Re: OT: Tapering sleep meds

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Hi ,I am so pleased to see you are back and posting again!!  I was just thinking about you a few hours ago!! I missed you....Have you caught my posts about Essiac tea?  This is a great way to detox, it is time tested, approved by the 

Canadian medical community... If you didn't catch my posts, let me know and I will repost the info...I think Essiac is the best detox protocol, it is healthy and very low cost!!

Thanks for the good post about getting off of sleep meds.... Jim

Tapering sleep meds

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Re: Re: Tapering sleep meds

Hi Bonnie,I haven't posted in months on the forum (life has been crazy, my health good and bad). But, I wanted to post because you are right where I was at one year ago. Some of you might remember that I have been seeing a doctor who uses plant stem cell tinctures. (they are amazing).

Anyway, part of my protocol was to 'reset' my benzodiazapine receptors. For this I started taking California Poppy during the day (30 drops, 3x/day, empty stomach) and 100 drops of Linden Tree at bedtime (more is not better).  After being on these PSC for 6-8 weeks, I began to cut down on my meds. I was taking 10 mg Ambien and 1 mg of xanax.  I had my doc write the script for 2 (5mg) of Ambien (which the insurance fought each time) and 3-4 .25 xanax.  Since these pills are tiny, more of them at lower doses makes cutting small decreases easier. (A friend, even uses a nail file, I used a razor blade.)

So, on the night I would decrease my meds I would increase my one or more of my naturals (melatonin, L-ornithine, GABA, whatever works for you.) I would not decrease both meds - just one - by 1/10th-ishUsually, I would sleep that night but maybe wake up a few times.

The next night I would take the same dose of meds and naturals -- this night would usually be good sleep.Within 3-4 nights my sleep would be 'good' and I would start tappering down on the naturals to my 'acceptable dose'. (I am still on naturals)

At the two week mark, now sleeping good, I would repeat the process all over again:Tapper the ambien, by 1/10th - increase my naturals - rough night or two, then sleeping OK, then tappering naturals.After I was off the ambien, I did the same thing with xanax.

If i had a bad night and just couldn't sleep, I would take some benadryl or even an extra xanax, BUT the next night I would go right back to my previous night's dose.All in all it took me one year to wean. I believe the PSC were very helpful and the iodine really helped. My PSC are by prescription only, but if you google Gemmo you can order that brand (look for the latin names). PSC are very potent tinctures - I don't think anyone would get near the results with regular tinctures like HerbPharm, etc.

Other things I've found helpful: I do not eat after dinner - this is critical for me. Also, no caffeine, chocolate or sugar after 2p.m)30 minutes before bed, I make a cocktail of some water, iodine, Linden and magnesium. I take melatonin and L-tryptophan. 

If I am desperately hungry - I'll eat 30 minutes after taking my supplements.I've also found that rotating other naturals helps - my body seems to build up a tolerance. I take an extremely high dose of melatonin - 60mg - it works for me.

As a side note: I had completed 3 months of taking MMS every hour of the waking day (well, just about) in September. I was doing pretty darn good. But did get rather toxic. Some thorough detoxing helped. Then I slacked off on the MMS. Around Thanksgiving I started going down hill fast with horrific brain fog. I detoxed, but that wasn't helping. Actually, I think that I over detoxed and wiped out my good stuff with the bad - this being apparent with almost psychotic thoughts. Went back on MMS, but didn't want to create too many more toxins- so I stopped. It finally dawned on me that liver was probably toxic as well, as my gut.

Right now, I'm doing a Hulda liver cleanse tonight. Will continue to work on my liver.Will be following the Body Ecology Diet to heal my leaky gut. I know this is a huge issue for me that I have not wanted to address. This diet focuses not only on anti-candida, but on fermented veggies (yuck, I'll learn to like) and coconut water kefir - doesn't sound too bad. The diet allows for some grains (well, seeds like quinoa, millet, amaranth), so I think I can follow it.

In about two weeks, I'll re-introduce MMS, slowly being sure to baby my liver and being vigilant on detoxing.I do see all your threads on my email daily and pray for your health. It's just one of those times in life, that I can't stretch myself too thin.

I do wish you all a very happy new year!On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 1:30 PM, bonnieblanchet  wrote:

 

Thanks everyone for the posts. It does seem a hard call whether to switch to valium or taper from ambien and xanax. Logically, if valium stays in your system longer, it seems a better idea, especially if lack of sleep is the biggest issue. But then is valium really that much more addictive than xanax and ambien. I really dont know which is the worst of the evils. Sounds like what you were on, Barbara, was perhaps even worse. They all affect the CNS and the natural chemistry of the body. I have spent one week just keeping a record of exactly what I am taking and when.