Her mood is in severe disaray. She is intolerant, gets downright mean, says everything I say is a putdown, and crys all the time. She never used to be like this. Does anyone have experience with this drug? Are these symptoms of Xyrem?? If I mention that it might be the drug she is on, she gets enraged. I am desperate for help!!! This is killing our relationship.
Chosen Answer:
First, some background information –
Xyrem is used to treat Narcolepsy. Primarily it was found to be an excellent help to people who have the Narcolepsy symptom “cataplexy” which causes temporary loss of control of specific muscles or muscle groups, which can result in something unnoticeable to observers (like a mild twitch in the bicep), or a complete body collapse. Sufferers are usually awake and aware for these episodes, but unable to communicate for anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours (which is rare).
As well as being one of the best treatments available for severe cataplexy, it is also helpful in improving one’s quality of sleep. The problem with Narcolepsy is that it messes with the body’s ability to regulate sleep and wake cycles, and the various mental and physical controls that apply to each. Narcoleptics may be up most of the night and unable to stay awake all day. When we do sleep, it is often not restorative because the brain does not regulate the different levels and amounts of sleep properly.
So there are two ways to come at Narcolepsy: with stimulants for staying awake at the right times, and depressants for sleeping at the right times. Most sleeping pills will knock you out, but Xyrem is the only solution that seems to actually improve the sleep itself. If you’ve ever taken a sleeping pill, you know what I mean about the difference. You might be out for 8 hours, but you still feel groggy and out of it the next day. With Xyrem, users generally don’t get that next day “hangover” and are able to function more normally.
Now, for your specific situation –
If your girlfriend is on Xyrem, I have to assume she has Narcolepsy. If she has Narcolepsy, she has spent a lot of time not sleeping properly, and sleep deprivation can have devastating effects mentally and physically. It can cause depression, chronic pain, hallucinations, irritability, etc. Already, three out of the four I’ve mentioned would fit with your description of her intolerance and being upset, especially if she experiences pain.
Once we Narcoleptics are diagnosed, we get put on stimulants. Speed. One of the more prevalent medications is Ritalin – a highly addictive methamphetamine that some of us cannot function without. And “uppers” cause, you guessed it, irritability, depression, and chronic pain. So when you have condition that makes you a miserable B**** (and I’m even referring to myself here), and then take medication that makes you feel like a miserable B****, you tend to walk a thin line.
The next questions are how long has your girlfriend had a diagnosis, how long has she been on Xyrem, how much is she taking, and when did she change the dosage (if she has)? The newly diagnosed are probably going to have to try several different medications and combinations to find something that helps. And it can be very hard to wait and hope and wait and then sometimes come to the realization that although certain treatments make you feel better, you may not ever feel normal again.
Depending on how long she’s been taking Xyrem, she may be experiencing temporary side effects that will subside as her system gets used to it. If she has recently gone up a level on her dosage, she may have to go back down to the previous dose for a little while longer until her system can tolerate it. She may have to go up in smaller steps (say .5mg instead of a full 1mg **THIS IS NOT XYREM DOSING, JUST AN ANALOGY**) to help her body get used to this more gradually.
The first thing I would do is educate myself. Learn what you can about her condition and treatments, and show that you really do care about what is happening to her and how she’s handling it. One of the hardest things we people with Narcolepsy have to deal with is the public’s general assumption that we are lazy and unmotivated. If you get her to realize that you know she is not lazy, but has a condition that prevents her from being able to do everyday things, she may be able to relax.
Once you have the knowledge, talk to her about her specific experience. Tell her you’ve read about (whatever treatment) and ask if she’s ever tried it, and what happened? Ask her how long she’s had symptoms and how long was it before she got a diagnosis.
Then you can approach your specific issue. Acknowledge that she must feel pretty crappy sometimes, whether it’s from Narcolepsy itself or the treatment, and that you notice she’s just not herself sometimes. Rather than accuse her of attacking you or going on the defensive, understand that those of us who feel like this need a vent, and that she is not upset with you, but you are the one person who is there that she can lay it on.
Many times, after acting just like you describe to my boyfriend, I end up crying my eyes out because I know he doesn’t deserve to get that from me, but I just can’t help it sometimes. Since he tries to understand that, it is much easier for me to go apologize and say “I’m so
by: XGC
on: 1st January 09
Tags: anyone, crys, desperate, disaray, disorder, downright, drug, enraged, everything, experience, gets, girlfriend, help, intolerant, killing, mention, mood, putdown, relationship, says, severe, sleep, time, used, xyrem
Thu, January 26 2012 » Sleep Disorder Info » 2 Comments
I can go to bed and be sleepy, but I can’t sleep. I’ll lay in bed for hours before I finally fall asleep around 3 AM, and it sucks because I have school. Then on the weekends when I don’t have school, I’ll go to bed when I want, which is like at 3-4 AM, and sleep, but wake up several times in the morning, but fall asleep soon after waking up. It’s been this way for a long time now. Do I have a sleep disorder?
