Has anyone here ever taken this? I have MAJOR insomnia problems and I'm hoping it might help; however, I can't seem to get any information on WHEN you're supposed to take it. Do you take it whenever you take your other vitamins, or do you take it before bedtime, or.....?? And did anyone have any hideous side effects from it? I'm hoping it's GOTTA work better than Sominex -- I take half a one of those, and I'm stupid for the next 36 hours after I wake up.....:scowl: :scowl: :scowl:
Melatonin
- Thread starter JonnyCoop
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2006
I have insomnia too. There was a recent study on melatonin (the first) - try googling it. The findings confirmed my experience:
- It works mainly for those who need to sleep in the daytime.
- You don't need to use much (I cut or bite a pill in thirds or quarters).
- It kicks in pretty fast.
I find it fairly powerful. It usually helps me fall asleep but it doesn't give me a very sound sleep.
The doctor who originally advised me to take it stressed that it should be taken 3 hours before I want to sleep, but I've never done it that way since it makes me sleepy quickly. I take it at bedtime. And I've never had any side-effects the next day (but I drink strong coffee...).
Good luck! Insomnia is hard to live with! I take Ambien when I really need a good rest.
- It works mainly for those who need to sleep in the daytime.
- You don't need to use much (I cut or bite a pill in thirds or quarters).
- It kicks in pretty fast.
I find it fairly powerful. It usually helps me fall asleep but it doesn't give me a very sound sleep.
The doctor who originally advised me to take it stressed that it should be taken 3 hours before I want to sleep, but I've never done it that way since it makes me sleepy quickly. I take it at bedtime. And I've never had any side-effects the next day (but I drink strong coffee...).
Good luck! Insomnia is hard to live with! I take Ambien when I really need a good rest.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
When they gave out free samples, years ago, I decided to try it. Man, I wanted to sleep all the next day. I think it lasted like 36 hours. I did take the whole dose.
Have you tried Tylenol pm. I took that for years and it did pretty good. Had to quit it as I was getting too much Tylenol in all my other medicine. Soma worked really well too. Of course, I needed to relax muscles and something to relieve the pain. I've been doing a whole lot better about pain lately. It isn't any less (unless I take a pain pill) just seems as if I can sleep fairly well with quite a lot of pain.
Have you tried Tylenol pm. I took that for years and it did pretty good. Had to quit it as I was getting too much Tylenol in all my other medicine. Soma worked really well too. Of course, I needed to relax muscles and something to relieve the pain. I've been doing a whole lot better about pain lately. It isn't any less (unless I take a pain pill) just seems as if I can sleep fairly well with quite a lot of pain.
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
Get a prescription from you doctor for Ambien. It's not habit forming unless you make it so. Cut it in half. You should not have a heavy feeling when you wake up. Big problem: it's not inexpensive.
Joe
Joe
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Joe's right. I had forgotten about Ambien. I took it for a while, Dr. says no more. I don't remember why. Could be that I already have to take a lot of pills. It doesn't leave you groggy the next day. He's right about only taking 1/2 a pill.
It really has worked better than any I have taken before.
It really has worked better than any I have taken before.
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2006
I agree re 1/2 pill for Ambien.
Ambien is good. Most people only need 5mg, but they do make them in 10's.
AmbienCR is woefully inadequate. Restoril works too, but depending on how big a person you are, and probably your metabolism, so you may have to play with the dosage for a week or so. They come in 7.5's, something else, and 22.5's. Also, Lunesta isn't terrible, either. It comes in 1, 2 & 3 sizes. I found 3's to work best.
Do not let them give you Tranzdone (bet I spelled that wrong). You'll feel groggy for a week. Yuck.
Can you tell I have a bit of a sleeping problem myself? Sigh.
Non-drug wise, I find it useful to lay off the caffeine after 1pm. I also find it useful to do something physical every day, even if it's just cutting the grass. Sometimes I lay down and count each breath, in and out. I made it to 786 once, but most of the time it helps. Also it helps to tell your brain that your body parts are relaxing, one by one. You start at your toes and tell yourself, "My toes are relaxing, my toes are relaxing, my toes are relaxed." And so on.
The other thing that sometimes helps is listening for things from outside. We get trains going by some distance away, cars hiss by my window (thank you Jim Morrison). just try to get "outside" using your ears as much as possible.
Also some people have had success with "white noise" such as a thunderstorm, birds, seashore sounds, oh, there are lots of them.
