Can people chime in on OTC meds to help sleep

I’ve heard people talk about Benadryl etc. is it safe for long time use?

No. I think the back of the package addresses its use as an antihistamine and says not longer than 14 days. It can give you blood pressure and cardiac problems.

 

Ditto for Unisom.

 

Having said that, I mixed and matched Benadryl, Unisom, hydroxyzine when I dropped Ambien and couldn't sleep. They all stopped working after awhile.

 

Nowadays I drink camomille tea (called nature's sedative) just before bed. I find it very calming.

 

Also, I've tried indica marijuana, which is very, very, effective.

 

"Sleep music" CDs and Youtube audio/videos are helpful, too.

 

Hope these ideas help you.

 

Katz

Also Benedryl and other similar meds are linked to increased risk for dementia- Not short term use however https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-drugs-like-benadryl-linked-increased-dementia-risk-201501287667

 

I've been using U-Dream an herbal combination I got on Amazon- it really puts you out with no apparent side effects- What symptoms I do have I think are still from withdrawal although hard to tell- There aren't many reviews but they are all positive (except one complaining of cost - $18.95 for 10)    They have a 4 hour and an 8 hour- I don't weigh much so I take the 4 hour and I even open the capsule and take some out- It's incredibly effective- just afraid to use it all the time- It contains passionflower which apparently effects the same part of the brain as the benzos so concerned it might be impacting my healing but when I haven't slept in days I'm desperate and it really works-  Was only sold in Canada until March- have been researching as much as I can -it seems too good to be true- 

I found that herbal remedies from health stores online offer products like tart cherry supplements and others that contain natural melatonin and other capsules that are designed for sleep that contain passion flower extract and other hebs and extracts  do in fact help me.

Ingredients of U Dream:

 

  Both the Full Night and Lite formulas of U-Dream contain a proprietary blend of natural herbal ingredients: Passion Flower, Lion’s Mane, Schisandra, Loquat, Jujube, L-Tryptophan, Reynoutria, Rehmannia and are MELATONIN FREE

 

I wonder if it's the L-Tryptophan that is really helpful? It's pretty well known as a sleeping aid. I don't know about the other ingredients. Haven't heard about half of them.

 

Interesting. Keep us posted Menemsha?

 

Katz

Careful with this. Any compound that you take for longer than a few days that is not nourishment (carbs, fat, protein and micronuitrients) will make your body go out of homeostasis. No matter how smart we are, how much we read up about things and no matter how much the sellers of something say it is "natural". If it takes you out of homeostasis then your body will fight to reach that state of homeostasis again and you will be in rebound withdrawal forever and a day until homeostasis is achieved.

 

To me this is just another version of the benzo struggle. There is no such thing as a free meal. You have to live and think in such a way that you sleep well. As long as you think you are different or special or this does not apply to you and that there is a substance out there that will help you sleep - you will seek it, use it and suffer from it.

 

Society and history are full of stories of people who try and use substances their whole lives long as a crutch or an aid for something..... never accomplishing a thing in the process except self inflicted suffering.

 

I know many people will be up in arms about this scientific fact but any substance that takes you out of homestasis cannot accomplish regular good sleep.

 

 

Strive2B, well said. Everything has a price.

My sleep has not returned for more than a few days since before I began my taper, during my taper and since I jumped.

I struggle.

Last night when I awoke after 1 hour and 45 minutes, I got up, searched on my computer for a sleep relaxation tape on Youtube, found one and settled down on the sofa to see what happened. I awoke around 2 hours later a bit too warm, so took my computer to bed and kept listening. I fell asleep again for a few more hours, woke up, then back to sleep again. I believe I slept for around 7 hours. A big deal for me.

Hopefully this does not stop working after a few days.

 

I find listening to the rain on YouTube or Exkhart tolle guided meditation helps.

Careful with this. Any compound that you take for longer than a few days that is not nourishment (carbs, fat, protein and micronuitrients) will make your body go out of homeostasis. No matter how smart we are, how much we read up about things and no matter how much the sellers of something say it is "natural". If it takes you out of homeostasis then your body will fight to reach that state of homeostasis again and you will be in rebound withdrawal forever and a day until homeostasis is achieved.

