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What has helped you with sleep/insomnia - post links

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,334
Location
Southern California
This is a "sticky" thread, for posting links to threads or posts about treatments/drugs/supplements, anything that helps you with sleep. Please only post a word or two about the treatment, followed by the appropriate link, or incorporate the link into the description. The linked thread or post can speak for itself.

Grounding
 

Seven7

Seven
Messages
3,444
Location
USA
Mary I have different types of insomnia
1) About to start period (nothing will help)
2) POTs or PEM = This type I use medication benadryl + trazadone.
3) Inflammatory cytokines signaling the brain too much (i have been tested so It feels like noisier than usual brain, like twired)= Advil or any other anti-inflammatory
 

perchance dreamer

Senior Member
Messages
1,691
This supplement has helped me with sleep lately and let me eliminate 3 of my supplements: Neurobiologix Pro GAD Enhancer:

https://www.amazon.com/Pro-GAD-Enha...neurobiologix+gad&qid=1575419295&s=hpc&sr=1-4

I found that 1 capsule is best for me, but I also use sleep medicine (alternating Belsomra and Trazodone), so maybe others would need more. In any case, if you want to try this supplement, I'd suggest starting with 1 cap.
 

Wolfcub

Senior Member
Messages
7,089
Location
SW UK
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:
 

perchance dreamer

Senior Member
Messages
1,691
This NAD supplement helps my sleep and my mental functioning, too. I've tried NAD supplement precursors, but they give me insomnia. This is straight NAD. I've had really good results with NAD IVs, but I find this is a good OTC treatment.

I take one of these sublingually first thing in the morning. It's expensive, but not so much for me since I just take one. I get mine from a compounding pharmacy in Austin.

https://realnad.com/
 
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Sarah94

Senior Member
Messages
1,087
Location
UK
Melatonin 300-600 mcg (helps fall asleep)
Diphenhydramine 50 mg (helps fall asleep and stay asleep and sleep quality)
Pycnogenol supplement (helps me stay asleep as it keeps my blood sugar more even)
Magnesium 400 mg (helps fall asleep)

Occasionally a zopiclone (only occasionally because it is addictive) (helps fall asleep)
 

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,679
Location
Alberta
I'm not sure what caused it, but I seem to have lost the insomnia that had been caused by physical activity past 2 PM. I'd had that for a year or more, and now I can be active later in the day again. It stopped sometime after I'd started taking evening primrose oil (an experiment unrelated to insomnia), so that's at least a possibility. I can't retest it, since the insomnia didn't return after not taking it for several weeks. If the problem ever shows up again, I'll try the oil again. I didn't try anything else new in that time period. Well, I did buy a large chocolate bar at some point. That would be a nice treatment. :woot:

So, not a recommendation for the oil, but I thought I'd mention it, or at least that one insomnia problem went away for some reason.

It's nice to be able to go for evening walks again.
 

Jo86

Senior Member
Messages
197
Location
France
I'm addicted to Zopiclone. I've been for a long time. It's like a drug at the end of the day. It doesn't even work efficiently like before. But it just gives me this delusion and false hope it's going to help with sleep and maybe make me feel something physically. It's pathetic, I know ! But it's the truth. I often go a full day telling myself I won't take a pill, not tonight, and then I convince myself it's better to just take one come night time. The nights I don't take any, are looooonggggg. It's very hard for me to even go two nights in a row without popping one around 11pm.

Melatonin never worked for me. Major hangover the next morning.
I tried a bunch of other supplements, and they didn't work. Like, at all.

That 'Pro GAD Enhancer' looks like sth to try. Any other suggestions ?
 

xebex

Senior Member
Messages
840
Not eating carbs after 6pm is number one factor to a good nights sleep for me.
If I’m in a crash and have the horrible coma sleep where you aren’t actually asleep but feel paralyzed and like you’re slipping in and out of consciousness, surprisingly a cup of (caffeinated) tea helps.
THC - I only need 1mg which pretty much has has no psychoactive affect but it helps me sleep on night that I’m tired but wired.
 

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,679
Location
Alberta
I seem to have discovered something that reduces my insomnia; no guarantee that it is a universal treatment.

A couple of months ago I bought some Evening Primrose Oil to test whether it had an effect on my ME symptoms (no). Since I had it, I continued taking it, usually three caps twice a day. At some point, I realized that I was sleeping better: having fewer 'can't get back to sleep' periods. I still wake up several times each night to pee, but I can quickly fall back asleep. Then those insomnia periods returned. Very annoying! Then I realized that this started up again about 3 weeks after I ran out of the oil. Three days after buying some more, I stopped having those insomnia periods. I'm not sure of the statistical quality of this, but I'm certainly going to continue taking it. I'll try experimenting with lower dosages, to see how much is required.

Borage oil is also high in gamma-linoleic acid, so that's another possibility, although it sounds like is has more potential harmful side effects.

It's Jamieson brand 500 mg softgels, although I wouldn't be surprised if all the brands on the market came out of the same processing plant.

Sleep well. :sleep:
 

Timaca

Senior Member
Messages
792
I quit looking at any screen (computer, phone, kindle) at least 1 hour before bedtime. If I find I'm having a hard time falling asleep, I will talk out loud to myself (softly) and tell my self that it is okay to relax and fall asleep. Amazingly, it works!
 

AnnieT

Senior Member
Messages
157
Yes to yoga nidra !

Also I recently discovered visual asmr on YouTube... like soap carving or hair braiding... with sound off, I find this relaxing.
 

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,679
Location
Alberta
Update on the Evening Primrose Oil: brand seems important. I bought the last batch at Walmart: Equate brand, cold-pressed and solvent free. They don't seem to work. I've tried larger doses, and still have trouble falling back asleep. I've switched back to the Jamieson brand today, so I'll see how I sleep tonight. Maybe it's not the gamma linolenic acid. I hope it's not some trace biochemical found only in seeds from a particular area.