Chosen Answer:
No sleep disorder. Sounds like you’re not a morning person and you’ve conditioned yourself not to fall asleep til the wee hours of the morning. You go to be at 3-4 am on the weekends, and then 10pm during the week – of course you’re screwed up.
They say if you have problems sleeping, that you need to have a consistent sleep time every night 10pm 7 days a week or whatever.
So start conditioning yourself to go to bed earlier on the weekends. start with 3am, then 2am, then 1am. In a couple months, you’ll probably be falling alseep at 10pm!!
by: serene e
on: 10th January 08
Tags: asleep, chosen, conditioned, course, disorder, finally, hours, morning, person, problems, school, screwed, several, sleep, sleepy, sounds, sucks, they, time, wake, waking, week, weekends, what, yourself
Wed, January 25 2012 » Sleep Disorder Info » 6 Comments
okay so there is a haunted house in North Caolina where you will get chased by famous horror films characters. It is the scariest in North Caolina. i hared by many people it is scary! i also heard that people have gotten Sleep Terror Disorder by being traumatized. could this happen to me?
Chosen Answer:
if you go with a friend and hang on to them while you go thru it, it will be fun. just remember that it is all fake and if you turned the lights on, you would probably see a bunch of cardboard boxes taped together and painted black with fake spider webs and such. one time i had to put my hand in the box but couldnt see what was in there and it felt like eyeballs…but it was just the insides of grapes! its all for fun. dont worry.
by: beadlz
on: 28th October 10
Tags: caolina, characters, chased, chosen, disorder, famous, films, friend, give, going, gotten, hared, haunted, horror, house, north, okay, people, remember, scariest, scary, sleep, terror, thru, traumatized
Tue, January 24 2012 » Sleep Disorder Info » 1 Comment
I have been looking for an answer to this question buti havent found the answer I want. So if you can please help me i will appreciate it. 
Chosen Answer:
About 50% it is quite a lot as more and more jobs require more time and people just dont sleep as early as they use to.
Thanks
by:
on: 4th April 10
Tags: americans, appreciate, april, buti, chosen, disorder, dont, found, havent, jobs, looking, more, people, percentage, question, quite, sleep, suffer, thanks, time
Mon, January 23 2012 » Sleep Disorder Info » 2 Comments
A friend of mine just took 9 5mg tablets of Ambien. Not sure if she wants to overdose or just get high, but I’m scared. What to expect or do?
Chosen Answer:
Call poison control or ER and tell them what happened. 10mg is normal, 20mg is doable, but 45mg may be dangerous.
At the least, your friend will probably sleep for 12 hours or so. If she does wake up before then, she probably won’t remember anything she says or does, and can fall alseep at anytime without warning.
Ambien is a nasty dangerous drug. Your friend is very foolish for doing what she did. Ambien is not candy, and can do serious damage to the brain. Tell your friend to stick to beer and pot – at least she will live to tell about it.
by: Zootal
on: 20th May 11
Tags: alseep, ambien, anything, anytime, chosen, control, dangerous, doable, friend, happened, hours, nasty, normal, overdose, poison, probably, remember, says, scared, sleep, sure, tablets, wake, wants, warning
Sun, January 22 2012 » Ambien Q&A » 2 Comments
I some how sleep during the day and Im awake at night. Is this a sleep disorder? if so whats it called?
Chosen Answer:
Yep. It’s a circadian rhythm sleep disorder, which basically means your internal time clock is off. Here’s a wikipedia link…it has a bunch of good information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm_sleep_disorder
by: super.
on: 29th June 10
Tags: awake, basically, bunch, called, chosen, circadian, clock, considered, disorder, enwikipediaorg, http, information, internal, june, linkit, means, night, rhythm, sleep, super, time, whats, wiki, wikipedia
Sat, January 21 2012 » Sleep Disorder Info » 3 Comments
Hello,
Today I took .5mg of xanax before each flight I took (I have EXTREME flying anxiety). I took .5mg about 7 hours ago and another .5 mg approximately 5 hours ago. I slept a little on the plane and I am now not feeling any effects of the medication.
I have been taking 10 mg of Ambien for about two years. I was wondering if it would be okay to take my dose tonight to recover from this horrid jet lag.
