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I would like to try them as well! My insomnia is still going strong. I wish I had an easy fix for it. It's just so darn frustrating!
I haven't been tested for hyperarousal but I have a feeling that is what I have. I have to take a muscle relaxer to calm my mind down so I can get to sleep. Regular sleeping pills do nothing for me other than keeping me asleep after I do fall asleep.. I am interested in reading more about hyperarousal. I have to have the tv off for several hours (most of the time) in order for me to even be remotely tired, then I still have to take a muscle relaxer to fall asleep. It's frustrating since I don't want to have to take medications in order for something as natural as sleeping… But since I take so many other medications I have gotten used to it. I didn't have insomnia until I went off of Risperdal and went onto Seroquel (for my bipolar/schizophrenia symptoms) and then went back on risperdal. Risperdal used to knock me out, and definitely Seroquel knocked me out. I think since I was so used to Seroquel (very heavy sedative effects) and went back on a less sedative pill I lost the ability to fall asleep on my own.
There is nothing wrong with taking meds. I take meds for Bipolar Disorder, Insomnia, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, anxiety, thyroid, pain and heart burn. Meds are there to make your life easier. I hope the lexapro works for you. I know how frustrating it is to not be able to get to sleep or stay asleep. My doctor put me on a muscle relaxor and doxepin to get me to sleep and to stay asleep. My psychiatrist wouldn't prescribe the muscle relaxer but my GP did. So I am usually able to get to sleep near when I want and stay asleep. Maybe try that route? I tried many “sleeping” pills and none helped me actually get to sleep. That is my main problem. Knowing that whenever I took a muscle relaxer I fell asleep easily I decided to ask my psychiatrist about it (he wouldn't prescribe it or klonipin or anything like that – he's a wuss) so I asked my GP and he reluctantly agreed to.
I hope you find something that helps. Good luck.
No, you said:
“…some of you are on prescription drugs to get a good nights sleep, so perhaps some of you might be interested in try something less invasive then prescription drugs.”
You implied that those ON prescription drugs should try it since it's “less invasive” than prescription drugs.
On that page it lists Calms Forte. I tried it. It did nothing for me. So I stay away from “homeopathic” remedies since if it doesn't do anything for me (i've tried others) then why pollute my body with it. I am on a generic sleep aid and a muscle relaxer. The sleep aid (doxepin) keeps me asleep when I finally get to sleep but the muscle relaxer actually helps me get to sleep. It makes me drowsy when nothing else has worked. My psychiatrist wont prescribe the muscle relaxer but my GP decided it was okay to prescribe for me for sleep since I have taken it many times (my mom's) and it works 90% of the time to get me to sleep.
I'd rather take “invasive” drugs if they work. Nothing homeopathic has worked for me for insomnia. I have insomnia EVERY night. No if's and's or butts. So I take what works.
Welcome to the forum 🙂 I had been taking 2 sleeping pills (newer kind) and still had issues falling asleep. I can't take the Silenor and Ambien CR anymore (even thoug the ambien cr is generic) due to the outrageous price my insurance charges. I just switched to doxepin 10mg and had success last night but not the first night i took it, the night before. I hope you can find some help here on this site. Have you tried melatonin? I hear many people have good success with that. Much luck to you.
Brittany
I would love to give it a try! I've not had good luck with herbal remedies but it can't hurt to try again. Sounds like a good product. I may not have had that much of herbs in teh pills I took so maybe it'll work for me. Thanks for letting us know!
I have songs in my head EVERY night. It keeps me awake. The sleeping pills I'm on don't seem to help. I'm on 2 sleeping pills, ambien cr and silenor. The only thing that those do are keep me asleep once I get to sleep. But getting to sleep is the hard part for me. I don't usually get to sleep till a minimum of 4am. But yeah songs in my head suck. I'm used to it though. I just get back up and go to my computer and compute away till hours later when I get tired enough to lay down and possibly fall asleep.
I really don't know what I want to do with my life. I'm a computer geek so maybe I could go back to college and go into IT or something. I'm 27 and physically disabled due to obesity that is caused by PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome), I can't walk much due to severe lower back pain. I was a little better when I was going to the chiropractor regularly but since I quit I've gotten worse again. So I need to find a job where I can work from home.
