OT: Glycine for sleep--cautiously optimistic

Besides OSA, I've been having sleep issues for quite a while. CPAP has helped a lot. Before CPAP, I had long sleep latency--a few hours to get to sleep, then waking 30 minutes on either side of 4 a.m. and not being able to go back to sleep for hours. Often I'd finally fall asleep right before my alarm went off.

With CPAP I go to sleep immediately after I put my mask on. I still wake about the same time, but can usually get back to sleep in 5 -15 minutes.

Lately, my sleep has been more ragged. I still fall asleep quickly, but I've been waking multiple times and sometimes have had a hard time going back to sleep. Part of it is my husband is not sleeping well either, and he needs to let everyone (me) know about it by yanking the covers off me, groaning, stomping to the bathroom to take one of his many sleep remedies, rinse and repeat a few times a night. That's certainly not helping my sleep issues. And when I do wake, even turning over in bed wakes him, so I have to be really quiet and not move very much when I wake up.

I tried CBD oil (hemp based) with no luck. I tried melatonin, valerian root, concoctions made of various sleep remedies with no effect. Magnesium supplement helps some (had a really hard time sleeping when we ran out!).

I know these sleep issues are common with menopausal women and every woman who is related to me by blood has terrible sleep issues. I'm not about to take prescription sleep meds, so that doesn't leave many options.

But . . .

I recently heard that the nutritional supplement, Glycine can help with sleep maintenance. It's cheap, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's not supposed to have any adverse effects and it's supposed to be most helpful with sleep maintenance.

Maybe it's the placebo effect, but I think it's actually helping (I don't care if it is the placebo effect, I'll take it). I've been taking it most of a week as directed (3000 mg/day = 1 capsule in the morning, 2 at night), and feel like I'm sleeping much more deeply than I have in a long while. I'm still waking but each night for a shorter and shorter period--last night barely long enough to register that I was awake. And it must have been a rough night for my husband. He bought a new pillow, and in the middle of the night he decided he didn't like it and got up to get the old pillow out of the closet, plus take some of his sleep meds. I didn't wake up to that at all during that tumult. I seem to be dreaming again, and feeling refreshed when I wake up, not wishing I could go back to bed for the rest of the day.

It's early days, still, but I will let you know how it goes. Feeling cautiously optimistic.

Please continue to keep us posted. I remember you mentioned this in a different thread a week or so ago and was thinking about trying it. I have an appointment with my doctor the end of May and will run this by her. Almost sounds too good to be true.

yes, please, as lucy said, keep us informed. i'm currently trialing valerian root myself and it's not giving me what i thought it would. so i'm looking for other things to try.

You should give it to your husband. Then, probably, you wouldn't need it.

I too am looking forward to hearing how this works over time. Going to read about it now. Have heard the word but know zero about it. Keep us posted.

Cpapian wrote: ↑

Thu May 03, 2018 8:29 pm

You should give it to your husband. Then, probably, you wouldn't need it.

I’ve thought about that!

I don’t know. He tried 1/3 the dose and complained it didn’t work
But at the same time he is trying Calm magnesium citrate which he claims IS working. When he takes both, how is he claiming One works and the other does not.

Another good night. I don’t remember waking up at all in the middle of the night and I think it has been years since that happened. Even my
Smartwatch (dreadfully inaccurate) was impressed.

Janknitz wrote: ↑

Fri May 04, 2018 11:29 am

Another good night. I don’t remember waking up at all in the middle of the night and I think it has been years since that happened. Even my
Smartwatch (dreadfully inaccurate) was impressed.

That's wonderful! I'm impressed.

How about two birds with magnesium glycinate?

Jay Aitchsee wrote: ↑

Sat May 05, 2018 3:25 am

How about two birds with magnesium glycinate?

oh, well spotted. have you tried it yourself, or did you just run across this by accident?

if i were to take this, i'd want to wait until i finish my current bottle of magnesium.

wouldn't want to over do on the magnesium!

Jay Aitchsee wrote: ↑

Sat May 05, 2018 3:25 am

How about two birds with magnesium glycinate?

Interesting... I'd started taking some magnesium before bed, because of other comments about it, and noticed that I seemed to be sleeping with less tossing and turning... glycinate was the type that I'd picked

palerider wrote: ↑

Sat May 05, 2018 7:26 pm

Jay Aitchsee wrote: ↑

Sat May 05, 2018 3:25 am

How about two birds with magnesium glycinate?

Interesting... I'd started taking some magnesium before bed, because of other comments about it, and noticed that I seemed to be sleeping with less tossing and turning... glycinate was the type that I'd picked

zonker wrote: ↑

Sat May 05, 2018 4:59 pm

oh, well spotted. have you tried it yourself, or did you just run across this by accident?

if i were to take this, i'd want to wait until i finish my current bottle of magnesium.

wouldn't want to over do on the magnesium!

Yes, I've been taking magnesium bisglycinate for some time. For me, it seems to produce longer, calmer, more restful sleep with fewer CA's. I take 200mg at lunch and 200 mg before bed. I have noticed no other side effects. I chose one of the more popular brands on Amazon.

Jay Aitchsee wrote: ↑

Sun May 06, 2018 5:14 am

Yes, I've been taking magnesium bisgycinate for some time. For me, it seems to produce longer, calmer, more restful sleep with fewer CA's. I take 200mg at lunch and 200 mg before bed. I have noticed no other side effects. I chose one of the more popular brands on Amazon.

oh, okay, that's good to know. looks like i'll be trying it, then, as my next experiment.

I recently heard that the nutritional supplement, Glycine can help with sleep maintenance. It's cheap, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's not supposed to have any adverse effects and it's supposed to be most helpful with sleep maintenance.

What specific product are you taking? What dose? Sounds promising.....

The presence of glycine outside the earth was confirmed in 2009, based on the analysis of samples that had been taken in 2004 by the NASA spacecraft Stardust from comet Wild 2 and subsequently returned to earth. Glycine had previously been identified in the Murchison meteorite in 1970. 

In 2016, detection of glycine within Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the Rosetta spacecraft was announced.  

In 2008, the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy discovered the glycine-like molecule aminoacetonitrile in the Large Molecule Heimat, a giant gas cloud near the galactic center in the constellation Sagittarius.

Kvenvolden, Keith A.; Lawless, James; Pering, Katherine; Peterson, Etta; Flores, Jose; Ponnamperuma, Cyril; Kaplan, Isaac R.; Moore, Carleton (1970). "Evidence for extraterrestrial amino-acids and hydrocarbons in the Murchison meteorite". Nature. 228 (5275): 923–926. Bibcode:1970Natur.228..923K

European Space Agency (27 May 2016). "Rosetta's comet contains ingredients for life"

Snyder LE, Lovas FJ, Hollis JM, et al. (2005). "A rigorous attempt to verify interstellar glycine". Astrophys J. 619 (2): 914–930. arXiv:astro-ph/0410335

"Organic Molecule, Amino Acid-Like, Found In Constellation Sagittarius 27 March 2008 - Science Daily"