What has helped you with sleep/insomnia - post links

[GreenMachineX]

You did so well without it, 7.5 hours (!), I think I would wait a bit before adding anything else in ... Good sleep is priceless! Although, on the other hand, I haven't seen anything negative from the taurine ... How's that for being helpful?

Yeah, agreed, and I didn't mean now... down the road after ensuring things are stable.

 

[GreenMachineX]

Another decent night of sleep! I'm going to add more glycine in the form of collagen protein to see if this trend continues. I've also lowered my folinic acid dose.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

Made 2 changes...dropped theanine and also switched to magnesium glycinate. Slept so much better. 7.5 hours with only 1 wake up in between. Yay

That's really good news, I'm so glad ..... I struggled with insomnia (still do occasionally) for several years, and it's one of the most soul-sucking, brain hammering, spirit destroying imbalances around ....

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

Another decent night of sleep! I'm going to add more glycine in the form of collagen protein to see if this trend continues. I've also lowered my folinic acid dose.

Once I conquered my GABA/glutamate issues (and, like @Mary, my intense sensitivity to ANYTHING MSG, something I still have to be careful about), I slowly added back very small amounts of gelatin, which is a rich source of glycine, and I've found that it really does seem to help with sleep ....

I don't use collagen because after some limited experimentation I found that gelatin provided the same benefits and was cheaper, as well as being less processed. The arguments about collagen's greater bioavailabilty seem unsupportable to me since your body would utilize both of them in the same way, ie, for whatever it needed at the time. It would simply take whatever aminos required to produce the necessary protein chain and move on.

 

[GreenMachineX]

That's really good news, I'm so glad ..... I struggled with insomnia (still do occasionally) for several years, and it's one of the most soul-sucking, brain hammering, spirit destroying imbalances around ....

It is soul crushing! I've had sleep issues for 7 years now which I believe has resulted in the ridiculous amount of hair graying I have. My sleep isn't perfect though, as I still am using melatonin as well, but I don't feel like trash all day so far. The next experiment will be a workout to see what happens then. That's the worst inducer of insomnia and just an overall feeling of trash.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

My sleep isn't perfect though, as I still am using melatonin

I use melatonin, too. In very small amounts. I take 1/2 a mg. about 30 minutes before bedtime, and the other half at lights out. I take a meager teaspoon of gelatin a little before the first 1/2 mg of melatonin, and most of the time, it works brilliantly.

When I go thru intractable insomnia (usually linked to any amount of emotional stress, which right now can range from the minimal to making a phone call to paying bills or dealing with a mis-delivery from Amazon), I take 1/2 a Unisom (which for me works like a total miracle, whereas nothing else in that medication class does), which generally will knock me out within 35-40 minutes and keep me asleep til I cant ignore the alarm anymore ....

I'm really happier than I can say about your being able to get some decent sleep. Interesting to see how working out will affect that ....

 

[GreenMachineX]

I'm going to keep increasing glycine and collagen intake until I get to the level Dr Masterjohn recommends, 1-2g collagen per 10 grams of regular protein.

 

[GreenMachineX]

I use melatonin, too. In very small amounts. I take 1/2 a mg. about 30 minutes before bedtime, and the other half at lights out. I take a meager teaspoon of gelatin a little before the first 1/2 mg of melatonin, and most of the time, it works brilliantly.

When I go thru intractable insomnia (usually linked to any amount of emotional stress, which right now can range from the minimal to making a phone call to paying bills or dealing with a mis-delivery from Amazon), I take 1/2 a Unisom (which for me works like a total miracle, whereas nothing else in that medication class does), which generally will knock me out within 35-40 minutes and keep me asleep til I cant ignore the alarm anymore ....

I'm really happier than I can say about your being able to get some decent sleep. Interesting to see how working out will affect that ....

Thanks for that. I'll keep updating.

 

[Violeta]

Alka seltzer helps me a lot of times with insomnia, but not always. It helps the most when the insomnia is when I wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep.

 

[GreenMachineX]

What did theanine do to you exactly?

I think it's worsening my sleep, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm back to sleeping 5-6 broken ineffective hours, like I'm unconscious with 4 cups of coffee on board.

Back to those...ugh...
Need to figure out what I was doing differently...

