my doc gave me ambien? is that crazy?

[melanyh]

hi there...

i've a history of PPD and should have been more proactive about having something on deck to start (i weaned off effexor XR during 2nd tri to not have w/drawl symptoms in ds2) immediately PP b/c i had PPD w/ds1 -- but i didn't.

i had a very positive birth experience this time (unlike last) w/no medications in a birth center, took lots of omega 3's during pregnancy and was much better w/nutrition. took home placenta and made capsules, have been eating well & drinking well (for milk, which is at an all-time low -- as was the case w/ds1) ... i just ASSUMED it'd all be different, and it's not. so i'm kinda kicking myself for not giving myself PERMISSION to feel badly this time and have a rough go at it.

anyway -- i'm 15 days PP & doc gave me zoloft 50mg this morning and we spoke of sleep and i noted i'm just a vibratingn ball of nerves when it comes to sleep and i don't know why. nothing rational governs it. he gave me some ambien to take.

now, i took ambien years ago and it worked, quite nicely in fact. and it's so tempting to take at 10 p.m. after a last feeding to get solid sleep 'til the 2-3 a.m. feeding (assuming dh will take the 12-1 feeding). but i'm worried about being screwed if i do that -- meaning will i feel worse, i wonder? supposedly you need to have 7 hour to devote to sleep and i don't -- i can at the MOST commit 5 hours ... then feed & pump and (hopefully) go back down.

i guess all i can do is try. ds won't starve -- dh can wake me if need be, i just worry about lingering or latent effects.

i may just hold off and do zoloft for a couple of weeks and see if treating my state of mind could help w/sleep and nerves.

anyone had better or at least more restful sleep on zoloft?

[lisasaurus]

my family doctor gave me ambien and zoloft when i first went for help. i couldn't sleep at all- and the ambien did allow me to get some rest. but i didn't feel all that rested the next day when i was getting up twice a night to feed the baby anyway. even though ambien is supposed to totally wear off after 8 hours, i still felt really groggy and out of it.

once i started seeing a psychiatrist, she took me off ambien and started me on an antianxiety med (ativan) at bed time to help my mind rest so that i could go to sleep. this combo (ativan and zoloft) worked wonders for me. i was able to stop the ativan after a couple of months when my sleep was regulated and my anxiety was in check.

for me personally, i felt more comfortable with the antianxiety med. I felt like i was the one going to sleep, instead of being totally drugged to sleep by the ambien. plus ambien is such a new drug. although it is considered safe for breastfeeding, i just felt better taking the older drug.

you will start to feel better no matter what you choose to do. if something doesn't work out in your treatment plan, you can always change it. i know its hard, but sometimes just putting trust in your doctor helps so that you can just stop worrying about whether or not you are making the right choices. are you seeing a PPD specialist? once i found a specialist i felt i could trust, everything fell into place and i was well on my way to recovery.

*hugs*

[melanyh]

so you felt more rested on the ativan? i'd kind of wondered about anxiety/sleep b/c that is what i feel when i can't sleep: anxiety.

i'll probably hold off on the ambien (even though i did fill it, guess it was only $10 copay) and wait. i'm to return in two weeks for follow-up & if anxiety issues still abound may bring up treating the anxiety and seeing if sleep follows.

did you take the ativan (that's lorazepam, right?) every night?

[lisasaurus]

i did feel less of a sleep hangover type feeling with the ativan (yes, lorazapam). i was taking a really low dose, so that probably helped.

before getting help, i was literally laying in my bed at night with my mind racing around a million times a minute, and there were several days in a row that i either didn't sleep at all, or slept for an hour. it was a vicious cycle - the anxiety fed the insomnia which fed the anxiety which fed the insomnia etc. there was definitely a point when ambien was perfect because i NEEDED to sleep (restful or not) or i was going to spiral even further.

with the ativan, i took a tiny dose at dinner time to start helping myself relax, and then i took another tiny dose about a half hour before i wanted to go to bed. i limited television watching and tried to do something relaxing - like reading or playing cards - instead.

after a month or so i weaned down to just the bedtime dose. and then it was probably another 2 months before i stopped taking it every day. it has been probably 7 months that i've been on zoloft alone, and its really rare that i ever have trouble sleeping. and i'm totally still comforted by the fact that there is ativan in my house if i need it to help my mind relax and i don't hesitate to take it in those situations.

i definitely think treating the insomnia and anxiety are linked. you can't really do one without the other. i remember reading a book about PPD that said the #1 symptom is insomnia. i wish someone had told me that before i gave birth. i spent the first 6 weeks of ds's life questioning and researching whether or not i could have PPD. i was convinced if i could just sleep, i would be fine. but I couldn't sleep cause i was sick....i just didn't know it. i was under the impression PPD was all about being depressed. I didn't really feel too depressed, just totally keyed up.

anyway, this is just my experience. all drugs work differently for everyone.

I hope you feel some relief soon.

[readytobedone]

i take ativan off and on for insomnia. it really helps me. things aren't perfect, and i still sometimes have trouble sleeping even with the drug, but life is sooo much better than it was when i couldn't sleep AT ALL.

ambien makes me hallucinate, and i don't even sleep that well on it

they wanted me to take that, too, and we finally settled on ativan because it works much better for me.

i like it because it allows me to wake up whenever i need to and feel okay, unlike a sleeping pill. i can wake up whenever DD needs me overnight.

i also co-sleep while taking it (where's the duck smilie when i need it??).

i probably wouldn't do that with a newborn, but DD is almost one. also, i take a small dose and it literally just makes me not feel keyed up. doesn't really make me drowsy per se.

i didn't realize that about insomnia being the #1 symptom of PPD. no one ever told me that, either.

[frontierpsych]

I was on ambien as part of my PPD treatment.

The doc put me on WAY too much (I'm tiny, 5-10mg works fine, he gave me 20!!)

I blacked out completely one night and woke up and all I had was an empty bottle. I went to the ER because I thought I might have taken them during my blackout, but I guess I must have flushed them or something. Still freaks me out. And I was the only one in the house (DH was in Iraq) so no one else could have taken them. Scary to think I had no recollection!