sorry for the late reply, insomnia has been sapping all my energy a lot of the recent days
@*GG* Remeron used to make me super groggy when i was a kid and the psychiatrists were trying to counter the insomnia effects of the ADHD pills they mistakenly had me on. I would be interested in trying it again though, somehow sleeping pills seem to change effects over time, some start working and lose their bad side effects while other stop working at all, at least from what I've experienced, i hope it keeps working for you.
@Mary Unfortunately I'm not in a legal state, hopefully before long they will legalize it federally. havent smoked in a number of years but when i did it was so much easier to deal with the pain of being sick, probably helped my sleep too.
Interesting what you say about the THC and CBD altering the receptors, I just stopped taking a CBD supplement right around the time this insomnia started up, it never seemed to help sleep but maybe stopping it has the body scrambling to adjust. Also, I started SIBO meds right around then too. Interesting about the 50-50 thc/cbd split, gonna have to try that when i can, really hope weed becomes legal here soon, I can get weed but with CFS i don't think i could handle getting busted if something went wrong and, i dunno if this would be true if i just used it for sleep, but when i smoked during the day it made it impossible to tell if meds i was experimenting with were doing anything, and it was so hard to not smoke everyday knowing i could be so much happier when stoned. it would be great to smoke during the day every week or two, good times are hard to come by with CFS but weed makes it much easier.
I tried the magnolia bark extract you recommended a while back and it definitely works for sleep but it made me so drowsy after. Probly gonna start it up again to see if it'll combat this insomnia. What I should have been doning when testing magnolia bark is after experiencing good effects and drowsiness at that higher dose to then go to a much lower dose and see if there is any dose at which i can get good effects without drowsiness. What happened was I gradually lowered the dose every night but that went so slow, should have been jumping across the dose range to quickly home in on a dose that would work instead of changing it as though it were already determined that the higher end of the dosage range were the ideal area.
I just tried unisom the night i wrote the above post, a full 25mg tablet, got 6 hours sleep and felt strange the whole day, antihistamines seem to do that to me. With some meds i think the value lies in their ability to get you to sleep if you spread them out into enough small doses, as opposed to taking one big dose and it keeping you asleep. Melatonin seems to work that way for me, it seems to do little to help me stay asleep but each dose i take seems to give me 5-10 minutes of strong sleepiness 30 minutes after dosing which can often be enough where as no matter how high a dose of melatonin i take i wont get any sleepier or sleep any longer. So i just take 1mg melatonin every 30-40min, it's not been strong enough lately though. Unisom might be best if taken in smaller doses, or maybe not, time will tell.
I usually take notes on things before i try them, here are the ones I took on unisom, not as much info as usual due to low energy past week or two and due to the fact that noone seemed to have any serious problems with unisom:
Webmd reviews:
Many people use it for years and love it, most reviews are good
Most people say they use ½ or 1/4th tablet
Some people say they get issues if they take it 3 nights in a row like facial edema or night terrors, also, the one who got edema said she did real well if she kept to using four tablets per week
Woman who’s been using it more than 10 years writes: I have used this drug off and on (mostly on) for sleep for many years. When I try to go off of it I get really itchy on my trunk thighs and scalp. This time after 6 days I couldn't take it any more and took 1/2 a pill last night. I plan to shave my dose down to 0.I guess the histamines are nuts after being blocked for so long? I would love to know why though.
For my insomnia Doxylamine Succinate works better than Diphenhydramine (Benadryl). Makes me much less drowsy in the morning provided I take the right dose. The standard 25mg tablet is an overkill. 1/4 tablet has no noticeable effect. The sweet spot is somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 tablet. I wish they just made 10mg pills. It is not addictive, but the effect starts to wear off a bit after a week, so I just stop taking it for a few days and then start again. I've been doing it for over a year and around 10mg is still an effective dose for me.
https://www.pdr.net/drug-summary/Unisom-doxylamine-succinate-1655
MAXIMUM DOSAGE
Adults
25 mg/day PO for insomnia
Take 30 min before bed
ADVERSE REACTIONS
Severe
seizures / Delayed / Incidence not known
bradycardia / Rapid / Incidence not known
Moderate
myasthenia / Delayed / Incidence not known
confusion / Early / Incidence not known
palpitations / Early / Incidence not known
impaired cognition / Early / Incidence not known
hallucinations / Early / Incidence not known
delirium / Early / Incidence not known
dyskinesia / Delayed / Incidence not known
ataxia / Delayed / Incidence not known
dystonic reaction / Delayed / Incidence not known
blurred vision / Early / Incidence not known
urinary retention / Early / Incidence not known
constipation / Delayed / Incidence not known
hypotension / Rapid / Incidence not known
sinus tachycardia / Rapid / Incidence not known
Mild
agitation / Early / Incidence not known
insomnia / Early / Incidence not known
headache / Early / Incidence not known
fatigue / Early / Incidence not known
drowsiness / Early / Incidence not known
appetite stimulation / Delayed / Incidence not known
dizziness / Early / Incidence not known
weakness / Early / Incidence not known
restlessness / Early / Incidence not known
asthenia / Delayed / Incidence not known
tremor / Early / Incidence not known
diplopia / Early / Incidence not known
lethargy / Early / Incidence not known
xerophthalmia / Early / Incidence not known
mydriasis / Early / Incidence not known
irritability / Delayed / Incidence not known
photosensitivity / Delayed / Incidence not known
xerostomia / Early / Incidence not known
abdominal pain / Early / Incidence not known
diarrhea / Early / Incidence not known
Following prolonged use, tolerance can occur, but this may be beneficial, dependent on the indication for drug use, because of reduced sedative effects.