Do you take sleeping pills?

dominica

For me, I'm very open to alternative options, but there are those that think taking a pill is just easy, so they do that. Alternative routes take more thought and effort. (And sometimes money). Adjusting lifestyle (getting to bed earlier, not watching tv at bedtime, giving up caffeine in evening, etc.) takes effort. Not everyone likes to give effort. Also, many don't know that the sleeping pill has side effects as well. They may need more information and encouragement to try alternative routes.

Mackmax

I do not use sleeping pills, however I do take Nyquil nighttime cold medicine as a sleeping aid, as I found that it knocks me out very quickly. I use it every night, however I definitely think that I have a good sense of self-control as I use it only when I need it, and I never take more than the recommended dosage. I do not believe that I have an addiction.

What made me decide to use Nyquil was that I found that it was the only thing that worked for me. I've tried diet changes, I turn off electronics half an hour before bedtime, yet they don't help as much as I'd like them to. I've tried sleeping pills and even those don't work for me. This is why I use Nyquil, since finding a natural alternative treatment that works is rather difficult for me.

RoseK

I tend to suffer bouts of insomnia and, as a result, haved used sleeping pills instead of alcohol to fall asleep. I know it's a choice between two evils but I've been proactive in changing my daily habits to stop feeding my addiction to alcohol.

Glow

Rose, I think that it's good that you've stopped with the alcohol, but sleeping pills are not the best alternative IMO. Do you take them on a daily basis?

missbishi

I have always had problems in getting to sleep and staying asleep. Even prescription sleeping pills like Zopiclone don't help. I practise good sleep hygiene, including keeping to regular bedtimes and get-ups but I just cannot break the cycle. I know some people can survive on 4 hours a night, but seeing as I feel constantly drained, I don;t think I'm one of them. 

hellonamesdana

My mom convinced me that Melatonin works the best for sleep, and I've used it a few times, but I try not to use it too often. On the nights where I really can't sleep but I'm not feeling incredibly sick, I'll take it just to get some sort of sleep. But if I'm already sick and I can't sleep because of how sick I am, there's no point because then I'll just be even more tired but still incredibly sick and unable to sleep and it's just miserable.

drakke

Only used them a couple of times but i'd really recommend not abusing them. Taking them a few times/month or even rarer doesn't seem to have an impact on your health. 

Glow

I agree with that drakke, I mean, that totally messes up with our system. We might fall asleep, but that disrupts our system and we no longer can function normally, at least if we abuse them.

RoseK

I take sleeping pills on a regular basis or else I tend to suffer insomnia as the result of medication I take for my anxiety and depression. I'm communicating on a regular basis with my doctor so he can monitor me.

drakke

@Rosek what are the simptoms if you withdraw? Except from not falling asleep though

alcat

I had a cousin who was long years with a doctor to treat depression and other disorders, she took an absurd amount of pills. She left that doctor and she is better now... 

Glow

So are you saying that it depends on the doctor alcat? It's impressive the positive or negative influence that doctors can have on our lives, I wish a standard treatment existed. 

RoseK

@drakke Severe insomnia is the only symptom if I don't take sleeping pills...which then affects sleep cycle and effectiveness of my other meds. I do more than take medication to help me live without anxiety/depression. I write, seek support from those who care about me, work on projects that I am passionate about and have an ongoing discussion with those who are also battling their demons openly.

dc52

Natural sleeping pills such as melatonin do not have a potential for addiction. I would recommend melatonin if it is available in your country and you have trouble sleeping. However most generic sleeping medication is physically and mentally unhealthy. It would be better to struggle going to sleep occasionally than to only be able to sleep under the influence of medication. Just my opinion, hope it helps someone.

Diane

I have used sleeping pills but am very careful with them as I would not want to become dependent on them. I think sometimes you can go through periods of stress where your sleep pattern changes, and then a new pattern of sleeplessness is created, and you become anxious and upset why you can't fall asleep, which makes everything worse. At those times I think taking something to help you fall asleep earlier can help break your body out of that cycle. 

drakke

@Rosek have you seen an improvement in your state of being lately? How was the journey so far and do you think you could ever stop using sleeping pills at all?

