Hi Loo! As someone who also has ADHD and chronic, lifelong insomnia that things like Melatonin and trazadone donât make a dent in, I completely understand your frustrations with the amount ambien not helping. Ambien can be really tricky to get it to actually work the way that itâs supposed to, especially when youâre resistant to those types of medications already. I hate sending unsolicited advice, so please feel free to ignore this if itâs all things youâve tried before, but as someone in a similar insomnia boat, here are some things that Iâve found to be genuinely helpful:
For ambien, I definitely recommend talking to your doctor about raising the dosage. I take 20mg, which is typically considered the dosage for adult men, but itâs the only thing that can even make a dent in my insomnia on its own. It also helps to take on as empty a stomach as possible, which can also be frustrating, but genuinely makes a huge difference.
I also have a similar experience with weed: itâs effective, most of the time, but I donât enjoy smoking and edibles are expensive. Found that RSO (Rick Simpson Oil) is one of the best ways to use weed to help me sleep. Itâs like a tar, sap texture, and you can put a tiny bit on a sleeping pill to help give you a sort of double whammy. Youâve probably tried it already, but if you havenât and can find some, I recommend giving it a try! You can control the dosage easier and you get more of it than traditional edibles.
Those are the only things that have ever really been helpful for me, and even with them itâs a nightly battle. Iâm sorry youâre going through all of this, and if these are all things youâve heard before, Iâm sorry for that too. A sleep study could be really helpful, if youâre able to do that! I hope you can get some rest soon. I know how much it sucks to struggle with sleep.
I don't mind the advice at all! I just put all that extra stuff on the post since I notice when I talk about this I tend to get like, the same advice a lot and it's a little tiring to have to play "yeah I tried that" 200 times lmao but nah this is good to know!! I was starting to wonder if I took it wrong or something so good to know it's just a tricky med to get right, and tonight I'll make sure to try to take it on as empty a stomach as possible. Also they def gave me the lowest dose for my sex/weight at just 5mg so yeah I might just need a bit more for it to really work.
When I (hopefully) see a sleep specialist I'm going to explain that I'm, as one anesthesiologist put it, "Very Sturdy" and I might need more than the average person my size to actually get it to work. I do wish I didn't have to see a sleep specialist at all since I don't really know if a study is going to help, but the clinic I currently get my primary and psychatric care through has a "we will basically never prescribe any benzos or opioids no matter what" since they double as an addiction treatment outreach organization so I figure a doctor who actually specializes in sleep and works Somewhere Else with different rules might be more willing to work with me on it, especially since I DO have a history of taking meds that can be habit forming without ever once forming a habit.
I haven't heard of the oil before! I'm def going to look into that, even if I don't have ambien for a bit I could def try taking it with some melatonin or something and see if that gives it the extra kick it needs. I'm def down to try something that might help me save some money cuz yeah edibles are SO fucking expensive it's insane. Like I'm def not going back to never sleeping, it was absolutely destroying my health(it's why I got so mad when my doctor was like "narcotics are bad for you" I was like ma'am I think literally never sleeping is worse for me actually) and I feel like a completely different person when I actually sleep through a night instead of just tossing and turning and waking up 500 times.
But yeah thank you for the advice! This is really helpful and I'll absolutely keep it in mind and check out that oil to see if it's better(or at least cheaper in the long run) than my usual stuff :D And thank you for the sympathy too, I'm sorry you've also had trouble sleeping, it really is it's own special kind of hell T_T
