Posted by blueboy on July 13, 2008, at 10:26:51
In reply to Insomnia, posted by JohnnyBLinux on July 13, 2008, at 2:43:42
> I have depression and adult ADD. Medications prescribed: Lexapro 10mg (added recently, 1 mongh ago), Ritalin 20mg, and Ambien 10mg.
>
> The problem: I've been experiencing insomnia, even with Ambien 10mg taken just before bedtime. It takes me many hours to fall asleep. Is there a different sleeping medication that my pdoc can prescribe which would help, or can he increase the dosage of Ambien?I regularly take 25-30mg of Ambien to get to sleep. It makes pdocs nervous because that's not what the literature says.
But if 10mg isn't working, yes, IMHO try taking a bigger dose. Your pdoc will feel better about it if you don't take it every night.
My suggestion is to do what I did: run a test. When you have bad insomnia, take 10mg and wait 45 minutes. If you're still awake, take another 10. And so on.
I don't take it every night. I'll take it only if I get in bed and I'm still awake after an hour (you have to watch the clock a bit, sometimes, to tell if you've been awake the entire time. I've been fooled before, thinking I had been awake when actually I had slept some).
I'll also take it if I'm still awake at 1:00 am, even if I haven't been to bed.
And always remember, these message boards, even though they can be helpful and informative, mostly constitute anecdotal evidence. Any post could be outright wrong or dependent on a condition or personal chemistry very different from yours.
I should add, I am over 6 feet tall and weigh about 230 lbs. My primary diagnosis is bipolar II.
poster:blueboy
thread:839518
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080706/msgs/839541.html