suggestions on what has worked for sleep?

[SwanRonson]

Yes, it helps a lot but I have to take a big dose.

How big? I followed the bottle instructions last night and took one after supper and one at bed time. I couldn't tell that it did much. But, I may need to increase dosage closer to what you use.

 

[Sushi]

How big?

Five or 6 capsules just before bed!
Sushi

 

[SwanRonson]

Five or 6 capsules just before bed!
Sushi

I've been having success with Deep Sleep. Thanks @Sushi . I went to buy a new bottle of it last night and found something called "Restful Sleep" at whole foods for 10 bucks. It's got all the same stuff as Deep Sleep except the California Poppy. I'm testing it now to see if it may be a cheaper option since Deep Sleep is so god awful expensive.

 

[heapsreal]

I've been having success with Deep Sleep. Thanks @Sushi . I went to buy a new bottle of it last night and found something called "Restful Sleep" at whole foods for 10 bucks. It's got all the same stuff as Deep Sleep except the California Poppy. I'm testing it now to see if it may be a cheaper option since Deep Sleep is so god awful expensive.

Whats in these products?

 

[SwanRonson]

Whats in these products?

California poppy, valerian, Passion flower, l-theanine , hops, wild lettuce, lemon balm, oat seed, orange peel, chamomile

 

[Sushi]

I'm testing it now to see if it may be a cheaper option since Deep Sleep is so god awful expensive.

Please let me know!
Sushi

 

[minkeygirl]

I can tell you that you can get tolerance with passion flower. Theanine has a cumulative effect.

 

[SwanRonson]

Theanine has a cumulative effect.

I did some research on L-Theanine. Sounds like it has almost tricyclic properties, which is very interesting. Can you expound on the "cumulative effect"? Do you mean a negative effect, or do you mean that it takes a few days to build in your system to start working?

 

[Insomniac]

My sleep sucks. My doctor said that the dysautonomia is a large cause of it but regardless I can't sleep. One thing is that my patterns change all the time though; I may have a twisted circadian rhythm for a few months, then the next few months I'll sleep 10 minutes on/15 off, then I'll switch to hypoglycemia all night, then random adrenaline rushes etc..

Either way things just change at the drop of a hat so it's hard to tell what I need because it's always different. I can't take benzodiazepines because I took ativan 2 years ago and still haven't recovered from the hell that pill put me through, but whenever i ask my doctor about sleep he just tries to give me benzodiazepines despite me specifically telling him i can NOT take them.

So I'm at a roadblock, here's the things I've tried that have no effect:

Blue light therapy
Meditation
Earthing mat
Doxepin
Magnesium, fish oil
Melatonin
Valerian
Prozac

Things that help me slightly:

NyQuill
L-Theanine
Prazosin

^^ These things calm me down slightly but not nearly enough to cross the barrier into sleep and even more so- to stay asleep. Also I'm very good about my blood sugar being correct...

I recommend trying Jamaican Dogwood. I got some from my herbalist.

 

[SwanRonson]

Please let me know!
Sushi

For an update, I've actually been sleeping really well the past 2 weeks using only 20 drops of California Poppy mixed in water before bed. This is the product I have. The "Restful Sleep" product from Whole Foods was ok, but not as good as Deep Sleep. I figured that since the only difference between the two was the lack of Cal Poppy in DS that I'd just buy some of that and see how it did. So far it's been great. I've been sleeping 7-8 hours a night every night.

Of course, I've been working on getting my Vit D up as well. It was 48 when tested about 2 weeks ago, so it may have crossed the magical 60 threshold. I guess the only way to know is to back off on the Cal Poppy and see if poor sleep returns. If not then maybe it's the VitD and not the Cal Poppy that's helping.

 

[SwanRonson]

Forgot to mention that I also take a 0.5mg of sublingual melatonin along with the Cal Poppy. I left that out because I've taken melatonin so many times over the years to no effect. I do it out of pure habit now days.

 

[heyitisjustin]

Yep same, try the tryptophan gaba melatonin combo and see if it helps. I was pretty desperate and only getting an hour or two a night. I'm getting a lot more now.

When do you take these supplements? I'd think that since both tryptophan and GABA are amino acids they'd compete for absorption and should be taken at least 45 minutes apart