Hi everyone, Barnaby here. First, I’d like to thank everyone who sent me suggestions for natural cures for insomnia. So many of you sent accupuncture — but to tell you the truth — that really freaks me out. I decided to try Valerian first, and it’s only been a few days but it appears it is already working. The lady who originally recommended it to me, Joanne, told me that it could take 2 to 3 weeks of use to take effect. She thinks that I might be experiencing a bit of the placebo effect, but to tell you the truth, I don’t care — just so long as I can sleep. Last night I got just over 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and I was actually able to stay alert and focused at work today — which recently has been a real rarity.
So just how does Valerian work? It appears that science has not yet answered this question. “Mainstream” medicine was initially skeptical of Valerian as a treatment for insomnia, but several recent studies have shown that it can be effective in many cases. In the end, so long as it helps me get restful sleep without harming me, I really don’t care what “science” says about it. I was able to find Valerian at a nutritional store, and Joanne recommended that I start with a daily intake of 7 grams taken 3 hours before going to bed. For the past 2 nights I’ve fallen asleep within an hour after hitting the pillow. I haven’t experienced any side effects like I did before with sleeping pills, and my research so far hasn’t shown anyone who claims Valerian is addictive.
I’m quickly becoming a believer in Valerian. We’re off tomorrow on a trip for a few days to visit my wife’s sister and her family up in Wisconsin. Taking a few days off work should further help to reduce the stress which built up during my several weeks of not sleeping. Hopefully the Valerian continues to allow for restful sleep. I’ll give everyone an update when I return.
Hi all, it’s Barnaby checking back in. When I last posted on CantSleep.com the other day I was about to have my sleep apnea test. My doctor just called and advised me that I do not have sleep apnea. I can’t help but feel relieved, but at the same time I am disappointed that a definitive reason for my insomnia can not be ascertained. For now, I’ve decided that I’ve had enough of doctors and so-called experts, and I’m going to try to find a solution for my sleep issues which doesn’t involve pills. If you remember, I’ve previously described on here my unpleasant experiences with over the counter sleep aids. I tried various types of over the counter sleep pills, and they left me with horrible nightmares and insatiable thirst. I’m also quite nervous about becoming addicted to sleeping pills.
Last night my wife had me call her friend Joanne who is really into alternative medicine. Joanne told me that there are several possible natural cures for insomnia, and that she personally has seen them used with success. She gave me a list of possible natural cures of insomnia, and I’m now researching them trying to decide which is best for me. I first ruled out Melatonin. Although it seems that many people are able to use Melatonin successfully, I read that it can cause nightmares — something which I have already shown a tendency towards when I tried over the counter sleep aids. Also out is Kava. Although I see it discussed online, Joanne told me to stay away from it — Kava is now thought to potentially cause liver damage.
The next possibility is Valerian. This seems interesting. It seems that Valerian is a really popular natural cure for insomnia in Europe, and it has been used to treat insomnia for hundreds of years. Joanne insisted that Valerian is not tied to nightmares, and most importantly it is not addictive. The downside is that she said that you have to take Valerian for two to three weeks before it becomes effective. I don’t know if I can make it another 3 weeks like this sleeping only a few hours a night — if that. Joanne also suggested Yoga and Feng Shui — but I really am not the Eastern mystic type. I guess Yoga can’t hurt, but Feng Shui just strikes me as silly.
I think Valerian is on the top of my list to try as a natural cure for insomnia. Has anyone out there had success with any other possible natural cures? I’d really love to hear if you have.
Hi everyone — Barnaby here again. It’s been a few days since I’ve shared my ongoing insomnia saga with you, my apologies for that. Suffice to say, things have not gotten any better. The other day when I lasted posted I was about to try sleeping pills one more time. As feared, that was a disaster. No nightmares this time, but after getting a few hour’s worth of sleep I was completely dysfunctional. I even had to stay home from work and miss and important staff meeting which didn’t go over well with my boss whatsoever. This prompted my wife to insist that I see yet another doctor, and this one wants me to have a sleep apnea test. My previous research led me to believe that sleep apnea was not the cause of my insomnia, but this doctor wants to rule it out for sure.