RoseK

Yes I feel like I am finally feeling functional again In the past I was operating solely in survival mode..just trying to keep a roof over my head. I don't feel that anymore. Now I'm focusing on loving and understanding myself as well as mending past broken relationships. As far as the sleeping pills, I really don't know. I would rather use a more natural method, but nothing I have tried can keep me asleep for a full eight hours.

drakke

I'm glad you got past the survival mode and from now on there is only room for improvement. Sleeping pills can really kill your "sleep" after a while.

bellejoie

I don't use them. Never had, even in situations where falling asleep and getting some rest fast could have really saved me a lot of trouble. I don't like to take medicaments for things that will simply pass (I make exceptions for things like antibiotics). Lack of sleep can be inconvenient, but in my case not this much that I need to rely on a pill "fix it".

blur92

I tried alternative treatments for awhile.  They often would work temporarily or occasionally so then I had to try a couple prescriptions.  I'll still resort to taking herbal supplements or an over the counter product, but that is only when I begin developing a tolerance to my medication.  Before when I didn't take anything I wouldn't sleep at all and then have to go through the day half functioning.  It was difficult for me to deal with.  I still struggle with insomnia, however, not as much as before.

hellonamesdana

Sometimes I wish that I had a really good heavy duty sleeping pill to take for the nights where I absolutely can't sleep because I'm too sick, but at the same time if I take something to make me sleep while I'm up being so sick it's just going to make it so much worse! I deal with my painsomnia all of the time and it really sucks. I never get enough sleep.

AtlantaSports

The closest thing to a sleeping pill I have partaken in is Nyquil and Benadryl. I know a person who has a habit to take sleeping pills regularly and is now seeking professional help for addiction. If you find yourself become codependent on a pill to sleep, then you need to seek help.

Glow

For sure, I mean, sleeping is a natural process and disrupting it with pills is something that really makes no sense, at least in the long run. 

ridemybike

Yes, I also take Nyquil once in a while but I heard it loses its effect if you take it on consecutive days? Can somebody confirm this fact?

However, most of the time,I try to use psychological tricks (imagining beautiful scenery, etc.) to make myself fall asleep. I am afraid of the side effects of taking Nyquil too often and I don't want to be dependent on it to make me fall asleep. Once people become dependent on sleeping pills, it will be very difficult for them to sleep without taking pills and even if they took those pills, they would not be as effective as before.

drakke

Lately i'm consindering using some teas to help me fall asleep, mostly because I have had nightmares for a few weeks now.It's tearing me from inside out.

kittyworker

The question is, do you want to get quality REM sleep or just knocked out? My partner has had so many different sleeping pills to try to control her circadian rhythm disorder.  Now she just tries to get to bed at the same time every night and for the past few months has been able to get decent sleep without needing to nap during the day. 

ClevelandGuy

I actually tried to get on some sort of sleeping pill regimen when I visited my doctor, and explained to him that I was having trouble sleeping, but he instead put me on anti-depressants, which I feel was even worse.

I was drinking in the evenings to go to sleep, and the anti depressants weren't really doing anything for me in the daytime to relieve my depression, but in the evening combined with alcohol, I was on a "second wind" and would stay up even later - past 3 or 4 am when I had to be up at 6 to get ready for work.

I've never been on a sleeping pill prescription, so I don't know how they would affect me, but I would much rather nod off at 10pm or so after taking one, than stay up even later than I already am.

The only sleeping medication I've tried though was over the counter stuff - and while it worked to some degree, if often found it wouldn't kick in until the wee hours of the morning, and by that time I had to be back up for work - so I would be groggy all day at work the following day.

Glow

The best way to get sleep when we can't is to get rid of the concerns we have in our head. How do we do that? Solving the problems that generate those concerns. Sleeping pills are a far worse alternative. 

Zeek4800

I do not take sleeping pills since I can sleep pretty well for those 8 hours. The pills would have really bad results if you get addicted. This is why you cannot stress when you want to sleep. So pills to help you sleep are not really worth it. 

Glow

That is something great zeek and you should value that. The same happens to me when I have no worries, lately I've been losing some hours sleep, but fortunately that something occasional. 

SDarkraven

I do not believe in sleeping pills, and I'll tell you why.

I used to do a lot of drugs. I mean a rockstar-style amount. I then realized I was headed nowhere but shortening years off my life instead and I thought to myself why keep on. Then I remembered an experience I had, and it drove it further home. Like smashed-out-of-the-park type of drove.