 

To me this is just another version of the benzo struggle. There is no such thing as a free meal. You have to live and think in such a way that you sleep well. As long as you think you are different or special or this does not apply to you and that there is a substance out there that will help you sleep - you will seek it, use it and suffer from it.

 

Society and history are full of stories of people who try and use substances their whole lives long as a crutch or an aid for something..... never accomplishing a thing in the process except self inflicted suffering.

 

I know many people will be up in arms about this scientific fact but any substance that takes you out of homestasis cannot accomplish regular good sleep.

 

 

Well said. I wonder if adaptogenic herbs make us go out of homeostasis also?

I think have listened to a LOT of youtube!

 

I know melatonin makes me feel awful.  I am wondering how 'natural' melatonin is different?

 

Tart cherry does not help me.. tried liquid and a capsule.

 

Those of us with lifetime sleep probs have tried it all.  The only thing could keep taking was benzos.  Hence my predicament.

 

Bad sleep was way prior to benzos.

BarbaraAve, I didn't have problems with sleep until I got married. My husband snored loudly all night.

Two years later, I was kept up with a colicky baby.

She eventually started to sleep through the night.

Second baby was a sleeper.

Husband still snored.

If I went to sleep first, the snoring didn't bother me as much, but as time went on, the snoring kept me awake off and on all night.

He was not a thoughtful snorer. I was told to never disturb him while he was snoring, as he could not help snoring.

I considered divorce.

Started sleeping in the basement, where it was wonderfully quiet. Sleep was an on and off issue by then, but looking back, I would have a night of wakefulness then a few nights of sleep, then a night of not sleeping much. I wish I had those nights back in retrospect.

Went to a psychologist for marriage counseling by myself husband would not go, as I was the one who was the problem. The counselor then sent me to a psychiatrist who prescribed Ambien and clonazepam. I was grateful for sleep and never questioned the ramifications of taking both drugs. It was 1998-1999.

Maybe by now I suppose I am considered a life timer with sleep problems and will forever have them.

I still sleep in the basement. Husband has Alzheimer's.

Two nights ago, I tried the Youtube sleep hypnosis and slept around 7 hours. I was elated. Last night, I never went to sleep or if I did, it was just dozing.

I'm just hanging in there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you all think about magnesium?

 

I have horrible insomnia again for the last month or so but especially the last few days. I cut my medication less than one percent and I have had less than 2 hours sleep in two days. This back and forth insomnia is a killer.

 

 

Epsom salts baths certainly helped me relax during my taper.

Look into dark chocolate,  unsweetened,  7 grams per day. 

Alaric, you feel that the dark chocolate helps with sleep? I have some and ate a square two days ago. I perhaps should eat some daily? Morning, afternoon or evening?

 

Alaric, you feel that the dark chocolate helps with sleep? I have some and ate a square two days ago. I perhaps should eat some daily? Morning, afternoon or evening?

 

Very, VERY hard to say in your particular case. I fear some will find that, like coffee, chocolate only acts as an obscene stimulant of some kind, and for them it was totally inappropriate. So just experiment with it in small doses, perhaps skipping a day between for a time.. That's what I mean by "look into it".

 

Be careful taking the advice of others!  Just dip your toe into the stream of suggestions and find one that works well for your point in time with all of this. We each seem to be so different in this after all!

 

Having said all of that, I have found that starting with a square (7 grams, approx), each day was palatable in my case, and that for some reason my sleep doubled within two weeks or so...

 

BUT -- that could have just been coincidence and it was going to happen at that point in time.  I don't generally think so because I had been struggling to stay down for such a long period of time, the pattern had to be set by then.  Anyway, I am sure there will be plenty of counter-point on my suggestion here and likely for any number of reasons.

 

 

I can only speak about my attempt at using OTC, I used Nyquil once and it worked but the next three days I was in a fog! NEVER again for me.

 

I also read where Benadryl long term has a part to play in dementia...my words are not happening..I try to get my bed and room as perfect as possible and then roll with it....

 

Good Luck

Hello J Stone. Am I to understand that you’re off both medicines?

