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Another interesting candidate is gabopentina, which has a lot of off label applications but is non-addictive. It is used a lot in addiction therapy, especially for alcohol. It blocks the pleasure brains for alcohol. But after a while and it wears down. If you have a couple drinks with alcohol, then a  gabopentina, you will get very sleepy and no desire for more alcohol. Or binge drinking. It doesn't matter, it you drink it goes into black hole called your liver, not your brain.

Put the lime in the coconut, and mix it all up, then call me in the morning. Sorry, a song I was listening to.

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1 hour ago, CHILLIN said:

Another interesting candidate is gabopentina, which has a lot of off label applications but is non-addictive. It is used a lot in addiction therapy, especially for alcohol. It blocks the pleasure brains for alcohol. But after a while and it wears down. If you have a couple drinks with alcohol, then a  gabopentina, you will get very sleepy and no desire for more alcohol. Or binge drinking. It doesn't matter, it you drink it goes into black hole called your liver, not your brain.

Put the lime in the coconut, and mix it all up, then call me in the morning. Sorry, a song I was listening to.

https://www.drugs.com/sfx/gabapentin-side-effects.html

 

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On 9/6/2013 at 4:40 PM, zeemama said:

I take Melatonin, works for me and it's natura

 

On 9/6/2013 at 4:40 PM, zeemama said:

I take Melatonin, works for me and it's natural

I was on a prescribed medication for years . I needed to quit this medication , because I found out I was making full meals in the middle of the night  and eating it . A person doesn’t know it when doing things like this .  Needless to say I couldn’t figure out why I was gaining weight ! My doctor weaned me off of the Restoril  , however it took almost a year. 

I now take Melatonin 3 mg every night . Most times with a glass of wine or a margarita . Works great !

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1 hour ago, MarkWebles said:

My, my! What did we do before the development of modern, easily obtained pharmaceuticals? Probably something barbaric like avoiding pharmaceuticals, or better,  going for a walk .

Yes, there was a time when humans worked so hard all day just to stay alive, hunting and gathering, hauling water, fending off wild animals, etc. that they were exhausted at the end of the day and had no trouble falling asleep. I doubt there's many hard working farmers and manual laborers and people in parts of the world where every day is a struggle to survive, even today, who find it difficult to sleep.

That said, we are living on a planet with so many environmental pollutants now that it's possible that some of those things are affecting our sleep.

And before the advent of electric light, people generally rose with the sun and went to sleep shortly after sundown, which is natural to diurnal animals.

I read an interesting article the other day (can't remember where) about historical evidence that shows that although we now think we should be able to sleep for 6-9 hours at a stretch and that there's something wrong if we can't, humans used to have what they called the first sleep and the second sleep. The first was about 4 hours, then there was a wake period of about 1-2 hours, then sleep again for another 4. So maybe we're trying to do something now that simply isn't a part of our natural biological rhythm.

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3 hours ago, MarkWebles said:

My, my! What did we do before the development of modern, easily obtained pharmaceuticals? Probably something barbaric like avoiding pharmaceuticals, or better,  going for a walk .

Wow !  Well Goody for you that you don’t have any trouble with sleep. ! There are many people that just taking a walk doesn’t help them to fall asleep ( especially in the middle of the night)

I myself have a chemical imbalance , that is just one of the reasons I first was prescribed a sleeping pill.  As stated in a previous post, I finally was able to get off the Restoril  onto the melatonin . I am changing my lifestyle to have more activity and a  better nutritious balance .

 

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11 hours ago, mudgirl said:

Yes, there was a time when humans worked so hard all day just to stay alive, hunting and gathering, hauling water, fending off wild animals, etc. that they were exhausted at the end of the day and had no trouble falling asleep. I doubt there's many hard working farmers and manual laborers and people in parts of the world where every day is a struggle to survive, even today, who find it difficult to sleep.

That said, we are living on a planet with so many environmental pollutants now that it's possible that some of those things are affecting our sleep.

And before the advent of electric light, people generally rose with the sun and went to sleep shortly after sundown, which is natural to diurnal animals.

I read an interesting article the other day (can't remember where) about historical evidence that shows that although we now think we should be able to sleep for 6-9 hours at a stretch and that there's something wrong if we can't, humans used to have what they called the first sleep and the second sleep. The first was about 4 hours, then there was a wake period of about 1-2 hours, then sleep again for another 4. So maybe we're trying to do something now that simply isn't a part of our natural biological rhythm.

No doubt we'll evolve to a point where we will able to keep up with our social media chores and simultaneously get the requisite amount of sleep each night. Brave New World, indeed.

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On 9/6/2013 at 10:29 PM, Go Solar said:

Diphenhydramine / Dimenhydrinate

Make this plus 4 for diphenhydramine. I buy big bottles of it in the US under the name Wal-dryl (Walgreens generic). Hospitals sometimes use it to get you sleepy before anesthesia is given. Good for allergies too.

