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Suggest Treatment For Insomnia
Posted on
Wed, 18 Jun 2014
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Wed, 18 Jun 2014
Answered on
Mon, 14 Jul 2014
Last reviewed on
Question : i only have one year to live. I haven't spelt since medical school, which I had to leave because my illness. I was active, i played Volleyball for DI UNV South Alabama. I have had more operations than I can count. I have been on every thing from all SSRI,s the drug class Amartriphaline and benzos like resperil, valium, xanax, as well as combinations of several of those drugs together. PLEASE tell me something to I can sleep that is not those three groups. I have been on those for years, I am desperate.
Brief Answer:
Mirtazapine can be tried
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
I read your query in detail and really can understand the distress that you must be in with all the medical conditions in addition to having panic attacks and insomnia.
After going through the list of drugs that you have mentioned, it seems you really have tried a lot of them and with many others, you have reported allergy.
You have tried SSRIs, benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressant in form of amitriptylline. I can understand when you say that you don't want anything from any of the above classes of drugs as they seemingly have not been able to solve your problem.
One drug that you can try is Mirtazapine. It doesn't belong to any of the above class of drugs. It is rather a noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant (NaSSA). It has anti-depressant, anti-anxiety and sedative properties. You will have to discuss with your doctor regarding it as these medicines are prescription drugs. For your condition, I would recommend Mirtazapine to be taken in combination with one of the benzodiazepines like clonazepam. If not effective alone, it can later be combined with another anti-depressant like venlafaxine or one of the tricyclic anti-depressants like amitryptylline or clominpramine.
Hope, you found the information helpful and I really hope that you are able to sleep well.
Best wishes,
Dr. Sunil Gupta
Mirtazapine can be tried
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
I read your query in detail and really can understand the distress that you must be in with all the medical conditions in addition to having panic attacks and insomnia.
After going through the list of drugs that you have mentioned, it seems you really have tried a lot of them and with many others, you have reported allergy.
You have tried SSRIs, benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressant in form of amitriptylline. I can understand when you say that you don't want anything from any of the above classes of drugs as they seemingly have not been able to solve your problem.
One drug that you can try is Mirtazapine. It doesn't belong to any of the above class of drugs. It is rather a noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant (NaSSA). It has anti-depressant, anti-anxiety and sedative properties. You will have to discuss with your doctor regarding it as these medicines are prescription drugs. For your condition, I would recommend Mirtazapine to be taken in combination with one of the benzodiazepines like clonazepam. If not effective alone, it can later be combined with another anti-depressant like venlafaxine or one of the tricyclic anti-depressants like amitryptylline or clominpramine.
Hope, you found the information helpful and I really hope that you are able to sleep well.
Best wishes,
Dr. Sunil Gupta
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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