A "recipe" for those of us with sleep issues

music-city-missy

Well-known member
I have restless legs and was a lite sleeper to start with so sleep does not come easy - I have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. Marilyn had sent me a recommendation about a product by Natural Vitality called Calm. I got it at Costco and the only flavor they carry is raspberry lemonade. The other night I ran across a Tiktok for Sleepy Girl Mocktail to help you get "the best sleep" and it used that same product.

No real measurements but you mix several ounces - about 1/2 cup, of just plain sour cherry juice with one scoop of the Calm. Stir and top it off with any carbonated/fizzy drink - she used Olipop lemon lime but I couldn't find that so I've tried several things and settled on Fresca and I really like the combo. After mixing well, add ice.

The cherry juice is quite tart so I might order some of the mixed berry flavored Calm online when I fun out to cut back some on the tartness of the drink and I have a Super Fruits juice that I might try if I can get a comparision on the amount of melatonin in it vs the plain tart cherry juice.

I have been drinking this every night for about a week. Last night I trouble both falling asleep and staying asleep. It didn't hit me until mid-morning today that I had forgotten to have one of these mocktails last night. So I think it is working and it's pretty natural so it's a pretty safe solution if it is working.
 
Glad to hear it works well for you!

As a full on insomniac taking medication every night to sleep, here’s a few other tidbits:

Try to keep the house cool at bedtime; I turn my heat down in the winter to 55° overnight. I’d turn it lower, but that’s the lowest setting.

Review what you’ve eaten for the day and adjust going forward accordingly. I found the older I got the more I could not tolerate caffeine. At this point, for me, that includes chocolate. (Sob!) Even decaf Is too much. This would be my number one piece of advice, if sleep escapes you (and even on meds it still easily can for me) review what you‘ve eaten and start looking for patterns, then cut those things out or at least eat them early. Now, if I want chocolate cake, it’s a breakfast item and understand I might pay for it later.

This might be specific only to my circadian type of sleep disorder, but my sleep doctor advised me to start limiting the light in the early evening and try to get a least 20 minutes of bright sunlight during the day. Don’t keep a lot of lights on in the house, and if not possible my dr told me to wear sunglasses inside in the evening. Since I now rule my own kingdom, I have most of my lights on dimmers. Also, I’ve downloaded blue light blockers for my devices and keep those quite dim as well. I should limit my device uses at night all together, but hey, this is real life.

Ensure you don’t need a cpap. I learned from my dr, if your body isn’t getting proper oxygen at night, if fights sleep. I never snored, but found out I needed one once I had a sleep study.

Good luck!
 
Glad to hear it works well for you!

As a full on insomniac taking medication every night to sleep, here’s a few other tidbits:

Try to keep the house cool at bedtime; I turn my heat down in the winter to 55° overnight. I’d turn it lower, but that’s the lowest setting.

Review what you’ve eaten for the day and adjust going forward accordingly. I found the older I got the more I could not tolerate caffeine. At this point, for me, that includes chocolate. (Sob!) Even decaf Is too much. This would be my number one piece of advice, if sleep escapes you (and even on meds it still easily can for me) review what you‘ve eaten and start looking for patterns, then cut those things out or at least eat them early. Now, if I want chocolate cake, it’s a breakfast item and understand I might pay for it later.

This might be specific only to my circadian type of sleep disorder, but my sleep doctor advised me to start limiting the light in the early evening and try to get a least 20 minutes of bright sunlight during the day. Don’t keep a lot of lights on in the house, and if not possible my dr told me to wear sunglasses inside in the evening. Since I now rule my own kingdom, I have most of my lights on dimmers. Also, I’ve downloaded blue light blockers for my devices and keep those quite dim as well. I should limit my device uses at night all together, but hey, this is real life.

Ensure you don’t need a cpap. I learned from my dr, if your body isn’t getting proper oxygen at night, if fights sleep. I never snored, but found out I needed one once I had a sleep study.

Good luck!
Thanks for the tips - I've tried a lot of them but I will try some of the others. I have tried to get my doctor to send me for a sleep study but he hasn't. Maybe when I go in July, I will insist this time. I need some relief. This has been going on SO long!

