I wish the press would dedicate ink to the endless War On Meds That Maintain Quality Of Life.
I have a loved one who takes 1x/day of lowest dose of Ambien - and has for years. It's effective for them and is key for their functionality. They have never exceeded their dosage.
Their Dr (2hrs away) was replaced by a Dr who is hostile to responsibly prescribing sleep meds - a reflection of ever reactive medical laws being added to the books every year. It's the primary reason my loved one is migrating to another state.
Another loved one has the exact same story except it's ADHD meds. Their newly assigned Dr is openly hostile to them.
I have the same story as above. After 15y of responsible Adderall use, the practice I use was bought out and my Dr replaced by one who is slowly yielding to the ceaseless gov (DEA, state agencies) pressure stop prescribing ADHD meds.
A close/aging friend has crippling arthritis which he kept at bay with responsible opioid use for years. Until the nuance-less drumming against opioids led to the state to pass a 3-day-max Rx law. Afterward, his choices became black market or crippling pain.
Thankfully, kratom has walked that back somewhat. At least until short-sighted lawmakers take that away too.
Fed & state govs continually ratchet up pressure to abandon these effective meds; our doctors keep giving ground.
It seems like online doctors are the future for ease of prescribing medication. I know they're primarily trying to maximixe profits by getting your business, but they are also way less emotional about the process than your typical local doctor who seems to think their job is to judge you based on less-than-scientific factors.
Yup. They're nasty drugs--but when the alternative is worse you use them anyway. The DEA should be nuked from orbit.
And they're making the fundamental mistake of thinking you can cut a waste problem by cutting supply. No, in the real world the waste is better at defending itself and you end up disproportionately cutting the good.
Try using a considerably smaller dose. I only use half a gram per night. Half of a "child" pill. It's effective in small doses, and arguably (pulling this from other conversations Ivr seen on it) the OTC doses are 10x too large. Which would certainly explain the fairly extreme effect that the full pills have on me!
A few years ago I had sleep issues related to my CPAP, I was essentially unable to get to sleep with it on. My doctor prescribed 5mg of Zolpidem, which was enough to knock me out without making me do strange things in my sleep (at least none that my wife ever told me about). It didn’t cure the insomnia, just overwhelmed it.
I’ve given up on the CPAP, and I’ve managed to get off the Zolpidem as well…not that it’s addictive, but it was still the most effective way of getting me to drop off, though I have a tendency to wake up in the wee hours and have trouble getting back to sleep. I didn’t feel comfortable taking the Zolpidem long-term.
My doctor suggested melatonin. 1 mg is what she recommended, and it has been as good as the Zolpidem ever was at making me sleepy, and better at keeping me asleep.
> I feel like my circadian rhythms refuse to work in a way that conveniently fits with the 9-5
I've always been like this but then I developed full-fledged insomnia 5 years ago. I also have a noisy brain and will happily chatter to myself all night long.
I could treat night owling and busy brain with some mental techniques and occasionally a rotation of low-dose chems.
To treat my insomnia, I found that a cocktail of (mostly OTC) chems at very low doses gives the best possible outcome. It's less risky and more dependable than amping up a single med.
The term addicted might not be a good fit to describe the body's adaptation to melatonin.
My understanding is the body adapts quickly to the initial dose(s) of melatonin. That is, what you start at is what you'll need.
Stores offer dosages that are much higher than a first-time user needs. But non-users don't know that. The result is people using a lot higher dosages than they need to.
I wish the press would dedicate ink to the endless War On Meds That Maintain Quality Of Life.
I have a loved one who takes 1x/day of lowest dose of Ambien - and has for years. It's effective for them and is key for their functionality. They have never exceeded their dosage.
Their Dr (2hrs away) was replaced by a Dr who is hostile to responsibly prescribing sleep meds - a reflection of ever reactive medical laws being added to the books every year. It's the primary reason my loved one is migrating to another state.
Another loved one has the exact same story except it's ADHD meds. Their newly assigned Dr is openly hostile to them.
I have the same story as above. After 15y of responsible Adderall use, the practice I use was bought out and my Dr replaced by one who is slowly yielding to the ceaseless gov (DEA, state agencies) pressure stop prescribing ADHD meds.
A close/aging friend has crippling arthritis which he kept at bay with responsible opioid use for years. Until the nuance-less drumming against opioids led to the state to pass a 3-day-max Rx law. Afterward, his choices became black market or crippling pain.
Thankfully, kratom has walked that back somewhat. At least until short-sighted lawmakers take that away too.
Fed & state govs continually ratchet up pressure to abandon these effective meds; our doctors keep giving ground.
It seems like online doctors are the future for ease of prescribing medication. I know they're primarily trying to maximixe profits by getting your business, but they are also way less emotional about the process than your typical local doctor who seems to think their job is to judge you based on less-than-scientific factors.
But the DEA is requiring yearly in person visits for controlled substances. Checkmate.
Yup. They're nasty drugs--but when the alternative is worse you use them anyway. The DEA should be nuked from orbit.
And they're making the fundamental mistake of thinking you can cut a waste problem by cutting supply. No, in the real world the waste is better at defending itself and you end up disproportionately cutting the good.
It’s about z-drugs not all sleeping pills.
Also anaesthesia. But yeah, something like melatonin shouldn't cause issues.
Yeah you are right let’s just say all tested are in the hallucinogenic class.
Lots of discussion earlier:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42644204
They tested 1 med (Ambien).
There are dozens and dozens of classes of compounds that people take as a sleep aid. The differences between their actions can be immense.
is anyone else here addicted to melatonin? I feel like my circadian rhythms refuse to work in a way that conveniently fits with the 9-5
Try using a considerably smaller dose. I only use half a gram per night. Half of a "child" pill. It's effective in small doses, and arguably (pulling this from other conversations Ivr seen on it) the OTC doses are 10x too large. Which would certainly explain the fairly extreme effect that the full pills have on me!
A few years ago I had sleep issues related to my CPAP, I was essentially unable to get to sleep with it on. My doctor prescribed 5mg of Zolpidem, which was enough to knock me out without making me do strange things in my sleep (at least none that my wife ever told me about). It didn’t cure the insomnia, just overwhelmed it.
I’ve given up on the CPAP, and I’ve managed to get off the Zolpidem as well…not that it’s addictive, but it was still the most effective way of getting me to drop off, though I have a tendency to wake up in the wee hours and have trouble getting back to sleep. I didn’t feel comfortable taking the Zolpidem long-term.
My doctor suggested melatonin. 1 mg is what she recommended, and it has been as good as the Zolpidem ever was at making me sleepy, and better at keeping me asleep.
> I feel like my circadian rhythms refuse to work in a way that conveniently fits with the 9-5
I've always been like this but then I developed full-fledged insomnia 5 years ago. I also have a noisy brain and will happily chatter to myself all night long.
I could treat night owling and busy brain with some mental techniques and occasionally a rotation of low-dose chems.
To treat my insomnia, I found that a cocktail of (mostly OTC) chems at very low doses gives the best possible outcome. It's less risky and more dependable than amping up a single med.
The term addicted might not be a good fit to describe the body's adaptation to melatonin.
My understanding is the body adapts quickly to the initial dose(s) of melatonin. That is, what you start at is what you'll need.
Stores offer dosages that are much higher than a first-time user needs. But non-users don't know that. The result is people using a lot higher dosages than they need to.
The actual article (paywalled)
https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(24)01343-6