Restoril/Temazepam

[Back2Good]

In my experience, restoril is trash. I used to get them for sleep, but extremely weak.
But, I've also never had the jellies, and I know those are supposed to be the real deal and much better than regular temazepam.
I've just never known where to get them...
Good luck to all and
Regards
J

I'd like to know what you're taking if you think Restoril is trash.  One of the better benzos out there, IMHO, in terms of how it makes you feel and relieving anxiety without making you incoherent.  I'm a fan of it in every way except for it being expensive and addictive.

I will say that, despite being typically marketed for insomnia, they are really only good for staying asleep.  They take too long to kick in to really help you get to sleep if you are wide awake.  There are better options for that (Halcion, Xanax, etc.) but the Restoril is really nice if you take some and then don't allow yourself to fall asleep for a while.  That can be an adventure sometimes.  Or mix it with a shorter-half-life benzo, and you will have a great night's sleep.

I don't ever encourage rec use, but as far as that goes, Restoril is often reported to be one of the most frequently abused.  So obviously it has its fans, just like Xanax and Ativan do.  Just be careful out there, and stick with reliable sources.  Or PM me if you have any questions whatsoever, and I will give my best attempts at answers.

As I posted earlier in this thread, I'm prescribed 30mg generic Temazepam (two 15mg capsules) daily for insomnia, and I find them far superior to Zolpidem (the generic 10mg Zolpidem in any case - The 12.5mg brand name Ambien CR is the medication that's been most successful for me in both getting to sleep and staying asleep - Of course it is a brand name, Tier III on my insurance plan and I can't afford it, even though my Doc has scripted it for me in the past, the pharmacist told me that even with the insurance covering their portion of the cost of the script, I'd be paying $180 for 30 tabs).  That said, as with any other benzo (weak or strong), I developed a tolerance for 30mg of Temazepam within a few months, and they don't work nearly as well any longer - I still get the script filled every 30 days, as I've found that 15mg Temazepam combined with 200mg Modafinil and a cup of coffee is the best cure for a benzo hangover from nights when I have to take 10mg Valium AND 1mg Xanax to get to sleep (I limit that to 2-3 nights per week, when my sleep deficit gets so bad that without a solid 6 hours I'd be useless the next day).  That same combination, curiously enough, is also the best alcohol hangover cure I've discovered in my long years (of course I discovered it years after my hard drinking days were over...At my age two beers is pretty much my limit except for a couple of annual social occasions; whomever it was who said "Youth is wasted on the young" was very wise).

I never found any recreational effect from Temazepam (probably because I wasn't looking for one), even at 30mg, all it ever did was make me sleepy, which is what it is supposed to do.  I've read the horror stories regarding the "jellies" and the resulting ban on them in the UK and Scotland, but those seem to be the result of recreational users extracting the contents of the gelcap into a syringe and injecting it, something that would never in a million years have crossed my mind - But then again, I am old, older than my peers, as the only way I could afford college was to spend a 4-year hitch in the Army to collect the G.I. Bill benefits, then work my behind off as a 24-year old competing with 18-year olds in order to make the cut as a walk-on candidate for the football team, which footed the rest of the bill (the Alumni Association provided, er, "financial aid" to first string players).

The recreational drugs of my youth were cheap beer in large quantities and expensive Acapulco Gold in small quantities.  I never even heard of Percodan or Vicodin until I caught a helmet to the knee while playing against Baylor during my junior year, and I discovered pretty quickly that I don't do well on opiates, as the itching they caused was worse than the pain in my knee - Our team Doctor (this was Texas college football in 1988, now, so keep it in context) told me "Hell son, take two Tylenols a day, get your ass in here for an ice soak every day for a month, and we'll have you fixed up in time for the playoffs."  He was right, but man...Anyone who's ever read "Meat on the Hoof", Gary Shaw's excellent look into Division I football in Texas, will have a good feel for what some of the other Division I Texas University team's doctors called "care", and realize how lucky I was that our Doc was of the "walk it off, sissy" variety.

Yeah, the treatment sucked.

But yeah, the treatment worked.

I was indeed able to join the starting lineup again in time for us to perform disgracefully in the playoffs that year, and my knee gave me no trouble whatsoever during my last season the following year (I have a conference championship ring to prove it), nor has it ever given me any trouble since, and to this day I can't even stomach Tramadol...Darvocet was wonderful for post surgical recovery after a few procedures I had done in '03 and '07, but since it has been taken off the market, whenever I'm in pain I resort to Ibuprofen and ice.

Heavens, it is pretty obvious I'm on vacation, isn't it?  An essay in the middle of a reply to a post on Temazepam at 1:30AM, bnewhart001 is going to laugh himself silly

Anyway, back to the point - Temazepam was the best of the benzos prescribed for insomnia that my Doc tried me on (Zolpidem, Zopiclone, and Ativan) until I developed a tolerance to it, and at my age, with my heart condition, I flatly refuse to consider purchasing Midazolam via an IOP - I know that Valium and Xanax, in the dosages I use, aren't going to kill me, and my Doctor has already told me that after 11 years of first 2mg, then 3mg Xanax per day (he is the prescribing doctor), I had might as well accept the fact that I'm going to be on it for life, even if the dosage will likely be lowered after I retire, as I'll have less stress in my life, thus fewer panic attacks.  I have no confidence that Midazolam won't kill me, and no desire to experiment with it.  Supplementing my third daily 1mg Xanax with 10mg of Valium seems to do the trick where my insomnia is concerned, at least for now.

So yet again I prove myself useless as far as advice on the recreational use of drugs is concerned, but I hope I've restored confidence in Temazepam as an option for those considering it for use in treating insomnia.

Best,

- b2g