I almost never have caffeine and if I do, it is very early in the day, never after noon. Chocolate included. I haven't really watched to see if other foods bother me but I have SUCH a hard time sleeping especially getting a full night of sleep without waking up at least once or twice. I have tried it all - all the RLS drugs make me sick as all get out. I do take gabapentin. I can take 2 or 3 Benadryl and they might help fall asleep but not stay asleep. I need an on/off switch to my brain. I sleep with it cool and when possible with a window cracked for fresh air. I have a 20# weighted blanket and sound machine and they seem to help. We have a lot of windows so we don't use lights much during the day and only a fairly dim light by my chair at night. Blue light glasses. I am trying. But this cocktail really does seem to help, especially in falling asleep.
 
I started taking CDB oil in an attempt to make me calmer in the classroom. I have seldom had trouble sleeping since then - lifelong insomniac before.
We bought and I tried various CBD tinctures and then some Delta 8 chocolate. The Delta 8 helps some. I should add that besides having been a light sleeper my whole life and having had RLS issues a good part of it, a couple of years ago, I had my first panic attack. So now I am dealing with that to some degree. They never happen when I am awake, always right as I am drifting off or have just drifted off and they wake me up in a panic. So I do have meds for that when they happen.

I used to have a hard time sleeping worrying about work but I took early retirement when my husband retired at the beginning of 2016.
 
Thanks for the tips - I've tried a lot of them but I will try some of the others. I have tried to get my doctor to send me for a sleep study but he hasn't. Maybe when I go in July, I will insist this time. I need some relief. This has been going on SO long!

I almost never have caffeine and if I do, it is very early in the day, never after noon. Chocolate included. I haven't really watched to see if other foods bother me but I have SUCH a hard time sleeping especially getting a full night of sleep without waking up at least once or twice. I have tried it all - all the RLS drugs make me sick as all get out. I do take gabapentin. I can take 2 or 3 Benadryl and they might help fall asleep but not stay asleep. I need an on/off switch to my brain. I sleep with it cool and when possible with a window cracked for fresh air. I have a 20# weighted blanket and sound machine and they seem to help. We have a lot of windows so we don't use lights much during the day and only a fairly dim light by my chair at night. Blue light glasses. I am trying. But this cocktail really does seem to help, especially in falling asleep.
Whatever works! Not sleeping sends me into an emotional tailspin at this point (unmedicated insomnia will keep me up for 3 days at a time). I started with the over the counter meds in my late 30s, but had to ensure I did it early enough for me (no later than 9pm) to avoid the hangover. That’s when my dr switched me to rx because it has a shorter half-life. It’s also well know for woman who hit menopause sleeps becomes an issue. Do run through a mental check on anything you ingested. Other odd things have cropped up for me, such as sweets or carbs that turn to sugar (but not always, still nailing that down). Sleep is so important, I’d hold your drs feet to the fire to ensure they help you.
 
Whatever works! Not sleeping sends me into an emotional tailspin at this point (unmedicated insomnia will keep me up for 3 days at a time). I started with the over the counter meds in my late 30s, but had to ensure I did it early enough for me (no later than 9pm) to avoid the hangover. That’s when my dr switched me to rx because it has a shorter half-life. It’s also well know for woman who hit menopause sleeps becomes an issue. Do run through a mental check on anything you ingested. Other odd things have cropped up for me, such as sweets or carbs that turn to sugar (but not always, still nailing that down). Sleep is so important, I’d hold your drs feet to the fire to ensure they help you.
If you don't mind me asking, what med are you on? At one point I took Ambien but then they started issuing warnings for women taking it and cut the dose for women down to almost nothing. Early on, one doctor put me on an antidepressant because it could help sleep but I started having signs of tartive dyskinesia and I really didn't need the anti-depressant part of it so I was weaned off of it. The one thing that I noticed worked that I am going to talk to the doctor about is skelaxin. I had a prescription of that for a back issue and that might be the best sleep I have had and without any "hangover".

My sleep issues have been so bad that at times, I would just break down in tears at work or anywhere, even just have shakes and sort of a lack of muscle strength when it gets really bad.
 
If you don't mind me asking, what med are you on? At one point I took Ambien but then they started issuing warnings for women taking it and cut the dose for women down to almost nothing. Early on, one doctor put me on an antidepressant because it could help sleep but I started having signs of tartive dyskinesia and I really didn't need the anti-depressant part of it so I was weaned off of it. The one thing that I noticed worked that I am going to talk to the doctor about is skelaxin. I had a prescription of that for a back issue and that might be the best sleep I have had and without any "hangover".

