Insomnia

1234689

Comments

  • Albus_Scope
    Albus_Scope Posts: 9,609 Scope Online Community Coordinator

    I'm sorry you feel that way @Passerby but I would kindly ask you to read our House Rules, which states we reserve the right to edit or remove comments if we believe it to contain medical advice, which we would class as "advice of a medical nature." Because none of us are medically trained.

    As said before, if you wish to discuss this, you can email us at community@scope.org.uk so we don't clutter up Agnias discussion.

  • Albus_Scope
    Albus_Scope Posts: 9,609 Scope Online Community Coordinator

    Hi @Agnia could I please ask you to email with any concerns please? It just helps us keep records of things. I'll be happy to see if I can find the previous emails later though. 😊

  • Agnia
    Agnia Online Community Member Posts: 2,092 Connected

    Hi @Albus_Scope , thank you for writing to me , yes of course i will do it then , please take care and im wishing you a nice day ahead.

    Kind regards.

  • Agnia
    Agnia Online Community Member Posts: 2,092 Connected

    Hi @Sharebear ,

    i would like to thank you very much for writing under this post and for sharing your thoughts and im really sorry that you struggle with anxiety, i have gad myself and it does affect my daily life , im wishing you good health and a pleasant day.
    Please take care of yourself.
    Thank you so much again for writing here .

    Kind regards and best wishes.

  • Agnia
    Agnia Online Community Member Posts: 2,092 Connected

    Hi @Albus_Scope ,

    i just would like to confirm please that i have emailed the Scope community just now , and i was addressed this email to you , thank you, Kind regards.

  • Albus_Scope
    Albus_Scope Posts: 9,609 Scope Online Community Coordinator

    Hey @Agnia thanks for the email, I've popped a reply back your way. 😊

  • Agnia
    Agnia Online Community Member Posts: 2,092 Connected

    Hi @Passerby , please i would like to thank you again from the bottom of my heart for writing here and this is really very helpful for me in my severe form of insomnia which was treated for a long time by prescribing me Promethazine and thank you so much for writing about Zolpidem tartrate i will talk to my doctor about it regarding insomnia and I was really devastated that no one listened to me and I was prescribed promethazine for a very long time and doctors should really take into account how harmful long term insomnia is to a patient health, please take care.

    Kind regards to you .

  • Passerby
    Passerby Posts: 191 Empowering

    On another thread of yours titled with Zopiclone, you stated that your doctor said to you that you could take 2 tablets of Zopiclone of 7.5mg each, as you couldn't sleep.

    I think it's time you change doctor.

    Not only have they wrongly been prescribing you Promethazine Hydrocholoride 25mg for an extended period of time, but also telling you to take two tablets of Zopiclone 7.5mg each!

    No doctor on earth tells anyone to take two tablets of Zopiclone 7.5mg. If one tablet of Zopiclone is not working, either Zolpidem is prescribed, or the patient is put on either an antidepressants or an atypical tetracyclic antidepressant and never is the maximum dose of Zopiclone, which is 7.5mg, doubled.

  • Agnia
    Agnia Online Community Member Posts: 2,092 Connected

    Hi @Passerby , thank you so much for writing to me and here under this post,

    im already registered with another surgery, please i must admit that im shocked at how my severe very serious insomnia was treated and actually it was untreated and during conversations with the doctor i asked for stronger drugs than promethazine and explained that promethazine is a drug mainly for allergies and i dont have allergies,

    i felt completely alone and depressed and devastated in what i would call a fight for understanding and help and due to my deep depression i really didn’t have the strength and motivation to make an effort and an appointment with a Polish private doctors one of many who work here in the UK and for ask him to really help me.
    Even recently i did hear that i should take one tablet promethazine whereas in my case even two tablets do not help me,

    i believe that all this traumatised me greatly Yes i do believe that i got trauma and undiagnosed ptsd , and that is also sad and i really don’t understand how patient with such a serious insomnia can be allowed and left to be treated with promethazine which is a joke in this case ,

    Chronic lack of sleep may exacerbate mental health conditions , and also noticed a relationship between sleep deprivation and the development of ptsd,

    im wishing you a nice day ahead, please take care, kind regards.

  • Sharebear
    Sharebear Online Community Member Posts: 95 Empowering

    Hi Agnia,

    You're very welcome 🙏 you get some relief soon.

    I like you tried so many different options, it's when I gave myself permission to sleep and focused on craft and other things that I managed to start sleeping.

    I wish you loads luck let me know how you get on. X

  • Agnia
    Agnia Online Community Member Posts: 2,092 Connected

    Hi @Sharebear ♥️,

    Thank you so much for and for writing to me , thank you very much yes of course i will let you know then ,

    im wishing you a nice day ahead and im sending you warm hugs, and all my best wishes to you Sharebear, please take care .

