Take that, you insomniac!

In My Humble Opinion
1

Yay!

Background: I work a graveyard shift and revert back to a day-schedule on my days off. i have suffered from insomnia since I was a teenager, progressively getting worse the older I get. I also am bi-polar with the tendency of having more manic episodes vs depression. i had been taking Seroquel for a little more than a year with “ok” success (if i take a smaller dosage, I do not stay asleep or have restless sleeping. Full dose and I tend to NEED to sleep 12+ hrs or biting during waking hours may happen).
Female, 30-something yrs young

It seems that I may now be winning the battle with insomnia without having to use a prescription drug (which, btw, has somewhat recently reportedly caused weight gain… yup, that could be a valid explanation on my end).

One of the ER nurses told me about an OTC supplement that many Dr’s are recommending to their elderly patients to help them sleep. So I gave it a shot - after 3 days of no/restless sleep, what could I possibly lose?

Downfall: It takes about 30 minutes to kick in, even when accompanied by a Benadryl (nurse told me to take with a Benedryl). However, I have noticed after using for a week now, that it takes 15-30 min (but isnt that ‘normal’ for a non-medicated person?).

When first taking it, I felt groggy when waking up after 8 hrs of sleep. this side effect decreased after a couple days. Benedryl has always wired me up unless I take two (but I stuck to a single dose for this combo) & leaves me feeling groggy regadless if I sleep or not.

My sinuses have seemed to kicked in more (out comes the neti-pot!) - but, maybe, just maybe that is because of the changing of the seasons and not due to the Benedryl.

It’s taken almost a week to gain the hours of restful, uninterrupted sleep.

Bright side:
Sleep! oh my lovely, beautiful, sleep! How i embrace you!

the supplement is CHEAP!

I feel more energetic at work (in the middle of the night) and i dont think I’m as cranky. My mood swings arent so “swingy”.

It’s taken a little less than a week to gain the hours of restful, uninterrupted sleep. =)
So what is this “miracle” that works for me?

Melatonin!

Anyone else using this? experiences?

2

Melatonin rocks. My girlfriend recently discovered it. Before she did, she was ALWAYS tired and only felt refreshed if she went to sleep WHEN she felt ready to, which sometimes meant having to stay until 3am or later. Now, if she takes a melatonin pill an hour before she plans to get to sleep, she will get through the night and wake up totally refreshed, no matter how early she turns in.

I picked up a bottle of it a couple days ago. Too soon to say how well it works for me, but I feel it kicking in right now, so gnight! And I mean it - GOOD night!!!

3

My insomnia happens in the middle of the night. I have no trouble falling asleep at the beginning. I sleep like gang-busters for about 4 hours. Then I wake up to relieve myself and can’t fall back to sleep!

Melatonin did not seem to help me with this. Although I still sometimes take it.

4

Exactly the case with me, except I only sleep about 2 hours befoe waking. I’ve tried Melatonin, and it did not help a bit. Now, reading the OP, i begin to realize maybe i should keep at it for a while, so will try again.

5

Melatonin has made me sick to my stomach the few times I have taken it. Has this happened to anyone else?

6

Melatonin and I didn’t get along terribly well at first, because it helped me fall asleep just fine, but then subjected me to blood-curdling, unbearably vivid and deeply disturbing dreams. Those became rarer and rarer, though, and I now absolutely swear by it. One tablet half an hour before I want to go to sleep, and I can both fall asleep within an hour of lying down, sleep the whole night, and avoid waking up feeling medicated. It’s glorious.

7

This is exactly my experience. I had about a week of *very vivid, sometimes horrific sometimes just strange dreams. But they have gone now and I am sleeping better and not waking up durring the night. I do find that if I am forced awaken for some reason in the first 5 hours or so of sleep (it has happened a couple of times) I feel very groggy in a drugged out sort of way. But that may just be the result of having been woken from a very deep sleep.
*One night I was woken up by the sound of glass breaking. I turned on the light and hopped out of bed to see what was wrong and just about the time I had finished waking up my wife to have her help me look I realized that it was just a strange dream. In the morning I apologized to my wife for waking her up over something so silly and she said “oh, that’s ok. I am suprised you even remember it, I thought you were just talking in your sleep.” I looked at her and said, “What are you talking about? I got out of bed and turned on the lights and shook you awake!” She responded with, “No, I happened to be already up and you rolled over to me and mumbled ‘did something just break’ and then went back to snoring.”

I am still not able to fully believe that what I experienced wasn’t reality, but she is very certain that her version is correct.

8

I take 6 mg of melatonin and 2 Benadryls 1 1/2 hours before bedtime. It makes me nice and sleepy. The only negative is when I forget to take it, and I’m getting ready for bed and wondering why I feel so alert. Then I :smack:

9

I too have had insomnia since childhood. Lately, it’s taken the form of extremely early waking, so although melatonin did once help me to get to sleep (with decreasing regularity, I might add), that was no longer the problem. More recently, 150 milligrams of Trazadone once per night have been quite successful in making me sleep a solid, restful 7-10 hours each night without waking up feeling groggy. A delight, and the only sure-fire cure for insomnia I’ve ever found.

10

I’ve had insomnia since I was a kid, unfortunately melatonin does not seem to do anything for it. Most prescription sleeping pills have no effect either though.

11

Trazadone used to make me feel groggy and foggy alll morning.

No sir, I didn’t like it.

Now I just suffer with little sleep and fatigue.

12

I learned that certain types of dreams were associated with medical problems. Vivid disturbing dreams meant I was getting a migraine headache. Claustrophobic dreams meant my nose was clogging up and I was having problems breathing. Once I realized that, I was able to recognize it while dreaming and wake up. i’m also aware of acid reflux and if it starts to move up my esophagus I will bolt straight up fully awake.

It’s my opinion that although we are asleep we are aware of what is around us to some degree and will respond to it. I’ve always been aware that sounds are amplified to me while I’m sleeping. By that I mean that a sound that should be of importance (such as breaking glass) will sound very loud to me while I’m asleep. If I heard someone breaking into a car then the sound of metal on metal or shattering glass would sound like it happened in my bedroom.

I noticed this phenomena in one of my cats. I could whisper her name or a trigger word across the room and she would respond to it and wake up.