I have taken both xanax and ambien.
I would warn against xanax, as do my doctor and google. xanax is physically addictive, whereas ambien is not. The difference is if you take xanax to sleep for 3 days straight, on the 4th day, if you don’t take xanax, you will not be able to sleep at all.
Ambien does not have this problem. Of course, ambien has its own issues as well, depending - binge eating, memory loss, hallucinations, euphoria, and voluntary sex that you will not remember.
the only times i ever took xanax to sleep was the night before an actuarial exam, so not very much.
i didn’t realize it was that addictive.
I’ve taken Ambien before. I don’t love it. I prefer melatonin, or a warm bath, or deep breathing, to medication.
I am exhausted all the time and can fall asleep any time during the day. Insomnia only strikes at night.
This is starting to sound like that time my ex-boyfriend-twice-removed tried to convince me that mushrooms were going to solve all of my mental health problems. I started to question HIS mental health when he also suggested that alcohol was a good idea (nothing that feels good could be bad for you, don’t let the government tell you what to do!). He used to be smart (and a staunch liberal), but I digress.
I do have Ambien on hand, but 5:00 AM isn’t really an ideal time to take it. I’m also at the point where I have to cut it up into like a third of a dose when I do take it because I always feel hungover the next morning (not the greatest alternative to being tired).
In any event, I’m certain I have enough anxiety medication in me. Any more and I’m at risk of launching off in the other direction. Thyroid is also under control now. I’m happy, I’m stable. Just need to refocus and breathe.
I think CBD oil would be useful for pain management rather than anxiety control. My FIL started taking CBD gummies for severe pain, and they seem to be very helpful in that regard for helping him to sleep (both getting to sleep and staying asleep).
But I would say that the THC of mj would be the anxiety control element in that treatment.
If you are waking up at 5 am and can’t go back to bed…I would just get up.
If it’s an awkward time, say, 3 am, I usually take half a melatonin (my tolerance is high…so half for me is like 5mg…), and try to see if I can sneak in a couple more hours.
It’s a lot easier to snap out of melatonin hangover than ambien for sure. Coffee usually will do.
I have my husband to blame for being up late so… yeah waking up at 5 AM felt like pulling an all-nighter this morning.
Hello darkness my old friend…
I’ve known people to have success with small doses of weed in the evening. These were established responsible adults (not just my stoner cousin). 2 hits of weed at 7pm, sleeping like a baby at 9pm. Ive also seen people have panic attacks anytime they take a hit, so your mileage may vary.
Alcohol is great for falling asleep, but provides terrible quality of sleep. Once you sober up, you wake up at 2am feeling like hell.
have heard mixed reviews of melatonin, but I dont know anyone that is still using it as a long term solution.
#1 working solution for me has been exercise and stress reduction in the evening. ID what is a stressful activity and stop doing it by 8pm. Allow brain to settle for a few hours before hitting the pillow. Watching dumb TV (sports, 30 rock), reading, cooking (I eat dinner at like 830 every night) are all OK things to do after 8pm. Anything that involves holding a phone, using a computer, studying is just adding stress to a stressed out mind.
I make time to exercise in the evening from 6:30-8:30 at least 2 or 3 times a week. This does wonders for sleeping. Took years to establish this routine. Gyms being closed in my area right now are totally screwing me up.
My FitBit Sense self-sleep-study appears to be confirming a problem that I don’t know how to solve - I’m sleeping enough hours, my deep sleep and REM hours are mostly on point, oxygen levels don’t suggest anything like apnea - but my restoration is 
.
Like who is MORE anxious when they’re sleeping than when they’re awake? My sleeping heart rate is consistently higher than my daytime resting heart rate - and there are spikes in the middle of the night (137 bpm at 12:28 AM?!).
Uh, 137? That’s fat burning workout zone lol.
Night terrors are a great workout.
night terrors are f’cking insanity.
have you ever seen some one actually have one? I went from sleeping soundly to participating in a horror movie when my wife used to have them. She would just start screaming and thrashing in the middle of the night. if I tried to help her she would try to kill me. This happened twice like 6 years ago within a weeks span. I couldnt sleep for like a month after it happened.
turns out she had been drinking valerian root tea to help her sleep. Side effects of such tea… are night terrors.
I have a sort of cousin of night terrors. I have very realistic and terrifying hallucinations when I sleep that I can’t be shaken out of. If I owned a gun, I absolutely would have accidentally shot my husband or kids (or the window curtains or the bedroom door or the nothingness that my brain believes is a murder/rapist intruding). I get these about 5 times a week I’d guess.
Mr. NA tells me I’m impossible to deal with in that state. If I do wake up somehow in the middle of them, my heart is always racing. It’s a literal nightmare, pun intended.
the frack
Sleep sprints?
my wife has described something similar, which she calls sleep paralysis.
Its when you are dreaming, but you open your eyes and can see your room. Then you hallucinate monsters and murders walking through the door. but you cant move as they come into the room and start attacking you. The whole time it feels like some one is sitting on your chest…
The worst ones I described above, but usually I can hear her breathing heavily and I wake her up (and she doesnt attack me).
she has mostly stopped having these episodes. sometime in her mid 30s they tapered off. was worst in late 20’s.
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I’m not sure sleep paralysis includes hallucinations…
It’s basically this, but no paralysis. I am sometimes even aware that I am having sleep hallucinations, but cannot make myself believe that it’s not real despite knowing that. I usually sit up and stare at whatever is not there and remember it in full the next day, but can do nothing to wake myself from it while it’s happening. I also can’t form coherent sentences while it’s happening. Mr. NA can’t talk me out of it or wake me up from it. It’s very bizarre and terrifying.
This doesn’t seem normal, and you should seek professional help.
No, not the “professional actuary” type.