promethazine hydrochloride

[myrtlemaid]

Went tomy docs with sleeping probs... asked for zopiclone.. she says Gps arent allowed to prescribe it without a psychiatrists say so.. she prescribed me this.. it appears to be an antihistamine... has anyone else used it or have I just been fobbed off?

[Sweetpea]

All I know is that some people here have taken antihisamine (not the non drowsey one) to help with sleep.  Its worth a try if it helps.

S x x x

Just looked on Wikipedia and it says one of its usages is as a sedative.  x x

[CharleysAngel']

Anti histamines are supposed to help you sleep. There are a lot of things that GP's aren't allowed to prescribe, anything to do with sleeping tablets they are particularly precautious about, they can be so addictive.

Give it a try and I chance to work and if it doesn't go back and see if you can try something else xx

[KateG]

My GP gave me zopiclone straight away. That said, it only works for a few days, is horrendously addictive and withdrawal is awful. So your GP has done you a favour by refusing to give it to you. I wouldn't go near them again.

My GP has told me that he knows my ADs (mirtazapine) aren't touching my depression but he keeps giving me them to make me sleep because they're far less addictive than zopiclone.

So it's worth a try &*(

[Buttercup]

My GP perscibed me Tamazepam. But I know my friend, who has no mental health problems, was perscibed Zopiclone, as was my mum, no questions asked. I'm sure GP's are allowed to perscibe without permission.

[myrtlemaid]

Thanks for the replies.. i will give it a fair go and see what happens.. I have had zopiclone before with no ill effects but maybe prescribing regs have changed or its an " advisory" thing in my health authority.. lol dont care what I take as long as I get some sleep tho am wary of things that can be addictive cos i was once dependent on benzodiazapines

[Sweetpea]

Hope it helpd with your sleep pattern.

S x x

[Beetzart]

I think your GP was saying that as an excuse to not prescribe zopiclone, which isn't a bad thing.  Trouble is doctors are so inconsistent, well in my experience anyway.  I have had countless GPs/Pdcos/SHOs over the years and some recoiled in horror when I asked for sleeping pills and would begrudgingly give 6 at the lowest dose.  Then there were others who would happily prescribe 28 at full strength with no caveats.  Although a happy medium was eventually found when they prescribed me olanzapine 2.5 mg for sleep, for me this worked for years and I never built up tolerance.  My pdoc stopped though because of the potential side effects like diabetes/weight gain.  Now I take mirtazapine.

That being said, z-drugs are not really that good IMHO.  You can blackout with amnesia or rarely, sleepwalk, or even sleepdrive which has been reported! 

[SteveW]

 Your GP wasn’t fobbing you off. Promethazine makes a perfectly acceptable sedative. It used to be used in schizophrenia years ago before there were better alternatives. There are a couple of good things about promethazine. The first is that it isn’t in any way addictive so a dose that gets you off to sleep should carry on doing so indefinitely.

The second thing is that it is so safe that it is an over the counter medicine not prescription only. This is worth knowing if you pay prescription charges. A pack of 56 25 mg Promethazine used to come in at several quid less than the prescription charge when I used to buy it. As to dose a sleeping dose is usually 25 mg but I regularly used to take 50 mg.

If you pay prescription charges it might be worth asking your local chemist how much a 56 tab pack of Phenergan(the trade name) comes in at these days.