I had to go look on Ambien's website, but apparently it maintains all the stages of sleep. Huh. I thought it dropped you right into REM sleep, too.

heh. I bet I learned that wrong from you.

Steph, as long as you're looking things up (and translating into English), what does Sonata do?

Sonata's mechanism of action is the same as Ambien's -- it enhances the actions of the neurotransmitter GABA, which inhibits the transmission of nerve signals, thereby reducing nervous excitation in the brain.

[NOTE: by enhancing GABA and reducing nervous excitation in the brain, Ambien and Sonata ARE, in fact, Chill Pills. No, seriously.]

The difference between Ambien and Sonata is in the drugs' half-lives.

Ambien's half-life is 2 1/2 hours or so, which is why they tell you to take it only if you have 7-8 hours to "devote to sleep." (I love that phrase. I am DEVOTED to sleep, baby!) It takes about 7-8 hours for Ambien to clear out of your system.

Sonata's half-life is only 1 hour, so it stays in your system for only about 4 hours. Which is why it's prescribed for people who have trouble *falling* asleep but not *staying* asleep, and for people who wake up at 2 or 3 a.m. and can't fall back to sleep -- you can take a Sonata and still wake up at 6 or 7 a.m. without being all groggy, b/c the drug clears out of your system so fast.

I had to go look on Ambien's website, but apparently it maintains all the stages of sleep. Huh. I thought it dropped you right into REM sleep, too.

heh. I bet I learned that wrong from you.

My goal in life: spreading pharmacological misinformation, one person at a time!

Also, bon -- your tagline just made me snort loudly enough that I had to explain my sudden inexplicable amusement to my co-workers.

Hi. South Florida Buffista Almare, here checking in and telling you, I have no power. The public libraries just opened so no worries. Anyone hear from any of the other SFBuffistas?

Is Lisiprin ever prescribed as a sleep aid? The intent is blood pressure regulation, but I didn't have a night of insomnia for the first year I was on the stuff. And for the first six months or so I would fall asleep within moments of sitting down on a couch and relaxing in the evening.

Hi, Almare! Laura has checked in, has a generator.

But once I stopped drinking caffeine 12 hours before going to bed, my insomnia improved greatly.

Yeah, now that my caffeine intake is one cup of coffee at 8 am, I really don't have the chronic problems getting to sleep that I used to. Amazing that it took me so long to figure out. I used to drink Dr. Pepper and Coke ALL DAY LONG in college. And I wondered why I slept so poorly. Wasn't until I started working, and was being excessively cheap (and thus cut out my soda habit) that I made the connection.

Occasionally will miss the ice tea and things like thai iced coffee, but.... Now if I indulge, I start bouncing off the walls and jumping at every little noise.

Also, bon -- your tagline just made me snort loudly enough that I had to explain my sudden inexplicable amusement to my co-workers.

Ha!

Laura has checked in, has a generator.

Woah. Totally one with the green eyed monster, over here. On the other non-scaly hand, yay Laura!

Is Lisiprin ever prescribed as a sleep aid? The intent is blood pressure regulation, but I didn't have a night of insomnia for the first year I was on the stuff. And for the first six months or so I would fall asleep within moments of sitting down on a couch and relaxing in the evening.

Matt, do you mean lisinopril? I doubt it would ever be prescribed as a sleep aid, only because it's a blood pressure med, and if it were prescribed to an insomniac with normal or low blood pressure, they'd have some serious blood pressure problems.

Probably the reason you slept so well, and would fall asleep right away, is that lisinopril can cause fatigue, because it basically suppresses your heart rate and your adrenalin response. I was on it for about a month, when I had to stop it b/c I was so exhausted all the time.