last few nights I have not been able to sleep and my mood is at an all time low. I'm snapping at everyone. I'm about to quit my job I'm so frustrated with HR.
What do lymies take for sleep?
I've tried melatonin pills, Kava pills, sleep tinctures from Herb Pharm, sleep herbs from various places.
I keep waking up 2am prior but after taking these concoctions I'm up at midnight or 1am then I'm straight up AWAKE all night till 6am.

WHAT GIVES?
I'm about to lose it.
Normally I can keep my irritability at a manageable level but today I'm about to lose it.

Traveler said...
I have to ask if you have had a 4 point saliva test for cortisol production lately? It may be your adrenals.

Otherwise I have to use these things for any hope of sleep:
melatonin
tryptophan
magnesium
valerian
and I drink a cup of Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime tea with avena sativa tincture added to it.

The other thing I that I have to keep my inflammation low as well - otherwise I can be in a foul mood even if I have been sleeping well.

Hi Traveler,
I have tried all the above on top of mixing them when taking it alone didn't work as well as magnesium baths and foot spray with Magenesium. I took a 4 point saliva testa bout 6 months ago. I think I emailed you the results? The mornings it's below normal and at bedtime it's above normal (spikes too high). I am usually good about keepign my irritability levels away from work but today I'm going off on people and I am not fake smiling like I normally do like everything is ok. I'm so sick of not sleeping.

I didn't sleep more than an hour or two each night for 3 weeks. I broke down and got dr to rx Xanax. I hate taking prescription pills, but when you can't sleep, you have to do something. It worked wonders for me. She prescribed 1/2 mg and I even halfed that, I used it for a few weeks and not needed it since, but that was before I started my herbal protocol. I'm not sure if the ashwagandha is helping me, but I've not had any problems sleeping since I started the Buhner protocol.

I don't know anything about this, but may be something to check into. I went and had a ZYTO test done which showed my liver as being my point of focus, and the lady that did the test is a nurse practitioner by trade, she says she poisons people during the day (walk in clinic) and heals people at home (homeopathic)

Anyway, she said the liver does something (can't remember what) between 1:00 am and 3:00 am. I had been waking up every night at 2:00am, before the herbals, I was unable to fall back asleep, but after a few weeks on the protocol, I stopped waking up.

I just googled it and found an article about it. Seems pretty interesting.
https://www.naturmend.com/blog/2013/04/09/the-connection-between-sleep-and-the-liver/

Trazodone has been a lifesaver for me. I take 50mg before bed.

I find that when i take too much melatonin or valerian, i have the opposite reaction- I'm wired.
Only thing I changed since having a horrible month of insomnia was taking any supplements containing B vitamins by lunch time- never for dinner. I figure if they boost your energy I should probably not take them after noon. I alsoI take my magnesium an hour or two before bed.

Don't know if it was coincidence or really working, but I'm finally sleeping again.

(I have low cortisol all the time, and am working to bring it UP in the morning. So I think if yours is high at bedtime, that's definitely a factor)

With treatment, the sleep issues improve I find.

What has worked for me has been:
A suggestion from Buhner's orbit: cannabis 1 hr. before bed, benadryl at bedtime and liquid melatonin under the tongue, also - no eating after 5 pm.

Now I just use cannabis, and take it right at bedtime rather than an hour before.

Also electronics off early!
Tryptophan
Theanine - especially if my mind is super active
Valerian

Rikky1 said...
my wife has sleep issues as well nothing so far has worked for her and she's tried melatonin, tryptophan
magnesium, valerian and combos of this. she can get to sleep she just can't sleep past 5am.

you could try elavil in low doses like 100mg its used for insomnia this stuff will knock you right out.

In a pinch, I use doxepin liquid suspension at a very low dose; 3-6 mg and it works. Side effects are minimal. Normal doses when used as an antidepressant are up to 150mg daily so you get the idea. Sometimes, I'll just take a 3mg dose at 3am when I wake up 2p. It usually gets me right back to sleep. No withdrawal symptoms when taken at these low doses. Little to no hangover, unlike ambien or restoril.

Here's a good article on it, fast forward to section 9 to get to the meat of the article.

/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4027305/#!po=48.2143

Doxepin is similar to elavil, another tricyclic antidepressant used in micro doses for insomnia. Rikki, my understanding is that elavil for sleep is dosed much lower, like 10-20mg. I got an rx for 10 mg elavil pills but haven't tried them.

Natural remedies are preferable and work for me most of the time now, but this stuff was a godsend for me during a rough patch where natural didn't work.

Post Edited (BJD55) : 6/8/2017 6:18:16 PM (GMT-6)