Waking at 3 PM, taking clonazepam

[MarchWinds]

This past week I have woken up at 3 PM four nights in a row. It started on a night when the air in the house was really dry due to the air conditioning. I am using a "loaner" apap setup, and it turns out that the heating on the tube is not working. I am getting it fixed next week, but in the meantime, I can't raise the humidity beyond 4, or I get rain-out. After a couple of nights of bad sleep and lousy, anxious days, I was able to open the windows, and now my setting of 4 is fine. But I am still waking up at 3 am. Because it makes me very anxious that I won't be able to get back to sleep, I take my morning dose of clonazepam at 3 AM instead of 6 AM (.5 mg). This gets me back to sleep after half an hour or so, and then when I wake up around 5:30. But I still feel like crap all day anyway - very tired and anxious. Then I get into bed around 8 PM and fall asleep around 8:30, because I am just too tired to stay up any later. Then all over again.

I usually sleep through the night without waking but will have phases where I wake for 2-3 nights in a row.

I was feeling really, really good for about 5 days before this - the apap was working well, I was sleeping great and I was feeling energized during the way, with much better stamina than in the past. Then with the sleep difficulties, all of the fatigue, anxiety and problems concentrating return and I feel like I am starting all over again.

I have my titration study next Monday night - perhaps the techs will notice some things that will help me during that night. In the meantime, I guess I need to improve my sleep hygiene....

[LSAT]

You need to see your doctor about the anxiety...if that is controlled you will sleep better.

[Hawthorne]

It seems you have developed a pattern that you need to break. I take a small dose of a benzodiazepam as well but I take it in the morning as you were doing. That way it does not affect my sleep at night.

You should try to get back to that morning dose, in my opinion. I use a sound machine at night. I put it on when I first go to bed. It helps me get to sleep quickly. If I wake in the night and have trouble getting back to sleep, I put it on again. I like the wave sound and have is set to play for an hour, each time it is turned on. Works very well for me - might work for you.

Aromatherapy might be another thing to try. Search it on the forum to see how it is used for help with sleeping with a cpap machine.

Hope you get this resolved. I'm sure you will since it has just been for a relatively short time.

[MarchWinds]

I am going to start going to bed later - at 9 pm every night, and set my alarm for 5:30 am - my usually waking time. Then, if I wake up and can't sleep, I'll read or listen to the radio until I'm sleepy. I realize that I can't keep using clonazepam in the middle of the night.... it's just tempting to do so when you know you have to get up and work - and you need to be "on the ball" all day long! Like many people, I lie awake worrying about how tired I'm going to be the next day if I don't get to sleep.

[Hawthorne]

Sounds like a good plan! Hope it works. I sure hear you about waking up and not being able to get back to sleep! The mind starts to worry about all kinds if things!

Try not to get too worried if the "getting back to sleep" problem happens once in a while. You will get back on track!

[englandsf]

8 to 3 is actually not a bad period of sleep (7 hrs!) so - as well as tackling the anxiety with your doctor - I'd just try to go to bed 15 mins later each night until you get to a night of 10 to 5 sleep. It'll take a week or so but might help.

[MarchWinds]

I feel like crap all day, so I don't think 8-3 is enough sleep. And I have already talked extensively with my doc about anxiety, hence the clonazepam. Not sleeping jacks up my anxiety. It's a vicious circle.

[JDS74]

Part of the solution relates to sleep hygiene.
Upon waking up and feeling as if you can't get to sleep, it is better to just get up and go read a while until you get sleepy again and then go back to bed and mask up. Save the clonazepam until the normal awake time.

[Zeecat]

I look at it this way, I may be in bed from 8-3 but that doesn't necessarily mean I am sleeping 8-3. When we wake up that takes energy, when we wake up in a state of anxiety, the amount of energy goes up. Anxiety causes a heightened state of awareness so part of breaking the cycle is finding a way to make that period as short as possible. I've used meditation or guided imagery. I've also found little ways to trick myself into letting go and going back to sleep. For instance, if I fall asleep with my eye mask on, I will take it off, or I will flip my pillow over as one edge is thicker than the other. I think it's the same idea as the sound machine. I've had anxiety for years and have finally been able to reduce clonazepam to occasional as needed dosing. If reading, remember that the light from lamps or electronic screens can stimulate your brain and make your body think it's time to get up. For me there are so many variables, I kept a food journal and found a relationship between certain foods and the nights I seem to wake up anxious. Good luck, I hope it eases up soon.

[Julie]

Do you actually go to bed at 8? Because if so, you're getting 7 hrs of sleep (until 3), which is quite normal! Or did I miss something else?

[MarchWinds]

Do you actually go to bed at 8? Because if so, you're getting 7 hrs of sleep (until 3), which is quite normal! Or did I miss something else?

No, I don't fall asleep until close to 9 pm. I am just to tired that I lie in bed, listening to the TV in the next room until it gets turned off when my husband goes to bed. Then I wake at three, and have trouble getting to sleep unless I take clonazepam, in which case I fall asleep in about 30 minutes, only to wake up around 5:30 feeling terrible. Usually I sleep through the night without waking, but this week has been awful; I actually feel worse than I did before I started the CPAP. I am going to get up tonight if I wake, and probably read until I feel sleepy, no meds. At least I don't have to get up in the morning, so maybe I will fall back asleep relatively easily. I am hoping my CPAP titration study next week will help too - maybe I need to have my pressures adjusted for that time of night. I am currently using an apap.

[Julie]

Sorry, I may be playing catch-up, but why are you going to bed so early?

[tiredmemo]

I have been taking clonazepam now for 2 1/2 weeks. Mr Dr has me taking it 1/2 hour before bed. I also am having problems with stress and such in fact I am up sleepwalking which I have never done before. He thinks maybe I am acting out my dreams. With it I am only getting up 1 time a night now so it must be working. The only problem I find is I am sometimes a little forgetful in the am hours. I can't imagine taking it during the am hours.

[avi123]

According to this clonazepam is not meant for sleep:

May treat: Panic disorder · Restless legs syndrome · Bipolar disorder · Epilepsy · Schizophrenia · Sleep sex · Absence seizure · Dysarthria

It looks to me like Alprazolam (generic Xanax).

Zolpidem (generic Ambien), according to Consumer Reports on Health, is the top rated sleep medication amongst almost 9,000 responders with sleep problems (falling and maintain sleep) . See it here:



if I take 5 mg of Zolpidem (half a tablet of 10 mg) it should put me to sleep within 30 minutes. Then if I wake at or after 3 a.m. to go to the bathroom, for example, if I have problems falling asleep I could then take another 5 mg (the other half of the tablet), and it should not give me a hangover the next morning if I manage to sleep longer than 6:30. Which I do.

[Nick Danger]

Clonazepam is frequently prescribed off-label as a sleep aid. Lower doses tend to be prescribed as a sleep aid compared to the doses prescribed for anxiety. Do not use this with opioid pain-killers or alcohol.