I’ve had insomnia, intermittently, for years now. But with the onset of menopause (thanks, middle-age!), it’s gotten worse. Probably three or four nights out of the week I either can’t get to sleep, or I get to sleep easily but then wake at 3AM for a bathroom break and can’t get back to sleep.
I used Ambien successfully for a while, but after a time it stopped working for me. So my doctor has decided to try me on Lunesta. The info packet says to take it when I have “at least eight hours” to devote to sleep, and my alarm is set for 6:05AM. It’s now 9:18PM, so I’m going to take it no later than 9:30.
So now, I’m off to prepare myself for bed, as the instructions are clear: don’t take it until you are ready to go to bed.
Fingers crossed for good results! Man, I need some consecutive nights of solid sleep so bad!
One possible side effect (hits my SO but not me) is a horrible chemical taste in your mouth the entire next day. If so, try cutting it with something acidic like orange juice.
My darling bride to be uses Lunesta to great effect when she needs to - no ill effects that I recognize.
It has been most helpful when we’ve been stressing over some thing or another to know she can get a full night’s sleep.
I also recommend the Nighttime Tylonol Generic Brand you get from Sam’s Club - Tylonol with Benedryl. Cheap and plentiful - a good night starter if you need it.
And I have had some luck with the herb Valerian.
I’ve tried just about all of the sleep meds out there, prescription, non, and herbal. IIRC Lunesta was the least effective for me. Ambien, Sonata, and one either that escapes me right now, worked great, so did Ambien CR.
It’s been quite a while since I had taken a sleeping pill, until recently. I was prescribed Ambien CR again, and it seemed to have a much lesser effect for me, despite a years long period of no meds.
I saw a second Doc a while a go that said my experience with Lunesta was the same as that of a number of her patients, not strong enough. She got me on Sonata, which worked like a champ back then.
I guess people have different chemistry, and if Lunesta was ineffective, it wouldn’t be on the market still. I hope it works well for you, and if not, I hope you find something that is.
It works like a charm for me. About 20 minutes after I take the pill, my eyelids get too heavy to stay open. I just snuggle down in bed and am asleep in no time.
The best part is that if I wake up in the night, I can roll over and go right back to sleep.
Don’t be surprised if it’s a little hard to get out of bed the next morning… Get vertical and after about 10 minutes you’ll be fine.
I hope it works for you - good luck!
ETA: The metallic taste only lasts about 2 hours for me, and I only notice it if I drink water. Anything with flavor (coffee, tea, juice) and I’m fine.
I hope it works out for yoU! I’ve always had trouble sleeping, which is exacerbated by working the graveyard shift. Melatonin’s always worked for me to knock my ass out, but if I fight it the ‘sleepy’ feeling goes away and I’m awake again.
Well, I took it at about 9:20 last night, then crawled into bed and snuggled down. I spent a few minutes reading, as I always do. But I’m sure I was sound asleep by 9:45.
I woke up around midnight having to use the bathroom; sometimes this is a quick thing, and I don’t even have to fully wake up, but sometimes, my bowels decided to be problematic, and it takes a while, and then, it’s anyone’s guess whether I’ll be able to get back to sleep. I was back in bed by 12:30, and worried I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, but I decided to use my usual ‘mind distraction’ techniques, and before I knew it, I was out like a light again, and didn’t wake up any more at all until I heard my coffee maker start at 6AM. I kind of laid there, mentally preparing myself to get up, and when my alarm went off a few minutes later, I got up, rested and ready to go!
I did have a problem with the part of my morning routine where I go into the kitchen and chug a bag glass of ice water. Ick! I won’t make that mistake again!
But my coffee tasted fine. I’ll wait until later to drink my water.
Of course, every so often, I have a night where I just sleep well, so maybe last night would have been one of those anyway. I’ll try again tonight, and we’ll see how it goes!
VWife took Lunesta for a while. When she was using it, those damned green moths just like the one in the commercial were everywhere around The VunderLair.
I’m assuming I should start running before I take the pill, right?
Nah, I’ll let 'em invade! Mudgirladores bugs! And hey, if they’re green and glow-in-the-dark, all the better!
Oddly enough, the metallic taste in my mouth came back with a vengeance once I was done my coffee. So now I’ve made myself some orange juice. Will follow the OJ with (another) vigorous tooth/tongue brushing and some Listerine.
I wonder, if the Lunesta works well for me otherwise, if the aftertaste thing is something that may go away on its own, as some side-effects seem to do? Because other than that, I got no complaints. I don’t feel draggy, hung-over, nothing. I slept great, feel good. Just have that taste in my mouth, like I sucked on a mouthful of nickles or something.
I’m taking Ambien. Knocks me right out. I have wondered how Lunesta compares and may ask my doc if I can try it, just to see if one is better than the other for me.
Well, as I think I said, I took Ambien for a while (couple of months); at first, it worked beautifully for me. After that, not so much.
I believe that you, Khadaji, have a lot of similar malabsorption issues to mine, so something like Ambien CR would be a waste of money. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
Yeah, I’d have to switch if my insurance decided they weren’t going to cover it. Hell, even my copay is $45.00! Now, of course, a buck and a half a night ain’t bad if it helps me get the amount and quality of sleep I need!
ETA: While I have had some success with Valerian root, Tylenol PM/Benadryl (the active “sleep” ingredient is the same) does very little for me.
I do and I didn’t see any difference between the CR and the regular Ambien. Ambien puts me right out, but I don’t sleep all the night. I don’t really have any trouble falling asleep anyway, just staying asleep, so lately I have been waiting until I wake up at 11 or so and taking my Ambien then. Now I sleep until about 6 or 7. I do yearn for my youth when I could stay up late and sleep late.
I take zopiclone sometimes. It’s OTC here and costs less than 50 cents a pill. One thing I do a fair amount of is take half a pill. I often get woken up wide awake by china bambina or sometimes just work stress. I can take half, go back to sleep pretty well, and then wake up naturally or by alarm 3-4 hours later. same thing if it’s just a falling asleep issue. In other words, I take half a pill to get me over the hump and that works fine for me instead of taking a whole one.
Do you have pain as well as insomnia? Because if not, you’d probably be better off taking generic diphenhydramine, which is the ingredient in Tylenol PM and Advil PM that makes you sleepy. Same stuff as Benadryl. It’s cheaper by a longshot, and you’re not getting the dose of painkillers you don’t need.
Fortunately, my “baby” is almost 10, so while it’s conceivable she may, at some point, need me to get up in the middle of the night, it’s not likely. Plus, my main problem, as I believe I’ve mentioned, is not so much getting to sleep, as staying asleep.
But last night’s experience gave me no reason to worry that my daughter would be unable to wake me should the need arise. Let’s hope tonight and future nights go as well.