Thank you in advance.
Chosen Answer:
Yes it’s okay since the Xanax effects are gone because it is a fast acting and short acting medication.
by:
on: 7th June 11
Tags: ambien, anxiety, approximately, dose, effects, extreme, feeling, flight, flying, hello, horrid, hours, little, medication, okay, plane, recover, slept, taking, thank, today, tonight, wondering, xanax, years
Fri, January 20 2012 » Ambien Q&A » 1 Comment
It is not working for me as well anymore. Any suggestions on other sleep aids, preferably one that is approved for long term use? I have been taking Ambien for almost 4 months, almost every night.
Chosen Answer:
Hello:
This is in response to your question posted on yahoo about the efficacy of Ambien.
Ambien is a class IV drug ( classifiation created by the Drug Enforcement Agency), The lower the number the higher the potential of abuse, tolerance, addiction, etc. For example a class II drug like percocet has a higher potential for abuse whereas a Class III drug like hydrocodone, ie vicoden has less of a potential but it is still there. Since Ambien is a class IV drug, it still has some potential for abuse and tolerance. Now the word tolerance simply means that over time, it will take more of the drug to get the same effect so the answer to your question is YES. Ambien is not supposed to be used on a daily basis and should never be used for more than two weeks at a time because TOLERANCE can develop. It has a low potential for addiction but the tolerance potential is still there. Since you have been taking it every night for four months that is the reason that it is not working for you as well as it did before. You have other options. Over the counter choices are Tylenol-PM which has a very sedating antihistamine in it. It works like a charm for me. Prescription medications include sonata which is also a Class IV drug and if used for extended periods of time, you could run into the same problem. There is a newer medication called Lunesta which has less of a potential for tolerance. The newest medication to come out that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for long term use is called Rozerem (generic name is ramelteon) and comes in 8 mg tablets. Supposedly, there is no potential for tolerance even if using every day for months on end. In my opinion, it is probably not a very good idea to use something long term anyway, because if you stop using it abruptly you could have rebound insomnia that is worse than your orginal insomnia. I tell my patients to come up with a sleep diary or log that they fill in.ie. what time are getting to bed each night, what time you wake up in the morning, what times of the night you wake up, what time in the early morning you awake and cannot get back to sleep. The bedroom should only by used for sleep and sex. No TV in the bedroom, no reading before bed, no fluids several hours before bedtime, no caffeinated beverage, ie coffee, sodas, chocolate several hours before bedtime, methods of stress reduction, ie. progressive relaxation, yoga, a hot bath just before retiring at night can help. If none of these things work, then you should get a sleep study done (it is called a polysomnogram that a Neurologist can do). You must spend the night in the office and they monitor your brain waves and determine if there are any derangements in the various cycles of your sleep. I know it is a hard disorder to deal with because I suffer from it myself. Shift work, and flight attendants suffer the worst, but it is estimated that at least 75 percent of people in the U.S. suffer from some type of insomnia at some point in their life.
I hope this helps to answer your question and alleviate some of the concerns you have about insomnia.
Regards,
Warren B. Shaffer, M.D.
by: doctordad
on: 19th June 06
Tags: aids, ambien, anymore, anyone, approved, chosen, effective, efficacy, hello, months, night, over, posted, preferably, question, response, sleep, suggestions, supposed, taking, term, this, time, working, yahoo
Thu, January 19 2012 » Ambien Q&A » 4 Comments
I ran out of Ambien so I didn’t sleep last night AT ALL. Today I am so exhausted that I can’t think straight. I will be taking Ambien tonight after I see my DR and get my prescription filled. Will a nap mess with my sleep aided by ambien tonight?
Chosen Answer:
It did mine. Check with your doctor. Everyone is different in how they react to medication.
by: lnrosy2000
on: 4th April 08
Tags: aided, ambien, april, check, chosen, didn, different, doctor, effect, everyone, exhausted, filled, last, lnrosy, medication, mess, night, prescription, react, sleep, straight, taking, think, tonight
Wed, January 18 2012 » Ambien Q&A » 1 Comment
im writing a paper on sleep disorders and im wondering if sleep paralysis is one
also is Bruxism one too?
Chosen Answer:
A professionally qualified doctor or medical professional should only be consulted for this. He can only consider it properly. It is difficult for me at this stage.
by: Naguru
on: 28th October 10
Tags: also, bruxism, chosen, considered, consulted, difficult, disorder, doctor, medical, naguru, october, paper, paralysis, professional, professionally, properly, qualified, sleep, stage, wondering, writing
Tue, January 17 2012 » Sleep Disorder Info » 3 Comments