Wednesday, January 21, 2009

This Is Ridiculous!

I am stopping the Trazodone.

Someone told me about an herbalist in Plymouth and I am going to go there. There must be something I can take that will put me to sleep and not mess me up.

I didn't get to work until 1400 today.

So far my choices are -

Take nothing and not sleep.

Take 50 mg Trazodone and go to sleep, but wake up shortly after that and not sleep.

Take 100 mg Trazodone and sleep 12 hours....but be fuzzy and useless the next day.

Plus it exacerbates the tremor so I am shaking like a leaf. I broke another glass today while I was doing the dishes.

And I can't discount the possibility that it was the Traz that put my in the hospital last week.

I have tried valerian and Simply Sleep.

Let's see what else I can try.

All I am sure of is that insomnia is better than how I felt today. I am more useful at work on 2 hours of sleep than on 100 mg of Trazodone.

I've also added curcumin to the vitamin/supplement list. It's supposed to make the steroid work better so you don't have to take higher doses (which is good since that may also have been what laid me up last week) and it's supposed to counter act some of the fatigue.

Sloan Kettering's herbal list shows it to be ok for me. None of the warnings apply to my cancer or my chemo.

I read about it on a blog the Myeloma listserv sent me to.

So basically, like the cinnamon, it's a no harm/no foul supplement to take.

Now to find something innocuous to help me sleep.

1 comment:

Stella by Starlight said...

Another possibility: melatonin? Ambien is high-dosage, prescription-strength melatonin, but possibly addicting. The side effects I see are extremely lucid dreams and possible next-day drowsiness.

Lavender, passion flower, and hops are supposed to be good for sleep. Ask the doc if herbs are OK. I couldn't take them, but everyone's different.

I hope you're feeling well.