Need A Sleep Remedy....need To Sleep....

[sparkles]

I have been going through a period of having a really hard time getting to sleep. I have always slept a lot with maybe one night a month of not sleeping. Now it seems that I am up and down all night long. I have sleep apnea so I use the CPAP machine. I am not snoring again as my hubby would let me know that. I don't know if my body is changing or what but I am tired when I go to bed but just cannot get to sleep. I try getting up to read but end up eating as well as reading...not good I know. If I do manage to get to sleep, I am awake between 2 to 5. I get up....then go back to bed sometimes I fall back to sleep...sometimes not. It is driving me crazy as I am really tired during the day. Any suggestions? We go to bed at the same time at night about 10:30. I have always slept about 9 - 10 hours a night so this is really different. I wouldn't mind not sleeping so much if I wasn't so tired during the day. I am really gluten-free and it is not that kind of fatigue. So...I could really use some help.... Thanks.

[Guest ~jules~]

I have struggled with insomnia since I was a teen. It went away for alot of years since I had my children, but has recently come back. I don't like taking anything unless I have to, but I take the tylenol simply sleep when that happens to me. Its not habit forming, and it makes me a little more relaxed at bedtime. I hope it gets better for you .......Julie

[rinne]

CarlaB has been looking at adrenal fatigue, she has a thread going about it I think, anyways sleeping problems can be related to that.

I haven't slept more than 5 hours in years and subsequently I haven't felt really rested until recently. I increased my salt intake, with "Real Salt" for another reason and a surprising benefit is that I actually slept for 7 hours at once for 4 nights.

[eKatherine]

I've always been a very light sleeper, and if my sleep is disturbed, I'm up for the duration.

Often I find I can't get back to sleep when I'm hungry, and at night I may not recognize this. But just a spoonful of peanut butter helps to put my stomach back in the zone for sleep.

One remedy I have heard is a hops pillow. I have no idea if it works.

[lindalee]

The past few nights I have just tried to get in bed around 9 or 10(found this on the adrenal info list) and also I have a silk lavendar eye mask I put on before drifting off. I have also been keeping the room a little cooler and sleep with a blanket. It works for me-

[Nancym]

If I'm having a hard time falling asleep, I'll take a benadryl type of antihistamine.

[wonkabar]

I started taking Valerian root extract (pill form) a couple of weeks ago because I've been sleeping terribly for the past year. I have trouble falling asleepbut staying asleep is an even bigger problem. I am not an herbal-remedy kinda person. In fact, I'm not into taking pills or medication unless I really need to, but I can't tell you how much better I've slept since taking the Valerian. I can fall asleep and actually STAY ASLEEP. I haven't felt this well rested in quite a long time. The brand I use, I believe, is gluten-free. (My son is the one on the gluten-free diet, so I'll have to double check) I've tried the Tylenol Simply sleep and it does work well. However, I am extrmemely groggy the next morning and need to take them at least two hours before I'd want to go to sleep to make sure I can sleep them off.

*PS--Sometimes I also drink a cup of herbal tea with a little bit of honey when I'm winding down. It's called Sweet Dreams by Bigelow.

[penguin]

All (or nearly all) of the OTC (non-herbal) sleep remedies are benadryl (diphenhydramine hcl) packaged differently.

It's the "PM" part of the TylenolPM, etc. Simply sleep is benadryl.

[marciab]

I am struggling with this too. But mostly because I was on sleep meds (klonopin) for so long (16 years) that I forgot how to sleep on my own.

I had some luck with the valerian root tea, benadryl and chamomile tea, but nothing that kept me sleeping 7 hours for more than one or two nights. But still you can try those and know you will get some sleep.

I sleep like a log without drugs afer 1 or 2 nites of only getting about 4 -5 hours of sleep.

I've decided that I am just going to stop worrying about it. I am feeling fine during the day. So, maybe a good nites sleep every nite isn't as necessary as I think.

At least we have Jay Leno and Conan to keep us company.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

If you are drinking any caffeine (sorry if I missed whether or not you are), DON'T! Yes, it is possible to get through the day without it--in fact, you will probably get through the day better without it. Be prepared for a couple of rough weeks getting off of it, though.