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Benadryl linked to dementia.  I know I know, medical studies sometimes contradict each other (coffee good, coffee bad), but this study has never been refuted and the results are staggering.  

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-drugs-like-benadryl-linked-increased-dementia-risk-201501287667

What the study found

A team led by Shelley Gray, a pharmacist at the University of Washington’s School of Pharmacy, tracked nearly 3,500 men and women ages 65 and older who took part in Adult Changes in Thought (ACT), a long-term study conducted by the University of Washington and Group Health, a Seattle healthcare system. They used Group Health’s pharmacy records to determine all the drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter, that each participant took the 10 years before starting the study. Participants’ health was tracked for an average of seven years. During that time, 800 of the volunteers developed dementia. When the researchers examined the use of anticholinergic drugs, they found that people who used these drugs were more likely to have developed dementia as those who didn’t use them. Moreover, dementia risk increased along with the cumulative dose. Taking an anticholinergic for the equivalent of three years or more was associated with a 54% higher dementia risk than taking the same dose for three months or less.

 

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On ‎6‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 4:48 PM, CHILLIN said:

Another interesting candidate is gabopentina, which has a lot of off label applications but is non-addictive. It is used a lot in addiction therapy, especially for alcohol. It blocks the pleasure brains for alcohol. But after a while and it wears down. If you have a couple drinks with alcohol, then a  gabopentina, you will get very sleepy and no desire for more alcohol. Or binge drinking. It doesn't matter, it you drink it goes into black hole called your liver, not your brain.

Put the lime in the coconut, and mix it all up, then call me in the morning. Sorry, a song I was listening to.

https://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j4441

Not to be alarmist, as this is mostly due to purposeful abuse of this drug in the UK, especially among teens.   However, always good to be fully informed.....

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Thank you Alpha1 and Bisbee gal. I have read both the article and the Harvard study. That said, all drugs come with some risk and frankly after being mislead by the American medical community regarding a "healthy" diet which has lead to an obesity epidemic, I look at all of these warnings with a pound (!) of salt. My first questions would be 1) how many in the control group developed dementia anyway and 2) what was the health status of those who did develop dementia and 3) were there other potential causes? As we all know by now, correlation ≠ causation.

Before going keto, the doctors had me on 6 different drugs and I couldn't run 50 feet (pre-diabetic, high blood pressure, acid reflux, etc). All of which is now long gone. Wanna hear what the doctor said after losing 70 lbs? "Whatever you're doing, keep on doing it" and this is from the person who should have informed me on how to get healthy. I hope you can see why I rarely accept the current medical opinions and would rather research it myself. Thanks for trying though.

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Many years ago, just before we moved full time to Mexico, I was diagnosed with a bad case of sleep apnea. That is now long gone but I sleep with a CPAP machine because it filters allergens and I find it very soothing, like a white noise machine. Luckily my first machine was covered by insurance and also ongoing treatment with a Registered Respiratory Technician. Interesting guy, easy to talk to. He told me he used to work the hospital wards, especially at night. So many people trying to sleep on their backs with all these gizmos strapped to their face. He told me that their go to sleep aid was a small glass of brandy. It worked, and they didn't have to worry so much with drug interactions.

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2 hours ago, CHILLIN said:

He told me that their go to sleep aid was a small glass of brandy. It worked, and they didn't have to worry so much with drug interactions.

Alcohol, in small amounts, used to be used quite extensively for various ailments. Parents now give their kids cough syrup, when it used to b something like a spoonful of whiskey with maybe a bit of honey. In fact, cough syrup contains alcohol, which is the ingredient that lessens the coughing. Plus it contains massive amounts of sugar, flavorings, etc.

A friend spent about a year in hospital for his COPD before moving to a nursing home. His friends and family used to not only bring him his favorite foods, but also sneak in some red wine, which he loved. The nurses pretty much turned a blind eye to it, as everyone was making sure his cup was only filled a little bit. In truth, when he'd had a bit of wine, his breathing became less labored.

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Regarding Gabapentin, the person looked it up and cut and past that it " has limited usefulness in the treatment of anxiety disorders such as social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, in treatment-resistant depression and insomnia"

MANY drugs passed by the FDA were found to work for OTHER medical conditions the drug was not created  for but it had  not yet passed by the FDA for the other uses. For example I took injections of Pergonal for infertility (with many US doctors approval)  while the FDA at the time only OK'd it for testicular cancer. Botox was used for skin wrinkles but now is passed by the FDA for migraines AND excessive under arm sweating! I am not a pharmacist. I feel persistent Google work will help. Good luck and sweet dreams.

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On 9/6/2013 at 7:18 PM, Joyfull said:

after looking up Gabapentina I wouldn't touch the stuff. This is a serious med...NOT a sleeping med.

"Gabapentin was originally approved in the U.S.. UU. by the FDA in 1994 as adjunctive medication to control partial seizures (still effective when added to other seizure medications). In 2002 we added an approval for the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia (neuropathic pain that follows shingles, other painful neuropathies, and nerve pain).

