I was also given ativan for sleep and had been on it for like 10 years. It was given to me for sleep as I'm a worrier and lay awake worrying about this and that and this helped to just relax me enough so that I could sleep. I also can get panic attacks, and it helped with them also. My PS prescribed valium as a muscle relaxer so I stopped the ativan and just take the valium now (1/2 tablet before sleepy time). I asked for a sleeping pill to see if this would help me get myself on a better schedule and get a really good nights rest - you wouldn't believe this, I stayed awake all night. I thought perhaps this was just a fluke and tried it again a few weeks later and it did the same thing, so much for sleeping pills. I'll stick to the valium. Oh, the pain pills themselves will not put me to sleep. I tried just taking them and not the valium, once again awake all night long.
I answered Sally privately but she mentioned that I shouldn't nap during the day, which I don't. The problem I have is when I go to sleep at night (but I don't get to sleep until maybe 1 or 2 in the morning) I will sleep 12 to 14 hours at a pop and it just doesn't seem like that's normal to me. This I think is the fibromyalgia which has lead into chronic fatigue syndrome.
They keep trying to give me antidepressants and I just don't like them, hate them. When I take them it keeps me awake at night and I get what I call the heebee-jeebies where my legs jump all around and won't stay still while I'm trying to get to sleep. Supposedly the antidepressants are supposed to help with the fibromyalgia somehow, but it doesn't seem like it does anything for me except keep me awake. I think I'm just going to tell them they're working fine and throw the prescription away. I have three different types sitting here now, provigil, paxil, and effexor. Even if I get up at 7 in the morning I still can't sleep that night. I know I'm going to have to force myself to stay on some sort of schedule but the fibromyalgia and the chronic fatigue syndrome play havoc with my sleeping patterns. If I get up at 7 and try to last all day I'm so grouchy with the kids and have no energy to take care of them, so if I sleep in, at least when they get home from school I have the energy to take care of them; i.e., dinner, laundry, running them to sports, PTA, etc. Some people really believe in antidepressants and say they do help with the fibromyalgia and pain level. It just hasn't had that effect on me.
Love,
Hell-yun