Alcohol as a sleep aid

Is it okay to use booze to go to sleep? A few beers and a benedryl knock me out, though I do feel a bit crappy the next day (I feel bad no matter what though). I had no alcohol tonight so I had to use Temazepam which no longer works obviously.

I hope you're joking - about all and any of those things, as all and any will make Cpap much less effective. You may be knocked out for a few hours, but the quality of your sleep will be bad, long term consequences worse. There are better ways to help you sleep and lots of people here to tell you about them. I personally couldn't care less though about the social/moral stuff associated with your question, so please don't think I'm being a grinch.

Every night? Or just on occasion?

Sheriff

Noctuary wrote:Is it okay to use booze to go to sleep? A few beers and a benedryl knock me out, though I do feel a bit crappy the next day (I feel bad no matter what though). I had no alcohol tonight so I had to use Temazepam which no longer works obviously.

Noctuary,

When I suffered insomnia thanks to psych med withdrawal, I tried a glass of wine that seemed to help somewhat for a while. But it didn't last long.

If I remember correctly, booze may get you to sleep but doesn't really do anything for the quality which isn't a shock. That is why you feel crappy.

Yup, my experience with Temazepam is it works if you take it once a month but taking it on a more frequent basis at least in my situation causes me to be very groggy and non functional no matter how much coffee I drink which of course, leads to a viscous cycle of leading to poor sleep the next night.

Sorry, I forgot your history but why do you have problems with sleep? Problems with pap therapy or something else?

Take it from a very experienced wine-o.......I mean wine connoisseur. Alcohol is a crappy sleep aid. As already said: you may fall asleep faster/sooner due to alcohol's sedative effect, but then the second half of sleep is completely disrupted...you wake up, can't fall back to sleep, and feel all the worst the next day. Not a good thing.

But I do love my wine. So for the sake of my sleep and overall well being, I have learned to allow myself no more than 2 glasses (one with dinner, and maybe one more before or right after in lieu of a dessert). Don't drink after 7-730. And to really flush it out with copious amounts of water.

Of course then if I overdo the water, I have to get up in the middle of the pm to go to the bathroom, but falling back to sleep is much easier.....

Alcohol would give me maybe 4 hours of real good sleep but once it wore off, I was awake or on/ off the rest of the night. But I find the same thing with the sleep aids. I'm using Xanax right now and it works good for half the night. I've had the CPAP for a little over a year and I can''t sleep without taking something. According to the sleep test, my sleep efficiency went down 11% with the CPAP. So I'm tolerating it with drugs. I would say if the alcohol gets you all the way thru the night, great. If it gets you half way, you might have to take a sleep aid like Xanax or Ambien or whatever to get you thru the rest of the night. I don't think there is a definitive answer for anyone, go with what works is my motto.

If alcohol puts you to "sleep", it's not really sleep at all.
Being comatose is not the same thing as sleep.
You may think it is, but your body knows when you hurt it.

chunkyfrog wrote:If alcohol puts you to "sleep", it's not really sleep at all.
Being comatose is not the same thing as sleep.
You may think it is, but your body knows when you hurt it.

Sleep meds have the same action according to a sleep doctor who used to work with the Navy Seals, Kirk Parsley.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/drugs-vitam ... ory-306373

“When we study the brain of someone in a drug-induced sleep, there is little resemblance to true sleep,” writes Dr. Kirk Parsley in Integrative Health Review. “In fact, we see a pattern similar to the type of unconsciousness that is associated with a coma or passing out from excessive alcohol consumption.” By causing unconsciousness, sleeping pills not only rob you of the benefits of sleep, they also impact your abilities to recall.

49er

There's so much moralistic BS in our society about alcohol, it's hard to get a good answer.

I think the concerns about interaction between alcohol and other drugs are real problems.

Personally, I find that even if alcohol helps me get to sleep, I tend to wake up a few hours later. There's also the bladder factor in terms of waking up. Maybe a small dose helps a little. Obviously, drinking yourself unconscious is a bad way to do it.

If you're taking something to help you sleep, I don't know whether alcohol is better or worse than other "sleep aids."

Pretty much all forms of sleep aid have their downside.

Only works if it's the "good" stuff.

or Eggnog! Yep, eggnog is the stuff this time of year.

Noctuary wrote:Is it okay to use booze to go to sleep?

Sure!

BTW, guess how long you can live without a liver (clue: it ain't long).

Depending on the amount, alcohol can really destroy sleep architecture.

However, based on your previous posts, IIWY I'd be looking for some pretty serious psychological help cause that ain't a real good path you're on now.

I've never used them together. Seems risky to me. I just wake up when the alcohol wears off, when I have drinks in the evening. So, if I'm having drinks, I prefer to have them early so they can pretty much wear off before bedtime.

Before I had a CPAP, I used to try benedryl or the yellow allergy pills to sleep. I'd sleep all night but feel extremely tired in the morning and all day. More like being unconscious/knocked out. That's no good at all.

Sludge wrote:

Noctuary wrote:Is it okay to use booze to go to sleep?

Sure!

BTW, guess how long you can live without a liver (clue: it ain't long).

alcohol and tylenol is the quick path to that destination.

There goes all my Mucomyst...

Sludge wrote:There goes all my Mucomyst...

*snork* not sure I'd waste it.