Sleeping pill - any advice please?

www.telegraph.co.uk/wellbeing/sleep/25-tips-and-tricks-to-help-you-get-a-better-sleep/

The link takes you to an interesting article about sleeping. You could perhaps keep a sleep diary for a couple of weeks, as suggested in the article, to see if there's a pattern to your wakefulness. I don't suppose that would work if you're taking sleeping pills though. Good luck with sorting it. My sleep tends to be disrupted by worry. I sleep well when I haven't got anything to worry about! Mindfulness can help you too. There's a FutureLearn mindfulness course here:

www.futurelearn.com/courses/mindfulness-wellbeing-performance

It's a really enjoyable, totally free course and doesn't require too much study time. I really looked forward to the course materials arriving each Monday for six weeks and was quite sad when it ended! No qualifications are needed for these courses. This one starts on Monday the 19th Sept so take a look and join soon ?

There are two doses of zopiclone. If you have been given the 7.5 mg ones ask if you can try 3.75 mg as you sound very susceptible to their effects, Nonnie. Also try taking it an hour or two earlier in the evening so that the effect wears off earlier in the morning.( retired medic)

Hello Nonnie

You have my sympathy, anaesthetic knocks me for six, too!!

Although not currently on sleeping pills, I have for quite some time been on medication for anxiety/depression.

It took a few tries to find one that suited, and then a bit more experimentation on my part to find the best time of day to take them.

Although the prescription advice is to take the last one at night, I have found that 6pm works for me, although as a Radio 4 listener, I find I'm living proof of Pavlov's theory, in that I hear the "bongs" that herald the news, and automatically head for the cupboard where my tablets are!

Sending you every good wish.

I find the soporific effect kicks in about half an hour after I've taken the tablet - if I took it an hour or two earlier it would have worn off!

Perhaps you could view this as 2 weeks when you will just do less than normal whilst these tablets are getting you into the habit of sleeping better. I would definitely take them earlier in the evening - unless you are a night owl and don't want to go to bed early. Most of these things affect you more at first so maybe it will settle in a few days. Or could you take a lower dose?
I used Piriton recently to help me sleep but it's much milder than sleeping tablets.

Hi,

I have just started to take Amitriotyline. My GP said it was an old fashioned pill for mild depression but has a side effect of relaxing the muscles and aiding sleep. I take 10mg an hour or so before bed and usually helps, but he did tell me I can take 1 or 2 pills. These are not addictive and I know several other people who use them. I do not take them every night, only when needed. Cheers.

No matter what, my GP will never prescribe any sort of sleeping tablets, suggesting hot milk, walks etc! I do the hot milk, but not good sleeper as carer for disabled DH and also being disabled myself. When at my wits' end I take a couple of Nytol or Boots OB equivalent. If that doesn't work, get up and make a cup of Clipper "Snore & Peace" herb tea. It doesn't do much, but allows DH a bit of rest.

I get the most terrifying nightmares with practically anything I take....the last one involved Lenny Henry asking me to help him bury numerous dead bodies, and I was still too scared in the morning to open the blinds in case the police were on the doorstep. Yet, put something on the telly that i really want to watch and 10 mins in, I have nodded off...........

As a very reluctant pill taker, I'm also someone that doesn't sleep well but the after effects of sleeping pills for me was worse that not sleeping. I felt groggy well into the day became dispondant and felt pretty useless.I read up on them and found out an induced sleep is not a good sleep and you don't wake feeling refreshed.I decided I would throw them away and try the natural way.Good luck

Just to add to my last message, on You tube you can find and listen to sleep hypnosis they are very good and relaxing and get you into the zone on dropping of to sleep. All without the awful after effects of the dreaded sleeping pill.

I have been taking zopiclone for many years, and yes, they are addictive.
So be very careful.

They are short acting, so only designed to get you of to sleep, but not keep you asleep.
Sleeping for about four hours seems to be the norm. If they were designed to last longer, it would make more sense to me.
I very rarely get back of to sleep again.
Unfortunately, sleep deprivation can take over your life if you let it.
We just have to get on with it, sleep,or no Sleep

By the way, Temazepam are much stronger than Zopiclone.
Reduce dosage by a half and if you still have problems seek drs advice.

Zopiclone do the trick and knock you out, I was prescribed them once when going through a very stressful time. Doctor's only give you two weeks worth as they are addictive but hopefully in that time you would break the habit of not sleeping. I didn't take them for two weeks as I didn't feel in control! But it was good to have one occasionally when exhaustion set in after several sleepless nights. I hope you get some decent sleep soon as without sleep we are pretty useless.

I have been an insomniac all my life, starting at age 15. It wasn't as tough as a younger person as I was out till late and had to be up for work!

I have had prescription pills which work, but the dose needs increasing if you take them long term to get to sleep. Then, even if you are a cold turkey type person and can resist the urge, your body feels rough without them, so you have to taper off.