This is the experience. Me and my brother got hooked on some nasty pills called Seroquel. In small doses they actually worked as prescribed and would keep you down when you went out. However in large doses (and they always were large doses) would knock you out for days on end. I abused them. I won't lie. I had fun and would escape the world for awhile for my own world.

One day I didn't wake up. Until I was on an operating room table, and they told me my heart had officially stopped four times. I don't know who was looking out for me (Call it god, a higher power, an angel, whatever) but someone wanted me to live. And atone for abuse.

Glow

Wow! I am glad you have survived, but you are the living testimony that abusing substances can cause our death, a good example to everyone.

SDarkraven

I don't condone what I have done nor do I advocate for anyone to live any particular way. I'm not invasive like that. I just hope my story can help some people somewhere. Even if only one person, then that's one person who would be saved more then if I've never said anything.

drakke

Seems like I can't get rested in 8hours of sleep. Could be a bad month. Any tips to fix this issue?

DietOwl

Yeah, I've been taking sleeping pills since I was about eleven from what I remember. I've had insomnia for so long I can't remember. I originally took Melatonin, but I ended up getting too tolerant of it so I had to stop when I was taking 10-15 pills a night just to get a little bit drowsy.

Now I take trazadone or benadryl on a bad night, and try to fall asleep on my own naturally otherwise. Sleeping pills help, but at least for me I never really get a perfect sleep night when I'm on them.

Glow

I am shocked with what I am reading here Owl, you take sleeping pills since you are 11? How did that happen? How can a 11 year old start to take sleeping pills? 

Jackhaal

I'm really scared of taking anything, any drugs that may have some adverse effects on me, even if they are not obvious or even likely to happen. I sometimes want to use sleeping pills but the problem is I don't want to get addicted or anything like that to them! That's why I refrain from using them even though sometimes I want to.

stariie

I used to be addicted to pills, but somehow sleeping pills don't appeal to me.

I don't like to sleep, so I guess that's why sleeping pills are not something that I have to be concerned about.  

I've taken ZZZquil, or I'll have a small bit of wine to go to sleep if I really need to go to sleep but feel like I can't because I'm too wound up.

I also feel that if something is on my mind, and I'm trying to sleep but I can't, I'll get up and write about the thing that's bothering me.  For me, sometimes writing clears the way to a more restful sleep.

teamxxlp

I used to have problems sleeping, but I never went to a doctor for stronger sleeping medications. I've taken over the counter solutions, but they never really worked or gave me any kind of positive results. If I was to ever get addicted to one pill or another, I don't think it would be sleeping pills or similar medications. I know plenty of people that have struggled with such use for years, though. 

androl

I have known people to be addicted to sleeping pills and to overdose on them.  They are certainly not good for you and I think everyone should avoid taking any kind of pills unless they really need to.  I have had sleeping problems for a large chunk of my life but have never ever taken sleeping pills. I would rather going the alternative route and use relaxation and self-help techniques and maybe self-hypnosis.  There are some simple relaxation techniques which can be quite effective.

SDarkraven

For those suffering from insomnia or broken REM sleep patterns, I  have a very "weird" and "unorthodox" suggestion: always taking a hot shower beforehand (attempting sleep on whatever you sleep on) and then make the room you sleep in virtually ice-cold. This will make you want to burrow under whatever you use as a cover, and thus kick in R.E.M sleep easier because your muscles are relaxed and you're comfortably warm.

Zeek4800

It is good to have the ability to be independent from sleeping aids Glow. Medication that is supposed to help you go to sleep is never positive. Just think of how much time and money you are wasting for pills when you can practice other ways to sleep peacefully.

hellonamesdana

@stariie I've tried ZzzQuil and I personally really didn't think that it worked for me as well as NyQuil has in the past for me. I know that you're really not supposed to take NyQuil when you're not sick and when you don't need it, but I think it works a lot better and gets me to sleep faster and keeps me asleep for longer when I really need it.

Descur

I do not take sleeping pills or any other substance to help me sleep. I do suffer from insomnia and sometimes its so bad that I can't sleep for days...other times even though I am sleepy to the point where I might crash anytime, I can't...mainly because I am a light sleeper and any noise that I find annoying will automatically wake me up and keep me up...so far I haven't really found any solution to avoid this but hopefully in the future I will figure it out. I am not going to start taking sleeping pills and end up getting addicted to them.

