I can't sleep!

so I am almost 4 weeks out from surgery and my sleep medication isn't working. Due to working night shift for 10 years, I really messed up my circadian rhythm. I have relied on sleep meds for years. I have tried restoril, ambien, lunesta, seroquel, benedryl, etc over the last 10 years. Now with the ds my current prescribed med, seroquel isn't working. I did some research and saw that it is mostly metabolized in the duodenum....makes sense.

My question to you guys is what, if any, sleep mess work for us? I'm desperate. I've slept two hours in three days.

So, update. I talked with my provider and seroquel indeed will likely not work with our systems due to high malabsorption rate. She prescribed 10mg Ambien and I was able to sleep for the better part of 7 hours. I have been on ambien off and on for years and I know this isn't a longterm fix. I hope to get to a point in my life where I don't need anything to sleep. I hope this post might help a fellow DS-er who also struggles with insomnia.

Patchmd has a melatonin patch that works like a charm for me, and no need to worry about absorption since it goes through your skin.

I take Ambien at night. It works well for me.

Scott

I also worked nights for decades and I agree it really screws up your sleep patterns. And night workers even tend to be fatter because they seem to eat to stay awake! I have tried melatonin and it gives me strange dreams, and benedryl. Benedryl works great but now new studies are linking it to dementia so it's probably no longer a great choice for other than occasional use.

I guess I will have to go back to strange dreams!