What sleep aid/medication works best for you?

Queen of Darkness wrote:Ambien is the best by far. You won't even know what hit you.

I agree. Thing is I don't want to take Ambien every night. It only works for so long and then you have to up your dose to get the, "you won't even know what hit you" feeling.

ems wrote:

49er wrote:It would be nice if a caffeine free chocolate sleep aid existed. If it didn't work, at least one would get to experience the joy of having chocolate.

49er

How about a caffeine free vanilla sleep aid? I'm not a big chocolate fan. Maybe chocolate chip? Maybe caramel?

Caramel would be awesome.

NateS wrote: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

I agree here, especially for those who couldn't sleep pre CPAP and now have adjusted to CPAP - because sleep aids (as I found out) are good at knocking you out so you don't remember not sleeping. It only creeps up and reminds you 10 mins after you settle at your desk for your day job and at 8.40 in the morning knowing a whole day is ahead of you, that feeling is as horrific as it is depressing

Before I got well on the machine, I used everything going to knock myself out - from over the counter, to antidepressants, to melatonin to zopiclone. Of the two. Zopiclone is pure evil, melatonin is not yet understood, but the reason I did it was for that coma of being not aware but not actually asleep, and it was no solution, just a fake sleep - it took my partner to point out , some days I was better with no sleep and no pills because at least then I was just exhausted, and not also drugged

don't go near zopiclone , it's as addictive as it is dangerous, it doesn't give you true sleep and has been proven to triple rates of a car crash the next day. All I can say is I must be a great driver, to have been ok on zopiclone and OSA. Thankfully, for me and other road users , that time has now passed.

melatonin can play havoc if too much is used. The levels they sell it at these days are equivalent to if you went to get a beer and they gave you 100% proof liquor. There's no relationship there between strengths on the market and the physical levels the individual needs and manufactures. The companies selling it at this level are just out for a quick buck, no idea what they're doing. I took a slow release once which slow released over the next two days, but because of OSA I never slept - felt like the dead

agree with Nate. Plus I'd add do cardio but not too near to bed time, it is the best medicine in the world especially for those with desk jobs because man was not created to sit at a desk he was created to run.

Andy5805,

Ambien has been a disaster for me plus it has given me greatly increased central apneas. But many people have sworn by it so we need to keep that in mind in my opinion.

And for many people who wouldn't be able to tolerate pap therapy unless they take meds, the risk of not sleeping with the mask would be alot worse than any negatives from taking meds.

By the way, I am speaking as someone who was on psych meds for 15 years and is quite leery of meds in general. But to be honest, if I found something I could tolerate with reasonable risks, I would give it a shot. I haven't but that is another post.

I also feel that because my therapy hasn't yet been fully optimized that meds would be a bandaid approach so that is another reason I am leery about them regarding my own situation. But everyone's case is different.

49er

andy5805 wrote:

NateS wrote: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

I agree here, especially for those who couldn't sleep pre CPAP and now have adjusted to CPAP - because sleep aids (as I found out) are good at knocking you out so you don't remember not sleeping. It only creeps up and reminds you 10 mins after you settle at your desk for your day job and at 8.40 in the morning knowing a whole day is ahead of you, that feeling is as horrific as it is depressing

Before I got well on the machine, I used everything going to knock myself out - from over the counter, to antidepressants, to melatonin to zopiclone. Of the two. Zopiclone is pure evil, melatonin is not yet understood, but the reason I did it was for that coma of being not aware but not actually asleep, and it was no solution, just a fake sleep - it took my partner to point out , some days I was better with no sleep and no pills because at least then I was just exhausted, and not also drugged

don't go near zopiclone , it's as addictive as it is dangerous, it doesn't give you true sleep and has been proven to triple rates of a car crash the next day. All I can say is I must be a great driver, to have been ok on zopiclone and OSA. Thankfully, for me and other road users , that time has now passed.

melatonin can play havoc if too much is used. The levels they sell it at these days are equivalent to if you went to get a beer and they gave you 100% proof liquor. There's no relationship there between strengths on the market and the physical levels the individual needs and manufactures. The companies selling it at this level are just out for a quick buck, no idea what they're doing. I took a slow release once which slow released over the next two days, but because of OSA I never slept - felt like the dead

agree with Nate. Plus I'd add do cardio but not too near to bed time, it is the best medicine in the world especially for those with desk jobs because man was not created to sit at a desk he was created to run.

Meletonin was a disastor for both my wife and I. She and I both went through our docs trying most options. She now takes a 1mg Zanex and I take Ambien. We have both remained stable on dosage and frequency for several years. Its odd how the Ambien is perfect for me but causes her nightmares. Zanex turns me into a zombie through next day. Thus I recommend everyone that they explore all options with help of a doctor. I do know a lot of folks that meletonin screwed up bad and a couple that swear by it. My doctor hates it due to lack reputible of double blind studies and the number of patients who tried on own and threw all kinds of odd symptoms he has had to chase back to source as many never mentioned on their records they wede faking it. He also dislikes vitamins for same reason. He prefers to do blood work then treat deficiencies as found rather than patients shotgun treating selves with multivitamins because some commercial on t.v. said they needed them.

I tried melatonin when I heard about it early on in my short cpap career *smile*. Gave it up, didn't seem to have an effect, and I was sleeping okay without it. About month or so ago, though, I started sleeping more fitfully, so I went back to the sublingual 1mg melatonin tablets, and feel that it is helping me get to sleep, and to go back to sleep when I wake up. I'll probably stop taking it at some point when I don't feel that it's helping, or when my circadian rhythms shift back to where I need them to be, but don't seem to have any weird side effects from it (that I can recall *smile*).

Anyways, these things seem to be fairly individual in how they affect people. I would only take Ambien for short periods when I feel that I really need it...It seems like one could get used to it, and again, while I have no discernible side effects from it, I could see building up a tolerance to it and that would be one less tool to use when times get tough.

Update: Decided to order some .3mg (300mcg) melatonin tablets from Amazon. We'll see how that goes, I've read several articles suggesting starting with .3mg, in addition to the one posted earlier in this thread, worth a try.