Can you get outside for a good hour every day? And an hour of mild-to-moderate exercise every day will do wonders for how you sleep.

I know a lady who was medicating her son for ADHD, saying that he never slept at night, and couldn't concentrate during the day, etc. She was letting him drink Coke for dinner, he only went outside to catch the schoolbus, and he never got any exercise.

Once she got rid of the caffeine, signed him up for a sport (well, it was golf, which isn't exactly aerobic, but at least it was outside and he occasionally moved some muscles), she "miraculously" didn't need to medicate him any more. Hmmm.

If you're already doing all that--then I apologize for not being able to offer anything helpful!

[elye]

I only occasionally have a rough night's sleep--either taking forever falling asleep or waking up halfway through and lying there awake for hours. When it happens, I have also had great success with valerian. Scullcap is another herbal remedy that I have found effective, particularly when the insomnia is due to stress. Hope this helps, as I know how bad you can feel after a couple of poor nights' sleep!

[sparkles]

Thanks for the replies. I will look into the herbal stuff. Benedryl makes me really groggy so I try to stay away from that. I stop drinking caffeine (if I have any) around noon...but will try giving up my tea.

[Guest Ang]

My "falling asleep" trick, whether it's at the beginning or middle of the night, is to go away from my bed, in just jammies. I start stretching my body from my neck down. All the way down to wiggling ankles, wrists, stretching my back (I know some yoga poses, and sometimes do these.). I then lay down like at the end of a yoga class, on my back and tell myself to relax. I lay there until I am pretty cold, and that somehow makes me yawn, which makes me want to crawl back into bed to warm up, and the rest is history.

I can willfully do this, I've been doing it since my first pregnancy 7 years ago. I try recommending it to brothers, husband, friends, but most people look at me like I'm crazy. I just WISH someone would give it a try. With a little practice, it works really well....no drugs, (but if I'm hungry, I, too sneak a little peanut butter or hunk of cheese!)

Maybe one of you crazy celiacs out there would actually benefit from it....we seem to be alike in ways I never thought possible!

Angie

[ladylibrarian]

I have struggled with insomnia since I was a teen. It went away for alot of years since I had my children, but has recently come back. I don't like taking anything unless I have to, but I take the tylenol simply sleep when that happens to me. Its not habit forming, and it makes me a little more relaxed at bedtime. I hope it gets better for you .......Julie

I took Tyloenol simply sleep last night because I haven't had a good night sleep in ages. So I

bought a pkg of simply sleep and took two tablets last night. I thought I would go crazy My whole

body was burning my muscles felt like they just wanted to get out. You heard of restless leg syndrome,

well I think I had restless body syndrome after taking Tylenol simply sleep. Has anyone else had this

happen to them?

[Fiddle-Faddle]

I took Tyloenol simply sleep last night because I haven't had a good night sleep in ages. So I

bought a pkg of simply sleep and took two tablets last night. I thought I would go crazy My whole

body was burning my muscles felt like they just wanted to get out. You heard of restless leg syndrome,

well I think I had restless body syndrome after taking Tylenol simply sleep. Has anyone else had this

happen to them?

Sorry, I wouldn't try a "Sleep Medicine" even if you paid me.

[kathy2005]

Another possibility to consider is that you are not sleeping well because you do not have enough of the sleep hormone melatonin. Melatonin helps us go to sleep and stay asleep. Melatonin production decreases as we age. Also, Melatonin is made in our bodies from serotonin in the presence of darkness. If you are serotonin deficient or spending your evenings in a brightly lit room (in front of a computer monitor) you may not be making enough melatonin to sleep well.

You could try to increase your serotonin production by spending time outside in the daytime and getting more exercise. Something more convenient to try is supplementing your own melatonin. You can supplement melatonin by taking melatonin, L-tryptophan, or 5-HTP about ½ hour before bedtime. L-tryptophan and 5-HTP are both precursors to serotonin and melatonin (your body converts both L-tryptophan and 5-HTP to melatonin). L-tryptophan is the amino acid that we always hear makes us sleepy after eating turkey.

