Will Sonata Be Effective If I Have An Ambien Tolerance?

Updated

Hi all. I've been on Ambien for about 5 years. I know I should only take them for 2 weeks at a time, however I have chronic insomnia and cannot sleep without it. I've tried most of the other sleeping pills, (lunesta, restoril, trazodone, remeron, serequol, most of the benzos, and the OTC diphenhydramine and doxylamine succinate) however, the only thing I've ever had success with is the Ambien. But, my tolerance has become absurd. When I first started taking it 5-10mgs would knock me out, but due to taking them for so long, I've built a tolerance. I'm currently prescribed 20mgs a night, which doesn't even touch my insomnia.. I usually have to take 40mgs or more to get any sleep. I know this is unhealthy and I want to switch to something that will still work, but that I can take a normal dose. However, due to the ineffectiveness of most sleeping pills, I've been a little discouraged. I was reading about Ambien and how it's apart of the "Z-drugs," which also listed Sonata as being a similar drug that works in a similar way. My question is: If I already have such an insane tolerance to Ambien, will I have a tolerance to Sonata, also?

Thanks in Advance,
Brittany

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1

Hello, Brittany! How are you?

Sonata isn't available in the U.S., actually, so you won't be able to have it prescribed here.

Have you tried taking a break from the Ambien for awhile? Stopping it for awhile and then going back to it may help it to start working for you, again.

Do you also maintain good sleep hygiene, such as keeping a regular schedule? No alcohol or caffeine after 5pm and etc.?

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2

I'm certain that it in fact is avaliable for presciption in the US. And yes, I've gone off of it for about 3 months, and while my tolerance was lowered for a while, after about a week I was back to it not working.

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3

and my sleep hygiene is fairly decent. I don't drink alcohol in general, and I stick to sprite so I don't have any caffeine intake. I'm usuallu pretty good about not taking my phone or computer to bed with me and I only turn the TV on if I've been laying down for over 2 hours and not been able to fall asleep. But yeah, I just double checked and Sonata is available in the US.

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Update: My doctor tried me on Sonata, and it did nothing to help me sleep. I asked him and the pharmacist and they both said that tolerance to Ambien would NOT affect the effectiveness of the Sonata. So, apparently my body just sucks at responding to medication. While my sleep hygeine has always been decent, I also have 5 dogs that don't understand that a) even though I have a california king sized bed, I need my room to sleep (I bought the bigger dogs their own bed that is the same height as mine so they can be near me, the two snaller ones still sleep with me since they weigh about 8 lbs combined) and they tend to snore (along with my dad, which I can hear even though he is 2 stories above me and on the other side of the house) so I bought super earplugs. I also have a sleep mask now that I spray with lavender before I go to sleep, and while that may just all be psychological, it seems to help a little. Not enough to actually put me to sleep, but I'm trying everything that may help
Medication wise I'm now back to the 20mg Ambien, a xanax, and remeron to sleep. (I've had this problem with others meds too, I was on 10mg lortab (well, norco now) for back pain (I played softball and put my body through hell for 13 years) but that barely made a difference so they put me on 15mg Roxis.) Yes, I know I'm killing my liver and this is all bad for me (I'm only 23) but I literally cannot live with the pain I'm in, plus the insomnia and a whole other bunch of problems. But I figured I'd just give an update as to where I'm at now.

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5

Sonata does not make me sleepy nor keep me asleep all night. I had to try for insurance co. I'm going back to Ambien CR. Nothing worse than not getting sleep.

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