Sleep apnea is a condition where you stop breathing for short (or sometimes longer up to 30 seconds) periods. This causes you to awaken while gasping for breath — obviously not conducive to a good night’s sleep. Last night I got around 3 hours of sleep in total — which is around average over the past several weeks since my insomnia first started. I am almost hoping that the sleep apnea test comes back positive — at least then I’ll know what the issue is. The doctor told me that the official name for this test is polysomnography. It involves monitoring my breathing and vital statistics while (if) I sleep. I have to spend tonight at the clinic where they’ll hook me up to this machine and record all of my movements.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to sleep at all while hooked up to all those wires. The doctor assured me that a sleep apnea test is completely painless, so I’m not worried. Suz offered to spend the night at the clinic, but they advised against it. She has been really supportive during my insomnia crisis, I really don’t know what I’d do without her. Well, I’m not sure whether to ask you to root for me to pass or fail the test. Sleep apnea sounds scary, but at least there are cures and I can solve my sleep issues once and for all. I’ll update everyone once I get the test results.
Well, it didn’t last long. After sleeping like a baby last night, here I am again at 1:45am sitting out on our deck. After almost 3 hours of tossing and turning I decided to let Suz sleep in peace. I’m pretty sure she woke up when I got out of bed, and it’ll cause her to worry once again. She was so elated after my full night’s sleep yesterday, I was tempted to pretend to sleep the night through just to avoid her concern. But I needed some fresh air — lying in that bed sleeplessly any longer was going to drive me crazy.
When insomnia first hit me several weeks ago I thought it was a temporary thing, and I turned to over the counter sleep aids. I’m not a big fan of taking pills, but I read up on them and for occasional use most every authoritative site I researched said that they were ok. However, for me — they weren’t. For some reason, over the counter sleep aids caused me horrific nightmares — so bad that I’d awake screaming scaring the heck out of my wife and kids. Also, for the entire next day after I took sleeping pills I was incredibly dazed, fatigued and confused. It was even worse than after being up the whole night without any sleep at all. Also, for almost a day after taking over the counter sleep aids I couldn’t drink enough water — no matter how much I drank my mouth remained bone dry.
I tried both types of over the counter sleep aids — those containing Diphenhydramine and ones containing Doxylamine. Neither were good, but the second type did not produce side effects as severe as the first. Right now, I’m so disappointed that my insomnia returned after a beautiful night’s sleep last night that I’m willing to try an over the counter sleep aid again. I’m going to try a different brand containing Doxylamine than I tried initially a few weeks ago, and I really hope it works. I really need at least a few hours of sleep tonight, or I’m going to be completely worthless at tomorrow’s (or today’s I should say now that it is 2:00am) staff meeting. There is a 24 hour drugstore a few blocks down the street — surely the over the counter sleep aids aisle will be a lively place at 2am. Maybe I can make some new insomniac friends.
Part of me is scared that pills will work ok for me — most of what I read warns about how addictive they can be. Assuming they can work for me — what road will that lead down? I really wanted to stay away from pills, but as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men…..
Hi everyone — Barnaby here. Today is one of the happiest days for me in recent memory. If you read my postings yesterday you’ll remember I was highly stressed and under the gun to write an important proposal. I finished the RFP with only minutes to spare, and then we dropped the kids with Suz’s mom and went for a really nice romantic dinner. We returned home at around 10:00pm, and by 10:30 I was actually asleep! For the first time in what seems now to be forever, I slept right through the night and was awoken by my alarm at 7:00 — over 8 full hours! Now I arrive to the office to see that my proposal won the contract. Life is good. I’m not sure what caused my sudden insomnia relief, but I hope it lasts. For now, I’m so happy that I’m going to indulge in my first ever published poem:
The vast majority of us experience at least occasional insomnia — rare is the individual who can quickly and easily fall asleep every night. Everyday stresses, big upcoming events or excess caffeine can all be insomnia causes, and periodic bouts of it can be easily treated with lifestyle changes or over-the-counter sleeping pills. However, some suffer chronic insomnia which can prove to be a serious impediment to leading an active life. Chronic insomnia causes can be biological, psychological or environmental. Identifying the insomnia causes behind your sleepless nights is the most important first step allowing for selection of the correct treatment regimen.
Within the psychological realm of insomnia causes are anxiety, stress and depression. Those who suffer from depression often have chronic insomnia as a symptom which creates a vicious circle of the lack of sleep further exacerbating the depression. Psychological conditions which contribute to insomnia can often be treated by therapy or pharmaceuticals. Biological insomnia causes can include underlying conditions and diseases which prevent a full nights sleep. Sleep apnea is a prominent biological insomnia cause, and this condition can be treated with a variety of techniques.
Environmental insomnia causes can be as simple as an uncomfortable bed or pillow, or sleeping conditions which are noisy or not sufficiently dark. Addressing these environmental insomnia causes is often quite easy, and simple behavior changes can do the trick. Some behaviors like excessive caffeine consumption can contribute to biological insomnia causes, and this also can be addressed by changing the offending behavior. Although insomnia has many causes, the net result for all sufferers include daytime drowsiness, inability to concentrate and poor school or work performance. Consequently, identifying the insomnia causes behind your particular case is critical in order to prevent these often debilitating effects of insomnia.