SDarkraven

There are plenty of natural remedy sites out there if you're scared of the addictive-ness of the sleep aids or drugs. They specifically target people with insomnia like yourself and offer tips and tricks on falling into REM sleep more efficiently. I looked at these back in the late 90's when I suffered from insomnia too. Some of them are completely bonkers and some are legit. I'll leave it up to you to decide if they work for you or not.

Glow

That's right raven, I recall the valeriana roots for example that are really effective and don't have any side effects or dependence, a way better option. 

stariie

hellonamesdana Zzzquil works for me ok, but I don't think I've ever tried Nyquil to go to sleep, although I can totally see why it would work, since it's the 'nighttimesnifflingsneezingcoughingachingstuffyheadfeverso-you-can-rest-medicine', Lol.  

I did that from memory, so that might not be exactly what the commercial says, but the point is that the commercial does make it clear that this cold medicine will make you sleep.

I mean, you know, whatever works for you.  If that's what you need to sleep, then that is your right to take, it if you can handle it.  There are some people who would steer waaay clear of both of the "quils" because they feel they're too dangerous to take, but for me, as long as I'm not drinking stuff every single night to where it becomes an addiction, then I'm ok.

RingoBerry

I prefer a glass of wine or a bottle of beer if I can't sleep. I would never resort to taking drugs just for that unless I am actually confined in a hospital and under medical supervision. I wouldn't suggest it to anyone either. 

I tried buying a pad of sleeping pills before just to see if they from two different pharmacies just to see if they would actually sell me some. In the end, all they asked me for is a phone number. That was 5 years ago so I don't know if its harder to get them now. I know people that have become dependent on it and those that even abused it so nah, not for me.

lovepotionnumber9

Unless there is a medical condition which prevents you from sleeping, it is best to avoid them. A lot of people in the medical profession get addicted to antihistamines. They intially start taking the antihistamines to help them sleep and then they need to take them constantly. I am not 100% sure why they use antihistamines, maybe it is a way to get around random drug tests ?

Anyway quite a few nurses I talked to had problems sleeping because they work shifts. And they got addicted to antihistamines. Eventually they got off them. So you have to be careful.

lovepotionnumber9

@ridemybike Yes, I also take Nyquil once in a while but I heard it loses its effect
if you take it on consecutive days? Can somebody confirm this fact?





Becareful with over the counter drugs like that. In my previous post I mentioned I knew a few nurses who got addicted to antihistamines. They where using them as a sleep aide. One nurse told me she couldn't sleep unless she took the antihistamines, eventually she got off them.

Drugs should only be used for their intented purpose. So with Nyquil, it is for when you have a cold, not sleep problems.

ReadmeByAmy

I remembered before I had insomnia and I really cannot sleep up to early in the morning. And when I had the chance to sleep in the morning it is 2 or 3 hours only. That is why I am always irritated and I cannot do all my works and responsibilities for the day. It really bothers me thinking that it will affects my health. But it never came into my mind to take sleeping pills. What I did is I tried to be relax and not to stress myself hours before I sleep and I tried to have a sleep pattern and that is sleeping at the same time and at the right time every night and then I had my normal sleep again. What I noticed if i am too worried and stressed because of not feeling sleepy at night the more I cannot sleep.

Glow

That is the way to go Amy, I think we should let the body find it's balance instead of trying to balance it with chemicals, that usually make things worse. 

SDarkraven

If you talk to a doctor, they'll be more inclined to take blood tests and recommend plans that will fit your personal overall health, not just an "assumed" answer (such as nyquil or sleeping pills). I'd suggest talking about it to them, generally most doctors are ironically health nuts.

drakke

Balance with chemicals will screw up your internal balance. The body will think that the amount you take with pills is the normal body ratio and will reduce the secretion of certain chemicals. When you cut them off, you will feel very bad.

survived

I had a friend that took sleeping tablets as a habit before bed and once they finally got off the tablets they went on to other things because it was the habit and not the lack of sleep. Once my friend got herself off the sleeping tablets, she found that she could actually get some sleep.

nergaahl

I've always avoided depending on pills. If I notice I can't sleep at night or can't sleep well, I consider taking a change in my lifestyle, such as exercising or eating better (I'm not a very hungry person in general). But I will never take sleeping pills. I avoid taking any kind of medicine which isn't natural.

hellonamesdana

I've been thinking a lot lately that I was going to ask a doctor to give me some sort of sleeping medication because I really haven't been sleeping well at all.

