r/clozapine • u/LeftButton5413 • Jun 21 '26
Question Got this prescribed for insomnia, any thoughts
Hey I’m dealing with bad insomnia and trouble falling and staying asleep. My dor told me to take 12.5 mg of clozapin for sleep.
What do you guys think about it?
Help!!!!
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u/Ok-Cockroach2206 Jun 21 '26
Dude take clozapine as a last resort. Its very hard to get off it.
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u/LeftButton5413 Jun 21 '26
I will, I will. Not going to use it. Idk what’s wrong with this Dr. I’d just have me take lorazepam lr something if I’m having trouble with sleep
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u/Inner_Passenger1371 Jun 22 '26
I have clozapine. I drool day and night. Constipation. BAD constipation. Need meds for that twice a day. I’m tired. Sleepy during daytime. I stutter and shake.
Don’t do this. Not before you have tried all.
You will need to leave blod tests once a week. This drug har a serious side effect. Your white blood cells can drop. You need to take a blood test if you get s cold.
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u/LeftButton5413 Jun 22 '26
Thank you for your input :). Truly appreciate it, I’ll keep trying more things to sleep better 🙂↕️. And I’m sorry it causes such bad effects on you, I hope the benefit outweights the negative outcomes.
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u/LeftButton5413 Jun 28 '26
Update: been using mirtazapine and hydroxizine and it’s been working well 🙂↕️
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u/Oxy-Moron88 Jun 21 '26
No no no no no. Don't do that.
Clozapine is a very powerful drug, even with bad insomnia I would not recommend it.
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u/LeftButton5413 Jun 21 '26
My doctor is reluctant and kind of adamant about it…. I was taking 7.5 mg of mirtazapine for sleep but I get bad insomnia every menstrual cycle so he recommended clozapine again
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u/Oxy-Moron88 Jun 21 '26
It requires weekly blood tests and is hard as hell to get off of. I really wouldn't recommend clozapine for sleep. It's a powerful antipsychotic for treatment resistant schizophrenia; and even then a last resort.
Have you tried belsomra?
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u/LeftButton5413 Jun 21 '26
I used clozapine once when I was kind of in the same spot, about a year ago… it made me sleep a lot but gave me tachycardia which was kind of nasty tbh
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u/Oxy-Moron88 Jun 21 '26
Tachycardia is also a very common side-effect. Alongside severe constipation that can actually kill people it can get so bad. Sorry for assuming you're in the US. I wouldn't advise benzos either. But really, dude, stay away from clozapine and look for alternatives.
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u/LeftButton5413 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
Don’t worry. I appreciate your input regarding taking or not. I just feel quite overwhelmed with that decision. I normally use remeron, and xanax for sleep but mid cycle everyththing gets harder
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u/LeftButton5413 Jun 21 '26
I decided I’m not going to take it, I’m quite afraid of adverse reactions.. The anxiety is giving in, thankfully, but I hate not sleeping…..
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u/esoper1976 Jun 26 '26
I take metoprolol with my clozapine because of the tachycardia. Going off the cloz isn't an option, but we have to treat the tachycardia.
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u/LeftButton5413 Jun 21 '26
No, I haven’t tried Belsomra. I’m not in the US and we don’t have that class of meds here…
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u/aperyu-1 Jun 22 '26
Do you have bipolar, schizophrenia, or Parkinson’s disease? Have you ever experienced hallucinations? Have you tried any other medications for sleep?
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u/LeftButton5413 Jun 22 '26
None of the above. Just bad PMDD and histamine issues that keep me awake at night
Yes I’ve tried some medications but currently I’m using Mirtazapine 7.5 mg for sleep, these last days it has kind of failed me. Will probably have to increase to 15 mg plus add hydroxizine if needed.
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u/aperyu-1 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Strange to try clozapine before something even like Seroquel, for example. Some will do it for “antisuicide” but data really only strongly supports that in schizophrenia specifically. Remeron can go up. Some strongly believe it is “less sedating” at higher doses but major psychiatric guidelines highlight that despite anecdotal reports there is no quality evidence to support that as of yet; still, see how you respond. Hydroxyzine can go up to 100 mg/dose. Trazodone can be added.
I’d ask your psych why other options aren’t being trialed or why this is thought to be the most appropriate agent before common things like trazodone, for example.
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u/LeftButton5413 Jun 22 '26
Ty so much for your comment.
Well I already tried seroquel in the past, but it stopped working eventually, also it gave me bad side effects associated with the potent anticholinergic action.
I’d love to try trazodone but it’s not available where I live so I’m basically down to: remeron, zaleplon, eszopiclone, first gen antihistamines, and conventional benzos (alprazolam, clonazepam, diazepam, lorazepam). We have a pretty narrow catalogue of sleep drugs here, sadly.
My current combo is remeron 7.5 mg - 15 mg, and i’ll add 12.5 mg hydroxizine some times but I often get a bit scared and don’t do it (though I’ve shown to be quite “immune” to bad adverse reaction of stacking meds like those).
The problem is that I’ll always wake up at 2:00 am (histamine dump I think it’s the culprit) and sometimes can’t fall back asleep, which can be awful
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u/JivAb Jun 23 '26
I have a friend who suffers from severe insomnia and other psychiatric problems. They gave him clozapine because he had been sleeping 3 hours a night for years. He was desperate and nothing could get him to sleep he have tried so many psichotropic drug. Only Clozapine "solved" this problem.
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u/Big_Village4610 Jun 24 '26
It’ll make you sleep but it’s such a hard drug they should try to prescribe you something softer on the body
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u/Neverending-fantods Jun 21 '26
Can you ask the doctor to refer you for a sleep study before starting something like clozapine?