Temazepam

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tubajim

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First of all - my "home" is the MS board - thay are very helpful people. I need some real world feedback about using a med prescribed to me. I understand many of you are going through really tough issues - mine are likely rather small by comparison.

After diagnosis I asked for adti d (Prozac and Welbutrin prescribed). I also asked help and was prescribed Provigil to corabat fatigue. Worry, anxiety, etc. interfered with sleep - had some sleep issues on an off all my life (47 M). Prescribed Temazepam @30 for use as needed - been using it for about 50 days now. Provigil for wakefullness in AM- Temazepam in PM to maybe go to sleep.

Is 30 a high dose for Temazepam? I am not sleeping better or at all sometimes and wonder if I have become tolerant to Temazepam - in the real world how long might that take? Is 50 days a long time? If I discontinue use altogether what might I expect? How long? As I am not sleeping - could it be worse to just stop taking it? I pill a night for the sleep stuff - thats it - no recreational issue with this - never had it before. I DID read the literature that came with it - want some other input. Am caught all the time between not being realy awake and not really getting honest sleep. Following ALL orders from DRs. Any observations would be appreciated. Best to all of you with your challenges...

Jim
 
Hi Tubajim

You play the tuba? My son did in highschool and college. :)

Anyway, to your question about Temazepam: Are you aware that it is a benzo? Same family as Xanax and similar meRAB. Benzos are mae for short term use and we can become dependent and/or addicted to themvery, very quickly. ID you discontinue them, do it by slow taper, not suddenly. Suddenly can cause medical issues (like seizures).

I know nothing about the doses of Temazepam at all. I do know, though, that as a class of drugs, benzos are notoriously addicting. I fought a hard battle to get off of Xanax after having been on it for a nuraber of years. At some point, I crossed the line from medical use to emotional use to addictive behaviour use. It was just so easy to take one to fall asleep.. then it was two, etc, etc.

A suggestion... Melatonin is a supplement carried at all major drugstore chanins and grocery stores. It is what our brain produces that tells the body that it is time to sleep. I use it now when I am having a hard time falling asleep.

My experience has made me extra leary of any benzo. However, my experience does not have to be yours! I would really talk with your doctor openly and honestly about the use of the med and get his learned imput.

Good luck
reachout
 
Tubajim:

Temazepam starts at 15mg and goes up from there. My primary suggested I try it for sleep about a year ago. If anything I think it made my sleep worse. It made me restless. I took it about 3 times, waited a month, tried it 3 more nights and the rest were disposed of. I was taking 30mg. I asked him about it later and he said that's the highest dose.

I think the issue is that it's not helping you. If you are taking it every night, and it was helping more in the beginning, it could be that your body has adjusted. Or it could be you just slept better those nights by random. Any way you slice it, you're on the highest dose so it's better to try a different route.

This is one of those drugs that worked so poorly for me I never understood the attraction but it's been on the market forever so it must work for someone.
 
Thank you for your replies -

I had read about the potential for addiction - as well as seizure possibilities if suddenly stopped. My rx was for 60 pills total - after a recount I can say I have taken @38 - not 50 in succession. Since I was getting nowhere with it I didnt take one last night. No seizures as well as no sleep whatsoever. A very comfortable 8 hours - good temps and windows open - not tossing and turning - but no sleep. Not

No desire to take MORE than dose prescribed. I did have a legitimate rx for hydrocodone a few years ago and I can relate to how people could get sucked into that - not the case with this for me. This was my only med prescribed "as needed" so I felt OK about not taking it as it was not working. All others just as ordered. One month is not a real long time - but I do appreciate the potential for addiction - so no sleep last night is not a terrific surprise. Yet - if not dong the job - and not a daily med...I will speak to GP on 13 as well as Neuro week from Mon. As a reasonably big guy I am not surprised at the 30 dose and I did ask for help with "sleep enforcement". GP did not give me an unlimited supply so I feel he was being responsible and also trying to help me get through some tough times after Dx with MS. So I will continue to try to figure out what is going on. MS board has been helpful - I will also ask some questions of them. I used Melatonin several years ago and I thin it helped me establish reasonable patterns - wont do that right now as I am trying to follow orders and do so in an orderly manner. Glad for the holiday weekend - no Temazepam tonight either.

