Antihistamines for withdrawal insomnia (diphenhydramine, doxylamine, hydroxyzine)

[Mikegs96]

On 5/24/2019 at 11:14 AM, GiaK said:

 

 

Here are some posts that deal with insomnia: https://beyondmeds.com/?s=insomnia

 

there are LOTS of them. 

So on the first post it's says that taking an anti-histamine for too long can go paradoxical. How many days in a row can you take it before that happens? Because I used it last night, cause I was awake for two days straight during what I'm assuming is a wave. 

 

Also so I read your story on madinamerica about how you recovered from being on over 30 drugs. Do you think there is hope that I can recover? Considering I was on a lot of psych meds while my brain was still developing at the age of 11. I was started on ADHD, and anti-depressants when I was 11, then ended up stopping celexa abruptly when I was 21. Which I didn't know could be withdrawal at the time. So I trusted psychiatrists for over a year and ended up going on at least 9-10 different medications.

they were Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Trazodone, an MAOI called EMSam, Lexapro, Rexulti, Buspar. Also I was on Ritalin, Concerta, Adderal, and Vyvanse as kid until I was 18. I also smoked a lot of weed in high school. So at this point I don't know if I can recover.

[Bobblehead]

I found Doxylamine worked better than Diphenhydramine. Doxylamine has a longer half life.

 

Diphenhydramine gave me side effects, mostly just felt lousy the next day with a stuffed up nose. Its sedative effects only lasted a few weeks before it stopped working and it only put me to sleep for a 2-3 hours at most. I had to take 75mg to get an effect.

 

Doxylamine gave me no side effects and worked for much longer, about 4 months but then its sedative effects started to fade. This one put me to sleep for  3-5 hours most of the time. I took 25mg.

 

I found both to be very powerful anxiolytics, but slow acting, usually took over an hour before I felt their effect. Their anxiolytic effects never faded but perhaps they would have if I used them for longer periods of time.