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Posted 2/5/2009 10:00 AM (GMT -5)

Hello Everyone,

I have an appointment w/ my doctor in March to ask about taking Ambien for sleep. I am not currently on any medications, had unsuccessful prior attempts w/ Klonopin, Cymbalta, Wellbutrin (allergic) and w/ herbal remedies.

I do need help w/ sleep, but I also need help with my terrible brain-fog. I have such difficulty concentrating, remembering things (even w/ notes to self), etc. This morning, I read about Adderall (normally for ADHD) and that it has helped people w/ fibro with their fatigue and brain-fog, increasing focus and helping w/ motivation. I thought I would ask my doctor about this too. If I don't find a solution, I may need to change jobs - it's getting that bad. Non-med solutions are not working, so it's time to pull out the big guns.

Since I have a month before I can see the dr., I thought I'd ask all of you if you have tried either one of these - or both at the same time - and what you think of them?

In addition...what do you do for your blurred vision? Do glasses or contacts help with this?

Thanks for any feedback!

Kerri
Posted 2/5/2009 12:14 PM (GMT -5)
Kerri,

I take both adderall and ambien.  It works well for me.  I hope that your doctor will help you with the medications.  They are getting so that they don't want to prescribe adderall anymore due to it's abuse.  I hope that you are able to try it.  It has saved my life.  Before adderall, all I did was sleep.  There are others such as provigil and ritalin.  Your doctor might want to try that first.  But I think that the adderall works the best.  Ambien is good for sleep.  I take it nightly.  I sleep regardless, but the ambien gives me a more refreshed sleep.  I wish you luck with this.  You will be a much happier person with the help of these medications.

Best wishes for a lovely day.

Hugs, Karen

Posted 2/5/2009 12:23 PM (GMT -5)
Kerri,
Like Karen, Adderal totally saved my life.
It's a long long story and I got a very late diagnosis. By the time I got
the correct diagnosis of ADD, I couldn't tie my shoes! This is the disease
that puts women on the trail to homelessnes and disasters of all sorts.
ADD is great stress on your body. It is a ticket for life-long Depression
and Anxiety. The ADD actually is the ABUSER.
I do not take Adderal any more. Once I learned what ADD was I was on
my way to understanding and learning to control my symptoms.
I was lucky to have a good husband to see me through.
Gosh, I almost wrote a book on this subject. Really.
Pamela
Posted 2/5/2009 2:27 PM (GMT -5)
Hi Kerri,
I take ambien as needed now, but a few years ago with I started suffering from insomnia and maybe sleeping 3-4hrs a night, I took it every night. I know how hard it is to drag yourself to work everyday and push through the day and pray you don't screw something up in the meantime. As for side effects, I didn't notice any, just some well need rest. I really like it, works well for me. I have never needed to try or take adderall, sorry no help there.

As for blurred vision, I don't have that, just get the floaty things across my eye but the eye doc said that was normal for people as we get older. I don't drive at night, don't do well even when I wear my glasses.

Have a great day,
Lori
Posted 2/5/2009 3:10 PM (GMT -5)
Hi Kerri, I have the same problems as you, trying to work without getting any sleep.  I have heard Ambian works well for some so I hope you are one of them.  Once you get your sleep under somekind of control the fog will lift abit.  I remember days I couldn't even get out of bed & I called in sick so often & was way behind in my work so I would go in to work in the middle of the night. I figured I was awake anyway.  I have Insomnia very bad.  I take cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril) along with Melatonin 5mg sublingual every night.  I ran out of the Flexeril yesterday & forgot to go to the Pharmacy so I was up until 6:00 A.M. this morning.  Love those nights awake.  NOT!!!  lol  You might try taking melatonin until you see your Dr.  Talk to your Pharmacist or call your Dr & ask.  Also, I take B12 sublingual & a B Complex for energy.  That has really saved me lately.  Vitamin D is another vitamin you could try because there is almost an epidemic of Vit. D deficiency among Fibromites & it can cause alot of fatigue & fog.

As for Adderal I am going to see my Doctor in March also, to see if she thinks it will help me.  Otherwise, I am still looking for my answers.  I hope you find yours soon.  Many gentle hugs, Denise 

Posted 2/5/2009 3:29 PM (GMT -5)
I myself do not take anything like that but my son has ADHD something horrible... long story there!!! But anyways, we changed his meds a couple times to see what works best for him without having to up his dosage and Concerta seemed to have the least amount of side effect, and it has worked wonderful for his ADHD.  Problem being, if you take it and you HAVE an attention deficite disorder it will NOT give you energy... infact it will do just the opposite for you.  I did a bit of research about it before medicating my son, because I was SO against it... and I found that with mild cases if you give them caffeine in the morning it helps calm them... odd huh?? Didn't work for the boy though let me tell you... NOTHING slows him down!!! : )

 

I personally tried Ambien and it works WONDERFUL if you don't have any underlying sleep issues... like walking and talking??? Yeah, lets just say I had a BAD experience with that and am too afraid to take it again!!!!   I use to sleep walk as a child and I still do talk in my sleep and sometimes sit up and what not, but no walking... atleast until I took Ambien, I guess it puts you in that DEEP sleep mode where you can walk around and do things crazy while sleeping, and not remember a thing about it!!  Luckily I don't have the insomnia like I did in the beginning any more!!!  I guess if you have a history of walking in your sleep I would be careful taking it, but other then that I use to wake up feeling fine while taking it and slept like a rock!!!. 

