Re: HELP! I CAN'T SLEEP!

[Guest guest]

Congratulations on your great labs. I, like you, think the Sustiva

should be out of your system by now. However, worry can do exactly

what you are describing, especially after just recently finding out

about your HIV+ status. Also, depression can be a very strange beast.

It can make you want to sleep all the time or it can give you

insomnia. Strange, huh? It can make you eat all the time or kill your

appetite. That's one of the things that makes it so hard to

determine. I know that when I started Sustiva it killed my appetite

for both food and sex for about 3 months. I literally had to force

myself to eat so I know it has effects on mental processes. That did

go away thank God. I never had the strange dreams at first, either. I

actually felt sort of cheated since I understood some of them could be

quite erotic. Now, however, after about a year on it I have been

starting to have strange dreams and even some bad dreams which I never

used to have. I assume it's a delayed reaction to the Sustiva. I

don't know if this has any thing to do with what you are going through,

but that's been my experience with Sustiva. Also, be careful with

Ambien. There have been reports of people taking it and going into a

sort of blackout and driving their cars and having accidents. The

article said to never take it unless you are at home and getting ready

for bed already. It would be a shame to get HIV under control and then

die from a car wreck. By the way, have you tried any of the

over-the-counter sleep aids? They are just antihistamines, which for

me act better than a prescription sleeping pill so I avoid them most of

the time. Another thing that makes me really sleepy is Dramamine

(motion-sickness pills). Just remember, this, too, shall pass.

makor3 wrote:

Hello Everybody,

Need your guidance, After a bad case of psoriasis I was diagnosed poz

back in march this year VL 114,000 and CD4 108 - I was put on meds on

April Sustiva and Combivir, then switched to Sustiva and Truvada and

then to Atripla, My VL went undetectable and my CD4 increased to 306

as of my last lab work of September.

I never had any serious health problems or with the meds until about

a month ago when I started to have problems to sleep so I asked my

doctor to give me something that would help me fall asleep and stay

sleep, until we found the reasons for my problem, he then prescribed

Ambien and AmbienCR, it worked at first but now I'm taking from 4 to

5 pills a night to get a very poor quality sleeping.

My doc thinks it might be the sustiva, so he put me ONLY on Truvada

for 15 days without results... Woldn't the sustiva be out of the

system by now??. To rule out any thyroid problems my doc send blood

tests and it just came back today apparently within normal ranges

Free T4 1.0 and TSH 3.02 I'm very concern since I don't seem to

concentrate at work and and feel very tired. I think my doctor is

just guessing. Sorry to come out so desperate but my doctor went on a

extended trip and I'm burning out, please help! Any suggestions??

Happy holidays!!

Max

[Guest guest]

Yes, Ambien is a good sleep aid, but has weird side effects. I woke up last week in the middle of the night, and my head was spinning, and so was my eyes. I felt like I was on a merry-go-round. It was totally scary. I thought it might be my Paxil, which can cause dizziness too. I stopped Paxil one night, and had the spinning feeling, but only 3-4 times. Next day, I was off Paxil and Ambien, no more spinning. Paxil did its job, but now I don't think I need it. And, I'd stay awake at night than to suffer the head spinning again. And, it was actually very easy to get off of both. For about 3 days I had a 'swooshing' feeling in my head from Paxil withdrawal, but was tolerable. BTW, is right about Ambien only lasting 3-4 hrs. I get up at 2a or 3a to go to bathroom, and I'm up for at least an hour after that. Happy New Year everyone~~ .

SEIZE THE DAY! ENJOY TODAY, SMELL THE ROSES AND HUG YOURSELF __________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Yes, Ambien is a good sleep aid, but has weird side effects. I woke up last week in the middle of the night, and my head was spinning, and so was my eyes. I felt like I was on a merry-go-round. It was totally scary. I thought it might be my Paxil, which can cause dizziness too. I stopped Paxil one night, and had the spinning feeling, but only 3-4 times. Next day, I was off Paxil and Ambien, no more spinning. Paxil did its job, but now I don't think I need it. And, I'd stay awake at night than to suffer the head spinning again. And, it was actually very easy to get off of both. For about 3 days I had a 'swooshing' feeling in my head from Paxil withdrawal, but was tolerable. BTW, is right about Ambien only lasting 3-4 hrs. I get up at 2a or 3a to go to bathroom, and I'm up for at least an hour after that. Happy New Year everyone~~ .

SEIZE THE DAY! ENJOY TODAY, SMELL THE ROSES AND HUG YOURSELF __________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Yes, Ambien is a good sleep aid, but has weird side effects. I woke up last week in the middle of the night, and my head was spinning, and so was my eyes. I felt like I was on a merry-go-round. It was totally scary. I thought it might be my Paxil, which can cause dizziness too. I stopped Paxil one night, and had the spinning feeling, but only 3-4 times. Next day, I was off Paxil and Ambien, no more spinning. Paxil did its job, but now I don't think I need it. And, I'd stay awake at night than to suffer the head spinning again. And, it was actually very easy to get off of both. For about 3 days I had a 'swooshing' feeling in my head from Paxil withdrawal, but was tolerable. BTW, is right about Ambien only lasting 3-4 hrs. I get up at 2a or 3a to go to bathroom, and I'm up for at least an hour after that. Happy New Year everyone~~ .

SEIZE THE DAY! ENJOY TODAY, SMELL THE ROSES AND HUG YOURSELF __________________________________________________