Sleep Products that I use

[bighead384]

http://www.drinkdreamwater.com/


I love this product and melatonin in general (which Dream Water contains). I don't think I've had trouble sleeping since I started drinking it. It's a bit expensive unless you buy in bulk or find a coupon though.

Sleep Cycle (alarm clock app): http://www.sleepcycle.com/
How it works (from site): During the night you go from light sleep to deep sleep, occasionally entering into a dream state which is called REM-sleep. These are things that your normal alarm clock does not care about, and will go off at the set time regardless of whether you are in a light sleep phase or in the deepest sleep. However, since you move differently in bed during the different phases, the Sleep Cycle alarm clock is able to use the accelerometer in your iPhone to monitor your movement and determine which sleep phase you are in. Sleep Cycle then uses a 30 minute alarm window that ends at your set alarm time and wakes you in your lightest sleep phase.

Breathe Rite Advanced:http://www.breatheright.com/products/advanced
My Jojan Joke Predictor is showing a post with either a picture of a bed or just the phrase "a bed".

["Melyssa K" Kennedy]

I hope you know that if you take melatonin, your brain will stop producing its own.

[bighead384]

I hope you know that if you take melatonin, your brain will stop producing its own.

Shit. I didn't fucking know that.

Hmm, well, I'm still getting the best sleep of my life. So I guess there isn't a problem yet, and it's been like 6 months since I started using it.

["Melyssa K" Kennedy]

Shit. I didn't fucking know that.

Hmm, well, I'm still getting the best sleep of my life. So I guess there isn't a problem yet, and it's been like 6 months since I started using it.

Yeah, your brain becomes dependent on the outside source and stops producing its own, so when you stop taking the outside source, you have more trouble sleeping than before you started. I know because I took it as a child for a couple months, but I stopped when I found out about what it does.

[Llamas]

It's true. True of any hormone you take that your body produces naturally. It's very easy to become "addicted" to Melatonin for that reason.

I used to take sleep aids - I've tried many (Melatonin, Ambien, Unisom, some Austrian one I don't remember the name of, and a couple other US prescription ones I don't remember the names of). I still have sleep problems, but I don't take sleep aids anymore for two reasons. One is because of the dependence/addiction, as Melissa described, and the other is because the sleep you get slowly becomes less and less refreshing/real. It becomes almost artificial after time. So now I only use a sleep aid (just a very low dose of Melatonin - the other sleep aids I've taken were far stronger) now and then when I really, really need to get to sleep. That's a couple times a year now.

Oh, and that Sleep Cycle thing doesn't work unless you know exactly when you fall asleep (not when you go to bed - if you lie in bed for just 10 or 15 minutes before falling asleep, it's useless). Plus, most of us wake up in the middle of the night without even realizing/remembering it (any time you remember a dream, it means you woke up during it), which also throws the whole thing off. The only way it would work would be if you set the alarm like 1 minute before falling asleep, and slept through those hours entirely without waking up even once. It could work maybe one out of 100 times - when you're super, super beyond exhausted.

[Tiny Vessels]

I've tried Melatonin,Unisom, and ZZZQuil. None of them worked for me. It sucks. Even when my sinuses are acting or have a cold and I take some medicine before I go to sleep it doesn't help me sleep. Oh how I love my insomnia.

[Tiny Vessels]

Have you seen a doctor about your sleep difficulties? My raging, out of control insomnia was one of my first symptoms of a much larger medical syndrome.

No I haven't I know I should though. I have a drs appointment next month so I'll probably say something then. How I look at it is that I been dealing with this for years and it's normal for me not to sleep but it has been getting worse.

["Melyssa K" Kennedy]

You guys aren't alone in this sleep problem issue. I've had trouble falling asleep since I was a baby. At age 4 I would have bedtime at 7pm and be up until 10 or 11 and I survived on 4 hours of sleep a night during the week throughout high school. Once I'm asleep, I stay asleep and don't want to wake up, but I'd be up until 5-7am or even up all night and the next day if I didn't take ambien. But after months of taking it, you build a tolerance, so I am going to switch back to trazadone for my next script.

