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what supplements or medicine do you use to help your sleep?

lemonworld

Senior Member
Messages
100
Location
Norway
I've seen some people on here talk about supplementing for better sleep or making it easier to rest. I have so little knowledge about this and would be so grateful to hear what you have tried and what has helped you.

I'm also a little anixious about taking medicine, but if it helps me get a good night sleep it might be worth it? What are your experiences if you have tried it?
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
I, like many, have severe sleep issues. I would not sleep without taking both rx and Otc.

You have to make peace with the idea. But not sleeping is bad for us

If you want to start easy, I have good luck with Passion flower, suntheanine, kava and otc antihistamines.

If you alternate between several things then you won't have issues with tolerance , meaning you need more to get the same result.

Others here use tryptophan, valerian, magnesium and more.

There are lots of things available that have more benefit than not. It's all trial and error and you have to experiment. We all react differently to things.
 

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
I have been on Remeron since 2009, almost at the maximum dosage of 60mg per night. I take a muscle relaxant, LDN (4.5mg) and melatonin (3mg) also.

GG

Edit: I used to take Trazadone, but it quit working for me. Think the top dose is 150mg. Also tried Doxepin, did not work for me at all. I wake up feeling better with the Remeron, could not say the same thing for Trazadone.
 
Last edited:

voner

Senior Member
Messages
592
I have been on Remeron since 2009, almost at the maximum dosage of 60mg per night. I take a muscle relaxant, LDN (4.5mg) and melatonin (3mg) also.

GG
I've seen some people on here talk about supplementing for better sleep or making it easier to rest. I have so little knowledge about this and would be so grateful to hear what you have tried and what has helped you.

I'm also a little anixious about taking medicine, but if it helps me get a good night sleep it might be worth it? What are your experiences if you have tried it?

Low dose amnitriptiline.
 

Snowdrop

Rebel without a biscuit
Messages
2,933
I think you'll find that there's a wide variety of drugs that have been tried and different things work for different people.
You may just have to try some and find what works for you.

Also, there is a lot of talk of some meds working for a while and then they lose efficacy after a time. And sleep meds seem to be plagued with nasty side effects and issues of tolerance and addiction/dependance.

It's a knarly problem. I'm not trying to be negative. You may be lucky and find something works well but it also depends on what about your sleep you are trying to fix. Do you have trouble falling asleep? Staying asleep? Sleep is light and disturbed?

There have been some threads that explore the issue. Here is one:
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/ways-to-get-sleep-methods-drugs-everything.14998/

Also, I think on a new thread there is a sleep drug in development that looks promising. Bel. . .something. I can't remember the thread.
But new products are coming on line as crappy sleep is a big issue.

Also, there are the small things you can do like make sure your room is dark, cool and quite. And keeping to a regular schedule.
Good luck.
 

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
I have no problems with the traz. If I don't take it I can't sleep, so I feel better when I take it.

Max daily dose is about 400 mg. according to Drugs.com.

I had no major problems with it either, just saying that I wake up now feeling more refreshed, not great, but better :)

GG

Just trying to help people find a med that might improve their quality of life!
 
Messages
170
Location
Hippietown
Amitriptyline works great, but I hate the side effects so I use it sparingly.

Mirtazapine, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I get a lot of next day fatigue from it.

Quetiapine works great and no noticeable hangover for me.

Doxylamine Succinate is hit and miss.

Kava...haven't tried it yet but I will soon.

Zaleplon is fantastic with zero side effects for me. It 's half life is too short to get more than 3-5 hours of sleep. If you only have trouble initiating sleep it's the perfect drug.
 

Thinktank

Senior Member
Messages
1,640
Location
Europe
Most effective for me is sleep hygiene. Wind down 2 hours before going to sleep and avoid any blue light during that time. I use the program f.lux for my screens and adjustable colored LED bulbs for lighting.

My problem is not so much falling asleep but multiple awakenings during the night.