I used to want to be a veterinarian when I was a kid. I doubt I could do it now. The whole standing/walking issue prevents it. I live at home with my parents since I can't work for a living. I'm trying to get SSDI for my obesity and my mental illnesses which are quite severe but controlled on medicine. So I have lots of things preventing me from living life fully. Plus the insomnia would keep me from working standard jobs (8-5 work hours).
I would love to try or make cashes butter. Oh that sounds so good! I love cashews. I'm not too fond of peanuts, though I do eat them from time to time.
'Birdlike' wrote on '31:Hi! I'm not sure what to say, so humor me, please. I'll just tell you what's wrong with me.
How I got here here: I've had chronic insomnia since my preteens, so ~16 years and counting. It manifested itself in various forms and I tried what felt like a whole pharmacy (along with lots of techniques, etc.) Maybe I ought to mention that I have sort of severe psychiatric issues which flare up often. I'm happy to share what they are if someone is curious; I'm just not sure how etiquette goes here.
What's going on: Starting about 13 months ago the nature of my insomnia changed and made it much harder (arguably, impossible) to manage my life. I started to wake up a few times every night, the same interval of time passing between each waking. As time passed those intervals shrunk, meaning the number of times I wake up has increased considerably.
Now: At this point I wake up every 45- 60 minutes. On top of too many sleep studies, sleep hygiene books, and -under protest- hypnosis I've tried so many medications, both indicated and off-label, that my current psych recently told me she couldn't think of anything… but hey, we could always try things that had failed in the past, again!
Thus I'm feeling a bit broken, defeated, and completely out of ideas. I had hoped here to learn about things other people had tried, and even what category my problem falls into, ideally. Failing that, I'll settle for something comforting/that resonates to read at 4am 🙂
OK, I'll spare you details of my interests, activities, etc. since I've written so much!
Welcome to the forum! My insomnia and psychiatric health is sort of similar. I sleep 3-4 hours at a time unless it's night time when I can't get to sleep until at a minimum 4am. I have schizoaffective disorder, bypolar subtype. Meaning I have schizophrenia AND bipolar disorder together. I'm on Risperdal to combat that. I'm usually pretty stable on my meds though. But my insomnia has gotten much worse lately. I've been through the gamut of newer insomnia medicines whithout much help. I now take 2 sleeping pills together and still don't get to sleep by 4am most nights. I take Silenor 6mg and Ambien CR 12.5mg together. But I'm on a whole slew of other medications for many issues. Welcome to the board, hopefully you can chat with some people and find some help.
Hi, welcome to the board. I hope you find helpful tips to help your insomnia. Welcome!
Since I have insomnia every night I haven't asked my doctor to try xanax. I would be afraid, too. Drugs of any kind can be scary to take especially if they can be addictive. I currently take 2 sleeping pills, Silenor and Ambien CR. I still don't get to sleep usually until 2am-4am and I take my pills around 11 or 11:30pm.
It would be nice to be able to take a pill and go to sleep in a half hour but I don't see that in the cards for me. I think as long as you are careful and keep track of how often you take it and keep an eye on that to make sure you aren't using it more and more it may be fine. Good luck!
I was first tried on trazodone which did nothing for me. Then I was put on Lunesta which worked for maybe 2 weeks. Probably the placebo affect… Then Ambien, then ambien cr, then Sonata, then silenor. Now I'm on silenor AND ambien cr. And I don't think that's working anymore as it's 2:06am and I'm not tired. I have to call the psychiatrist tomorrow to get a refill on the silenor so I'm going to make an appointment instead and see him. Hopefully we can try Lunesta or another one along with the ambien cr. Ugh.
Aww, I'm sorry you are having such trouble staying asleep. I have the opposite problem. I can't fall asleep. But then usually when I do fall asleep I wake up and cant get back to sleep. So it's a mix of problems for me. I have been through the gamut of sleeping pills and now my psychiatrist has me on two sleeping pills. Silenor and Ambien CR. So far it's working to get me to sleep and to stay asleep, but I'm just waiting for this to wear off because they all go kaput after a while of working, just like you are experiencing. 🙁
Maybe your doctor can try two sleeping pills at once, like Ambien CR AND another sleeping pill (not an antidepressant like trazadone) such as Silenor or Remeron. Good luck! And Congrats on the baby!