Last point....I promise. If nothing works, then I just get up and start doing something instead of dwelling on not sleeping. Clean something. Wash dishes. Dust. Usually just the thought of housework will put me right back to sleep, but if it doesn't, I try to remember than nobody ever died from losing one night's sleep and since I'll probably be tired from not sleeping much the night before, I just reason that I'll be tired enough to sleep well the following night.
AmbienCR is woefully inadequate. Restoril works too, but depending on how big a person you are, and probably your metabolism, so you may have to play with the dosage for a week or so. They come in 7.5's, something else, and 22.5's. Also, Lunesta isn't terrible, either. It comes in 1, 2 & 3 sizes. I found 3's to work best.
Do not let them give you Tranzdone (bet I spelled that wrong). You'll feel groggy for a week. Yuck.
Can you tell I have a bit of a sleeping problem myself? Sigh.
Non-drug wise, I find it useful to lay off the caffeine after 1pm. I also find it useful to do something physical every day, even if it's just cutting the grass. Sometimes I lay down and count each breath, in and out. I made it to 786 once, but most of the time it helps. Also it helps to tell your brain that your body parts are relaxing, one by one. You start at your toes and tell yourself, "My toes are relaxing, my toes are relaxing, my toes are relaxed." And so on.
The other thing that sometimes helps is listening for things from outside. We get trains going by some distance away, cars hiss by my window (thank you Jim Morrison). just try to get "outside" using your ears as much as possible.
Also some people have had success with "white noise" such as a thunderstorm, birds, seashore sounds, oh, there are lots of them.
Last point....I promise. If nothing works, then I just get up and start doing something instead of dwelling on not sleeping. Clean something. Wash dishes. Dust. Usually just the thought of housework will put me right back to sleep, but if it doesn't, I try to remember than nobody ever died from losing one night's sleep and since I'll probably be tired from not sleeping much the night before, I just reason that I'll be tired enough to sleep well the following night.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Dr.Abraham Low has some chapters in his books about sleeping. The book is "Mental Health Through Will-Training". I think one chapter is called
"Taking the danger out of sleeping" or something like that. He is the Founder of Recovery, Inc. His system has worked better than most. He just goes about things in a different way. It is for nervous and formerly mentally ill patients. Did you know that if you don't judge you won't have a temper? Think about it.
"Taking the danger out of sleeping" or something like that. He is the Founder of Recovery, Inc. His system has worked better than most. He just goes about things in a different way. It is for nervous and formerly mentally ill patients. Did you know that if you don't judge you won't have a temper? Think about it.
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
Try natural remedies before getting hooked on prescriptons:
http://www.feelgoodcounseling.com/NaturalRemediesforInsomnia.htm
http://www.christopherhobbs.com/website/library/articles/article_files/herbs_for_insomnia.html
Good luck!
http://www.feelgoodcounseling.com/NaturalRemediesforInsomnia.htm
http://www.christopherhobbs.com/website/library/articles/article_files/herbs_for_insomnia.html
Good luck!
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2004
I didn't realise it was a sleeping pill!
A friend recommended taking it for three nights on arrival in a different country where the time difference is huge. At Christmas i travelled from the UK to sydney and took it for three nights just before i went to bed. I don't have any problems sleeping normally and on the occassions that i took it, i slept my normal amount and felt fine when i woke up...it got me onto sydney time pretty quickly and on the return back to the UK got me straight back into UK time for work.
Ant
A friend recommended taking it for three nights on arrival in a different country where the time difference is huge. At Christmas i travelled from the UK to sydney and took it for three nights just before i went to bed. I don't have any problems sleeping normally and on the occassions that i took it, i slept my normal amount and felt fine when i woke up...it got me onto sydney time pretty quickly and on the return back to the UK got me straight back into UK time for work.
Ant
First of all, thank you, everyone, for your input. I am going to look into some of these alternatives as well. I've tried valerian but it doesn't really work on me; chamomile I've tried recently and it seems to work well ONCE I GET TO SLEEP but it still takes forever to get that way.
Problem with me and the Ambien would be, since I am currently unemployed with no health insurance, seeing a doctor to prescribe something that's not cheap to begin with isn't exactly in the budget....
I am going to try the melatonin tonight (maybe just half a one as per SpunSilver and Grgranny... no, DEFINITELY just half....
) and see what happens. I'm one of those people that stuff never works the way it's supposed to on, so this could be interesting.....
Problem with me and the Ambien would be, since I am currently unemployed with no health insurance, seeing a doctor to prescribe something that's not cheap to begin with isn't exactly in the budget....
I am going to try the melatonin tonight (maybe just half a one as per SpunSilver and Grgranny... no, DEFINITELY just half....
