What's the best medication to help me sleep and cure insomnia? (hormones, prescription)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ambien worked for a few hours but not a whole 8 hour sleep for a night. However, I was told not to take it every day though, where as I would like something I can that would work better, if there is anything...
I've been taking Ambien for 26 years and have no plans to stop, which is fine by my doctor. I am taking the 12.5 mg pills. In addition I take two tizanidine, which is a short (3 hour) muscle relaxant. No problem sleeping or staying asleep.
Oh okay, your doctor said it was okay to take Ambien every night?
As for valerian, I can shop around and look for that. As Xanex or vallium, sounds good, but I'm guessing I shouldn't take it every night? Plus I don't want to feel hungover in the morning, for work, if that's possible of course.
As for pot, it's legal where I live. As for it not being addictive, are you sure, cause my friends who smoke it do it all the time if they are not working and just hanging out in their homes, which makes me think it's addictive.
I was told before to try melatonin, warm milk, benadryl, ambien, etc. And all those made me feel really tired but they didn't actually put me to sleep.
I think I need something like a "no more mr. nice guy medication", in the sense that it's no fooling around and time for a much more serious medication than all those ones recommended to before. I need a bottom line, no messing around one, if there is such one.
Is there anything that will actually put me to sleep, and not make me feel just really tired only?
No, there isn't. Michael Jackson found that out the hard way. Unfortunately, the only way to better sleep is clean living and what is called "sleep hygiene" - healthy habits that encourage good sleep.
Cut out alcohol, and other drugs. You also need to cut out all caffeine, all stimulants. Even chocolate has enough caffeine to keep you up. And a lot of beverages contain caffeine.
You need to get up the same time every day (like 7 AM), and go to bed at the same time every night (like 10 PM). You should try to sync your schedule with getting up around sunrise, going to sleep not too long after sunset - of course, the amount of daylight varies throughout the year, but the idea is, you should be awake during the day, so that you can sleep at night.
You need to get 30 minutes or more of vigorous aerobic exercise every day - running, swimming laps, very fast walking, or the like. It must be completed by at least 3 hours before you would like to go to sleep, and preferably be done much earlier in the day. If you finish exercising too close to bed time, you won't be able to calm down into sleep.
Be off screens by an hour before you want to sleep - the light from the screens keeps you from getting sleepy.
Do nothing but sleep in the room that you want to sleep in - meaning don't spend time in your bedroom except during sleep hours. That way you will be conditioned to go to sleep when you enter that room.
An hour before bed, be in dimly lit rooms. No screens, no excitement. Spend that time reading, doing something sedentary and calm. This will help your body and brain to prepare for sleep.
Once in bed, you need to have something to distract your mind from worrying or obsessing, but not something interesting enough to keep you awake. What has worked for me is listening to books on tape - dull, boring, very long - the sort of thing that won't hold your interest to keep you awake, but will drone you to sleep. Librivox is a website with a ton of free recorded books online. Another thing that worked for me was reading in dim light in bed, again, long, boring, highly descriptive books. For me, certain passages of Moby Dick were perfect. If neither books on tape nor reading work for you, then as a last resort try watching peaceful, droning shows on a laptop with the screen at its very dimmest setting. David Attenborough nature shows have worked wonders for me. Some people have found relaxation tapes, or self-hypnosis tapes to work - they never did for me. It wasn't enough to distract my hyperactive brain to allow falling asleep.
The whole idea is to give your body its best chance to fall asleep (no stimulants, regular schedule, and regular exercise) and then use something to distract your mind so that you aren't worrying or obsessing while you are trying to fall asleep.
I've had lifelong insomnia - it goes hand in hand with wicked ADHD. It got somewhat better by my late teens, but then came back gangbusters by my mid 40s, I think. But I've managed to avoid any sleep medications with the above methods. For me, the most important thing has been distracting my brain with something peaceful, in dim light - be it reading, books on tape, or dim-screened nature shows with peaceful narration (and David Attenborough is perfect for that).
It's tough to cut out drugs and alcohol and caffeine, to add in regular aerobic exercise, and to force yourself onto a regular sleep schedule, with no daylight sleeping, but it really is the only way. No medications are safe for long-term use, and even if they were, they usually stop working, if they ever did, and you wind up with worse insomnia.
If you have serious issues with depression and anxiety, a psychiatrist can prescribe certain medications for depression and anxiety that can have a welcome side effect of causing drowsiness when you take them. But I would advise that only if you have serious psychiatric needs, as opposed to just for insomnia that may be able to be helped with the above methods I've described.
I was told before to try melatonin, warm milk, benadryl, ambien, etc. And all those made me feel really tired but they didn't actually put me to sleep.
I think I need something like a "no more mr. nice guy medication", in the sense that it's no fooling around and time for a much more serious medication than all those ones recommended to before. I need a bottom line, no messing around one, if there is such one.
Is there anything that will actually put me to sleep, and not make me feel just really tired only?
Try an audible book. My mother used Books on Tape, she'd listen to a tape recorded book. That was too distracting for me so I got a CD player and ear buds.
One bud in the ear and I'm usually gone in five minutes or less.
Find a book that's not about war or politics or something that will interest or agitate you too much. A good droning voice from the reader and it's dreamland. Good luck.
Sleep disorders are common in people on the autistic spectrum and people with autism can have atypical reactions to certain medications. You really need to be seeing a psychiatrist and/or a sleep specialist, not Dr. Internet.