Glow

I wouldn't go for that dana. If I was you I would try to understand why you're not sleeping, what's on your mind? Any side effects from new medication maybe?

drakke

At least try some teas first before going for medication.

SDarkraven

Try natural remedies first. Then the doctor route. Failing that, I'd suggest you have a bit of "personal time" with your hand(winkwink nudge nudge) to release endorphins that are naturally stimulating your sense of tiredness. After a rush of euphoria, usually it leaves you drained, makingyou more prone to languish around or stay stationary. This also helps with releasing the proper chemicals needed for a good nights sleep.

AtlantaSports

The closest thing to a sleeping pill I take is Benadryl. I am scared to mess with anything else because they could be detrimental to my health.

3pattypixie

I avoid sleeping pills.  I was once prescribed Abilify and was sleep for almost 3 days straight.  I am extremely sensitive to medication.  I don't even take over the counter melatonin or nyquil.  Instead, I try to do things that will help relax me before I go to bed, like read a book or take a bath.  I also make sure that my room is completely dark to help the natural production of melatonin in my body.  It's a hit and miss though, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. 

DTracy3

@SDarkraven  That story of your heart stopping really makes you think. I believe a lot of people abuse these pills without knowing how bad it really can get.

I don't take sleeping pills, because I don't like taking pills of any sort. I avoid them whenever possible, partly because I don't trust them and partly because I have a personality that tends to get addicted really fast which is why I don't like to take any chances with these pills.

Glow

I also prefer to avoid pills, I prefer natural medicines that have no side effects. There are lots of plants that can have the same effect.

drakke

Try isolating the issue first. What's causing it? Work? Stress? Family? Sleeping pills are not a good option for sleeping.

Kaidera

Sleeping pills are a dangerous road to go down, in my opinion. There's a lot of science behind melatonin, the neurotransmittier in your brain that regulates sleep. When you take something foreign, or outside of your body, and supplement melatonin after a relatively short amount of time your body stops producing it on its own. So then you have to worry about the addictve qualitiy of being able to slip away from the world, but then you also will have a more difficult time getting to sleep on your own? I'm not sure if there's a "pro" somewhere in the mix...

forehandflick

I have never taken a medically prescribed sleeping pill, but I have taken Melatonin and Nyquil. Although I've never felt a strong, addictive connection with these medicines, I can understand how they could be abused. I usually take Melatonin once or twice a week to help fall asleep, but it's mainly to keep a healthy sleeping schedule, not because I don't want to be awake anymore.

Glow

These days it's like a fashion to overmedicate and this started with sleeping pills and rolled on to other areas. It's time someone put an end to it.

thestoryteller1

@Kaidera I don't really like pills and generally avoid taking them as much as I can. Even for headache. Imagine, if you don't give your body anything, it can try to naturally adjust, but if you every time take something, your body gets used to it, and needs it to adjust...However, I have had sprained ankle, a really bad sprain that had me sitting and moving minimally for weeks, and what I didn't know about breaking or spraining something is how fatigued it leaves you and how hard it is to sleep. And in that case I vote for the sleeping because your body needs to heal and it can't if you are unable to rest. I didn't take sleeping pills, but had it been a little more serious break that needed longer to heal, I may have really considered it. As any rule, not taking pills has it's exceptions.

Rhodolite

The only thing I use is Benadryl once in a while but that's it. Even then it's used if I'm really really tired and haven't had good sleep in a long time. 

jeremy3

You should count yourself lucky that you made it alive even after you had died officially for four minutes.God was watching over you my friend.That was a life changing event and am glad you had the power in yourself to abandon your life of drugs.My prayer to you is that you keep up the fight.

StarwarsFan

Sleeping pills are horrible and unhealthy, however they do help some individuals. 

Most resting issues are presumably created by anxiety, gloom, uneasiness, apprehension and stress and in addition being excessively keyed up. 

Resting pills are not very healthy, and they can provide for you awful reactions, for example, migraines and sluggishness amid the day so you shouldn't really use them unless you really need them.

To rest better simply unwind and switch off, on the off chance that you can. 