My sleep issues have been so bad that at times, I would just break down in tears at work or anywhere, even just have shakes and sort of a lack of muscle strength when it gets really bad.
I’m on Ambien and I’m still on the 10 mg dose. I believe, advice now is for women to not be on more than 6 mg, but thankfully my doctor hasn’t tried to lower my dose. I was on Lunesta for a time, and I liked it better, but when I changed insurance, the Ambien is what they would cover. I’ve had really bad days where I know I ate some thing bad and the pill wasn’t enough so I would take a half a pill more if still awake at 3am, then at the end of the month I would run short, and it’s a highly regulated drug so my doctor would have to be called that I needed the prescription early. End result, I got a nasty talking to, which I’ve had more than once, so now I no longer have cheat chocolate days. Because omg, don’t take away my sleep!

One of the things I miss about old fashioned sleep, was getting drowsy. neither Ambien or Lunesta do that for me. I have to still try to go to sleep. I have to lay there, be still, be quiet, get in a certain position, and eventually I go from being awake to being asleep. No in between. I can and have stayed up and been fully functional after taking Ambien, on the rare time something has happened after I’ve taken my pill and there’s an emergency or whatever or somebody’s coming over that kind of thing. I’ve stayed up all night after taking it. I have no weird side effects from it. It just allows me to get to sleep if I want sleep, that’s the only thing it does for me.

I would definitely have a heart to heart conversation with your doctor, because insomnia is a real issue and should not be taken lightly. There’s all kinds of medical reasons to get good sleep!

(Once at work they scheduled a lunchtime talk with a sleep doctor in the cafeteria, it was so overcrowded someone fainted, so the talk was canceled as dr treated said person, but it goes to show…there are a lot of people with sleep issues.)
 
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I’m on Ambien and I’m still on the 10 mg dose. I believe, advice now is for women to not be on more than 6 mg, but thankfully my doctor hasn’t tried to lower my dose. I was on Lunesta for a time, and I liked it better, but when I changed insurance, the Ambien is what they would cover. I’ve had really bad days where I know I ate some thing bad and the pill wasn’t enough so I would take a half a pill more if still awake at 3am, then at the end of the month I would run short, and it’s a highly regulated drug so my doctor would have to be called that I needed the prescription early. End result, I got a nasty talking to, which I’ve had more than once, so now I no longer have cheat chocolate days. Because omg, don’t take away my sleep!

One of the things I miss about old fashioned sleep, was getting drowsy. neither Ambien or Lunesta do that for me. I have to still try to go to sleep. I have to lay there, be still, be quiet, get in a certain position, and eventually I go from being awake to being asleep. No in between. I can and have stayed up and been fully functional after taking Ambien, on the rare time something has happened after I’ve taken my pill and there’s an emergency or whatever or somebody’s coming over that kind of thing. I’ve stayed up all night after taking it. I have no weird side effects from it. It just allows me to get to sleep if I want sleep, that’s the only thing it does for me.

I would definitely have a heart to heart conversation with your doctor, because insomnia is a real issue and should not be taken lightly. There’s all kinds of medical reasons to get good sleep!

(Once at work they scheduled a lunchtime talk with a sleep doctor in the cafeteria, it was so overcrowded someone fainted, so the talk was canceled as dr treated said person, but it goes to show…there are a lot of people with sleep issues.)
I did pretty well on Ambien but I think they reduced it down to 5mg. TN instituted a law that scared the bejeebers out of doctors who were prescribing painkillers and other regulated drugs. Basically, it was meant to scare them so that they sent patients to special pain clinics that are just legalized drug dealers - talk about a rip-off! They make you come to see them once a month to get your prescription, MAYBE once every three months for some drugs/patients. They figure out how much your insurance will tolerate and how much the patient will put up with. Besides giving you the prescription for what you were already taking, they say you need all sorts of other treatments THEY offer - shots in the neck, TENS units, compounded creams that are so sticky you can't use them. They make you take urine tests. We caught them billing our insurance for urine tests twice within just a few weeks but my daughter hadn't even been there but the one time. The compounded cream they said was covered by insurance - we got a $600 bill for saying that part wasn't covered - we never paid. The TENS unit was like $400 or more and then when she went in to pick it up, they had her go back just behind the door and the receptionist handed it to her and started to show her how to use it - she said, I have already researched it and left. We got a bill for $125 for that "consult" with the receptionist.