I came across some information that I found surprising. Most doctors recommend that you abstain from drinking caffeine after 2 pm. I thought that this was amazing, I mean how many of us enjoy a caffeinated beverage with dinner or a nice brew of coffee after dinner; apparently, it takes a long time for the caffeine to dissolve, and to completely leave our bodies only once this occurs we can start to relax. I decided to see if this was true and I soon realized that it’s much harder to do than I thought.
I found out that after eating a big meal I had become incredible custom to that much needed caffeine boost and avoiding coffee or stimulants I fell asleep watching television. I did notice that I slept better than I have ever slept before, I got to sleep right away no tossing or turning, I didn’t wake up half way through the night and when I woke up the next morning I felt much more alert even before my morning brew.
I have decided to make this one of my permanent rules when I get home from work I stay away from caffeine unless I don’t feel like I am going to be able to make it to bedtime of course. I hereby issue you the same challenge you may find it difficult at first but I encourage you to stick to it.
I would like people to try this simple and easy method and see if it works for them. In one of my other articles I wrote about the over use of stimulants and relaxants or as I called them uppers and downers. This is your chance right now to remove yourself from this negative cycle and stop your body from working against you and help it work for you. Not to mention think of all the money you will save on sleeping pills and coffee.
You start your morning with a nice brew of hot coffee. At the office, you may find yourself enjoying another cup of coffee at around 10:30. If you go out for lunch with some co-workers and have lets’ say a rum and coke with your lunch, Around 3 pm you notice that your really starting to find yourself in a slump or crash. The way home you have a red bull or another energy drink or maybe just another coffee. The average person consumes 3 cups of coffee a day. When you add up how much caffeine has been consumed in my mock day at work, it would look like this.
Three cups of coffee
Glass of cola
1 Red bull / energy drink
That’s just before you get home and have dinner. We have developed into an upper and downer society. We think we need chemicals to get us going and to put us down. We in fact have been trained since grade school ‘when they installed the cola machines’ to be chemical dependant. You may find your hypertension (stress) going through the roof at times so maybe you consult your doctor. He may give you some sleeping pills or anti anxiety medication and this is the downer side.
Uppers and downers with so much of this going on are you surprised when your dentist tells you that you have been grinding your teeth when you sleep and it’s all due to stress. We have lost so many celebrities to our chemical depend society. Heath ledger to Elvis Presley they all died to due a combination of depressants (drugs) and alcohol (increases hypertension upper) and it also doubles as a depressant.
If you take an honest look at your own addictions caffeine, alcohol, sugar, maybe nicotine. You will never look at someone who is addicted to meth or heroin the same way again.
Everyone likes to enjoy a good night’s sleep but not many are fortunate enough to get that every single day of their lives. Drugs such as Indiplon promise to help sort out this very problem.
Indiplon – Sleepless No More
Indiplon is an experimental sleep inducing drug which has been made primarily in two formulations, the immediate release version for sleep onset and the other which is a sustained release version, for sleep maintenance. Hence the administration of the drug can be varied depending on specific sleep problems as reported by the individuals seeking treatment. The immediate release formulation is believed to be effective for about three to four hours and helpful for those who have trouble falling asleep. The sustained release version lasts for about six to eight hours and works well on those who wake up frequently while sleeping. It has been successfully tested on rodents where quick and significant depression in locomotor activity was observed on administration and therefore believed to act more quickly and effectively than most sleep inducers.
Indiplon is a non-benzodiazepine agent which has a high affinity towards GABA-A receptors and binds itself to a GABA-A receptor inside the brain resulting in inducing of sleep. There are many sleeping pills like Ambien and Lunesta but Indiplon is expected to be ten times more effective than these drugs. Indiplon has a faster more effective result as it gets absorbed into the blood stream relatively quickly and gets metabolized faster as well, as a result of which the person will not feel sleepy or drugged when he wakes up in the morning. The main use of the drug is for two purposes. For an occasional good night’s sleep and for the cure of chronic insomnia.
Insomnia is a common disorder that affects a large part of the world’s population and originates dues to a number of reasons. Almost everyone experiences a few sleepless nights in a lifetime, but there are some who seem to take up a larger share. People suffering from insomnia either find it difficult to fall asleep or wake up in between sleep frequently, thereby ending up with a stressed and restless feeling when they wake up eventually in the mornings. Although in most cases treating the causative factors such as depression or stress may help relieve insomnia, in certain cases where there are no apparent or underlying causes the insomnia may need to be treated as a distinct problem by itself.
