Tramadol as a sleep aid?
Posted , 10 users are following.
I suffer from chronic insomnia and was just prescribed 100mg by the Nurse Practitioner at my doctor's office. As I work with law enforcement, I wanted to research possible side effects and to my surprise, I haven't found anyone in a similar situation. I have seen several accounts from people who say this actually it causes insomnia! At this point, I am totally confused and my doctor is still on vacation. Has anyone else been prescribed Tramadol to help you sleep? Thanks in advance.
1 like, 29 replies
michelle70460 jnmcs
Posted
Hi. Iknow this is not the answer you are looking for but if possible try & avoid sleep aids as they are rarely the answer. I do understand that we all need a helping hand with our sleep but they can't be taken long term. ALL sleep aids have the ability to cause insomnia if taken long enough. It's called rebound insomnia. This is advice only. Ditch the tramadol & try to get to the root cause of your insomnia. The results will be much better for you in the long term. Good luck.
noel69648 jnmcs
Posted
Tramadol does not help me sleep and, in fact, I feel worse the next day. I take Ambien when I have not slept well for a few days and 1/2 pill as needed. It is easy to say sleeping pills do not work but you have a job that requires a rested mind and body. Good luck.
tasha7908 noel69648
Posted
ambien doesn't work for everyone. i tried the generic brand and it did absolutely nothing.
lily65668 jnmcs
Posted
I'm sorry, I'm going to confuse you even more. I'm wondering whether you might be in the US? If so, apologies for sending this very European reaction.
As a former nurse - and indeed a concerned citizen - I'm horrified to hear you were given Tramadol as a sleep aid. For one thing, you're quite right - one of the side-effects can be insomnia!
What concerns me far more is the potential for addiction. Please google this medication. Like Michelle, who's also posted here, I discourage too much googling when people are looking for symptoms to adopt, but I can't encourage it enough when it comes to informing oneself fully about medication.
Tramadol is a strong analgesic (pain-killer) of the opioid class. It was first introduced in the USA as an alternative to slightly stronger opioids like Percocet, Vin cod ine etc. (Reformatted to avoid moderation.) These medications were widely prescribed for many years as being non-addictive, and if you've ever read a news site or watched TV you'll probably know how that one ended! Tramadol is the next generation, aimed at avoiding these risks. Although it's weaker than its more addictive cousins, it's still an opioid and stories of addiction in vulnerable people are already starting to appear on reputable medical sites.
I realise that there are people who've taken this group of medications for years and not become addicted, and that they can be invaluable for severe intractable pain. However, none of us really knows what our own hidden potential for addiction might be until we test it to the limit. This is a risk worth taking if you're suffering from a painful chronic condition, but I'm frankly shocked that a registered nurse practitioner could even contemplate prescribing it for insomnia - though I suspect he/she would have done that under standing instructions from the doctor. (Which is why I suspect you're in the US, but please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.)
Please, please do your own research. Good old Wiki isn't a bad place to start, but there are lots of accessible medical sites that carry patient-oriented info. I'd suggest web md, drugs dot com, med line, health line, r x list consumer for starters. None of the foregoing are in url form as this post would get taken down if they were, but you should be able to work out what it is you're looking for.
Hylandgal lily65668
Posted
I am an RPN andI have no idea why u would be perscribed Tramadol....i can tell you that a pharmacist here in Canada will print you off a copy of all the info on your medication and with a new med they will send you to another counter for councel from a pharmacist. To me...a pharmacist is more knowledgeable than a doctor. If a doctor "promotes" I guess is the word I'm looking for and it's like a product med reps bring in and if a doctor perscribes the med it's a 2 win...cause the med company gains as well as the prescribing doctor. Utilize that great knowledge of a pharmacist. This is the way it is in Canada so I don't know where you are from. That med is habit forming and I would not personally take that. If you have an addictive personality...u are gonna be in trouble cause 1 will lead to 2 and so on and so fourth cause you will become immune and go for more and more...this is just my personal opinion....
tom86211 Hylandgal
Posted
Hylandgal,
What do you think of Trazodone? I was prescribed 50mg to help me sleep and I took 1/4 of a pill and felt heavily drugged. Didn't help with sleep at all. Didn't feel good next day. Also considering 5-HTP.