In the event that you are experiencing difficulty exchanging off at sleepy time some light work out (for instance, push ups or sit ups) at lights out regularly helps you to unwind, loosen up and switch off and that frequently enhances your slumber. Strenuous activity at sleepy time is prone to demolish your slumber. 

Regular OTC tranquilizers incorporate Chamomile tea, 5-HTP, Melatonin and Valerian Root. 

Slumber improving food incorporate warm milk, turkey, fruits, oats, bananas, wine and others, some of which can prove way better than pills.

Elgine

I don't. I do have a bit of a sleeping disorder. I wanna sleep early most of the time since I have a day job but I already sleep at 12 midnight or at 1am. I don't take sleeping pills though because I don't wanna be dependent on them. I think that eating a lot at dinner helps make you sleepy. Drinking milk could help too as well as reading a really boring book. Haha.

SDarkraven

From the time I've wrote this I've also guided four new people to our forums and pointed out my posts. They've each given me their two cents and I think we can fully understand the scope and scale of this addiction. It's very underplayed by the addictions we mainly know like snortables and other pills.

hellonamesdana

I'm considering going back to taking melatonin at night when I'm really sick and need to get to sleep, but I don't want to become reliant on it like both my brother and mom are at this point in their lives after taking it for months. I don't know if I should or not, but I am constantly tired and really sick and I am never getting to sleep when I want to or getting nearly enough sleep that I so desperately need.

Glow

I think that these days we go for the immediate solution instead of finding the healthy and permanent one. Sleeping pills don't solve a problem, they just create another. 

SDarkraven

Yup. The chemical can imbalance way too easily in some, as well. Depends on fortitude and constitution (and I don't mean RPG stats, either. Lol)

After awhile you'll be so needing them you'll have insomnia or lay in bed staring at the ceiling. It's not worth it when you wonder "can I just take some more to pass out?"

The answer is no. And you shouldn't, either. 

davidj96

I used to rely on sleeping pills each and every day. I woke up very early for school and had to work afterwards and by the time I got back home in the evening, I'd be so tired but could never fall asleep. Nowadays I have been using tea and small snacks to help me get to sleep at night. Luckily I never became addicted to the sleeping pills.

jbepp

I've never had any problems sleeping. Even if I did, I probably wouldn't use sleeping pills as I've heard and read many bad things about them. I'd probably try to make some teas to help me sleep.

Glow

That's how I see it too @drakke, what is the problem, why are we having a hard time sleeping? We need to dedicate it time instead of just swallowing pills. 

nowomannocry

I take something called, Melatonin when I have trouble sleeping. The body naturally produces Melatonin but we can take it in pill form if we aren't producing enough. Melatonin levels in the blood make us feel sleepy. It usually begins when darkness occurs and will last for up to 12 hours. I recently read an article however, that suggested going off of electronics for one week to 're-set' the bodies clock to sleep naturally. Sometimes light from electroncis can effect our Melatonin levels. I found this to be a harmless technique to aid in sleep that I would like to try very much. 

Juortega

I use to take sleeping pills when I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, I remember not liking them for being synthetic and their strong effects, Instead I remedied the matter with medicinal marijuana and found that I felt better waking up and falling up asleep than with the sleeping pills, perhaps because one is more natural than the other. Anyways the pills caused dizziness and uncomfortably put me to sleep with doses.

SDarkraven

Again, thanks for the comments and support. This is just a BAD road to travel down, and it leads to dependency a lot.

JuruDi

There's a lot of good advice here. But if you're seriously having trouble sleeping and sleeping pills are your only solution, you should consult a doctor. Different people react differently to sleeping pills and not everyone gets addicted to them. Everyone has a unique physiology so it's impossible to say for sure whether you will get addicted to sleeping pills if taken in the right dosages. Insomnia, if left untreated, can often be even worse than a mild sleeping pill dependency.

KNH

I get kind of nervous when I think about taking a sleeping pill because I don't want to get addicted. I have taken melatonin before since it's "natural" and supposedly non-addictive. It typically works well the first few nights but then it stops, so I don't take it for more than a few nights at a time. Sometimes, drinking some "bedtime" teas will help, but that might be due to a placebo effect.

Glow

Not only we become dependent on them, but also we ignore the long term effects. For example, just today I read that quite a few pills cause dementia on the long run.

