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What has helped more with your sleep?

Beyond

Juice Me Up, Scotty!!!
Messages
1,122
Location
Murcia, Spain
Ahh interesting, Progesterone has been linked with sleep numerous times. I am defficient anyway in bloodtests, so will try to get some.

For me, getting Prog prescribed is safe to say is nearly impossible, since I don´t have a single doctor acknowlegding that have anything else than a somatoform disorder. I am glad that you found this nonetheless. Maybe pregnenolone can do something similar?
 
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MeSci

ME/CFS since 1995; activity level 6?
Messages
8,231
Location
Cornwall, UK
Ahh interesting, Progesterone has been linked with sleep numerous times. I am defficient anyway in bloodtests, so will try to get some.

For me, getting Prog prescribed is safe to say is nearly impossible, since I don´t have a single doctor acknowlegding that have anything else than a somatoform disorder. I am glad that you found this nonetheless. Maybe pregnenolone can do something similar?

You can get progesterone from Goldpharma.com.
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
I found a combo of 1-9 mg melatonin, 50-300 mg 5 htp and either 100-300 mg Theanine or .1-.5 mg Klonopin work.

Doses are dependent on how bad my insomnia is. Gluten, caffeine, chocolate or too many B vitamins will keep me awake and cause me to wake up in the middle of the night.

I take virastop and candidase if I wake up in the middle of the night and these help me go back to sleep. Not sure why. Undigested food = awakened digestive tract possibly.

I just backed off using so many sleep aids last year because they were making me too drowsy during the day. That was a classic pwc move. Too drowsy to figure out it was sleep aids making me drowsy. lol.

tc ... x
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,086
Location
australia (brisbane)
Yeah but cream according to Woolpipi is not the way to go.
you may have mentioned it earlier in this thread but what is the best way to go?
I think many hormones have differing better options for the route of administation.
There is a hormone expert in the US that mentions pregnenolone is better through a transdermal cream but then testosterone is better through injections and dhea is better orally.
I tried the progesterone cream from biovea and it was initially really good for sleep but the effects wore off. I guess these creams are cheap and easy to get, maybe a good first option if one doesnt want to spend alot of money or doesnt have a doc to help out with certain prescriptions? I dont know why but have heard the synthetic progesterone pills arent that good for people, but then again it could have been the people pushing transdermal hormones saying this so conflict of interest. I guess the best way to know is through blood tests and or just try it and see???
 

perchance dreamer

Senior Member
Messages
1,688
Sleep is such a complicated subject ,and any one thing is unlikely to solve a serious sleep problem. But I did want to mention a tea I found recently that is helping my sleep. It's Gaia Herbs Sleep & Relax tea.

I've had all the ingredients before other than lemon balm. Maybe the lemon balm is why it has a strong effect on me.

I let it steep at least 30 minutes before drinking:

http://www.iherb.com/Gaia-Herbs-Sle...en-US&w=Sleep & Relax Tea&rc=524&sr=null&ic=1
 

Beyond

Juice Me Up, Scotty!!!
Messages
1,122
Location
Murcia, Spain
Now there are two things I want to try: Progesterone and 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid. I will actually get blood tests soon including progesterone, hopefully if defficient the doc prescribes me the prog pills. Now the second supplement.

Remember how plain GABA didn´t worked? And then, when "pharma"GABA didn´t seem to do much either? 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid actually does it, and I would like to try it, but is so expensive!
 
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heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,086
Location
australia (brisbane)
Now there are two things I want to try: Progesterone and 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid. I will actually get blood tests soon including progesterone, hopefully if defficient the doc prescribes me the prog pills. Now the second supplement.

Remember how plain GABA didn´t worked? And then, when "pharma"GABA didn´t seem to do much either? 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid actually does it, and I would like to try it, but is so expensive!

4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid is that what they call phenibut? it works well and is a gaba b agonist like baclofen but i think it has a different effect to baclofen. phenibut is definately sedating but tolerance grows quick and there have been stories online about addiction with this and withdrawal issues but if only using normal doses ie no more then 1000mg and use it every so often then i think its safe. For me it does seem to have a delayed effect or maybe a long effect that can carry over to the next day for quite a while. I suggest taking it on a day when u have nothing planned so u can judge the effects. It does give good sleep though for sure.
 

