Tylenol PM

[leftlane45]

Someone mentioned taking Tylenol PM th help fall asleep, Has anyone else tried this, if so , please give advice. I don't think there is anything medicaly wrong with me to prevent me taking it.

Thanks
Jerry

[deerhound]

Tylenol PM is just Tylenol and Benadryl together in one pill. Benadryl is noted for its ability to make a person drowsy.
Dale

[OldLincoln]

I have taken Tylenol PM but it is pretty hard on the liver so I mostly take Advil PM. They both work well for me. I must be sensitive to them as I need to make sure I can sleep a full 8 hrs before trying to think.

[DELILAMA]

TRIED IT ONCE AND WORKED GREAT DELILAMA

[roster]

Someone mentioned taking Tylenol PM th help fall asleep, Has anyone else tried this, if so , please give advice. I don't think there is anything medicaly wrong with me to prevent me taking it.

Thanks
Jerry

The active ingredients in Tylenol PM are acetaminophen and diphenhydramine. Acetaminophen will in many cases provide relief from pain. If you have pain that is interfering with your sleep then acetaminophen may help with sleep. If you don't have pain then all you get from acetaminophen is undesirable side effects and additional costs ($).

Diphenhydramine will make many people sleep, however the sleep architecture will not be correct and you likely will feel groggy the next day.

Research some threads here about melatonin. I recommend you experiment with 3 mg tablets of melatonin for sleep. Do you have any pain at night? We can recommend something separately for that.

[leftlane45]

Thanks Rooster, No I do not have pain, just having a hard time going to sleep. Like I said I never had any problem prior to using the machine. The real problem lies I think with my Dr.
When I had my sleep study the Dr called for a split study. After sleeping the whole night with no machine, the tech woke me in the am and claimed I slept well and did not think I required the 2nd part of the study ,sleeping with the mask. When I went to see my pulmonoligist he could not find the results of the study so he took my cell# and called me several days later. He said it looked as though I did indeed have some sleep disorder and I should schedule a new study. I rescheduled for 11/04/08 and slept with a nose only mask at first, then the tech came in a few hours later and said I was mouth breathing and changed to a ff mask.

On my next vist to my sleep doctor, beleive it or not he again could not locate the results of the second study?? But did have first study results. The reason I believe is because the study is done at another location and the doctor was in the middle of moving. At any rate I believe he was embaressed to admit the error and said to his assistant to order a machine and said to set it at 10/6. I was a little concerned but I said what the heck!! When the DME arrived with the equipment he delivered a nose only mask. This is when I started to think the Dr. was flying by the seat of his pants, if he had the results of the 2nd study he would have seen the techs report about mouth breathing. I wonder if I do have sleep apnea at all. Prior to the sleep study, Inever really had trouble sleeping, I never really felt I had a great nights sleep but I did not need to sleep during the day or felt like I didnt sleep. So I don't know what to do.


Thanks
Jerry

[john_dozer]

It sounds like you need a new doctor. The only thing to possibly suggest to avoid that and a third study is if you have a data capable machine, you can delve into the results. There should be threads/people here who can help give an idea if you're responding to therapy or not.

A word about melatonin. Try it first on a weekend or day off. I may be a rare case, but a typical dose, 3mg, was overkill for me. I first took it a few years ago long before I was diagnosed with apnea. I had a relatively good night sleep for a change. The first in a long time. The problem was despite getting a good night's sleep, I was dozing off the next day more than normal.

But, the real problem was that I would doze off without warning. Normally with sleep debt, if I start to nod off, I can tell I'm doing it and fight it. A mixed blessing that prevented me from ever actually falling asleep while at the same time enabling me to avoid seeking treatment. But somehow the melatonin negated my awareness that I was falling asleep. I was falling asleep in meetings and I would fall asleep talking to someone if what they were saying wasn't interesting or kept my focus which was embarassing. It happened once while I was driving and scared the living heck out of me.

I suspect now it was a combination of the melatonin plus apnea related sleep debt. After that, I could cut tablets into quarters and that was enough.

I was really surprised how well I responded to melatonin. I am generally skeptical about most over the counter non-regulated treatments but it definitely worked.