Tom
tasha7908 tom86211
Posted
tom-do you have chronic insomnia or just occasional sleeplessness? do you know he cause of your insomnia?
tom86211 tasha7908
Posted
Tasha,
I have chronic insomnia. I can get to sleep easily, but can only stay asleep for about an hour to hour and a half. Once in a while I can last two hours. For several years I have been having prostate issues, and was up frequently at night. However, I recently had a TURP operation and can now empty my bladder, but, I am still getting up 6-10x per night. So, maybe the short sleep segments are just a very bad habit. I haven't slept all night for years. I never have a good night's sleep. I have been taking a little melatonin and some Tylenon PM, and they help a bit. I don't want to drug myself into a stupor.
Tom
tasha7908 tom86211
Posted
tom-i tried trazadone but only for like 2 days. it didn't really do anything for me either. temazepam worked good for 1 month and then it stopped working. melantonin doesn't do anything for me. what brand of melantonin do you take? also-have you ever tried doxepin or mirtazapine-they are sedating anti-depressants used off-label for insomnia. i'm venturing towards trying one of these or either gabapentin.
tom86211 tasha7908
Posted
Tasha,
The melatonin is from Nature's Bounty. Just sent for 5-HTP and GABA. Good reports about these supplements but don't know if they will work for me.
Tom
Hylandgal tom86211
Posted
Hey there Tom86211
I have taken Trazadone for sleep and yes I too felt dragged right out. Then tried me on seroquel and I was even MORE dragged out. I haven't done much research on the 5-HTP.
I have been looking into CBD oil for sleep and anxiety. I'm not sure if you are in Ontario. There is an Indian reserve about 50 minutes from where I live and they call it "The Medicine Wheel" and I heard they are super knowledgeable. But I will look up the 5-HTP. I love this blog cause alot of people can give information that can be so helpful and informative.
tasha7908 jnmcs
Posted
has anyone ever tried gabapentin for insomnia?
Gareth51625 tasha7908
Posted
I wouldn't recommend taking Gabapentin as they are addictive. Whilst they do work for sleep when you try to come off you can get withdrawals if you've taken them for a while.
tasha7908 Gareth51625
Posted
thank you gareth. gabapentin is usually the go to for extreme cases of insomnia though.
lily65668 tasha7908
Posted
Hi Tasha,
As a former nurse, I'm a bit concerned about all these highly addictive sleeping meds, tranquillisers etc. you're taking - or at least considering. As Gareth says, they're seldom the answer. The problem is that every one of them has the potential to develop tolerance. Tolerance is when your body requires an ever-increasing dose of the drug to have the same effect, and the drug eventually stops working altogether. I'm also concerned about where you're getting them from. I realise that US doctors are far readier to prescribe drugs of this kind than they are in the rest of the world, but it still sounds to me as if you might be getting them on-line, or even on the street. That's potentially even more dangerous, as you don't really know what you're getting.
In most parts of the world, sleeping drugs are only prescribed long-term for the elderly or those in intractable pain. In other cases, it's usual only to prescribe them in very small quantities, with the instruction to take them occasionally to secure a decent night's sleep once a week or so. Forgive me if you fall into one of the two categories above, but I'm concerned that if you're young you're setting yourself up for a lifetime of dependence on sleeping pills - all of which will eventually stop working.
tasha7908 lily65668
Posted
hi lily- i'm actually not taking these medications i was just offering up suggestions. they are meds that i'm researching in my search for some relief. the drugs i've named are simply anti-depressants. (except temazepam and gabapentin).
people with chronic insomnia need more than just an 'occasional' sleep aide.
tom86211 lily65668
Posted
Lilly,
You say that the various sleep meds "will eventually stop working". Does this include melatonin and Tylenol PM? I have been taking small amounts of these at bedtime hoping to extend my sleep "segments" beyond 1:15 to 1:30 at a time. They seem to help a bit, but I don't want to keep taking more and more. I have been getting up 6-10x per night, go to the bathroom, then try to get back to sleep. Each waking event takes about 10 minutes if I am lucky. Occasionally it can take more than a half hour to fall back to sleep again. I haven't had a good night's sleep in several years. Had prostate issues that caused retention, but now after surgery, this is no longer an issue, but I still keep getting up frequently at night - maybe it's just a very bad habit from three years of up and down all night.
Tom
lily65668 tasha7908
Posted
Tasha, I'm afraid there's no "simply" about antidepressants either. Although not addictive, they can cause severe withdrawal symptoms, as well as actually making insomnia worse in some cases.
