There should be other sleep doctors. If she's worried about you becoming resistant to Lunesta then she should be working on a plan to keep you medicated and deal with the fact that you become resistant.

When I switched psychiatists I told him I was having trouble sleeping and that I couldn't take Ambien because I was resistant.

He told me the resistance isn't permanent and I'd probably react well to a regular dose (and I did). And if I needed to use it regularly and developed a resistance then there were options - like alternating between different types of sleep aids (like Ambien and Lunesta) to deal with the resistance issues.

I'm really not excited about going outside and doing yardwork. It's like soup out there. 60% humidity.

I woke up this morning and washed all the dishes.

No wait! Don't praise me yet!

I washed the dishes before I had coffee.

ita !, anecdotally, Lunesta doesn't work as well as Ambien, esp/ for chronic insomnia.

Have you traditionally had problems falling asleep or staying asleep, and did anyone try you on the 10 mgs of regular Ambien, not AmbienCR, before trying you on the Lunesta?

And Lunesta can have some weird dreams and very odd aftertaste in the mouth aftereffects in some.

I told my doc flat-out all my travails with insomnia, showed her meds journals and she agreed to try me on 1o mgs of ambien plus 2 mgs of Xanax nightly, and it's worked the best of anything in the last 12 years of insomnia treatments.

The Ambien not working was more effective than the Lunesta 2mg is working. My Ambien problems are increased difficulty falling asleep (but with the amount of painkillers I'll be on for the next two or three weeks--not a huge issue), and more consistently waking up around 2, and taking an hour or so to fall back asleep.

Lunesta wakeup--there are 2, and one of them is so far always before midnight. Which is insane. But there's no way she's going to switch me back to Ambien now.

Then you need a differen doc, and I know you want to slap me for saying that since you've tried so many. But that's bullshit.

Sleep problems AND chronic pain -- if she's not willing to do whatever it takes to try to alleviate the sleep, the pain WILL NOT get better. Sleep heals. Fuck her.

I washed the dishes before I had coffee.

You totally deserve praise for that.

She recommended I use Flexeril on the off nights to help me get to sleep--she thinks I have built up a resistance to Lunesta and Ambien and hadn't managed to include Flexeril in my shenanigans? *If* it put me to sleep, it's still almost ensured that I'd have a wakeup within a few hours anyway.

Well, yes, you HAVE built up a resistence to Ambien and Lunesta. Dur. So have I. When I was on Vicodin for the goolie-pain, docs were ASTONISHED by my tolerance.

And I would do carols of joy if I could convince my health insurance that yes, I DO nee to take 20 mgs of Ambien nightly. Then I could give up the Xanax. But they're...I dunno, afraid I would die or sell it on the streets? Whatev. I KNOW my body, and I KNOW the research on hypnotics better than most GP's, some sleep docs and for damn sure, than a insurance rep.

I feel ya, sister.

Finally got off my duff and called my insurance company to see if a gastric bypass for diabetic reasons would be covered. Nope. Oh, well.