Dom's new sleep regimen

November 4, 2008

I've been asked to post this, so here goes:

Regarding my current sleep regimen (we are all different), I am trying

this for the past 3-4 weeks:

At bedtime: 12.5 mg Seroquel (which is 1/2 of a 25 mg tablet) + 1/2 of

a 10 mg Zolpidem tablet (generic ambien)

When I wake up in the middle of the night: I take the other half of

the Zolpidem tablet plus 1/2 of a 1 mg Lorazepam tablet (generic Ativan).

When I wake up 2-3 hours later: I take a 3 mg Lunesta tablet.

If I have a drippy nose: I found that 1 T of generic Nyquil at bedtime

helps me sleep.

If I have unexplained itching: I take 1 Atarax tablet and that helps

me sleep deeper as well.

I get my sleep in 2-3 " sections " every night. My doctor (internal

medicine) wants me to be able to sleep 8 hours! He thinks that would

solve a lot of my other health complaints. I can't imagine sleeping 8

hours at once. Haven't done that in decades! But sure sounds great.

I would imagine a huge hangover though the next day.

I got the idea of taking smaller amounts of several sleep meds rather

than lots of just one med to sleep from Dr. Teitelbaum's approach.

A list of things I've tried for sleep since 1982 is at

I am still " tweaking " my sleep med program. For those who don't have

insomnia, they probably think this is kind of crazy, but read my

insomnia story at

--I've been battling this since I was 16, and I am 56. When you don't

get restorative sleep, your body can't repair itself, and your immune,

endocrine and nervous systems all begin to act up, causing much

suffering. So I think my doc is right to try to solve the sleep

problem. He is patient, compassionate and knowledgeable. He wants me

to take more of the Seroquel, but I am always cautious. I'll keep

experimenting.

BTW, just wanted to say that many things readers recommended that help

sleep did not work for me - I had some pretty bad reactions, so

everyone is different. My protocol may not work for anyone but me.

Dom

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