she is dying' (he later said

> > there was no dr. records to prove the illnesses--my son said i was trying

> > to explain 30yrs of illness at once-must have sounded crazy). drs didn't

> > know what was wrong either, which seems unbelievable they didn't recognize

> > drug withdrawal--they never even hinted or asked. my daughter happened to

> > remember i had stopped the clon. and this was the withdrawal. sister did a

> > google search and sure enough. husband put some under my tongue and it

> > stopped the seizures.

> >

> > finally, my fibro dr agreed to help taper with valium. it is the only way

> > you can get off safely. after getting stabilized back on the clon. had to

> > decrease clon as i increased the equivalent of valium and then could taper

> > down, 10% of current dose every 2 wks. doing this since last april, and

> > down to 2 1/2 mg. had convulsions with each taper until oct, then only a

> > few since then.

> >

> > can't take anything that is a stimulant or sedative, or anything that

> > fills the 'gaba' receptors such as gaba, things at increase serotonin,

> > herbs that do any of these things. actually, they suggest taking nothing

> > for anything. it can increase the withdrawal symptoms. i have cheated

> > with a few necessary herbs and maybe that is why i've had trouble. don't

> > know. with withdrawal, anxiety, insomnia, feeling crazy, being crazy,

> > depression, all the things it is suppose to decrease, are increased with

> > withdrawal. so i just weather the anxiety and other symptoms-and so does

> > my poor husband. in the beginning, sleep was almost impossible, but now it

> > actually seems to be doing better than before the drug--god's gift. will

> > never be able to take any addicting type drugs in the future, but that ok

> > with me.

> >

> > anyway, save yourself some time, my sister and i did so much research on

> > the benzos because i had no dr. to help. had a support forum. the dr who

> > is helping me knows nothing about withdrawal from these drugs, yet

> > prescribes them a lot. he actually told me that i have educated him on

> > this. unbelievable!!

> >

> > but, i am 'waking up' from the drug, slowly. sometimes too slowly for me

> > as i get a glimpse now and then of real life. that is why i was asking the

> > question about is some of this fatigue mental or is it all physical. i'm

> > pretty sure some of mine is the drug, and may hang on for a while after i'm

> > off it. but was wonder about others, so i could gauge where i am. i know

> > a lot of mine, as like marie said of herself, is physical. i am very

> > limited physically, but when i feel some energy, i am still wanting to be

> > non functioning. (not the old me, even when sick). so, yes, i believe

> > there is a big element of my fatigue that is mental, but some is also

> > physical.

> >

> > anyway, thanks for recognizing that the benzos are 'death in disguise " and

> > be willing to find info on it for me. i really appreciate it.

> >

> > don't know which is more addicting, the valium or the emails on this site.

> > glad to see you are withdrawing some. working on that myself. 2

> > addictions is hard.

> >

> > barbara

>