Pat

I have allergies which can cause me to cough and cough when it is time to go to sleep.  I will take a Benadrly or Nyquil to help me sleep and other people in the house sleep because my coughing can be distrubing to the whole house. I only take Benadrly or Nyquil if I need it.

SDarkraven

I just helped someone else on a different forum for recovery over his feeling on sleeping pills after reading my posts here and my story about them. It makes me feel good inside; like I potentially put more worth back into the world. Without some of these people this life would be a more drab place, or at the very least not as full as ideas as it could have been.

Glow

That is quite right Kaidera, those drugs mess with neurotransmitters and the long term effects are not exactly clear right now. 

drakke

I do not know why people downvoted you @kaidera. But I agree with the points you stated. Every hormone imbalance is just that, an imbalance.

SDarkraven

No, they're not Drakke. Like was mentioned, there are so many better cures then medication as well, sometimes. Just go to a doctor, have them diagnose you THOROUGHLY and then put you on a plan that will work for the individual (in this case, you) through their insomnia or lack of sleeping. Oftentimes it can be countered with a medication to give you blissful sleep to make up for what lacking of "tonins" your brain is mis-producing (or not producing!).

But general over the counter sleep aids or pills you know to be sleep aids, don't work. They will make you sleep at first, wake up groggy and sluggish, make you want to sleep more, or have the opposite effect and actually harm your body increasing insomnia and uptime. I got into taking hardcore ones that weren't designed for my body and it almost killed me, like my story. This wouldn't have been true if I wasn't abusing them; certainly; but the fact that they weren't mine didn't help. They were custom fit to somebody else. Only now do I realize it's farce and folly do to such things.

Glow

Well, that is the issue drakke, sleeping pills are indeed a good solution for sleeping that is why people take them. They solve a problem, but create others. 

Yodeller

No I don't. At the moment I listen to guided meditation when I go to bed. I like the guided meditation as it helps to distract my anxious mind. Sometimes I have to repeat a session but it does help.

SDarkraven

That's what the doctor would tell you anyways. Then they'd have you answer some relevant (and more often then not irrelevant) questions about your disorder and your personal preferences. DO NOT LIE. Be truthful, and they might be able to find you a medication for you inside of two or three recommendations. Very rarely is one prescribed that's right on the first time. Most doctors just do what I call "Lump and Dump" and gather all the medicines and dump them off to see what works and what doesn't.

Don't even think about over-the-counter ones. They're addictive and you can develop a dependency very easily to need them to be able to fall out to a good nights REM sleep. 

jmiranda38

I could understand why someone would want to take sleeping pills. All day long someone might be feeling an anxious feeling tearing at them. It's horrible because I have felt it. And then to finally get to turn the switch off and rest for 8 or so hours. I've wanted to take sleeping pills for that reason but I never followed through. I've always been scared to become too dependent.

SDarkraven

At least, they didn't work for me. I didn't think they were even abuse-able, at first. Then I (like many before me, and many unfortunately to come) realized what I was doing and couldn't stop. It literally almost killed me. So take it from someone who was classified dead:

It's not worth it. Find another alternative. ANY other. Just not these.

Glow

I am a little puzzled that you say that drakke, sleeping pills are not a good option for sleeping? I mean, their whole goal is to help people sleep!

PrideKidd

Hello Community,

I have tried many different kinds of sleeping pills over the years and they all have the same effect on me, they make my breathing labored so I opted for a better method.  

Right before I am about to go to bed, I take a shower or a bath in pure candle light.  If you are in the shower, close your eyes and let the water wash away the worries of your day. If you are in the bathtub put a nice warm wet washcloth over your face and just sink down into the steamy water. I know how this sounds but it really seems to help me calm my mind before bed. 

I try to never take my stress and worries to bed with me, for they will be there when I wake up. If this method proves to be useful  to you then you should start noticing you sleep longer & waking up feeling a little more refreshed. Hope this helps you as much as it does me

Rowe992

I have never tried sleeping pills because I am able to well easily when I am tired. I in fact have problems staying up late at nights and when I have to stay up late I find that I have to drink coffee to stay up. I don't think I will ever try sleeping pills because they can be addictive.

xTinx

I have never taken sleeping pills. Nor do I intend to in the future. My reasoning is simple: it's not natural. When a drug forces you to sleep much against your body's, and you take it over and over again, your health can only take so much.