Although it is "right" (ie, approved by the FDA), has been the effectiveness of gabapentin in the prevention of neuropathic pain and frequent migraines nystagmus.

Gabapentin has also been used in the treatment of bipolar disorder. However, this use "not indicated" is becoming more controversial. There are some statements about the actions of gabapentin as a mood stabilizer and has the advantage of having fewer side effects than medications against more conventional bipolar disorder as lithium and valproate. Some small and uncontrolled studies in the 1990s, most of them sponsored by the manufacturer of gabapentin, suggesting that this drug treatment of bipolar disorder would prometedor.De However, recently, several controlled studies, double-blind, found Gabapentin which was not more effective (and in one study, less effective) than a placebo. Despite scientific evidence that gabapentin is not optimal in the treatment of bipolar disorder, many psychiatrists continue prescribiéndola for this purpose.

Gabapentin has limited usefulness in the treatment of anxiety disorders such as social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, in treatment-resistant depression and insomnia. Gabapentin may be effective in reducing pain and spasticity in multiple sclerosis.

It has also been helping patients with chronic postoperative pain (usually caused by nerves have been damaged accidentally qe in an operation, and when they regenerate, are reconnected incorrectly). In this case includes a tingling sensation near or around the area where the operation took place, and intense sharp pains, severe pain after a lot of movement, constant moderate pain that lasts all day and a general feeling of weakness. These symptoms can appear many months after an operation and therefore the condition can progress without being discovered.

Gabapentin is also prescribed to patients who are treated with anti-androgenic compounds to reduce the incidence and intensity of hot flashes following treatment.

Gabapentin administered orally is one of the two medications (the other is the flumazenil is administered intravenously) for consideration as part of the treatment protocol known as Promise for addictions to alcohol, cocaine and methamphetamine. Gabapentin was given in doses of 1200 mg taken before bedtime for 40-60 days. Although the combination of infusions of flumazenil and gabapentin tablets is authorized treatment, there is no prohibition for an optional protocol prescribing gabapentin outside the Promise. There have been reports of meth addicts that gabapentin only administered at doses and times listed above have reduced withdrawal symptoms and almost eliminating anxiety and the desire to use methamphetamine (as of July 2007).

It is occasionally prescribed gabapentin for the treatment of idiopathic subjective tinnitus, but a randomized double-blind controlled found it ineffective."

 

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Because each of us is unique, I found this article to be of interest. As a narcoleptic with cataplexy, I "discovered" cannabis oil in December of 2014. My hubby decided he wasn't going to use it because he wanted to be clear headed and functional right 'til the very end. He suggested that I try it at night because he said it was definitely sedating. Normally, I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat BUT the quality is lacking because I don't get enough "deep" sleep and have an overabundance of REM which leaves me dragging my butt around most days. So, I started taking a 1/2 a grain of rice worth of Indica THC only based cannabis oil sublingually just before bed every night. The sleep was incredible and I woke up refreshed. What was even more exciting and totally unexpected, the cataplexy stopped in about two weeks after starting the oil. The cataplexy had been a daily occurrence for me for the previous twenty-eight years. Couldn't believe it, so I stopped taking the oil... and the cataplexy was back in four days. I've been taking it every night since.

The reason that I'm posting this article is because I get asked a lot if CBD (Cannabidiol) would help with sleep and I always say that it can be stimulating so be careful. I have recommended it if your insomnia or inability to sleep is caused by pain or anxiety or stress because it definitely makes everything easier to cope with. This is assuming that you have normal sleep patterns if the stress, pain or anxiety are removed from the equation.

Anyway, enjoy the article. I did and I like using products that have no side effects and are natural. Whatever works for you.

https://www.leafly.com/news/strains-products/how-to-use-cbd-marijuana-for-sleep?utm_source=SailThru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=buy_pickup&utm_term=global&utm_content=pickup

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I haven't yet tried the oil, but would like to. I've actually been using a few tokes of mj for sleep for almost 20 years, since finding it hard to fall asleep when I became pre-menopausal. I tried all the natural remedies like valerian, melatonin, etc, and none worked at all for me. For a while I even took sleeping pills, but they knocked me out so solid for 8 hours, that it didn't feel safe- I was afraid of sleeping right through some emergency situation, like a fire. The thing is, I never was a pot smoker, even back in my youthful hippie days. I just don't like the feeling of being stoned, and my body chemistry has never made the distinction between Indica and Sativa- it doesn't get me "high", it all just makes me want to get under the covers and fall asleep. So I've been using the herb medicinally long before it became popularly used as a medication for various ailments.

I had a friend years ago who was a severe epileptic. She told me that she had seen a doctor a few years before who said, "Don't tell anyone I told you this, but you should be smoking marijuana. It works well for epilepsy." She took his advice, and never again had a grand mal seizure, which had been a regular occurence for her.

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