[kteague]

I have taken Melatonin in the past and it helped me get drowsy but not to stay asleep. I couldn't take nearly 3mg as my sleep then seemed very agitated. I plan to try again to work up to a higher dose and see if I can give up the TylenolPM. I have taken it for several months now and the one time I tried to sleep without it was horrible. Got up after 2 hours and sat in the chair all night. I know my jumpy legs is what's disturbing my sleep, but I'm at the highest does of Requip I can tolerate, so TylenolPM will just have to be my buddy until there's a better answer. Gotta sleep.

[ca_hosehead]

Generally drugs are not good for sleep apnea. It puts you further "under" so you may spend longer periods of time without breathing.

Your might try PMR, Progressive Muscle Relaxation. I found that my disturbed sleep was leaving me keyed up at the end of the day. PMR really helped.

It's free and has no known side effects.

[Julie]

Tylenol has two downsides - it will eventually give you headaches if taken long term, and it can be deadly for your liver after time too - it was never meant to be used on a indefinite 'preventative' basis like some other meds are.

[GuyK]

I am amused by Tylenol PM Simply Sleep -- it is Tylenol PM (Tylenol and benadryl) without the Tylenol (so it is benadryl alone!).

At most pharmacies, I would guess that generic Benadryl is far cheaper than Simply Sleep. Amazon.com shows the former at $5.99/100 while the latter is $13.20/100!

[roster]

Thanks Rooster, No I do not have pain, just having a hard time going to sleep. Like I said I never had any problem prior to using the machine. The real problem lies I think with my Dr.
When I had my sleep study the Dr called for a split study. After sleeping the whole night with no machine, the tech woke me in the am and claimed I slept well and did not think I required the 2nd part of the study ,sleeping with the mask. When I went to see my pulmonoligist he could not find the results of the study so he took my cell# and called me several days later. He said it looked as though I did indeed have some sleep disorder and I should schedule a new study. I rescheduled for 11/04/08 and slept with a nose only mask at first, then the tech came in a few hours later and said I was mouth breathing and changed to a ff mask.

On my next vist to my sleep doctor, beleive it or not he again could not locate the results of the second study?? But did have first study results. The reason I believe is because the study is done at another location and the doctor was in the middle of moving. At any rate I believe he was embaressed to admit the error and said to his assistant to order a machine and said to set it at 10/6. I was a little concerned but I said what the heck!! When the DME arrived with the equipment he delivered a nose only mask. This is when I started to think the Dr. was flying by the seat of his pants, if he had the results of the 2nd study he would have seen the techs report about mouth breathing. I wonder if I do have sleep apnea at all. Prior to the sleep study, Inever really had trouble sleeping, I never really felt I had a great nights sleep but I did not need to sleep during the day or felt like I didnt sleep. So I don't know what to do.


Thanks
Jerry

What are you doing now? Are you using the machine and nasal mask?

Do you have the software? If not, do you know how to read and reset the machine's readout every day?

Many of us thought we were sleeping well before we were diagnosed. That is one dangerous thing about sleep apnea - you often cannot tell you are stopping breathing all night long.

[leftlane45]

Thanks Rooster for responding,

Yes I am using the nasal mask and machine. I am waiting for a ff mask to be del. this wednesday.
This is a very differcult disorder to get a handle on, but thanks to this forum you really don't feel alone, there is always someone willing to help out on here.

If this mask does not work out I will have to return to the doctor and see if he found the study reports and ask him to re-evaluate them.


Thanks again
Jerry

[roster]

Thanks Rooster for responding,

Yes I am using the nasal mask and machine. I am waiting for a ff mask to be del. this wednesday.
This is a very differcult disorder to get a handle on, but thanks to this forum you really don't feel alone, there is always someone willing to help out on here.

If this mask does not work out I will have to return to the doctor and see if he found the study reports and ask him to re-evaluate them.


Thanks again
Jerry

You are moving in the correct direction and need to begin recording your leak, AI and AH each day and resetting the machine before starting another night.

If those guys want to do another sleep study you should insist it is at their expense because of the shoddy work they have done on the first two studies.