    Kind regards to you 🌷

  • Passerby
    Passerby Posts: 191 Empowering

    Hi.

    What's your current dose of Mirtazapine, as whether a doctor prescribes you Zolpidem would depend on this? Doctors usually prescribe either Zolpidem or Mirtazapine, though psychiatrists prescribe both. Mirtazapine is for a long term, while zolpidem, like Zopiclone, is for a short period due to the fact that people develop a tolerance to it and then become addicted to it.

    In addition, although no sleeping medication makes people fall asleep faster than Zolpidem, it has a well-known drawback. After a few months of having been taking Zolpidem, the vast majority of people end up getting no more than 3 hours of sleep from Zolpidem, which is the reason why it's prescribed for a short period of usually up to 4 weeks. A lot of people discuss both medications on reddit and other forums.

    While people who take 15mg or 7.5mg of Mirtazapine can get an average number of hours of sleep per night, and can take it for years.

  • Agnia
    Agnia Online Community Member Posts: 2,092 Connected

    Hi @Passerby , thank you for writing to me and under this post, im still taking 30 mg but will be taking 45 mg soon , i cannot take ssri antidepressants , even when i took lower dose of mirtazapine it didn’t help me sleep at night, i know people who have been taking strong sleeping pills for 20 years including members of my family and treating their illnesses with promethazine never happened and was out of the question.

    im wishing you a nice day ahead, please take care, kind regards.

  • Passerby
    Passerby Posts: 191 Empowering

     "i know people who have been taking strong sleeping pills for 20 years."

    Hi.

    Sleeping medications are called Z drugs, and the ONLY sleeping prescription medications prescribed (or that even exist) in the UK are Zolpidem, available in the UK under the trade name Stilnoct, and Zopiclone, which is available in the UK under the trade name Zimovane.

    There are no other sleeping medications in the UK, leave alone some that are stronger than Zolpidem and Zopiclone. I reiterate, there are no sleeping medications in the UK that are stronger or less stronger than Zopiclone and Zolpidem. Any doctor will tell you the very same thing.

    Your family members must be taking either antidepressants or antipsychotics, such as seroquel/quetiapine.

    One thing that you should understand is that medication is not meant to be the final solution for sleeping problems. People have to work on figuring out non medical alternative ways to solve their sleeping problems and, most of all, train their brain.

    I took sleeping medications for over 10 years in a row, and they made my life hell during the last 5 years.

    As Heather Ashton, British psychopharmacologist and physician, who has written and spoken a lot about benzodiazepines (antidepressants), said, "sleeping medications and benzodiazepines bring more problems than they solve", and I couldn't agree more, as I've learned it the hard way. I haven't taken them for the past 9 years now, and I don't take any antidepressants either.

    It's easy to get hooked on sleeping medications and antidepressants, but coming off them is a very serious and often dreadful journey.

  • Agnia
    Agnia Online Community Member Posts: 2,092 Connected

    Hi @Passerby , thank you for writing here and to me , and im sorry i will not describe here what sleeping pills my family members take , but they are certainly not treated with allergy medication for a very advanced insomnia and i come from a family working in the health service and hospitals and i also know that i was in Hell with my insomnia, completely lonely, very close to losing consciousness on the verge of madness, and i have tried many herbal remedies which are too weak for me and i really know herbal medicine and before i got sick i was very organic person, Kind regards.

  • WhatThe
    WhatThe Online Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 3,834 Championing
    edited March 3

    Agnia, you were in a terrible state when you joined Scope 😓

    All that time they had given you the wrong medication for insomnia? 😮

    I am so glad you didn't give up the fight! I am so glad you have found someone on the forum to explore these medications with and discuss insomnia.

    🤗

  • Agnia
    Agnia Online Community Member Posts: 2,092 Connected

    Hi dear @WhatThe , thank you for writing here and to me and for all your support that you gave to me in the past, im glad too and i do appreciate it , please take care and im wishing you a pleasant evening.

    Kind regards ♥️🌷

  • Agnia
    Agnia Online Community Member Posts: 2,092 Connected

    Hi @WhatThe , please i would like to also mention that i don’t describe all my problems and struggles and states that im still experiencing on the forum and how i feel ,

    Please take care, kind regards.

  • WhatThe
    WhatThe Online Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 3,834 Championing

    I still don't know why you - a complete stranger - mattered to me but you did. Learning that you were also new to the forum was one factor.

    Your desperation was evident but you never gave up asking for help or trying to get past the language barrier.

    Amazing Agnia

    👏

  • letitbe
    letitbe Online Community Member Posts: 328 Empowering

    you’re so right Agnia - sleep deprivation is absolutely horrendous . They use it to torture people in some detention camps . I’ve also been on zopiclone for years and I think my body has just gotten used to it . Hope you’re ok .