The most effective thing I've done to help sleep is shut off all the lights and electronic equipment and just lay in darkness. It takes about 30-60 minutes to fall asleep unless you are still in WD, then longer I guess. Eating enough will make you sleepy and eating too little can make it harder to fall asleep sometimes. I don't believe in taking anything to help sleep. I do occasionally take a 25mg diphenhydramine tablet which is Benadryl basically. It isn't something you would want to take more than one day per week. I'm not really a fan of melatonin anymore but I used to take it daily. Melatonin is synthetic and taken in monster dosages. 0.3mg is the most you should take imo if you are going to take melatonin.

Herbal supplements like valerian root, passion flower extract, ashwaganda root, etc help but they are GABA agonists. In other words, taking them is like taking benzos to combat benzo withdrawals, insomnia being the worst of them. This will hamper or set your taper back. I guess there is no easy way out of this, have slept 6 hours total perhaps in the last 2 days. I won't make it until friday going like this, it's only tuesday today.

I learned that for every cause there is an effect.  Benzos helped eliminate the insomnia, but there was a disastrous price to pay. Some foods help with sleep, but then that disappears. Dark cherry juice did nothing for me. Dark chocolate helped at first, but now it just keeps me awake. OTC sleep aids put me in a fog, but does not put me to sleep.

Last night i had a dream that a group of people I was with were going to this doctor..kind of off the street, who was giving propofol to help with sleep. Seriously there were three other guys, I assume from BB in the dream, getting their sleep fix of propofol and I stood in line for mine. I guess that shows how desperate my sleepless brain has become.

I was given propofol when I had a colonoscopy and slept so very well the night after the procedure. Even the next night I got more sleep than usual. Then it was gone.

This insomnia really is playing havoc with my mental and physical state. Like BarbaraAve I've tried it all.

 

I love semisweet chocolate but not dark, but maybe next time at Trader Joe's will buy their dark chocolate bar.

 

Am in a bad place now with sleep which is original problem, not just withdrawal prob.

I learned that for every cause there is an effect.  Benzos helped eliminate the insomnia, but there was a disastrous price to pay. Some foods help with sleep, but then that disappears. Dark cherry juice did nothing for me. Dark chocolate helped at first, but now it just keeps me awake. OTC sleep aids put me in a fog, but does not put me to sleep.

Last night i had a dream that a group of people I was with were going to this doctor..kind of off the street, who was giving propofol to help with sleep. Seriously there were three other guys, I assume from BB in the dream, getting their sleep fix of propofol and I stood in line for mine. I guess that shows how desperate my sleepless brain has become.

I was given propofol when I had a colonoscopy and slept so very well the night after the procedure. Even the next night I got more sleep than usual. Then it was gone.

This insomnia really is playing havoc with my mental and physical state. Like BarbaraAve I've tried it all.

 

Hi Nightengale,

 

It is a trade off, but using Dark Chocolate is better when only used sporadically.  I never got the chance to explain that apparently (it has been a recent discovery too for that matter). Almost all of the OTC substances I try, whether it is Ibuprofen or basically anything else, they just don't work all that well (or some of them, like Ibuprofen, aren't all that safe) when used each and every day.

 

It could be that not using it for a time might make it work again for you.  Problem is the period one waits to use it again varies from individual to individual, apparently. It is, after all, a learning process. 

 

When I first discovered the usefulness of ibuprofen, for instance, I thought I could just use it daily. Turns out, not so. Using that stuff daily will cause a bleed somewhere.  The same is sort of true for Dark Chocolate with regard to trying to get it to work on a daily basis at least.

Yes, anything I take that works works like one time.  Phooey.

Alaric, thanks for the comments. Indeed ibuprofin can cause GI bleeds. I gave up on them many years ago.

Now it is waiting for nature to take its course. I've got nothing but time unless my expiration date comes around.

It would seem that anything and everything can cause insomnia. Seriously, I got some body lotion from my daughter and used it, then sleep was worse, so I gave up on the lotion to see if sleep would return

It has not, so will lay off of the lotion for another day or two.

The reason she gave me the lotion was when I shaved my legs, I ended up with 3-4 places where I shaved my skin off. It was bizarre.

She suggested I try the brand of shavers she was using, so I ran to costco and bought some. Same results.

It's no fun standing in the shower, shaving my legs, and seeing blood run down the drain. Something right out of the Psycho movie. ha

Sorry for TMI.