Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Alphabet_Stew]

[NYC_Gal]

[recessiontime]

I get what happened.

The issue is not that he is concerned about your health. He doesn't give a shit about you. He is worried that you will overdose on the drug, take it with alcohol, use it for sexual assault or something and he'll be blamed for supplying it. I think this has already happened to him and he's worried that he'll get into trouble again and lose his job maybe.

anyway, just avoid him. If a physician wrote a prescription for it, you don't need to get lip from anyone unless the dosage is wrong or something.

[captain kirk]

OP, hasten thee to a 'construction safety shop' in Korea. These are in competing little shops in the same area in a town. You can see in the window the vests with reflective tape, the hardhats, the earcup headphone soundmufflers that airport workers and jackhammerers use. That, and some foam earplugs under that, is how I've slept, every night, for 15 years. Since, in '95, I first arrived in Korea and had a roomate. He'd get up to take a piss and I'd hear him out in the hall and wake up. Those same kinds of sounds in the middle of the night happen all the time. In your case, OP, the guy up above the thin ceiling, THUMP, gets he feet out of bed and STOMP stomp stomp heads off down the hall to take a piss. Suddenly you're awake and deliberating whether you'll be able to get back to sleep or not. But if you've got earplugs and soundproof shooter's headphones on you can avoid all that drama. Sure you look kinda funny sleeping like that but who knows, hahaha.

Ever wonder about the handful of pills, about six, in the waxpaper packets connected like a bandolier of ammunition? I heard that they are drugs cast off by richer, larger countries (such as the U.S.).

Koreans don't mind their own business, really, it's a communal culture. Everybody sticks their nose in like a Jewish mother ladling chicken soup, have some more soup! You're too skinny, you take too many sleeping pills or, if it's a landlord, he's in your apt when you're out. Jehovah's witness at the door. Guy selling disposible razors on the subway attempting to hold everyone's attention.

Why study hatha yoga when you can buy sound muffling headphones for eight bucks? There's a trick to it sleeping on the edge of the pillow so the muffler cups don't press into your head. Plus you'll look strange like 'my favourite martian'. Bonus.

[atwood]

Ambien can be a problem, but as are most things this is all about the money. The guy was upfront with you when he said it was an expensive pill and the NHS doesn't like doctors prescribing it.

I've had this experience with a pain medication I requested for tendinitis. The doctor gave me only a small amount, telling me it was expensive. I think this also means it's not manufactured in Korea.

[Hotwire]

Cannot believe ppl are reccomending you take step up to a much stronger and very addictive, tolerance forming drug - Xanax.

The next day after taking xanax as a sleeping med I'd be all teary eyed and emotional or very quick to anger. The rebond insomnia from it is hell also. Felt like my damn mind was all woolly. Ended up on a cocktail of ambien / buspar / xanax to knock me out and after a cpl of weeks built up a tolerance to even that!

Please for the sake of your health don't listen to anyone on here and go to a good doctor inSeoul perhaps, at one of the uni hospitals. You do realise 90% of posters (and maybe I'm one of them) have little to no idea of what they are talkig about are just broed at work and have little in the way of life experience and common sense?

I wouldn't walk into a pre-school and ask them advice on fixing my car's engine, I'd go to a machanic.

Sleeping bpills and especially benzodiazapenes should be a last resort after lifestlye changes, sleep hygeine, alternative herbal meds and exercise / yoga / meditation hasn't worked.

Even then regular use is not advised.

From wiki -

"Many hypnotic drugs are habit-forming and, due to a large number of factors known to disturb the human sleep pattern, a physician may instead recommend alternative sleeping patterns, sleep hygiene, and exercise before prescribing medication for sleep. Hypnotic medication when prescribed should be used for the shortest period of time possible."

"A review of the literature regarding benzodiazepine hypnotic and Z drugs concluded that these drugs caused an unjustifiable risk to the individual and to public health, and lack evidence of long-term effectiveness due to tolerance. The risks include dependence, accidents, and other adverse effects. Gradual discontinuation of hypnotics leads to improved health without worsening of sleep. Preferably they should be prescribed for only a few days at the lowest effective dose, and avoided altogether wherever possible in the elderly."