Beyond

Juice Me Up, Scotty!!!
Messages
1,122
Location
Murcia, Spain
Oh yeah it is the same. It looks like some kind of sneaky marketing movement. No way I would take that now that I know it can screw you like benzos do with addiction, withdrawal etc. I am looking for something that can be used daily and preferently that has a restorative/modulatory effect on the HPA axis (i.e. antidepressant actions).

We will see how I respond to Hypericum sleep-wise. I want to try Aswagandha and Rhodiola Rosea as well.

I hope I can try progesterone though. Blood results will say if I can or not.
 
Messages
8
I tried Biotics brand PheniTrophic and it didn't work at all for me. I got the common response of being wired and tired from it. It is nothing like Baclofen which works but leaves me feeling very groggy in the AM.
 
Messages
8
I am currently experimenting with altering my circadian rhythm with melatonin, ashwaganda and an earlier bedtime than usual (usual was 2 AM for me), plus an enforced time to get up coinciding with sunrise. I turn on a 10,000 lux "happy" light and do very light movement "exercises" for 30 minutes in the AM as well.

I have been doing this for about a month now and I am sleeping much better. I've gone from averaging 3 hours/night to 6 hours/night. I'm astonished because nothing has worked for me for longer than a couple of days in the past.
 
Messages
8
Oh and I'm also adding 400 mg, N-Acetyl-Cysteine 1/2 hour before bed. I have no idea if this is helping but it isn't hurting which is a big deal for me.

I rarely post because most of my experimental trials end in negative results. I am posting this because I finally have something positive to share. I hope it may help someone.
 

IreneF

Senior Member
Messages
1,552
Location
San Francisco
I am currently experiencing circadian dysrhythmia. I'm waking up at 6 p.m. and I'm up all night. I'm feeling better than when I try to sleep at night. Strange. I wonder if I should let things go on or try to force myself into the rest of the world's cycle.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,820
Skullcap herb reorganizes the sleep cycle.

I recently read an article on Cort Johnson's blog that talks about the supplements that @tandrsc has found useful. Tandrsc discovered that skullcap herb had a profound effect on her sleep patterns:
"Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) turned out to be something of a miracle supplement for her. She’s had hypersomnia – the need for a lot of sleep – her entire life. Ten hours of sleep made her somewhat functional when she was better, but she was up to 12-15 hours a night as she declined. Her ability, after a few days of taking skullcap ( what a wonderful name :)) to sleep a normal 8-9 hours left her, she said, in a state of shock. Even months later she said she could hardly believe this lifelong issue has been resolved with an herb…"
Source: here.


Tandrsc takes skullcap 5 times a day as a tea:
"I make a tea with 2 level teaspoons of dried herb to 250ml water, let it steep until it's cool, strain and put in the fridge. This is typically enough for nearly 2 days. I take it after each meal, mid morning, mid afternoon and about an hour before bed. I've recently added the mid morning dose, and each dose is now 25ml (using a measuring cup). You can put it in any drink you like, I usually put mine in a mug of tea these days."


I was curious about what might be in skullcap that can so powerfully alters sleep patterns, so I did some investigation. It turns out that one of the main components of skullcap, baicalin, modulates the sleep cycle — see this study:

Biphasic effects of baicalin, an active constituent of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, in the spontaneous sleep-wake regulation.

So this makes we wonder whether skullcap herb might be generally useful for the sleep problems of ME/CFS, which include: hypersomnia, insomnia and circadian rhythm disruptions.
 

maryb

iherb code TAK122
Messages
3,602
Location
UK
@Beyond
you know you see these old pieces of research and what happens after that?? the Gastro consultants just stick with the drugs - no wonder we will never see natural remedies in our NHS until the demise of the big pharma - or us first!!!
 

Beyond

Juice Me Up, Scotty!!!
Messages
1,122
Location
Murcia, Spain
These things exist but not for 95% of doctors. You hear here and there about doctors that atcually read these things, think outside the box and treat patients accordingly in forums but I haven´t met one yet after meeting dozens.

If Big Pharma (Allopathy) and alternative medicine would join their forces we would see the responsible scrutiny of ingredients in supplements, the development of incredibly efficacious testing,therapies and drugs for "chronic", deadly and "incurable" diseases... but that is not going to happen any time soon.

I want to become a genuine "healer" and researcher that does these studies and applies them in real life. This passion didn´t existed in me naturally but came over time after a life of suffering because of disease(s) coupled with a natural analytical will.