Ambien or Lunesta ?

Thanks EN. I am going to check my insurance coverage and see what it says about trazodone and compare, as I see with Lunesta it is classified as a higher copay and I have to have the doc do a special permission form and I am not sure if she will or not after my last visit. She stated she was need too much time for special requests ... Insurance companies are sucking up more and more time from docs ! I will check out the links you posted as well.

I have fibro, although it is better in the summer with warmer weather. I also take low does prednisone at times to help the fibro.. and the best thing of course is a nice massage !

Yet another reason I am determined to move back to MT: Hot springs soaking, massage and chiropractic = wonders for my fibro :-).

On my insurance trazodone is bottom of the barrel cheap and immediately obtainable. Hopefully it will be on yours, too.

I do not remember things I do if I take Ambien either!  Hubby loves that.  It makes me hungry too!

I tried Lunesta and like it better.  If it touches your tongue, it will give you a horrible taste for a long time.  I have to wa**** down fast and if I break it in half, can't seem to take it without tasting it. The taste is just terrible so wa**** down fast.  If you ever do taste it and then drink water, it makes it worse.  I don't do crazy things on Lunesta so I like it.

Ambien worked great for me.....but I did an awful lot of shopping online while taking it :-p. I now use trazodone, an older antidepressant, instead and it's fabulous. Gives some support to my other antidepressant therapy and is a good sleep aid with no addiction worries.

I have taken Ambien for many years. I have the same problem...my mind just won't shut down. I have actually stayed up for 3 days before. It scared my husband. When I don't take the Ambien, I don't sleep, and over the years it has started to take longer to work. However, I never take more than the normal dosage (10mg). I am also on muscle relaxants due to a herniated disc and sciatica. I do not take the muscle relaxant during the day, only at night. Even with those 2 combined, I always know what I do during the night. The one time I took Lunesta, it left such a revolting taste in my mouth, I never took it again.

But eveyones MMV.

I tried Lunesta and it didn't work at all for me.  I used 10 mg Ambien nightly and I get about 4 hours of sleep.  This is while also taking Klonopin for RLS and Remeron (which are both sedatives).  If I don't take them I don't sleep for days.  I've never really done anything that I don't remember other than have conversations which is really frustrating to me and those around me because I think they're not telling me things and they think I'm not listening....LOL.

Dawn

I have taken Ambien, Ambien CR, and Lunesta.  The regular Ambien doesn't do **** for me, it didn't pro-op either.  I have trouble falling asleep AND staying asleep.  I know that the extended release pills shouldn't be effective for us post op, but Ambien CR still works like a champ for me, even with my DS.  That said, I still like Lunesta better.  I don't get the funny taste in my mouth at all, that some other people get.  The only thing I don't like about any sleep aid, is that once I'm asleep, not even a bomb is going to wake me up...doesn't work out well with small children in the home, since I'm not going to hear one of them in the night if they should need me. 

Comparing Lunesta and Ambien CR.....I prefer the Lunesta.  I don't feel groggy or hungover when I take it, versus Ambien CR.  Lunesta, at least with my insurance, is more expensive, but I'll gladly pay whatever copay they charge.  To my knowledge, I've never been "doing things" in my sleep with Lunesta, but my husband said that I used to "sleep eat" with the Ambien, before my DS.  I'm also a talker in my sleep, even without drugs assisting me.  He used to have complete conversations with me in my sleep when I took Ambien CR.  I, of course, had no idea until he'd tell me about it the next day.

Lately, and I'm not sure this is such a good idea, I've had to take Lunesta nearly every night in order to sleep in my own bed.  Poor DH is a snorer, and his snoring has gotten REALLY BAD....Bad to the point that it wakes me up from a dead sleep, and then I end up on the couch.  So, if I take a Lunesta, I can sleep right through even his worst snoring sessions.  I think he needs a CPap, but that's a totally different talk show!

I am sitting here laughing about DH and snoring ! I have one of those in this house as well. I often feel if he did not snore, then I could sleep without help. He cuts a damn forrest almost every night. I think he needs cpap as well... this is in the discussion process, hopefully that talk show will happen REAL soon.

BTW Lunesta last night was awesome. I slept ALL night. I do not feel hungover, although I slept longer than usual, which might be a good thing ! I actually feel rested this a.m.

Good!  I'm glad you slept well!  One night, while taking Ambien CR, I had a dream that DH was snoring....AGAIN....and I put a pillow over his face and wrapped duct tape around the pillow!  Ugh...I've tried to cpap discussion with my dh, but he's having nothing to do with it.  How can THEY sleep through that?  Ugh....