Benzodiazepines are effective in the short term but tolerance to their hypnotic effects develops after 1 or 2 weeks, thus making them ineffective for long-term use. They are also a cause of hospital admissions, especially in the elderly who are more sensitive to their effects[3]. Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome can also develop upon their discontinuation. This is characterized by rebound insomnia, anxiety, confusion, disorientation, insomnia, and perceptual disturbances. Prescription hypnotics are therefore best limited to short term use to avoid tolerance, drug dependence, and the adverse effects of long term use.[7]

"Benzodiazepines tend to exert their hypnotic effects at high dosage compared to the more moderate dosage needed for anxiolytic effects to be felt.[8] The downside of the hypnotic properties of benzodiazepines is that they actually worsen the sleep architecture and thus the quality of sleep.[9] They are also associated with an increased risk of road traffic accidents.[10]"

NYC GAL - Basically you need less to lighten anxiety than you do to be able to sleep (it's not real sleep either.)

I support the above stances 100% as I have mentioned before.

Why do I keep repeating myself? Am I a Dave's egotist wanting to get the last word and be proven right?

No, I've just been there and done it when it comes to sleeping pills and have learned from it.

Would never take them again unless in extreme circumstances and even then without regularity. Hell I'd rather get drunk until I passed out.

Sheeet, in August of 2008 I spent the whole of August without sleep. I bs you not. I still lived, I still survived.... I started yoga and have never had insomnia since.

I dunno. all I'm saying is I've ran the whole gamult of the insomnnia experience, so you might want to try and gflean something from that if you feel I'm straight up.

And I would reccomend you to try other methods and cut way down off the meds, using them no more than once or twice a week when you feel desperate if you're going to keep with them. So about 8 a month...

[NYC_Gal]

[Hotwire]

It does of course differ from individual to individual but Tbh you are somewhat an anomoly that you are on a low dose - I assume around 5mg or lower then? - and still get the same effects. I'd confidently lean towards the assumption you would be the exception rather than the rule in that regard.

For me 10mg xanax + 5mg Buspar + 1 or 2 Ambiens was what it took to knock me out for 6 hours and soemtimes that didn' even work but the doc wouldn't give me any higher than that...

I've also read all the literature extrensively and it definately supports my position over the one you posit which leans more towards the exception than the rule.

I'd also like to add that cardio or wieghts in the evening is one of the worst things an insomniac could do as it stimulates the endocrine sytem and gets the adrenaline pumping even hours after the activity has ceased.

[NYC_Gal]

Fair enough. Many people tend to abuse things, but, if one cares about their health, they would hopefully do enough research to know how to not develop a tolerance.

Definitely lower than 5mg! Try .5mg! I'm supposed to take 2 to sleep, or one for anxiety. I don't often take them for sleep (maybe a handful of days a month, usually less), but I do take them to chill the F out, and I do yoga, pilates, am a happy person in general (but with a quick fuse and some ocd), and eat healthily. I do take less than the average person, but I'm small. I also maintain contact with my doctor from back home, even though my doctor here prescribes it. I had a physical when I visited home this year, even though I'd just gotten one to renew. You only get one body...

You seem to have a high tolerance to sleep meds! I'm a lightweight with everything.

[Hotwire]

Sorry, I think it may well have been .5mg xanax and 1.0mg buspar.

The Xanax were the small orange / pink pills.

[NYC_Gal]

Yup. Still, everyone reacts differently. That's what a good doctor is for.

Anyway, to the OP: get a new pharmacist. This one is overstepping his boundaries.

[JVoulais]

@ Hotwire: Where exactly is your doctor's office?

I can't find a doctor here who will prescribe me more than 10 Ambien a month, and not even 20 mg. will knock me out any more. Given I haven't been to many doctors, I have a really hectic schedule everyday, so I don't have much time to be visiting doctor's offices, yet I really need to sleep at night.

I used to be on Clonazepam back in the U.S., and for a while on Xanax. The doctor that I'm seeing here in Seoul says that I need to "find a way to sleep on my own schedule", which of course I have tried.

I have tried everything to get to sleep at night, acupuncture, herbs, exercise, cutting off coffee by noon, no liquids 2 hours before bed, eating better, etc. All the b.s. that's recommended, yet I can't get to sleep.

Can you give me the name and location of your doctor?