 

[lenora]

Very odd that Alka Seltzer would help in the middle of the night.....however, perhaps it's an intestinal issue that's keeping you awake. It's not harmful, so if it helps, why not?

The sleep you describe @GreenMachineX sounds like very typical ME/FM sleep. You're asleep, but you can hear every word uttered around you. I had that at the beginning but it descended into insomnia. Today's sleep is probably 5-6 hrs., but of much better quality. It has taken over 35 years of juggling to get to this point.

Sleep clinics (and I've only been twice) don't seem to help get to the bottom of the problem unless you have breathing problems. Every person I know who has been to one leaves with the same useless prescription. Yes, people have been helped and I don't mean to discourage those who need it.

Good luck to all who have sleeping problems....try not to nap or do it earlier in the day. Yours, Lenora

 

[GreenMachineX]

Very odd that Alka Seltzer would help in the middle of the night.....however, perhaps it's an intestinal issue that's keeping you awake. It's not harmful, so if it helps, why not?

The sleep you describe @GreenMachineX sounds like very typical ME/FM sleep. You're asleep, but you can hear every word uttered around you. I had that at the beginning but it descended into insomnia. Today's sleep is probably 5-6 hrs., but of much better quality. It has taken over 35 years of juggling to get to this point.

Sleep clinics (and I've only been twice) don't seem to help get to the bottom of the problem unless you have breathing problems. Every person I know who has been to one leaves with the same useless prescription. Yes, people have been helped and I don't mean to discourage those who need it.

Good luck to all who have sleeping problems....try not to nap or do it earlier in the day. Yours, Lenora

Thanks @lenora . What has worked for you?

 

[wabi-sabi]

You're asleep, but you can hear every word uttered around you.

There are times when I use this to help me fall asleep. I put on a meditation tape and sort of fall asleep. When the soothing voice ends, I wake up. I keep playing the tapes as long as it takes for me to really fall asleep. I can't fall asleep very well without listening to something soothing. Of course, a painful noise will keep me awake for painful hours.

 

[overtheedge]

Dayvigo(limborexant) is the main thing i use for sleep anymore. Get them from the telehealth doctor I see at the sleep center i did my sleep study at
Since they are a newish sleep drug they cost a lot, with insurance its 30 bucks fr 20 of em but i use mortar n pestle to break em into pieces then measure out half a tablet and that's plenty to get me to sleep, a full tablet wont keep me asleep any longer so it works out well and saves cash, also seems like i get less groggyness day after with half dose
I tried Belsomra(Suvorexant) first and it worked but had me feel stressed whole day after
If any of you try these new drugs, i think they are called orexin receptor antagonists, look over side effects online first as there are some people who get sleep paralysis for a short while from these type of drugs and are terrified cause they dont know if it's permanent, then quit the drug cause of that scare, never had anything bad other than groggyness from Dayvigo and stressed feeling from belsomra. Neither cause dependence and Dayvigo works day after day without diminishing effect. Dayvigo also works even if i use it several times in one night

Still use Flexeril(cyclobenzaprine) whenever ive seriously overused my energy and i cant sleep without a sleep med and cant sleepfor more than a short while with any sleep med other than flexoril. its so potent tho i feel very groggy for 2days after but it's a small price to pay. Thing is Dayvigo seems to interact with flexoril, making it much more potent than i would like so i have to stick to melatonin or other sleep drugs till flexoril is out of my system. So if you guys use sleep drugs watch out for them to interact

As for melatonin, I've found doses between 0.5-2mg to be sufficient tho others often go higher. it seems to work best if i take it every other day or less. after taking melatonin once every 2-3 days for a while it starts to work less efficiently, at that point i dont use melatonin for a week straight and it seems to reset it to where it works well again. Another thing about melatonin is that it seems to work best if its taken during whatever your body believes to be your current sleep cycle, if forward shifting past previous days sleep cycle it seems to fail a lot of times though it might work differently for you

 

[lenora]

We are all so very different. All medications stop working for me after the first or second day....I'm including even the so-called "date rape drug".....with my physician's aid. Everything was tried until we both said "enough."

Flexeril has been a common drug prescribed at the sleep clinics for years. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much for most people for any length of time. @overtheedge is fortunate to have found something.

