please anyone knows of a good sleeping pill that does not dry up eyes?

[bvendig]

xanax

i sometimes use xanax and have not found that it dries my eye.
hugs, betty

I have been having problems sleeping lately, and was prescribed Xanax, but i think it has a drying effect on my eyes, and overall my eyes feel bad with it.

Has anyone here used a sleeping pill that did not cause problems for the eyes?

I will really appreciate you sharing your experience. The doctor who prescribed the Xanax has no idea that sleeping pills dry the eyes.

Thanks,

[bvendig]

sleeping

my sister uses Advil PM. i haven't tried it so i can't tell you if it dries your eyes but it's over the counter so you might want to give it a try
betty

Thank you for your reply Rose!

I have never heard of Ativan, but I will definitely schedule an appointment with a doctor now and specifically ask him to prescribe it for me. I hope it is available where I am (Dubai).

You are right about the sleeping pills- they keep you asleep for 5 hours and then you wak up feeling really dizzy. I was wondering if there is anything like slow release formula to keep them going for longer.

Also, I do not have so much problem falling asleep, as actually staying asleep, especially after the first 2-3 hours.

I know that i am very stressed, not only due to the dry eye problem, but also due to personal problems, which actually constitute the bulk of anxiety for me.

You say you take Ativaqn during the day. Does it make you sleepy or is it contraindicated with driving?

Thank you again for replying. I hope what helped you will help me too.

Daniela

[odydnas]

I think that in terms of sleeping pills and antidepressants, practically all of them can dry out the eyes, but that doesn't mean that everyone who uses them will feel the effects. I think it's like "dry eyes" -- everyone's a little different, and some treatments that help some people actually make other people feel worse. So I think that it's more of a trial and error process and you just have to find the right one for you. However, if you find that a drug dries out the eyes, then other drugs in that class will probably have the same effect and you would instead try to use another drug that has a different mechanism.

[rhad]

Thank you Brooke, this is really giving me a lot more clarity and will certainly follow your advice about starting with half a pill.

Rose, thank you for sharing your experience, it is so similar to mine-- I go to bed at 11-12 and then wake up at 2.30-3.00 unable to go back to sleep, just lying in bed and getting more and more anxious about the bad day that is going to follow-- especially in terms of BAD EYE. Same experience with Xanax too--its just too much to handle, makes me feel bad overall. I will definitely go for Ativan-lorazepam, much appreciated.

Liz56,rhad, thank you so much for sharing about Melatonin! I checked about it on the internet, it is supposed to be anti-aging and immune booster besides promoting healthy sleep. May be I shoudl try that first? do you think it will work on its own if the reason for insomnia is anxiety and not just a disturbed biological clock?

Hi Lizibet,

The medication you mention is also news to me. As far as i have heard antidepressants are supposed to dry up ur eyes even more than sleeping pills, and it is amazing that in your case they actually helped you feel better. I will talk to my doctor about this one too. Your story is a futher proof that keeping anxiety in check is extremely important for improving our condition.

Thank you all for sharing, that certainly gives me so much more clarity and assurance that I will be able to reduce my anxiety and get some sleep without overworrying about the effects on my eyes. Actually until recently I thought that I will never be able to use anti-anxiety medications, and will have to suffer through whatever psychological disturbance i have- no sleep, anxiety, depression,etc.-- without the aid of pills. I even deny myself crying even when i really feel like it, coz I worry about what will happen to my eyes after that.

I hope that now I will finally get some relief thanks to your advice and assurance. Thank you all....

sounds to me like your problem with inability to sleep, anxiety, depression, etc. could be caused by adrenal fatigue, you should look that up, your symptoms seem to match the description of that disorder.

adrenal Fatigue is way common now, many doctors are starting to realize this. their are some things that you could try that will restore adrenal funciton, if that is what is causing your sleeping problem and anxiety.

I am taking these supplements for adrenal fatigue:

Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5)
licorice root extract
ginseng

also, melatonin is supposed to help restore their function, by allowing deep relaxed sleep.

B5 is supposed to be the main vitamin that your adrenals us to manufacture hormones, looked it up, you'll see that it is probably the most important supplement for the adrenal glands to function properly.
rhad

[Rebecca Petris]

let's please stick to the question regarding dry eye specifically. thanks.

[ringo]

Thank you all for your help:

Bvendig, xanax does not help me feel better at all, and I guess Odydnas is right about the fact that medications produce different effects on different people, so it will really be a matter of trial and error to figure out which one works best for me. Advil PM has a drying agent, something that is supposed to decongest your nasal passages when you sleep, so it is a no no for me.

Rhad, I appreciate the info about adrenal fatigue, although that is the first time I hear about it. I have not been taking any supplements except acetylcysteine and occasionally vitamin C, so I guess I might be lacking the vitamins you mentioned. I have heard that the vitamins from the group B help sleep and the nervous system in general.

At least now i have the assurane that sleeping pills are not 100% contraindicated for dry eyes, and people here have benefited from using them. I have noticed that being stresses without sleep makes the eyes much worse, seems that others have similar experience, so I am starting to wonder as to whether some types of dry eye are not caused by chronic stress.

I just read in a book on pregnancy that stress dries up the cervical secretions, as it dries the mouth. So it might very well be true that while i was at work-- constantly stressed in front of the computer in the strongly air-conditioned office without sufficient sleep, I have completely driven my eyes off the edge. I do believe that if such a pattern of a lifestyle continues for long enough, at some point the delicate balance of our bodily systems gets disturbed in one way or the other. It seems one of the worst is this overall drying effect on the body. There is even speculation that Sjogren's syndrome might be triggered by chronic stress and fatigue.

So now I hope that improving my sleep pattern will significantly help.I want to break that vicious cycle of no sleep, drier eye, then more worry about the dry eye, then even less sleep, and more of a dry eye, more worry, etc.

I am sorry if this was too long, just steaming out. Noone in my life except the people here on this forum seems to understand how this dry eye compounds and accumulates further problems like a snowball; not even the psychologists or ophthalmologists.

thank you all for your input.

[Michael2]

Ambien

one thing I wanted to add, Ringo...

I was prescribed Ambien for sleep, and had been told not to worry about its drying effects. And then I found a side bonus...Ambien acts as a pain reliever too. At least for me, Ambien takes the eye pain down to a tolerable level, so I use it now for both sleep and pain relief during the day (I've since been prescribed for this).

so far I haven't seen any drying effect

[ringo]

Thank you all,

Just a quick update-- I am curently on clonazepam, and it is ok, although slightly drying but that efect wears off towards noon time.

At least I am sleeping better, and the overall benefit of sleep is worth it.

I have found that sleep is a major factor in improving dry eye.

[Sammy B.]

Ringo,

Just wanted to say that I recently bought an herbal remedy named "Calms Forte," and it's been working for me. I was VERY SKEPTICAL but after Googling the heck out of it and reading all of the positive reviews, I decided to give it a try. I'm trying to wean off of the Ativan. That stuff isn't good to be on for months I don't think!

At any rate, the Calms Forte was available in my local CVS/Walgreens drug store (no need to go to a natural grocer to track it down).

You may want to give it a try should the clonazepam start to become less effective. I have not noticed my eyes being any worse while taking it.

- Rose

[jenny2008]

xanax..it does wear off

i notice if i take a few nights a week to sleep it helps me or once in awile without drying effects.. If I take it in the daytime especially several days in a row my eyes get dry about 4 hours after taking it....

If I only take if for sleep i guess I sleep through the 'drying' part of it and wake up feeling good.. Anyone else experience this???