Re: fatigue from Sinequan?

[Guest guest]

Hi Blackdirtprairie, sinequan is a tricyclic anti-depressant which will make

you sleep at night and drowsy during the day. However, the drowsiness during

the day will diminish over time. You could try taking it 3 or 4 hours before

bedtime to see if that helps. Also, you can ask that the dosage you take be

reduced and then increased gradually as your body gets used to the drug and

drowsiness during the day becomes less and less. Lastly, the drowsiness during

a

specific part of the day is sometimes due to alcohol use. Alcohol increases

the drowsiness affect of the drug and should not be used while you are taking

any tricyclic antidepressant. My advice? Take the Sinequan a bit longer

until you have been on it at least 60 to 90 days. Ask for a reduced dose if

necessary. If the drowsiness during the day doesn't go away after 90 days, then

you may have to go back to the Doctor and ask for something else. However, the

problem usually does clear up over time. Hope this helps.

[Guest guest]

At 09:45 PM 9/15/03 -0500, you wrote:

>I am wondering if anyone else on this list has ever taken a low dose of

>Sinequan (doxipen) to help sleep. I am on a low dose of 20 mg. about 2

>hours before bedtime.

I was on 10mg for several months and could never get used to it. It

definitely helped me sleep but I never knew when it would also hit me

during the day.

[Guest guest]

I take Ambien to establish a normal sleep pattern. Usually, I only need

to take it for 3 or 4 nights. I just started taking it again this week

along with another round of methylprednisolone for inflammation. My

level of pain has increased in several locations and I wake up

frequently. Additionally, some of my neighbors find it appropriate to

shoot guns just after I go to bed and again several hours before I wake

up. Other neighbors rarely pay any attention to dogs they leave outside

year round. When the owners engage in any activity outside or some

interesting varmint wonders into the area, the dogs vocally warn their

owners or ask for attention. The owners completely ignore their pet's

requests and I am sleepless again. To make matters worse, my husband

snores and my daughter took an ecology class in Russia. She explored

Moscow by herself for a week and then the class went on to Siberia for 3

weeks. She safely returned last week. Her only mishaps were when she

entered the men's room (she does not read Russian) and some men who

witnessed her mistake laughed and her yurt caught on fire, although

everyone was safe. She is safely home now and we went to visit her at

University of Toronto on Sunday; she looks great! But, sleep continues

to be somewhat elusive.

I've tried earplugs, speaking to my neighbors, and my husband with

little success; I just renewed my prescription for Ambien. I was so out

of sync with normal sleep, that I have been taking it for 4 nights now

with only a little success. With all of this, I would highly recommend

Ambien. It gently puts me to sleep, I have no problem if I need to get

up in the night, and once I reestablish my sleep pattern, I wake very

refreshed after a solid nights sleep which I have had one and hope to

have more soon.

[Guest guest]

Hear, hear for Ambien! I've been on Ambien for several months, the 5 mg.

dose. I take it for nightime arthritis pain, not for insomnia. My

rheumatologist doesn't have any problem with it and he said it makes sense

that it eases my nighttime pain.

I haven't had any side effects or problems with it.

Janet in SF

[Guest guest]

I take a much bigger dose(100MG) and it does make you drowsy. After the

first few weeks the day time drowsiness should be gone and only the night

time drowsiness that will help you get through all the sleep cycles, should

be left. It could be that the dose is too low and you are not getting

through the proper sleep cycles. Auto-immune illness does cause fatigue as

all of us can testify and Reiter’s and AS is known for night-time pain. Hope

you can figure it out. I saw a sleep disorder Doc and learned that my

illness and frequent hospital stays ( you never get uninterrupted sleep in

a hospital) and pain meds were all the culprits! Cherri Mathews

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