What has helped you with sleep/insomnia - post links

Marylib

Marylib

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1,165
In addition to the usual array of meds, very cold weather helps. Keeping the ambient temperature as cold as possible and being under blankets. So cold the water freezes - while everyone else is worrying about frostbite. Once I got a good sleep by having my stomach so full it hurt. I have no idea why that helped.
 
Mary

Mary

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Texas Hill Country
I just went through 2 nights of about 2 hours sleep each - sudden onset - where all my usual stuff barely made a dent. It was nightmarish, only I wasn't sleeping enough to have nightmares! Was just wide awake, no sleep in sight. I wracked my brain trying to find if I was doing or taking something different. I noticed that the wide awake feeling was very similar to how I felt a few years ago when I was extremely sensitive to MSG in all its iterations - if I had anything related to MSG at dinner, I'd be wide awake until at least 3:00 a.m. After a few years of this I finally discovered that pantothenic acid (which I'd been taking for some years for my adrenals) depletes taurine - and taurine is necessary to help deal with neuro- or excitotoxicity in the brain!

So I immediately cut out pantothenic acid as a separate supplement (still had some in my B combo) and started taking taurine, and some time later my MSG extreme sensitivity disappeared.

So the other nights felt like my MSG reactions, but even worse. So I started researching things that could deplete taurine, and then came across something which said that taurine is made in the body from cysteine and something else. Bingo! A few weeks ago NAC became just about impossible to get due to the FDA. So I had run out of NAC but thought at the time, oh well, I didn't notice it doing anything for me anyways,

So yesterday I took 3 grams of taurine during the day in divided doses, was able to take a short nap, much to my surprise, and slept pretty well last night! It was fantastic.

NAC does seem to be readily available again, at least for now. Anyways, I highly recommend taurine for sleep. I took the 3 grams during the day yesterday but it helped with sleep at night. It didn't make me sleepy during the day either, apart from my much-needed nap.
 
Jo86

Jo86

Senior Member
Messages
197
Location
France
Marylib said:
In addition to the usual array of meds, very cold weather helps. Keeping the ambient temperature as cold as possible and being under blankets. So cold the water freezes - while everyone else is worrying about frostbite. Once I got a good sleep by having my stomach so full it hurt. I have no idea why that helped.
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- What's wrong with her, why is she in the hospital ?
- Hypothermia. She got it pretty bad. She'll be fine by tomorrow. They found her like that in her bedroom. But boy, did she look like she'd gotten a good night's sleep though.
 
Apollonia

Apollonia

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40
Location
Los Angeles, California
Wolfcub said:
I have DSPS (delayed sleep phase) which is not technically insomnia.

But sometimes I do get an exaggerated DSPS effect which definitely feels like insomnia. In which case coffee has a paradoxical effect on me (makes no scientific sense!)
I would not recommend that for everyone however.

I can't yet find a link to support that. I can't find links to support 90% of what happens to me :sluggish:
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I read somewhere that melatonin can be activated by caffeine. Have you looked into that possibility?
 
Jyoti

Jyoti

Senior Member
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3,426
I've tried many different compounds and many combinations of them. For the last few years I have had success with:
10 mg melatonin (time release)
7 mg THC (edible) in two doses--5 mg an hour and a half before I hope to sleep and then 2 mg about 45 minutes before I want to be out
2 caps of FibroSleep (Prohealth: FibroSleep)
Apollo Neuro set on Sleep and Renew all night long.

Unless I have been really stimulated by something later in the day, this usually works fairly well for me. When I do wake in the night and can't get back to sleep, I turn to Wishgarden 'Serious Relaxer': https://www.wishgardenherbs.com/products/serious-relaxer-muscle-tension It generally does the trick.

My daughter works in a crystal shop and she is constantly bringing me stones to put beside my bed to help me sleep. Not sure how any of them actually act on this issue, but I try to stay open! Anything that gets me to sleep and to stay that way is welcome.
 
YippeeKi YOW !!

YippeeKi YOW !!

Senior Member
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16,075
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Second star to the right ...
christiankatz said:
Tums with aspirin help me.
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christiankatz said:
Doxylamine Amazon.com: Kirkland Signature Sleep Aid Doxylamine Succinate 25 Mg, 2 pack (192 Tablets) : Health & Household

My chemistry is different it seems, so Benadryl, ibuprofen, and naproxen keep me awake.
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Same. Benadryl makes me want to crawl out of my skin ad ibuprofen does nothing. Naproxen doesn't seem to interfere with sleep for me.

You might want to try UNISOM, altho it's slightly more expensive than the Kirkland product, which is doxylamine succinate and works like a charm for me, with 1/3 to 1/2 a tab for a full night's sleep, usually, tho sometimes with occasional wakes. Ordinarily, I can get back to sleep fairly easily ...

I only recommend that Unisom because sometimes generics aren't the full strength of what's on the label, and they can have different inactives from the name brand offering, altho Kirkland has an excellent reputation ...
 
Apollonia

Apollonia

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40
Location
Los Angeles, California
Reply to Dr Universe:
Yes, that's the obvious way round. But my memory is of an experiment in which intake of caffeine was found to suddenly increase melatonin a couple of hours later—perhaps via or in connection with adenosine, as part of the body's homeostatic functioning? I'll keep on looking for that reference.

Succinate soon stopped working for me and I had to try again.

I am now trying CBN alternating each night with 5mg Doxepin + melatonin + various herbal preps.
 
TiredBill

TiredBill

Senior Member
Messages
335
Some years back I was diagnosed with complex sleep apnea on top of having ME/CFS.

Using the appropriate CPAP variant (ASV) has been helpful in dealing with that part of the equation.

Unrefreshing sleep and issues with insomnia driven by ME/CFS remain.

Bill
 
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