I appreciate your feedback and I know there people on this board with real difficult issues. Really want sleep but need to do it right and figure things our in an orderly manner.

My best to you -
Jim

Yes I am a tuba player - play and teach for all my life and career. Taken a real back seat lately - but I must attend to new Dx as well as get my head in a better place. Very fortunate in many ways...
 
Jim - If you've tried them all, just ignore this. But I was thinking about you today. I've had a life long battle with insomnia so lots of old info in this head. One of the OTC "antihistamines" that's used as a sleep aid actually helps me. You have to watch which ingredient is in the pills. The ones with diphenhydramine do nothing for me. And the vast majority use diphenhydramine. However, the ones with doxylamine succinate really help me. It's also a very good antihistamine so I usually wake 3 or 4 times a night needing a sip of water.

Not sure if I'm allowed to give you the brand name. But at a large shopping mart store, they have it in generic.

If you haven't tried this one, give it a shot. Only cost you about $4 to give it a shot.
 
Have you tried Arabien? It works for many without any "hangover' the next AM. The sleep aiRAB OTC are nearly all antihistamines, most dry you up and leave you groggy the next day, I never did well with them, but adding warm baths, relaxing stretches, and quiet reading can set the body up for sleep. There are "sleep hygeine" tips that can be found on the Web that may help. Good Luck, JB
 
Thank you all -
I think I wore out my welcome w/temazepam by taking it too many nights regularly. Additcted, no - but not effective and possibly setting me back - read more about benzos and I get it - addiction would not be fun and can happen fast. Cannot say I EVER wanted to take more than the dose indicated - got no recreation aspect at all. Wonder if valium would have been better under these circumstances - but my GP is a smart guy. And, valium - yes - another benzo - got knocked pretty hard in the US for awhile. I needed to get through shock and started on meRAB before school started and maybe did not really help myself - Temazepam by itself is not to blame - but not terribly effective for me AND I did not use it right. So as MS meRAB increased I was already falling further behind the sleep/rest game. May be other factors to be sure - but I can identify my own error as making the issues more difficult to sort. Need to see if the next few nights get better - or if I have to do some sort of taper - cant cut up the capsules - so cutting dose on my own is problematic. Last night - 2nd w/o Temazepam was similar - very little if any sleep. Dont want to keep taking it - hoping that a few days - even if ugly - will get me back to square one and by telling GP and Neuro what I did we may find another tack to address sleep patterns. The freakout factor of diagnosis is getting more under control - not convinced Im going to die this year... But without reasonable sleeping cycles its impossible to tell if MS meRAB are causing side effects - spent too much time researching MS and not enough really learning about meRAB. My misuse was not intentional - and for some it may not be misuse at all. Never taken anything for sleep 40 days straight - except melatonin in the 90s - and certainly would try that again - after coming clean with GP. So I had a hand in this - glad I didnt let it go on another 20 days down the line. I will take whatever Dr suggests - and/or some of the good advice given here. Next few days are likely to be not great - but they werent good with Temazepam. Really - I wish I knew what was best for the next few days - hate to think I need/should take Temazepam until I speak with GP but some have suggested that until told how to stop by GP. Others suggest that after this relatively brief screw up that I could feel ugly for awhile on my own. So glad he only gave me access to 60 total - never wanted to take more than the dose - but could have gone on longer, still had poor sleep, and ended up actually wanting more Temazepam! So I will relate to GP and Neuro what I did - see what chastisement is in order - and ask for advice. Sleep issues are real - and to understand what if anything is happening with interferon use I have to at least keep sleep under reasonable control. I think that 40 consecutive noghts @30 with all the other meRAB was too long - for me - and probably doing nothing by the end of week 2. I are no doctor!

jim
 
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