) and see what happens. I'm one of those people that stuff never works the way it's supposed to on, so this could be interesting.....
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2006
Good luck. Note that it was 1/2 pill for AMBIEN, and even less - 1/3 or 1/4 for Melatonin. When I took more Melatonin, it wired me up!
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
I took ambien just once and that was it. It made me go to sleep but it kind of scared me because it worked so fast. I took the pill, went to the restroom, brushed my teeth and back down the hall to go to bed. I was bouncing off both sides of the hallway and barely hit the bed and don't remember anything after that. What I did like about it there was no after effects from it.
I also try self hypnosis and have been lucky doing that . What you do is try to clear your mind (which was not difficult for me ) and say over and over---sleep, sleep until you fall asleep. It works!! Clearing the mind though is difficult. Another thing is I've had to learn how to breathe. Take deep breathes and just concentrate on doing that and ............it works!! At lease these methods work for me. A lot of times I read before I go to sleep and that helps.
Dee
I also try self hypnosis and have been lucky doing that . What you do is try to clear your mind (which was not difficult for me
) and say over and over---sleep, sleep until you fall asleep. It works!! Clearing the mind though is difficult. Another thing is I've had to learn how to breathe. Take deep breathes and just concentrate on doing that and ............it works!! At lease these methods work for me. A lot of times I read before I go to sleep and that helps. Dee
Yes, thanks, GrGranny. That's what I meant.
We have had good luck with trying to get Mom to sleep by giving her her calcium late at night. It's supposed to help.
I get all freaked out when I can't sleep for a night. Which is stupid, because surely if I am tired enough, I will sleep the following night. It's got to be true, so far I've only gone 2 straight days without sleeping and that was only one time.
My Mom hit the NyQuil, but I wouldn't recommend that to my worst enemy.
We have had good luck with trying to get Mom to sleep by giving her her calcium late at night. It's supposed to help.
I get all freaked out when I can't sleep for a night. Which is stupid, because surely if I am tired enough, I will sleep the following night. It's got to be true, so far I've only gone 2 straight days without sleeping and that was only one time.
My Mom hit the NyQuil, but I wouldn't recommend that to my worst enemy.
So noted; I'll start with 1/3.
Regarding some other things that have been mentioned:
NyQuil: The first -- and last time -- I took that stuff, back in 1992, I went into a stupor but still never fell asleep too quickly. On top of that -- SERIOUS PSYCHEDELIC REACTIONS. I mean, I was seeing foggy purple and pink paisleys floating all over the house and all kinds of funky stuff.
Tylenol PM: Never actually tried it, but years ago in the restaurant business I worked with a waitress who had severe carpal tunnel in both wrists and it was difficult for her to carry trays. For some reason, she chose Tylenol PM to alleviate the pain (as opposed to regular high strength pain medicine) and within half an hour she was half-asleep and stumbling into the tables. I could never understand why she didn't go with something WITHOUT the sleep aid, at least during her shift....
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Tylenol PM has an allergy medicine in it. It was really funny one time. We had eaten Thanksgiving dinner and the kids allergies were bothering so they took their medicine. After working in the kitchen a while, I went downstairs and everyone there had fallen asleep. 
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2006
*waves at Mom* Yes, that was "Topco Sinus Tablets". Somebody went to the store and bought the cheapest thing. I need to find some of those again...wow, those put us all to sleep! lol
I have a lot of sleep issues. One thing I take is melatonin, and it does at least help me a little bit. I take 1.8 mg. My dr. tells me to take it one hour before bed. The type I have is sustained release.
A cheap, easy thing that helps me sleep is Benadryl. I just can't take it every night, because I develop so many allergies and if I took it every night, I would be allergic to Benadryl. How ironic is that?
I have a lot of sleep issues. One thing I take is melatonin, and it does at least help me a little bit. I take 1.8 mg. My dr. tells me to take it one hour before bed. The type I have is sustained release.
A cheap, easy thing that helps me sleep is Benadryl. I just can't take it every night, because I develop so many allergies and if I took it every night, I would be allergic to Benadryl. How ironic is that?
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
I know this is the opposite of what they say to do but sure works for me. It doesn't happen nearly as often any more. If I wake up in the night and have trouble getting back to sleep, I make some hot chocolate and go downstairs to the family room, turn on the tv (have you noticed the majority of channels are paid programming at night?) and read a newspaper, magazine or something.
It's very seldom I don't get back to sleep.
It's very seldom I don't get back to sleep.