I could not get my melatonin dose correct when I tried it. I found that I was always sleepy in the morning after trying melatonin. I had better luck with 5-HTP. Currently I take a small 15-25 mg dose of 5-HTP to help me fall asleep and stay asleep. I used to have a horrible time falling asleep and I used to wake up between 2-4 am and not be able to go back to sleep. Since finding the correct dose of 5-HTP for me, I sleep really well. I have never tried L-tryptophan but I know that some people have really good luck with it. From what I have read, L-tryptophan may have the least potential to cause adverse side effects compared to melatonin and 5-HTP. From personal experience with 5-HTP I have found that the typical starting dose of 50 mg is way to high for me and gave me side effects. I buy my 5-HTP in powder form so that it is easy to take my small dose. I used to buy 50 mg tablets and split them. My adverse side effects from too much 5-HTP were having difficulty falling asleep because I felt jittery like I took too much Sudafed. It took me several nights of trial and error to figure out what my dose was. If you are interested in trying 5-HTP I would recommend starting with a small dose and adjusting up until you find the least amount that helps you sleep without side effects.

Rather than trying 5-HTP or melatonin it would probably be better to try L-tryptophan first since it is reported to have the least potential for side effects. Julia Ross in her Diet and Mood Cure Books talks about how to take L-tryptophan (& 5-HTP/melatonin) to promote sleep. She recommends first trying L-tryptophan 500 to 1500 milligrams at bedtime. She only recommends 5-HTP and melatonin for people who do not have luck with L-tryptophan. You can buy L-tryptophan directly from Julia Ross on her web site along with her books and the other supplements that she recommends. On her site she has an amino acid precaution page that would be helpful to read if considering supplementing with amino acids. I buy my 5-HTP powder (and other amino acids) from Beyond a Century. Vitacost also sells amino acids (I like the Vitacost NSI brands). Here are links to the three sites:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Good luck,

Kathy

[KarenLee]

Hi,

I'm sorry about your sleep problems, hope this helps. This is just my advice that I would give a friend...I posted it on another board(topic) as well. This is a link to a site that can help with sleep problems as well as focus issues. She is a clinical nutritionist here in Austin(where I live) but you can be tested through the mail !!...they send you a test kit, you supply the sample and mail it back in. Then, they e-mail you the results. What the test told me, was that I had an imbalance of Serotonin (and a few others..) which was causing me problems-- mainly, sleeping. I began taking what she recommended, (a combination of certain amino acids and minerals) and now I sleep much better, also, I was acutally able to get off the drug fluoxitine(Prozac).

I had 2 of my children tested, and they are benefiting from the amino acid therapy, and sleeping better also! Yeah!

Good luck!

Karen

Open Original Shared Link

[Terch]

I have been going through a period of having a really hard time getting to sleep. I have always slept a lot with maybe one night a month of not sleeping. Now it seems that I am up and down all night long. I have sleep apnea so I use the CPAP machine. I am not snoring again as my hubby would let me know that. I don't know if my body is changing or what but I am tired when I go to bed but just cannot get to sleep. I try getting up to read but end up eating as well as reading...not good I know. If I do manage to get to sleep, I am awake between 2 to 5. I get up....then go back to bed sometimes I fall back to sleep...sometimes not. It is driving me crazy as I am really tired during the day. Any suggestions? We go to bed at the same time at night about 10:30. I have always slept about 9 - 10 hours a night so this is really different. I wouldn't mind not sleeping so much if I wasn't so tired during the day. I am really gluten-free and it is not that kind of fatigue. So...I could really use some help.... Thanks.

Sparkles,

Can I ask how old you are? It could be perimenopause, I have always slept 9-10 hours a night and once I hit 40 something changed and now my symptoms are just like yours. I am tired during the day and tired before going to bed and then nothing.

Terch

[tarnalberry]

* exercise (at least two hours before bed) is useful. (and before you say "I dont' have time", you have to answer the question of if you have time and room in your life to continue not sleeping. sometimes, we have to make time. I know it's hard - I've had to force myself many times in the past when life's gotten hectic)

* a very set schedule/routine

* careful control of lighting throughout the evening (turning lights down and off as it gets later, and making sure there are no lights on in the bedroom - lighting is important for transitioning to sleep)

* camomille tea or valerian are both fairly safe remedies, but don't take them without looking up the contraindications, of course.