Although Indiplon is expected to help many distressed insomniacs enjoy a night of fitful uninterrupted sleep it is not without its share of side effects. Like almost all other hypnotic drugs prolonged use of non-benzodiazepine drugs such as Indiplon can cause serious damage to one’s body and is believed to cause cancer of the breast, lungs, heart, lung, brain and bowel. The dosage prescribed depends on the sleep patterns of individual cases. For a person who suffers from insomnia and is able to sleep for less than six hours a four weeks of dosage of 10 mg daily is recommended. What works in favor of Indiplon as compared to other sleep inducing drugs is the fact that unlike the other sedatives Indiplon does not leave a long lasting drowsy feeling.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to get a peaceful and refreshing full night’s sleep. But the unfortunate ones fortunately have drugs such as Rozerem that can to a large extent take care of the problem for them.
Is Rozerem For You ? – Sleep On It
Sleep inducing drugs have been around for as long as sleeplessness and Rozerem comes with a lot of promises for the sleepless. Starting with potions that induced drowsiness to more sophisticated drugs that depressed the nervous system, sleeping pills have come along way. The earlier attempts have had the desired effect of inducing and maintaining sleep. But they were fraught with side-effects. Nausea and dryness of the mouth are some of the discomforts suffered by users. In addition, there was the danger of addiction.
Attempts to formulate a drug that did not sedate the entire nervous system, that was not addictive and that did not have side-effects led to the invention of Rozerem. Rozerem is a melatonin receptor agonist, which means that it attaches or bonds with only specific group of neurons localized in the brain and not in the entire nervous system. It leaves the entire central nervous system free to function normally, while it attacks the area of the brain dealing with sleep overloads. By bonding with MT1 and MT2 and thus blocking the alertness mechanism, Rozerem allows the sleep overload to take over and the person falls asleep naturally. Also, the time taken to fall asleep is significantly reduced with the use of Rozerem.
While this sounds like a fairy tale, bear in mind that often when a medication is tested for safety and efficacy, some side-effects do not come to light and are only seen when the drug is used. So, even though devised as a safe and naturally acting pill, it would not be wise to use Rozerem indiscriminately. Use it only under the doctor’s instructions, in the recommended dosage. Do not stop it suddenly or you will have withdrawal symptoms as your dependence on the pill has affected your ability to fall asleep naturally. Also, many a time, using a pill regularly and over long periods may reduce its efficacy, so do consult your doctor from time to time. Rozerem is not classified as a controlled substance and is definitely not a narcotic, but it could become habit forming.
In fact, there are several DON’Ts associated with the use of Rozerem. Avoid Rozerem if you are taking LUVOX or have liver problems. Also do not pop a Rozerem after having consumed alcohol. Since dizziness is one of the side effects, do not drive or operate machinery till you know how you will react to Rozerem. Many people may have allergic reactions. Rozerem may affect your libido or fertility, so do visit your doctor immediately if you notice any irregularities here.
Typically Rozerem is taken just before bedtime, usually about 30 minutes before and you can sleep for 8 hours after that, so you sleep away the potential nasty effects like nausea or dizziness. So what do these 8 hours of unbroken sleep cost you? A little more than $3, the average price of an 8mg Rozerem pill! With all the precautions and side effects listed, you have to decide if it is worth the cost.
Vanda does all three. In the Phase II trials, 3 different doses of VEC162 were tested against a placebo and were to found to be more effective, for all three levels. It has been found to increase sleep time up to 48 minutes, according to reports. Furthermore, it facilitates natural sleep, so there are no side effects.
WASO (Wake Up After Sleep Onset) is the insomniac’s nightmare. VEC 162 reduced this causing the user to have an efficient sleep, and the time taken to fall asleep was also reduced. In pharma – medical parlance, VEC 162 had the desired sleep onset effect and sleep maintenance effect.
How does Vanda achieve this? Unlike the other drugs that bind to GABA-A receptors, widespread in the Central Nervous System, therefore, affecting the entire nervous system, Vanda is a melatonin receptor agonist, which means it selectively binds to melatonin receptors in the brain’s ‘master clock’. It does not bind with any other receptor in the entire nervous system, thereby avoiding a sedative effect or causing depression in the entire nervous system. It dampens the alerting signal and allows accumulated sleep load to take over, very naturally. This helps treat sleep disorders safely, without the scepter of sedation, and may even help depression, which successive trials would confirm.