Supplements that work for me are:
- Magnesium glycinate
- Magnesium carbonate/calcium carbonate/vitamin C buffered solution
- L-theanine
- Curcumin (i usually take this when i wake up around 4am, this makes me sleep until 6.30am).
- Zyrtec if i really need to sleep through the night, but next day i'm very drowsy.
- Pinella + parsley from nutramedix, 2 hours before sleep.
- Hydroxocobalamin 10mg intramuscular injection. (i use this twice a week)
 

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
What sleep med is likely to work best depends on what kind of sleep dysfunction you have, so just because a sleep med works for one ME patient, doesn't mean it will do any good for another.

Some people have trouble initiating sleep. Sedating, relaxing, and anti-anxiety meds can work for that. Other people have trouble maintaining sleep or achieving stage 3 and 4 sleep. Medications for initiating sleep will not help with that. Trazodone is probably the most common medication to help achieve stage 3/4 sleep. There are also conditions that disrupt sleep such as periodic limb movement and sleep apnea that disrupt sleep that need to be treated differently. I'm sure there are plenty more sleep disorders many of which have different treatments. You need to know which you have in order to get the right treatment.

When I had trouble initiating sleep, Tylenol PM worked for me, but I no longer have that problem. I wouldn't consider that a good long-term, continuous treatment, but fine on a temporary or intermittent basis... for me, anyway. It is probably insufficient for more intractable sleep initiation problems.

My persistent sleep dysfunction is inability to maintain sleep. An ME/CFS specialist put me on Trazodone for that years ago and it has worked like a charm for me ever since. Without Trazodone I wake up about once an hour all night, and wake up for good (completely unrested) after 5 hours. With Trazodone I sleep about 8 hours without waking. Much better. :thumbsup:
 

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
I had no major problems with it either, just saying that I wake up now feeling more refreshed, not great, but better :)

GG

Just trying to help people find a med that might improve their quality of life!
Remeron is a sedating antidepressant which suppresses REM sleep (to some extent) and can cause orthostatic hypotension. So while it may be great for people with certain types of sleep disorder, it could be all wrong for people with other types of sleep disorder (such as inability to achieve sufficient REM sleep) or people who already have problems with orthostatic hypotension.

Remeron is not ordinarily interchangeable with Trazodone as they work on different types of sleep dysfunction. It may be you have better success with Remeron than Trazodone because is works better on your particular type of sleep disorder. :thumbsup:

Too many GPs know practically nothing about sleep dysfunction and hand out so-called sleep meds with very little thought for the details. Mostly they seem to go with sedating antidepressants and anti-anxiety agents which are the easy solutions for the average Joe with problems falling asleep, mostly for social reasons -- stress, inability to relax, etc. Genuine sleep disorders might be better treated by sleep specialists, although I've heard quite a few annoying stories of ineptitude in that field as well. I suppose that as with anything else medical, all you can do is try and hope you don't get one of the lazy or incompetent ones, and if you do, move on to another in the hope of finding a true professional.
 

panckage

Senior Member
Messages
777
Location
Vancouver, BC
Melatonin exactly 1hr before bed has worked very well for the past 4 years as needed. Although since about 2 weeks ago I get extremely itchy whenever I take it so I have to add benydryl for that.

A temporary dairy intolerance started about the same time so I thinking maybe they are related. Weird!
 

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
Remeron is a sedating antidepressant which suppresses REM sleep (to some extent) and can cause orthostatic hypotension. So while it may be great for people with certain types of sleep disorder, it could be all wrong for people with other types of sleep disorder (such as inability to achieve sufficient REM sleep) or people who already have problems with orthostatic hypotension.
.

Hmm, seems like my high blood pressure is back, but was feeling a little dizzy last night :(

Also, I was on a vPAP machine for years. I started up waking up without it on, more day by day. It doesn't work any longer. I need to go see a Dr about that and other things! Wish my lawyer would be done with my disability application already.

GG