Speaking from personal experience, I would disagree with you about occasional sleep aids not being sufficient. I had very poor sleep for 40 years - starting in my mid-20s, when I spent a year or so working an impossible shift system as a nurse, which wrecked my sleep pattern - but managed to make it to retiring age by only taking antihistamines two or three consecutive nights in about ten.
Relying on any kind of pharmaceuticals every night is more likely to be the road to chronic insomnia than a cure for it.
lily65668 tom86211
Posted
Hi Tom,
I confess I don't know a lot about melatonin, though I believe there's someone else in here who does, and I'm hoping she will reply to you.
I have, however, looked up Tylenol PM, as I was unfamiliar with this version of it. I see it contains diphenhydramine, which is an antihistamine. I got very good results with using an antihistamine during my 40 years of insomnia. It was a different one, but all the older antihistamines work in much the same way.
The problem with antihistamines is the same as with sleeping pills: we develop tolerance to them, and they eventually stop working. However, I managed to get round this for all those years by only taking a small dose for a maximum of three nights at a time, then toughing it out for a week or so before repeating. In 40 years, I managed never to develop tolerance. They still work on the very rare occasions I need to take them these days - usually on "nervous nights" before a journey etc.
The other, possibly more serious, problem is that you're taking the painkiller acetaminophen on a regular basis. This is a relatively safe drug, but it still seems a bit unnecessary to be taking something you don't actually need - unless you're always in pain, of course. There have been a lot of questions over the years about acetaminophen. By coincidence, I was reading up on an article about it only the other day, on the UK's NHS (National Health Service) site. The Patient site won't let me post a link, but you should be able to find it if you search for: "Is long-term paracetamol use not as safe as we thought?" PARACETAMOL is the UK generic name for ACETAMINOPHEN (TYLENOL). They are one and the same medication.
I'm wondering whether it's possible to purchase diphenhydramine alone OTC in the US. I'd imagine it would be, if it's available in a Tylenol mix. That way, you'd avoid the possible risks of long-term Tylenol use. It might be worth asking your pharmacist about this.
tasha7908 lily65668
Posted
hi lily-which antihistamines do you take? benadryl doesn't work on me. and did you ever have a bad experience on an antidepressant?
thanks
tasha7908 tom86211
Posted
tom- how many mg melatonin do you take? i've tried melatonin (gnc, naturemade, etc) but it doesn't work for some reason. what does it do for you?
tom86211 tasha7908
Posted
Tasha,
I only take 1/2 mg - very small amount, then another 1/2 mg in the middle of the night. It does work - slightly.
Tom
tom86211 lily65668
Posted
Lily,
Yes, it's possible to purchase the diphenhydramine HCL alone - product name is Benadryl. Tablets are 25mg of diphenhydramine. The Tylenol PM is also 25mg plus 500mg of Tylenol. Either of these products is commonly used as a sleep aid and is not physically addictive, but, might become psychologically addictive. I only take a part of a tablet, hoping to take the "edge off". With small amounts it's easy to taper off.
I just had both liver and kidney function tests and both came back excellent, so the small amounts of Tylenol I am taking isn't harming me that I know of.
The issue of "tolerance" is very interesting. Amazing how the body adapts.
Tom
lily65668 tasha7908
Posted
The one I found most effective was promethazine (European brand name Phenergan). However, I don't know whether it's available in the US. You'd need to look for it under its chemical name in any case, rather than the brand, as brand names vary from country to country. However, this medication is now banned in most continental European countries, and not available even on prescription. (Don't know why.) It's still freely available OTC in the UK, which is where I get my occasional supplies. One pack lasts me several years these days.
I believe the active ingredient in Benadryl is diphenydramine in the US formulation. The same ingredient is marketed under the brand name Benylin in the UK. I tried Benylin for hay fever in the 1970s . It was recommended to me as a medication that wouldn't cause daytime sleepiness. It certainly caused less daytime sleepiness than promethazine, but I quickly abandoned it as it still made me feel very tired. I tried using what was left over as a sleep aid, but it was much less effective than promethazine.
Something to bear in mind is that if you've been taking heavy-duty sleep medications for any length of time, it's highly unlikely that something as mild as an antihistamine will have any effect.
I've never used antidepressants as sleep aids, and wouldn't recommend it either, unless you're depressed. I was prescribed amitriptyline - one of the older, tricyclic antidepressants - for a bout of depression more than 50 years ago, but it certainly didn't help me to sleep. I stopped taking it after a couple of months as I didn't like the side-effects.