The good news is that Vanda will probably be sold as an uncontrolled drug, just as its predecessor Rozerem, since it has no potential for abuse and no withdrawal symptoms. There are also no uncomfortable side effects like a dry mouth or more seriously, hormonal changes. Also, Vanda betters the current favorite Rozerem in sleep maintenance and might even overtake its sales. People will probably clamor for this wonderful pill with no known side effects – but wait! The most innocuous of remedies can be abused by unthinking users.
If you do start using Vanda, please take the physician’s directions very seriously. Do not prescribe your own doses. Secondly, try not to think of the drug as a lifeline for life. Instead, look upon it as a temporary means to get over your current sleep difficulties. It is also suggested that you use it only if your lack of sleep is due to ‘physical’ causes, like an injury or post-surgery pain. If you are under stress, look to first solve your problems cerebrally, rather than just bank on drug-induced sleep. This would insure you against the most serious side effect – drug dependence, dependence more psychological than physiological. Used judiciously, there is probably no parallel to Vanda in the treatment of insomnia and other sleep disorders.
The Low Down On Zolpidem Tartrate Pills And Their Effects
The effects of consuming sleeping pills are many and a whole lot of research and experiments are being carried out around the world to ascertain the positive and negative aspects that these drugs may have on the human body. The advantages and disadvantages of sleeping pills are however noteworthy from the point of view of their overall effect on the human body.
Taking the advantages first, among all sleeping pills available in the market Zolpidem Tartrate is the most popular form of oral medicine recommended by medical practitioners for any short term treatment of insomnia. This short term treatment may vary from two to six weeks depending on individuals. In fact, as an anti- convulsant and muscle relaxant it has a dramatic effect on the patient. Again, it has been proven in clinical tests that Zolpidem Tartrate when administered in patients in a prolonged vegetative state greatly improves their conditon. This is also the case with persons with brain injuries. It would also be pertinent to point out that Zolpidem Tartrate or Ambien as is it called is a non- benzodiazepine hypnotic drug of white or off white color and is available in 5mg and 10mg pill or powder and is sparingly soluble in water , alcohol and propylene glycol. Ambien has been shown under strict clinical environments to decrease sleep latency for up to 35 days. In a rather strange revelation after a clinical test it has been seen that patients in lesser degrees of coma have recovered to a total conscious state after the administration of Zolpidem.
The disadvantages of Ambien or Zolpidem Tartrate are numerous too. An overdose of this drug can have far reaching side effects on a patient. For instance, too large a dose can depress respiration and even cause death. Zolpidem when taken with alcohol or other depressants can lead to fatal overdose and may cause nightmares, hallucinations, loss of memory, delusion, difficulty in maintaining balance, euphoria an increase in appetite , impaired judgment, vertigo, vomiting, nausea, headache and uninhibited extraneous behavior in social and public gathering. Besides its hallucinogenic and anti-depressant properties has induced a tendency among some young people to deliberately use it for recreational purposes not realizing the fact that prolonged usage could have debilitating effects.
The dose of this drug is mainly individualized. For adults, a 10mg once daily is given just before going to bed. For elderly, debilitated persons, individual’s sensitive to the drug, patients with hepatic insufficiency only 5mg is allowed to be taken. Again dosage is to be adjusted when the drug is combined with CNS depressant drugs.
Although quite a good deal of research is yet to be made for labeling the drug a general success in combating insomnia, it is however an immediate relief to those patients for whom sleep is nearly absent at least for a short term. Yet one needs to be aware that there is a risk of dependency which may in course of time negate the very positive effect of the medicine.
Hi everyone, Barnaby here. First, I’d like to thank everyone who sent me suggestions for natural cures for insomnia. So many of you sent accupuncture — but to tell you the truth — that really freaks me out. I decided to try Valerian first, and it’s only been a few days but it appears it is already working. The lady who originally recommended it to me, Joanne, told me that it could take 2 to 3 weeks of use to take effect. She thinks that I might be experiencing a bit of the placebo effect, but to tell you the truth, I don’t care — just so long as I can sleep. Last night I got just over 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and I was actually able to stay alert and focused at work today — which recently has been a real rarity.
The vast majority of us experience at least occasional insomnia — rare is the individual who can quickly and easily fall asleep every night. Everyday stresses, big upcoming events or excess caffeine can all be insomnia causes, and periodic bouts of it can be easily treated with lifestyle changes or over-the-counter sleeping pills. However, some suffer chronic insomnia which can prove to be a serious impediment to leading an active life. Chronic insomnia causes can be biological, psychological or environmental. Identifying the insomnia causes behind your sleepless nights is the most important first step allowing for selection of the correct treatment regimen.
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