i went to fix a few typos and got lost in the fog.

i told you that i was tired. now do you believe me?

Ambien has been a godsend to me but getting it is an ordeal in humility because I have to beg and plead for it. It’s given me a bad reputation at my doctor’s office. Now I have anxiety about it too because I dread the thought what the doctor is writing in her reports when I’m there and have been up for two or three days in a row and I want to sleep! I think the look on my face when she gives me a hard time about it must speak volumes.

The way I see it, Ambien was invented for people like me. “Ask your doctor for Ambien”…in dreamland, perhaps. So far, none of the doctors that I know ever want to offer me any relief for anything if I actually ask for it by name. I think they must consider that “drug seeking”. When they do succumb to my arguments (which is rare) I get a non-refillable prescription for 30 pills … not one pill more. They are usually for 5mg tablets, even though it takes 10mg to actually put me to sleep. If I ask for 10mg, I will surely only get 5mg tablets. That zombie-zone is something that I actually like because there is no guessing if they will be working or not…I know. Puffing up my down pillows in those last few minutes before I sink into them for eight blissful hours is the first best feeling. The second would be waking up a full eight hours later. I love that.

No wonder drug seekers learn to become devious. I am becoming devious now trying to get Ambien…careful of how I ask. Careful not to remind the doctor about the 10mg working better for me. Careful not to send off a bell or a whistle that will have me butting heads. It’s humiliating to have to beg for sleep.

I am so horribly fatigued right now. I got up from my tossing and turning to make myself a cup of chamomile tea. I have already taken the trazadone and don’t really know if I could take more without a problem so I’ll try a cup of the sleepy tea. Sometimes it helps relax me if I drink a double-bag cup’s worth. But I’ve had as many as four bags in an evening before without nodding off for a moment. That much chamomile gives me an upset stomach.

I’ve tried all kinds of remedies. Some work for the first few doses. Some never work at all. Melatonin never worked. Only two brands of chamomile tea help some: Celestial Seasonings SleepyTime Tea (not the one with valerian though…that version doesn’t work for me); and Salada ComfortTime Tea. None of the chamomile teas that I’ve tried work.

I’ve tried every brand of OTC sleep aide that there is and none of them work for more than one or two nights, at best. Some make me even more horribly fatigued without the relaxation and sleep to follow. I hate that feeling.

My mother was just given a prescription for Lunesta. She’s a chronic insomniac too. She’s 76 years old and she reports that it works sometimes, but not every time. I asked if I could try one and she became very possessive so I did not press her for one. Each one is a potential night’s sleep and sleep is too precious to be giving away for experimental purposes. Even if I am her daughter. Even if I may have inherited her ailment. It’s too sacrificial of a thing for her to do.

I know that feeling. Ask me to baby-sit. Ask me to help pack up and move a three bedroom house. But don’t ask me for an Ambien. I had three Ambien stolen from my medicine bottle once and I felt like I had money stolen from my purse.

The problem with Lunesta it is that it requires a prescription. Here I go again….back to pleading for the privilege to sleep.

I read a extensive sleep study report about 4 or 5 years ago that the adult human body absolutely requires 8.25 hours of sleep in a dark room every single day without exception. Not a minute less. No matter how much we may believe that we require less or can get by with less, the deficit is cumulative and we can never catch up with the damage that sleeplessness does to our bodies over time. According to that study, because of that cumulative deficit we will eventually enter a pre-diabetic state and then we start rolling downhill more rapidly from that point on.

That’s where I think I’m at…rolling.

I have a sleep study appointment in a few weeks. As irony would have it, I’m likely to sleep like I’m comatose that night.

Ambien has been a godsend to me but getting it is an ordeal in humility because I have to beg and plead for it. The way I see it, Ambien was invented for people like me. “Ask your doctor for Ambien”…in dreamland, perhaps. So far, none of the doctors that I know ever want to offer me any relief for anything if I actually ask for it by name. I think they must consider that “drug seeking”. When they do succumb to my arguments (which is rare) I get a non-refillable prescription for 30 pills … not one pill more. They are usually for 5mg tablets, even though it takes 10mg to actually put me to sleep. If I ask for 10mg, I will surely only get 5mg tablets. That zombie-zone is something that I actually like because thereís no guessing if theyíre going to work or not…I know.

No wonder drug seekers learn to become devious. I am becoming devious now trying to get Ambien…careful of how I ask. Careful not to remind the doctor about the 10mg. Careful not to send of a bell or a whistle that will have me butting heads with her. It’s humiliating to have to beg for sleep.

I am so horribly fatigued right now and got up from my tossing and turning to make myself a cup of chamomile tea. I have already taken the trazadone and don’t really know if I could take more without a problem so I’ll try a cup of the sleepy tea. Sometimes it helps relax me if I drink a double-bag cup’s worth. But I’ve had as many as four bags before without nodding off. That much chamomile gives me an upset stomach.

I’ve tried all kinds of remedies. Some work for the first few doses. Some never work at all. Melatonin never worked. Only two brands of chamomile tea help some: Celestial Seasonings SleepyTime Tea (not the one with valerian though…that version doesn’t work for me); and Salada ComfortTime Tea.

I’ve tried every brand of OTC sleep aide that there is and none of them work for more than one or two nights, at best.

My mother was just given a prescription for Lunesta. She’s a chronic insomniac too. She’s 76 years old and she reports that it works sometimes, but every time. I asked if I could try one and she became very possessive so I did press her for one. Each one is a potential nights sleep and sleep is too precious to be giving away. It’s too sacrificial. I know that feeling. Ask me to baby-sit. Ask me to help pack up and move a three bedroom house. But don’t ask me for an Ambien. I had three Ambien stolen from my medicine bottle one and I felt like I had money stolen from my purse.

The problem with Lunesta it is that it requires a prescription. Here I go again….back to pleading for the privilege to sleep.

I read a extensive sleep study report about 4 or 5 years ago that the human body absolutely requires 8.25 hours of sleep in a dark room every single day without exception. No matter how much we may believe that we require less or can get by with less, the deficit is cumulative and we can never catch up with the damage that sleeplessness does to our bodies. According the that study, we will eventually enter a pre-diabetic state and then we start rolling downhill more rapidly from that point on.

I have a question about Lunestra, does it have any drug interactions with valerian root or melatonin? I tried looking it up online, but no recent drug interaction checkers could help,since the drug is so recent. I mean you could look up the labeling on Lunestra and if you understand all that medical jargon you could figure it out, but it was too confusing to understand

Later, when they’re a little more independent and my life gets back to normal, I may be able to try something a little more “pharmaceutical” to help my insomnia — if it comes back — which I’m sure it will.

Lewis Black, one of my favorite commedians, does a routine about those commercials. He finds them so soothing and euphoric that he goes to his doctor and asks him if he can give him a prescription for “entropin” (or whatever) and the doctors looks at him skeptically – “what you have genital warts?”. Can’t do Lewis justice in text.

OTH, RW has provided you a nonchemical alternative. Just print his post and keep by bedside.