My biological family had a lot of bipolar illness in it. Naturally, I thought it was bipolar illness. Not so, and it was confirmed multiple times, but I have had brain surgery and apparently there was some damage to the sleep center. If sleep is a problem in a number of years, then I would see a psychiatrist for a proper diagnosis (and that's all most do today...diagnose).

It may take time to find something that works for you....warm milk before bedtime, no caffeeine after noon at the latest, melatonin (which always gave me a splitting headache), multiple vitamins and herbs....it's timeconsuming and frustrating @wabi-sabi. I found that the purple foam earplugs helped immensely (after I got used to them). Definitely wont' sleep without them now. Fewer worries too, of course....a common cause of insomnia.

Many nights still find me awake and either reading or working on the computer. I don't look for cures any longer.....just live as best that I can. I know how frustrating it is....and if you still haven't slept after say 3 days, then you must reach out to someone. Reaching out generally means a lot of phone calls and never hanging up without another number to call. A sleep center may even have the names of psychiatrists who deal with sleep disorders. Just some suggestions. I wish I had the answer. Yours, Lenora

 

[GreenMachineX]

We are all so very different. All medications stop working for me after the first or second day....I'm including even the so-called "date rape drug".....with my physician's aid. Everything was tried until we both said "enough."

Flexeril has been a common drug prescribed at the sleep clinics for years. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much for most people for any length of time. @overtheedge is fortunate to have found something.

My biological family had a lot of bipolar illness in it. Naturally, I thought it was bipolar illness. Not so, and it was confirmed multiple times, but I have had brain surgery and apparently there was some damage to the sleep center. If sleep is a problem in a number of years, then I would see a psychiatrist for a proper diagnosis (and that's all most do today...diagnose).

It may take time to find something that works for you....warm milk before bedtime, no caffeeine after noon at the latest, melatonin (which always gave me a splitting headache), multiple vitamins and herbs....it's timeconsuming and frustrating @wabi-sabi. I found that the purple foam earplugs helped immensely (after I got used to them). Definitely wont' sleep without them now. Fewer worries too, of course....a common cause of insomnia.

Many nights still find me awake and either reading or working on the computer. I don't look for cures any longer.....just live as best that I can. I know how frustrating it is....and if you still haven't slept after say 3 days, then you must reach out to someone. Reaching out generally means a lot of phone calls and never hanging up without another number to call. A sleep center may even have the names of psychiatrists who deal with sleep disorders. Just some suggestions. I wish I had the answer. Yours, Lenora

GHB didn't even work?

 

[Husband of]

My wife has had successful sleep using tart cherry juice 3/3 times, as in reasonably ok getting to sleep, sleep long and uninterrupted, or being able to get back to sleep quickly after interruption.

 

[GreenMachineX]

My wife has had successful sleep using tart cherry juice 3/3 times, as in reasonably ok getting to sleep, sleep long and uninterrupted, or being able to get back to sleep quickly after interruption.

What dose?

 

[Husband of]

What dose?

10ml of this brand

 

[Rachel Straub]

My mom has had severe insomnia for years and has been on prescription medications. At this point she no longer requires prescription medication for sleep. Her case of ME/CFS has overall been mild compared to mine, but when she has been under treatment for possible infections, her insomnia worsened likely from Herx reactions. Herbs for detoxification have been essential, such as alpha lipoic acid and milk thistle. She has also used activated charcoal when needed. She is fairly stable at this point and her herbs at night for sleep are below. The items below are a mix of Stephen Buhner's recommendations for insomnia found in his Healing Lyme book, our doctor (MD, PhD), and trial/error. Our doctor specifically advised the herbal combination of CBD, Agmatine, Taurine, and GABA.

1) CBD oil, 80 mg
2) Agmatine, 1000 mg
3) Taurine, 3000 mg
4) GABA, 1000 mg
5) Lithium Orotate, 15 mg
6) 5-HTP, 300 mg
7) Time release melatonin, 120 mg
8) Uncaria Rhynchophylla tincture, 70 drops
9) Motherwort tincture, 30 drops
10) L-Theanine, 600 mg
11) Phosphatidylserine, 300 mg