POZ Community Forums
Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Questions About Treatment & Side Effects => Topic started by: rolf on November 24, 2007, 12:47:17 am
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i am since weeks without a real deep sleep. every unusual noise wakes me up, even in the middle of the night. it came around when my cd4 felt under 200 and vl went up over 100.000. now i am so desperate that i take 1/2 valium every evening because i know that a long and deep sleep helps the body to coup with a lot of things and is needed to regenerate - and it seems to be better. the only concern is, as valium is a strong sedidative, the side effects it can have on the therapy (viread, lamivir, stocrin). any experiences out there?? what can i do, besides warm milk or warm beer to get a good night sleep???
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Hi Rolf,
as many others, you are sleep less mainly because of stress and anxiety.
Take control because all is in your mind. Think about it ;)
As long as you don't feel very bad, you are fine, simple like that.
A body is extremely resistant. It won't give up without you know, long time before.
Your doc might prescribe you tons of others drugs. Just find the right one.
Take care buddy, take control and relax ! And you will sleep well (we are all in the same boat).
Few video to relax
http://www.youtube.com/v/jfULvR2noaE&rel=1 (Inspirational)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH3OTssfllI (Funny)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svEPX2GpoXY (Funny -Don’t miss the -2 : 46min, 5th min !! He sleeps less well than you.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qit3ALTelOo (Little Sparta)
[EDIT] Shorter post ;)
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Rolf,
Perhaps you could ask your doctor to prescribe trazodone. It's an excellent sleeping aid, and I think you won't have to worry about addiction.
John
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hiv causes the body and brain to not produce or not be able to use tryptophan
this is one of the big things that induce sleep naturally
i dont have time to find the links but go to google scholar and type
tryptophan hiv
since hiv interfears with tryptophan then you cannot sleep... this is of course if there are no other psychological problems going on..
wikipedia
due to its ability to increase brain levels of serotonin (a calming neurotransmitter when present in moderate levels)[14] and/or melatonin (a sleep-inducing hormone secreted by the pineal gland in response to darkness or low light levels).[15][16]
Clinical research tended to confirm tryptophan's effectiveness as a sleep aid[17][18][19] and for a growing variety of other conditions typically associated with low serotonin levels or activity in the brain[] and seasonal affective disorder.[22][23] In particular, tryptophan showed considerable promise as an antidepressant alone
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Alright...that does it. I'm also going to ask for my doc to prescribe me some of this. I've been wondering what the hell is up with this sleep thing...if it was a meds related deal or from HIV itself. I can be exhausted all dang day and still not be able to turn off at night. Consequently, I've taken to self-medicating via personal sources. I'm now gonna go see about getting some sleep aids all legitimate-like.
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I've not taken trazodone ever, and I've seen it mentioned many times here. Of course, since I'm a known Stevie Nicks klonopin addict I guess I don't need anything else, but I'm still curious. I know Miss Hunter will post an appropriately in depth review of this substance once it's obtained through legal channels. I'm just wondering if I should throw off the benzo chains and switch to something else.
As far as bim's tryptophan theory -- can't we just eat turkey?
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chamomile tea works pretty good.
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dear bimazek,
that was what i am waiting for. an informative reply with some background stuff, not some mambo jambo about:
'you are sleepless mainly because of stress and anxiety. Take control because all is in your mind. Think about it . As long as you don't feel very bad, you are fine, simple like that. A body is extremely resistant. It won't give up without you know, long time before.'
openly spoken, i give a'fuck' about my condition.
i don't let it interfere with my life - and til now there are only little changes i've done in my lifestyle. and i think this is the best solution - keep on living like 'normal' people and don't let you suck down to:
'ohhh, i have AIDS, i will die soon, my life is shit...etc.' because this is what makes your mind crazy and let the sickness progress further.
i know i am positive since 2 years and i still go rough on me and my body (long working hours, a lot of stress and so on. the only thing i changed is my eating habit. i try to eat regulary and quite healthywhich wasn't the case before (no breakfast, fastfood once a day :) )
my experience is, even i have to take the meds now, a strong and flexible mind is the best success for a long life - with or without this condition. someone who cries around how bad life is will defenetly comes sooner and closer to the abyss than someone who embraces life with all its ups and downs to the fullest.
thanks for all your replies.
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Long term Trazadone user here and it is a great sleep solution. I struggled with sleep for years and tried almost every other sleeping meds out there and Traz works the best for me. Half a Zanax now and then helps shut the head down when Traz is not quite enough.
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I thought I was the only one suffering from this!!!! I'm exausted, but when I try to sleep I just can't doze off. I'm up until 3am most nights it's horrible. I'm on trizivir and my numbers are great. I can't figure out what is causing my sleep issues. I wish I had some answers to help but I'm searching for them myself. I do want to say thanks to everyone for your input. Theres some great ideas here and at least I know I'm not alone on my quest for sleep ;)
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Miserable. That's the best way I can describe this sleep disorder. I fall asleep without a great deal of difficulty, but awake within an hour or so. This has been going on for over a year now. Klonopin, Lunesta, Zoloft, Xanax, Ambien CR, tea with Valerian, the green goddess MJ... none of these seem to work more than a couple of weeks.
I've been on a regimen of Sustiva, Videx and Zerit for over three years now and my VL is under 400 with a CD4 of around 375. Not great, but acceptable. I still take Xanax and Zoloft for anxiety and depression. Trazodone has seemed like a last resort because I've always heard about the "wiped out" feeling it has given others. Perhaps its time to try it as well. At this point, I'm willing to try anything just to get some rest.
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Hello JPD
Sorry to hear about the sleep stuff
One thing, Zerit and Videx are not recommended used together, so if there is any other possible pair of nukes you can use, please talk to your doc about this. Partly because they are both associated with mitochondrial toxicity -- ie affect energy production in your cells -- and together they affect it worse.
- matt
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I, too, have been suffering from an inability to sleep well ... or long enough. It's driving me crazy, and I plan on talking to the Doc about it. I'm on Atripla and a bunch of other stuff for other issues but the sleeplessness is relatively new in the last month or so :-\
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Hello everyone. this is my first time here. i am have sleeping problem for 3 month,i dont sleep fast ,i wake up every hour,next day i feel i didnot sleep at all. i am on sustiva+truvada. my Doctor told me i have to change sustiva to Viramune. what u think guys?
thank you very much.
hakeem :'(
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Well, I sometimes have sleeping issues as well (Truvada+Sustiva here). I can't find any reason for it, but sometimes, during a week or so I can´t fall asleep easily and sleep for 7 or 8 hours. Then thing go back to normal, eventually. When I can't handle it anymore or I want to sleep longer during the weekend I take Zolpidem, which I think in the States is sold under the name Ambien. It knocks me off in half an hour and makes me sleep for at least 7/8 hours.