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I have been taking ativan 1mg every alternate day for almost a month. So far I have taken 17 pills .Without this pill , I will not be able to sleep. I have tried almost everything but nothing seems to work. Currently I am undergoing radiotherapy in a local hospital and my insomnia is making things worse. Without proper sleep I just do not have the energy to undertake the treatment. My treatment will end on 24th June 2020 and by then I would have taken 22 .. 1 mg ativan. I have never wanted to take sleeping pills for my insomnia but in this case I have no choice but to risk it. Am just hoping that i will not get any withdrawal symptoms as I will try to taper off the pill after 24th June 2020.
Sorry to hear about your struggles with sleep. Have you discussed cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) with your doctor?
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The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
Yes I did but it is too expensive for me to undertake that program. I am retired so I have to go with the book on CBT. It will take me some time to finish reading it. Right now I am really concern with the number of sleeping pills that I have taken .Without the pills I could not sleep at all. I have rely on these pills so that I can go to the hospital for the radiotherapy treatment. To avoid tolerance and addiction, I am taking the pills only on alternate days . . Without the pill I just cannot turn off, i don’t why. It is freaking me out cos if i can”t turn off, I will feel extremely tired and keep reminded of the fact that I could not sleep. And the more I think about my sleep problem , the more I cannot sleep. Martin, how do i stop myself from thinking about sleep when I am not getting any on the days without sleep meds. Hope you can advise me cos I am beginning to fear the night.
There are good resources on this website for CBT and Stimulus control under “Resources”. You can try starting here. Ask your doctor why he is prescribing ativan and ask for a tapering off schedule if you wish to stop. Ativan is not in the drug classification of a sleeping pill, but is used for anxiety. It stays in your system a while and has a half life of 12 hours. Another type of medication is a sedative/hypnotic which is a sleeping pill, one type is Ambien/zolpidem. It is just used for sleep and has a shorter half life of 3 hours. Both can be addicting, and generally for short-term use.
It is terrible when your mind cannot turn off, most of us here truly understand that. It is not the end of the world if you miss a nights sleep although I know the next day is awful, but you will survive. Hopefully after the 24th you will be able to make better adjustments to your medications and hopefully minimize them. And I hope you can start a gentle approach to your insomnia with Stimulus control and CBT.
I had a LOT of anxiety and the doctor I was seeing gave me klonopin and I hated it. It helped me sleep, but it wasn’t a good quality sleep and it made me groggy during the day. I tried CBD (I used the 10mg gummies) instead and found it to be much better. It took a few days to start working but, when combining it with CBT-I, I started sleeping much better. After I got into a good routine, I stopped taking the CBD as well. I wish you luck, and hope your treatment was successful!
Great for you Monica. Hope you can continue to make good progress.
Martin, since your topic today on sleeping pills. I have just a question regarding sleeping pills.
I intend to use the sleeping pills on short terms but there are too many conflicting opionion on what is short term . Some say short term is 1-2 weeks, some 3-4 weeks, some 6 weeks and the best FDA 4 months. So what exactly is short term?I’ll see if I can get that question answered for you, cadburyho!
—If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.
The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.
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