Oh okay thanks perhaps I could get my doc to refer then. As for going to bed the same time everynight, it's kind of hard to do with with my two jobs at the moment, but perhaps I could quit the part time one, on the weekends, if it means sleeping the same time on weekend nights, compared to weeknights.
Oh okay, your doctor said it was okay to take Ambien every night?
As for valerian, I can shop around and look for that. As Xanex or vallium, sounds good, but I'm guessing I shouldn't take it every night? Plus I don't want to feel hungover in the morning, for work, if that's possible of course.
As for pot, it's legal where I live. As for it not being addictive, are you sure, cause my friends who smoke it do it all the time if they are not working and just hanging out in their homes, which makes me think it's addictive.
I see people eating all the time. I guess they are addicted because I always see them eating. I also take a 5mg lozenge of CBD which is very relaxing. Since I don't enjoy smoking pot the lozenges work great. What I take is called Synergy, which comes in a lozenge. I think that, by itself, would put you to sleep.
Everyone has a different physiology, thus not everyone reacts the same to various drugs. I have extenuating circumstances, but what I take is really up to me. My doctors understand my particular condition and have given their consent to what I take. Maybe it's not everyone's cup of tea, but guess what? I don't care.
I have a hard time falling asleep. I toss and turn and then get stressed because I cannot fall asleep. I am tired - I will read and feel myself falling asleep but once the light goes out I cannot stay asleep. My insomnia is more than likely due to menopause.
I eat a very healthy diet and exercise almost every day ( cardio and weights). I do not consume anything caffeinated except coffee in the morning, (which I will not give up). I wear earplugs because my husband snores and I have a fan on. I am in no way stressed about anything.
These are the things I have tried:
Melatonin, marijuana, CBD edibles, meditation, chamomile tea, cutting out wine, and I am sure there are more things I have tried.
My doctor prescribed me 5mg Ambien and I take 1/2 a pill and it has WORKED! And I don't care about being on it because I have absolutely no hangover from it and it is a very low dose.
No, there isn't. Michael Jackson found that out the hard way. Unfortunately, the only way to better sleep is clean living and what is called "sleep hygiene" - healthy habits that encourage good sleep.
Cut out alcohol, and other drugs. You also need to cut out all caffeine, all stimulants. Even chocolate has enough caffeine to keep you up. And a lot of beverages contain caffeine.
You need to get up the same time every day (like 7 AM), and go to bed at the same time every night (like 10 PM). You should try to sync your schedule with getting up around sunrise, going to sleep not too long after sunset - of course, the amount of daylight varies throughout the year, but the idea is, you should be awake during the day, so that you can sleep at night.
You need to get 30 minutes or more of vigorous aerobic exercise every day - running, swimming laps, very fast walking, or the like. It must be completed by at least 3 hours before you would like to go to sleep, and preferably be done much earlier in the day. If you finish exercising too close to bed time, you won't be able to calm down into sleep.
Be off screens by an hour before you want to sleep - the light from the screens keeps you from getting sleepy.
Do nothing but sleep in the room that you want to sleep in - meaning don't spend time in your bedroom except during sleep hours. That way you will be conditioned to go to sleep when you enter that room.
An hour before bed, be in dimly lit rooms. No screens, no excitement. Spend that time reading, doing something sedentary and calm. This will help your body and brain to prepare for sleep.
Once in bed, you need to have something to distract your mind from worrying or obsessing, but not something interesting enough to keep you awake. What has worked for me is listening to books on tape - dull, boring, very long - the sort of thing that won't hold your interest to keep you awake, but will drone you to sleep. Librivox is a website with a ton of free recorded books online. Another thing that worked for me was reading in dim light in bed, again, long, boring, highly descriptive books. For me, certain passages of Moby Dick were perfect. If neither books on tape nor reading work for you, then as a last resort try watching peaceful, droning shows on a laptop with the screen at its very dimmest setting. David Attenborough nature shows have worked wonders for me. Some people have found relaxation tapes, or self-hypnosis tapes to work - they never did for me. It wasn't enough to distract my hyperactive brain to allow falling asleep.
The whole idea is to give your body its best chance to fall asleep (no stimulants, regular schedule, and regular exercise) and then use something to distract your mind so that you aren't worrying or obsessing while you are trying to fall asleep.
I've had lifelong insomnia - it goes hand in hand with wicked ADHD. It got somewhat better by my late teens, but then came back gangbusters by my mid 40s, I think. But I've managed to avoid any sleep medications with the above methods. For me, the most important thing has been distracting my brain with something peaceful, in dim light - be it reading, books on tape, or dim-screened nature shows with peaceful narration (and David Attenborough is perfect for that).
It's tough to cut out drugs and alcohol and caffeine, to add in regular aerobic exercise, and to force yourself onto a regular sleep schedule, with no daylight sleeping, but it really is the only way. No medications are safe for long-term use, and even if they were, they usually stop working, if they ever did, and you wind up with worse insomnia.
If you have serious issues with depression and anxiety, a psychiatrist can prescribe certain medications for depression and anxiety that can have a welcome side effect of causing drowsiness when you take them. But I would advise that only if you have serious psychiatric needs, as opposed to just for insomnia that may be able to be helped with the above methods I've described.
My 28 year old son has ADD as do I and he also had trouble sleeping. Tried so many things. He now takes CBD lozenges derived from hemp as opposed to the ones derived from cannabis, which is what I take. He now sleeps with no problem. I wouldn't recommend anyone to do what I do, as my case is unique.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.