P.S. I once stayed up for 72 hours straight, working 36 of those hours, then slept for 30 hours, waking up only to go to the bathroom and drink some water.

["Melyssa K" Kennedy]

Same thing for me. I ignored my insomnia because it was just a part of my life, until I stopped sleeping altogether. The hallucinations after several days of no sleep...not recommended. Don't let it get that far!

Melyssa, I did the same thing when I was a kid. When I was 4, my mom didn't know what to do with me because I kept getting out of bed so she let me watch Twin Peaks with her. Probably explains a lot.

Oh, Ambien...I took it twice. Made crazy phone calls and tried walking out of my dorm both times. I have no memory of any of it. I take Lyrica for fibromyalgia and a muscle relaxant every night for 8 or 9 years and I've slept pretty regularly every since.

That's so cool that your mom let you stay up!
Insomnia isn't my problem, that's when you fall asleep but can't stay asleep. Mine is sleep on-set disorder. Can't fall asleep.
Yeah, Ambien's no joke. First time I took it, I ended up slowly kicking my feet under the covers because I thought I was swimming in water and I would forget some IM chat conversations I had because, like a dumbass, I didn't go to bed RIGHT after taking it. To this day, I see my TV and computer screen in 3D when it hits me.

[Llamas]

That's so cool that your mom let you stay up!
Insomnia isn't my problem, that's when you fall asleep but can't stay asleep. Mine is sleep on-set disorder. Can't fall asleep.
Yeah, Ambien's no joke. First time I took it, I ended up slowly kicking my feet under the covers because I thought I was swimming in water and I would forget some IM chat conversations I had because, like a dumbass, I didn't go to bed RIGHT after taking it. To this day, I see my TV and computer screen in 3D when it hits me.

Nah, another name for sleep onset disorder is initial insomnia. I have (more in the past than now, but still) that disorder, as well. In college, I'd have zero problem staying awake for 40+ hours, and then sleeping for 19. Nowadays, I still have a whacked out sleep "schedule", but I teach only afternoons and evenings so it works out. But if I ever have to wake up in the morning, my insomnia kicks in a bit - I have a difficult time falling asleep if I'm not dead exhausted and ready for it, and then the stress of having to wake up and the time ticking down keeps me awake even more, until when I do finally pass out, it's nearly impossible to wake up. It was a SERIOUS problem in college. I went to three doctors, and they all threw sleeping pills at me. One even nervously suggested I go get my eyes checked and go to the mental health clinic. Seriously, that woman pissed me off. She clearly didn't know what was wrong with me, so she just tried to dump me off on someone else. My vision was fine and I had no signs of depression or anything, plus I've had the disorder since I was 13 or even younger. Finally, I found out about Disability Services and went there. They knew about my condition and I was SO RELIEVED because most people treated me like a loser who was just fucking lazy and didn't want to get out of bed in the morning. I actually started to believe them until I went to DS.

I made some changes in my lifestyle, though, and now it's not nearly so bad - even when I do have to wake up in the mornings. I can actually manage to get 5-6 hours of sleep in those cases (depending on how early... if I have to get up before 9am, I have to take a Melatonin to get to sleep in time). But finding the right apartment, making sure I don't do any work or computer or anything like that in bed (my bedroom is now only for sleeping and I do all my work and computer surfing and everything else in the living room), some small changes to my diet, getting more exercise, drinking a lot more water, massively cutting down coffee... these all played roles in helping me. Melissa, I definitely suggest first going to the doctor if you haven't already. If it doesn't turn out to be a symptom of something medical, then I suggest finding some disability services center where you live. They helped me a lot. And if you need any advice on dealing with initial insomnia, you can message me. I know how hard it is to deal with, and the way people treat you, etc. I don't think there are any known ways to overcome it completely, but there are ways to improve it and make it easier to deal with (besides those fucking sleeping pills...)