Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Do you suggest Ambien or Ativan for sleep?

I was prescribed ativan for a few days to help me sleep when I was going through opiate withdrawl and it worked wonders, I was able to sleep like a baby, which would have been impossible otherwise. I have an ambien now but I have not used it before. Will it work as well as the ativan to help me get to sleep?


Answer:
Ambien will put you out faster than ativan, but you will wake up at 3am and not be able to get back to sleep. The problem with ambien is that it is very potent, wears off fast, and is extremely addictive. After you take it for a week or so, if you quit taking it you will NOT sleep for a while. It takes the brain a while to heal from what ambien does, it is very potent and harsh. My sleep Dr. refuses to prescribe it because of this. He told me that for ever week you take ambien, you will suffer withdrawals (anxiety and severe insomnia) for a week. You take ambien for three months, you will suffer miserable insomnia for three months when you quit. That is why ambien is supposed to be used for 7-10 days ONLY.Ativan is very addictive as well, it does the same thing to the brain that ambien does, just not as fast. It lasts much longer than ambien does, and with ativan you don't wake up at 3am with your brain going PANIC PANIC, but you will pretty much sleep through the night. Tolerance to ativan does not develop as fast as tolerance to ambien. Physical addiction to ambien develops very fast, physical addiction to ativan does not develop quite as fast. In the end, if you take either of them long enough and quit, the withdrawals from either can be severe. Neither of them are long term solutions. Both do the same thing to the brain, and recover from either of them can take a very very long time. Don't take them unless you absolutely have to have them, and be aware of the risk for tolerance and physical addiction, and the potential for severe withdrawals.

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