 

GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!! : )

Posted 2/5/2009 8:25 PM (GMT -5)
There are some people who think that ADD/ADHD is a partial cause for Fibromyalgia.
You'll probably find information on the internet. I don't go there anymore.
Pamela
Posted Yesterday 12:30 PM (GMT -5)
Thank you for all of your replies!  The information and feedback was very helpful.

Very interesting about the sleepwalking.  When I was a kid, I sleptwalked terribly.  Even as an adult, I've been known to act out in my dreams (once, I woke up to my husband yelling my name..I was over him in the bed, yelling "NOOOO!!" and hitting him in the face!! He still makes fun of me for that one)!  I will ask the doctor about it when I ask about the Ambien. 

Thanks again. :)

Kerri

Posted Yesterday 12:41 PM (GMT -5)
The only time (that I know of) that I slept walk as an adult was when I had drank ENTIRELY too much and was extremely tired.... other then that just when I took Ambien. My story is (take into mind I lived with only my children) I woke up one morning and got ready for work and as always went out to warm up the car.  It was winter out and we had a fresh snow the night before.  I opened the door to go out side and there were adult foot prints that came up to the door... so I followed them of course, because it kind of freaked me out.  WELL... the tracks went around my car and to the door and that was it... who ever left those (adult) tracks had to of came from my home.  HELLO??? I was the only adult in the house... plus at that time lets just say that I slept with a little less clothing then one should have while going outside... winter or NOT!!!  Scary thing.... the door knob was the kind that when you locked it you could still go out of it just not back in if you shut it... Can you imagine waking up like THAT!!!  SO... low and behold I quit taking it!!! : )  Better luck to you!!!
Posted Yesterday 2:40 PM (GMT -5)
I always sleep soundly on Trazadone. I am even splitting the pill right now and still fall asleep within a half hour of taking it.

I scream Trazadone from the rooftops! :)
Posted 2/9/2009 2:41 PM (GMT -5)
Pamela's mention of ADD in connection w/ FMS is very interesting...

Over the weekend, I got a book from the library about ADHD, just to see if it had info about Adderall side effects & effectiveness.  Well, it turns out that I have had ADD symptoms my whole life....many, many of them.  It was eery, reading through the list of criteria.

I wondered why I was able to cope better before Fibro than I am now, w/ my difficulty w/ focusing, memory, constant daydreaming, etc.  Well, before, I had a tremendous amount of energy.  Any days spent dreaming were usually counterbalanced w/ days that I could "hyperfocus" on tasks (talked about in the ADHD book) or run, run, run through my day.  This is how I did ok at work, I think - my bosses didn't care about the days I was unproductive, because I had those high energy days or days when I could focus for hours on the subject at hand. 

Well, now I don't have as much energy.  My "hyperfocus" days are fewer than before.  I guess this is why these same symptoms I've lived with for as long as I can remember are now affecting me negatively.

How strange if I actually have ADD too.  I'm going to get an evaluation to find out, as I never self-diagnose.  It's just intriguing...and a bit exciting, because perhaps I can actually find an effective treatment.

My 10 year old also exhibits many of the symptoms of child ADHD.  The school actually called me last week to ask if they could evaluate him.  I found out this weekend that it is genetic. 

This is all very interesting.  Anyone on here with diagnosed ADD/ADHD, themselves or their children?

Posted 3/22/2013 5:57 AM (GMT -5)
I was diagnosed by a neuroligist at our l ocal va hospital, andop if you have adhd add you will know after a thorugh 4hr exam. Self diagnosis nore medical doctors will make an assumption and even give you meds but without actually doing the test you'll never know positivly that its adhd and not just a habit we developed over the years see mine is adhd unatentive witout hyperactivity so much harder to trace .
Posted 7/4/2013 5:10 AM (GMT -5)
ADD here too... and yes Adderall is the best thing I've found for it. The only thing I might caution you about is that when you are having a really bad fibro "flare-up" episode, it feels like the Adderall isn't working. I guess it just seems like at some points the pain and fatigue get too overwhelming and nothing will pull you out of it. I do have to say though, that on the days that are tolerable and the good days, Adderall is a life saver.
Posted 7/4/2013 7:33 AM (GMT -5)
Adderall has been a life saver for me too, as well as the ambien.

Hugs, Karen...
Posted 7/4/2013 7:35 AM (GMT -5)
jdog,

I se that this is an older thread, you may want to start a new thread to introduce yourself to the forum. We would like to get to know you.

I hope that you are doing well. Best wishes,

Hugs, Karen...
Posted 7/4/2013 1:21 PM (GMT -5)
Pamela, Ambien can cause side effect like sleep walk. There have been instances of those reports going on. Some even go as far as made breakfast and not remember doing it. But these are extreme rare case.

There are the other end of the spectrum too. If you abuse ambien, e.g. have them and not go to bed, it may causes insomnia. And there were a couple of Australian Olympics swimmer doing stupid things like taking them with Alcohol (not sure what the real effect is, needless to say, it probably made them hyper... hence the abuse).

***************************

I use Ambient all the time. It's either that or be fatigue everyday. I never had any problem with them.

Kerri, Take them with moderation. Do keep a log and see if prolong use causes extra memory fog. That's another side effect of Ambien I would be worried about..
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