What sleep aid/medication works best for you?

Even with the CPAP I usually wake up a few times at night so occasionally I take something to help me, such as Tylenol PM. Last night I took a 5mg Melatonin for the first time and though it worked well it gave me that groggy feeling all day that a lot of the sleeping meds do. What do you all take to help? Ambien? Lunestra?

The hubs and I take Motrin PM. Sometimes I take a muscle relaxer instead of the Motrin. It is called Tazanadine. I do have a script for Ambien but I don't like to take it on a regular basis.

Hope this helps,

If you're talking "occasionally", Ambien works for that for me. Some people have problems with it, like doing stuff they don't remember while it's active. I don't have that problem, it's just a guaranteed night's sleep for me. If I take it for a week, though, every day, when I stop the next night's sleep is not good. After that, things go back to normal. Doesn't affect CPAP for me, so it's a good bet if I'm testing out a new mask and having trouble sleeping, or something of that sort.

Seattleboy49 wrote:Even with the CPAP I usually wake up a few times at night so occasionally I take something to help me, such as Tylenol PM. Last night I took a 5mg Melatonin for the first time and though it worked well it gave me that groggy feeling all day that a lot of the sleeping meds do. What do you all take to help? Ambien? Lunestra?

5mg Melatonin is not necessary. Melatonin works. Try a 1mg for a few nights.

Oh another thing that works is the generic Benadryl -

sleeplessinaz wrote:Oh another thing that works is the generic Benadryl -

Beware if you have a proclivity toward RLS... I was getting RLS from Benadryl taken at night.

LSAT wrote:

Seattleboy49 wrote:Even with the CPAP I usually wake up a few times at night so occasionally I take something to help me, such as Tylenol PM. Last night I took a 5mg Melatonin for the first time and though it worked well it gave me that groggy feeling all day that a lot of the sleeping meds do. What do you all take to help? Ambien? Lunestra?

5mg Melatonin is not necessary. Melatonin works. Try a 1mg for a few nights.

3 mg is all that was available at my local pharmacy...works good and I noticed no hangover, Less is always better as long as it does the job.
CN

Thanks for the replies. I took a half tablet of a 5mg Melatonin last night. Maybe tonight I will break the pill down even more, but the half pill seemed to do the trick. I might feel a slight hangover today, but nothing like the following night and it is definitely helping me sleep. I still wake up at night, but I have been able to fall asleep much quicker.

If melatonin works, that is probably best to go that route. It was not strong enough to overcome my RLS and PLMs, so I had to go the prescription route. Ambien is acceptable for occasional use, but has the potential side effects mentioned by RogerSC and is not recommended for long term use. I used it for a while, but then had one "amnesia" incident the morning after I had used it while traveling and have been scared of it ever since. The FDA recently recommended lower doses to address the side effect issue.

I now use Lunesta on a semi-regular basis. It is approved for long term use. I do not have any residual effects the next morning other than a slight metallic taste in my mouth.

An even newer drug is Sonata. They gave it to me when I did my titration study, but it was not strong enough overcome all the distrubrances of a sleep study. It is supposed to wear off faster than Ambien and Lunesta, so that it can be taken later in the evening without risk of oversleeping.

What sleep aid/medication works best for you?

IMHO, the best one is none.

Once your body stops expecting a sleep aid, within a short time you should be able to return to falling asleep easily and naturally if you keep a regular bedtime.

Best wishes, Nate

Nate, wise observation. The sad thing is that "just don't do it" was at some time not an option (or not the one chosen);
and now there are a great many suffering from the aftermath. I consider myself lucky to rarely need help falling asleep.
Sadly, the genie is out of the bottle for way too many others.
The rut has been dug; are there ways out? Are there ways to vault over it?
We like to think it's possible. Much effort seems to be the key. Many are not prepared or able to do this.

CarpeNoctum wrote:

LSAT wrote:

Seattleboy49 wrote:Even with the CPAP I usually wake up a few times at night so occasionally I take something to help me, such as Tylenol PM. Last night I took a 5mg Melatonin for the first time and though it worked well it gave me that groggy feeling all day that a lot of the sleeping meds do. What do you all take to help? Ambien? Lunestra?

5mg Melatonin is not necessary. Melatonin works. Try a 1mg for a few nights.

3 mg is all that was available at my local pharmacy...works good and I noticed no hangover, Less is always better as long as it does the job.
CN

PM me if you want information on a 2 mg tablet that you can break in half.

For some reason Melatonin does not do a thing for me. Nothing.

sleeplessinaz wrote:For some reason Melatonin does not do a thing for me. Nothing.

And for me it knocked me for a loop. I don't throw away medications .. normally .. I threw away the melatonin I got. It took me two days to feel awake after taking it just one night. But Sonata, Lunesta, etc ... No real impact. I'm the same way with a lot of medications that impact the central nervous system.

Just goes to show that we need a lot of different options because there is no one pill / therapy that works for everyone.

When I need help falling asleep, I take Melatonin. I like it as it is a natural supplement because your body makes some melatonin so I like it better than a prescription medication.

Melatonin is made in 1mg, 3mg, and 5mg doses from what I have seen. Maybe you can start low and go from there. I do not get a groggy feeling in the least upon awakening.

Best of luck,
TheWino