Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group sleeping pills

Amtitriptyline is another option. Amitriptyline is one of the old tricyclic antidepressants and is used in high doses (up to 300 mg) for depression and in low doses (10-50 mg) for insomnia. One of its side effects is that it raises the threshold for pain which is helpful if you have AS. If you decide to take it, you need to know it's the kind of medication you need to take every day, not just when you need it.

I took 10 mg of amitriptyline two hours before bedtime for 15 months and found it hugely helpful for my insomnia. I slept like a baby on it. During the first couple weeks, I had a lot of problems with daytime drowsiness, but that went away. Because the dose was so tiny, I didn't experience any other side effects.

I quit taking amitriptyline about a year ago and have continued to sleep fairly well since then. My insomnia had been pretty bad prior to taking the medication (menopause may have had something to do with that) and it was as if the medication taught me how to sleep again.

I now take Ambien very occasionally, mostly when I travel because I have still difficulty sleeping in strange or noisy environmnets.

Insomnia is no small matter, causing physical, cognitaive and emotional problems. I hope your husband can find a solution for his insomnia.

Karen

30-60 minutes of aerobic exercise (at some point earlier in the day) also helps me sleep more soundly (so long as pain isn't keeping me awake).

sue

Real life experience here for the both of us in this home....

I took it first and slept so well with it but I realized that I was forgetting things and I told my dr. and he said that happened sometimes with Ambien and took me off of it.

A couple of years ago, a dr. put my hubby on it and he started falling and I could tell he was not remembering things and I took him off of it myself. He was so out of it with that medication that he didn't even miss it being in his meds. Bottom line, he cannot remember anything that happened for the whole month of October. He worked and doesn't remember it. We ate out with friends who visited. He never remembered them being here and thought we had never been to this new restaurant. I could tell you so many things that he did seemingly normal but he was in this hypnotic state and remembers nothing. It took a while to get out of his system.

I would discourage anyone from taking it. I have a dear friend who took it and I saw her after a few months and she looked like death warmed over. She was skin and bones and her hair was in terrible shape. We talked and she told me that she was forgetting to eat and other things like that and she thought she was losing her mind.

I asked her if she was taking Ambien and she said "yes" and I told her our experiences and she went to the dr. and talked to him and stopped it. She said she wondered if she would have lived if she had stayed on it. She is fine now. She was making so many mistakes at work that she was thinking about retiring because she thought she was just losing it.

Ambien is a hypnotic and I will never again take it. People sleepwalk, sleepeat and even drive the car not knowing what they are doing.

OK, that is enough. You know how I feel about it now.

I hope sleep comes. It doesn't for me but I will be awake before I will take one of those meds.

Blessings.
Possi

Wow! I can't believe that there are people who know what I am going through. I do Klopin, Ambin, Not some of the other stuff that you talked about but i have all the same outcomes. I am new to the blog. I have been reading alot but not posted but this one just caught my eye. I am going to the Rummy DR for my very first visit on the 13.. I hope he can get me off Ambin and find something else. I think the tailbone pain and my feet keep me awake and my shoulders hurt when i sleep too long on one side so that wakes me up. Then when i sleep on my back my arms go to sleep so that wakes me up...Someone fix my pain!!LOL Or help me sleep to make it through the next day. It is so great to have found you all. Thanks Sharon

Hey did anyone else watch the documentary "Wide Awake" that aired on HBO a week or so ago? About this filmaker named Alan Berliner who tapes himself struggling with his insomnia, trying to stop taking sleeping pills, and trying to figure out why he is a night person, only coming to life at night, struggling through the day. I sure saw a lot of myself in it-partly because this Alan Berliner is constantly organizing film and audio, you know, making lists of his favorite movies & songs...

It's coming up again on Feb 2, at 5:20 AM EST, (very appropriate scheduling!)

I actually came across something that works great for me. I was prescribed Amitriptyline (the generic for Elavil) to treat post concussion headaches after taking a nasty spill headfirst onto some concrete. My Doctor said it's been around a long time and used to be prescribed as an antidepressant. It works by increasing the levels of seratonin in your brain. I like it much better than ambien because for me, it has no morning after side effects since ambien acts in a narcotic type fashion and can be habit forming. It was originally prescribed by my GP, but any refills I get through my psych since it technically would now be given to me as an antidepressant.