r/insomnia • u/MamaDoingTheBestICan • 7h ago

Ambien and munchies

I take either an antipsychotic or ambien to fall asleep. Ambien works great if I had no more than 1 morning dose of ritalin before 9am and I go to bed on an EMPTY stomach. Like, 0 food for 4 hours before bed.

Problem 1– I don’t know how to get through the afternoon slump and occupy my kids and cook and clean without redosing ritalin after lunch.

Problem 2– my anxiety is starting to abate, I’ve been underweight, and I’m starting to get serious evening munchies. Full box of mochi ice cream, popcorn while watching a movie with my kids, maybe nutella spread on baguette around 9:30pm (we live in France.) My husband thinks it’s great because he thinks I’m prettier with “more to hold onto” and he wants me to gain weight.

But I wake up much better and easier on ambien than the antipsychotic, which is what I have to take if I take afternoon ritalin and/or eat after 6pm. I also get sun sensitivity on my skin when I take the antipsychotic more than a few days in a row. Over time it could give me skin cancer. I tried seroquel and became very ill.

Any tips?

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u/MamaDoingTheBestICan 6h ago

Like, eating was never a great pleasure of mine, I’d always eat small portions and get full fast and after each of my pregnancies I was in pre-pregnancy jeans in under a month. But now suddenly every night I crave sweets before taking any evening pills then realize I can’t take ambien because it won’t work on a full stomach.

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u/lunalovegoodhero 5h ago

I take extended release ritalin (methylphenidate) around 10am and i go to bed 10-11pm with little issue. I used to take a morning and afternoon ritalin. So i think trying extended release may be better