Finally I found that instead of Nytol, which has a weak antihisamine, I switched to Somminex which has a better antihisamine ingredient, promethazine hydrochloride.

But wait! Somminex comes in small packages, so now I buy Phenergan 25mg 56-tablet packet which is promethazine hydrochloride marketed as an antihistamine, travel sickness remedy, or sleep aid. Cheaper in the long run that the Somminex one

Boots are so nanny-state about giving them out, so I go to an independent chemist who knows me and why I take them. Or you can buy online. (Caution, Somminex sells an herbal version, not the same thing).

One a night along with a couple of Valerian root capsules (the good kind, not cheapie low-grade) does the trick now.

Do not drink any caffeine after 3pm in he afternoon... very important!

I am sleeping as well now as when I took a whole host of strong prescription meds. I get 6-7 hours with only waking up a couple of times to wee, but have always had that. Then back to sleep.

Victoria08, I took all of the 'pams' for years and they are just so hard on the body, even though the relief almost seems worth it. I have an elderly cousin who was put on them when her husband died and she was up to a huge dose, way over mine. Fell and broke her hip in the night.

I take low dose of zopiclone occasionally I don't sleep well due to pain and sometimes mind games my dr is happy to prescribe them because I don't take them every night I feel ok morning after they just give me a less restless sleep ???

Taking sleeping pills is a fools game and you shouldn't. Believe me when you need to sleep you will it's a natural autonomic function. As we get older we need less and less sleep anyway and I only sleep in 3-4 hour spurts. And I find the night as a time of peace and calm and I have recently rediscovered the magic of watching the dawn break and the sun rise. So should you.

That's us told!

If I can't sleep, occasionally I take Nytol prescribed from the doctor! I only take a half of one pill although the dosage is two tablets! I would wake up groggy with two tablets! The only side effect is a dryish mouth. I know everyone is different and the OP said she can't have Nytol but someone else might like to try it.

I remember when my daughter was a baby and she couldn't sleep with gripes, eventually in desperation I went to the clinic (do they still have them?) and the nurse gave me something, possibly Calpol, but said give it for three days, then have three days free, then three days again, it works better that way, possibly, the OP could try three nights on then three off?

Thank you all for your help and advice. I think I had tried all the alternative methods, lavender then combinations of oils etc but nothing worked. It was only in desperation that I went to the doc who not only listened to me but understood what I had been going through and the after effects I was left with. He also made the appointment for me to go back in 2 weeks there and then and made one for DH at the same time. Do I have the best GP ever?

I stopped caffeine after lunch many years ago and have a regular bedtime routine which always worked until now.

I have low blood pressure which I think makes me feel worse some of the time.

foxie I wonder how you can be so sure of yourself? Perhaps you could re-read what you wrote and see how it sounds to someone who has asked for help. You couldn't be more wrong imo if you think that it is possible to simply sleep as necessary. Please speak for yourself and don't assume we are all the same.

everyone else It is good to hear your experiences and realise I am not alone. I hope you all find support with your issues, I have a very supportive DH who is making sure I don't come to any harm.

My mind seems to go into overdrive late at night and I now fall asleep watching programmes on catchup; the more I WANT to watch a programme the more likely I am to nod off. I'm currently watching the BBC series Illuminations with my favourite historian Janina Ramirez because there are 3 one hour programmes and, thus far I haven't made it to the end of any of them! When my divorce was causing problems years ago my Dr put me on Zispin; I took it for a few months, eventually reducing the amount very slowly over several weeks.

I like Melissa Dreams - herbals from health shop. Also portion tablets if all else fails.

Meant Piriton not portion - hate the auto correct

There you go then Tegan what works for one doesn't for others. All the advice I have read says no TV in the bedroom!!!

On the rare occaisions I have had the prescription type I have slept but not had a refreshing sleep.
I seem to remember once being given these the night before awaiting surgery. They did not do a lot of good. You need "the right kind of sleep" to feel refreshed not just some knock out drops.

I have been taking a "relax into sleep" drug called Amitriptyline first prescribed in Spring 2012 when I had for only the second time in my life difficulty getting to sleep following the death of my wife in the January of that year.
I trusted the doc's observation that the drug is not addictive, and have found that it helps keep my general attitude relaxed which is so necessary to gain restful sleep.
When I have been pushing myself physically and mentally and feel tired by bedtime, I take one 10mg tablet about one hour before I hope to fall asleep.
When I still feel quite lively, I take two 10mg. tablets. Needing to pass urine after four hours or so is the only thing that disturbs sleep, and even with two tablets I can reckon on 8 or nine hours sleep in total and I am never "zombie-like" at breakfast time on the subsequent morning.
Do discuss Amitriptyline with your GP as it is available only on prescription.