Lunesta vs ambien vs sonata: what are pros and cons?

None of these (Lunesta, Sonata, and Ambien) will reduce the amount of time you spend in REM sleep or increase the amount of restful sleep you get. They will simply make you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer -- but because our sleep as PWN is disturbed, I personally do not believe you will feel any better after taking any of those meds. You will just get more crappy sleep. The only medication proven to improve the quality of nighttime sleep in PWN is Xyrem. Now there are also people getting better sleep on Baclofen and Gabapentin, neither of which are traditional sleep meds. But that's because our sleep issues are not traditional sleep issues.

I've been on Lunesta, and Ambien, neither increased my level of restful sleep. My doctor just prescribed Sonata for me also, I'm supposed to take it when I wake up in the middle of the night not before falling asleep. I will keep you posted on how that works.

I took lunesta for 4 years. Initially, it was the best thing ever-I slept great and had no problems. However, after a few years I noticed I was angrier than usual and had some behavior issues (getting really upset, screaming, yelling etc). Decided to go off of it and had horrible withdrawl and could not sleep AT all after going off it. I ended up in the hospital for a few days. It was scary.

I'd run. They make your skin crawl. Try a low dose antidepressant, it will lengthen the amount of time it takes you to get into REM, whereas the others might actually have an unpleasant effect on you as you don't need help to sleep.

My son tried ambien and Lunesta and had just about every warning listed... Sleep walking, cooking, etc... I'm all for trying as effects are different for everyone. I would make sure someone is with you. He had actually wanted to drive to the beach and photograph sunrise... Oh did I mention he didn't even sleep until day light?

I've had a terrible reaction to every sleep Medication I've tried. Ambien was one of the worst I was right manic for almost 2 days! And EDS was so bad I felt like I was dreaming the entire next day. I notice melatonin was mentioned, for me melatonin didn't work well and caused nightmares. High doses of Valerian root sometimes helps me to fall asleep but doesn't help with sleep quality or staying asleep! Good luck! Hope one of them works for you!

Ambien didn't actually help my sleep. I would get out of bed and sleepwalk, sleeptalk, sleep sing, write long angry notes to my husband. It would be gibberish and cover the front and back of the paper. Crazy.

I've been on fairly low dose sonata for quite a while. It's pretty mellow. My wife did ambien - the amnesia regarding time it was active really freaked her out. I'm on sonata, a tricycylic, and low dose clonazapem at night. seems to be working fairly well.

Each of the meds in the OP is meant for short term use, creates a dependence and causes rebound insomnia when discontinued.

I take Trazadone which is a sedating antidepressant. It works like nothing else has for me. I failed on Xyrem and thought Xyrem was my last hope.

sonata for me only lasts like two hours maybe three then I wake up take more then be k to sleep sometimes for the whole night depends.... Not really supposed to do that but I don't have an appointment to see my doc for awhile need to do something

20 mg of Sonata works decently for me. I've also tried Ambien and Xyrem.

I hallucinated on Sonata...good luck!

I've used Temazepam (Restoril) for a number of years... It makes me sleep very well, but does not help with feeling rested... Baclofen was added to the Temazepam in September... with wonderful results!!!

Sonata didnt make me sleepy...it didnt do anything for me but cost time and money.

Sonata is such a WEAK sleeping aid. Of all the ones I've tried (and I may have tried them all), sonata was the worst. It did nothing. My doctor even told me that it probably wouldn't work, but I was up for trying anything. I was taking Ambien and then a few hours later (bc ambien only worked for about 3 hours) I would take sonata. It was worth a shot, but it was useless. Lunesta didn't work well for me either. Actually, if a sleeping aid DID work, it wore off in 3-4 hours. So frustrating. Now I just suffer restless nights. Waking every 20-30 minutes and tossing and turning. Pure torture.

I did the research and discovered Baclofen... I hope it works for me... I'm glad that my doctor has an open mind. He said that if it seems to be working for me, I'll be on it for a few months, and then he will repeat the day study to see if there is a significant difference to how I am now... If it's good, then I'll stay on it.

Whatever you do, do NOT take any new med while alone. I have never had a problem with meds, until my dr. prescribed Ambien. I took one pill, and if my hubby had not been home, I'm not sure I'd be here. Slurring words, projectile vomiting, then I stopped breathing (or at least appeared to) several times. Hard lesson learned.

Sonata is shorter acting than regular ambien. Sonata is an hour or so where as ambien is 4 hours unless it's the extended release ambien.
Sonata would put me to sleep but I would be back up about 2 hours later. It's nice because you can take multiple doses and even one in the day if you need a nap. Ambien CR 12.5mg stopped working and actually started keeping me awake after a few weeks.
I now take 40mg of baclofen and 25mg of nortriptyline and I sleep great now. My fitbit even records I sleep more restful.
I also now only take 10mg extended Adderall and if it's a long day or bad day I can take up to 20mgs.
Good luck finding what works for you!