My daughter was diagnosed with myofascial back pain and then with fibro when she was 18 and had a pretty bad case of it according to every doctor and specialist we went to. She was pretty much bedridden after her second semester at college. Until we found a trial with drugs that were already on the market for other uses, she was having a hard time doing anything and the first doctors put her on heavy duty painkillers which didn't help her do anything but live with the pain because she couldn't function.
 
I’m on Ambien and I’m still on the 10 mg dose. I believe, advice now is for women to not be on more than 6 mg, but thankfully my doctor hasn’t tried to lower my dose. I was on Lunesta for a time, and I liked it better, but when I changed insurance, the Ambien is what they would cover. I’ve had really bad days where I know I ate some thing bad and the pill wasn’t enough so I would take a half a pill more if still awake at 3am, then at the end of the month I would run short, and it’s a highly regulated drug so my doctor would have to be called that I needed the prescription early. End result, I got a nasty talking to, which I’ve had more than once, so now I no longer have cheat chocolate days. Because omg, don’t take away my sleep!

One of the things I miss about old fashioned sleep, was getting drowsy. neither Ambien or Lunesta do that for me. I have to still try to go to sleep. I have to lay there, be still, be quiet, get in a certain position, and eventually I go from being awake to being asleep. No in between. I can and have stayed up and been fully functional after taking Ambien, on the rare time something has happened after I’ve taken my pill and there’s an emergency or whatever or somebody’s coming over that kind of thing. I’ve stayed up all night after taking it. I have no weird side effects from it. It just allows me to get to sleep if I want sleep, that’s the only thing it does for me.

I would definitely have a heart to heart conversation with your doctor, because insomnia is a real issue and should not be taken lightly. There’s all kinds of medical reasons to get good sleep!

(Once at work they scheduled a lunchtime talk with a sleep doctor in the cafeteria, it was so overcrowded someone fainted, so the talk was canceled as dr treated said person, but it goes to show…there are a lot of people with sleep issues.)
Oh Maria - I so feel for you. I'm sorry for all you go through. May sleep somehow improve
 
I did pretty well on Ambien but I think they reduced it down to 5mg. TN instituted a law that scared the bejeebers out of doctors who were prescribing painkillers and other regulated drugs. Basically, it was meant to scare them so that they sent patients to special pain clinics that are just legalized drug dealers - talk about a rip-off! They make you come to see them once a month to get your prescription, MAYBE once every three months for some drugs/patients. They figure out how much your insurance will tolerate and how much the patient will put up with. Besides giving you the prescription for what you were already taking, they say you need all sorts of other treatments THEY offer - shots in the neck, TENS units, compounded creams that are so sticky you can't use them. They make you take urine tests. We caught them billing our insurance for urine tests twice within just a few weeks but my daughter hadn't even been there but the one time. The compounded cream they said was covered by insurance - we got a $600 bill for saying that part wasn't covered - we never paid. The TENS unit was like $400 or more and then when she went in to pick it up, they had her go back just behind the door and the receptionist handed it to her and started to show her how to use it - she said, I have already researched it and left. We got a bill for $125 for that "consult" with the receptionist.

My daughter was diagnosed with myofascial back pain and then with fibro when she was 18 and had a pretty bad case of it according to every doctor and specialist we went to. She was pretty much bedridden after her second semester at college. Until we found a trial with drugs that were already on the market for other uses, she was having a hard time doing anything and the first doctors put her on heavy duty painkillers which didn't help her do anything but live with the pain because she couldn't function.
Oh my goodness - thoughts are with you and your family
 
We bought and I tried various CBD tinctures and then some Delta 8 chocolate. The Delta 8 helps some. I should add that besides having been a light sleeper my whole life and having had RLS issues a good part of it, a couple of years ago, I had my first panic attack. So now I am dealing with that to some degree. They never happen when I am awake, always right as I am drifting off or have just drifted off and they wake me up in a panic. So I do have meds for that when they happen.

I used to have a hard time sleeping worrying about work but I took early retirement when my husband retired at the beginning of 2016.
Oh, that's so difficult. I do hope things improve. I am so looking forward to retiring in a year's time - like you, I worry all the time.
 
I did pretty well on Ambien but I think they reduced it down to 5mg. TN instituted a law that scared the bejeebers out of doctors who were prescribing painkillers and other regulated drugs. Basically, it was meant to scare them so that they sent patients to special pain clinics that are just legalized drug dealers - talk about a rip-off! They make you come to see them once a month to get your prescription, MAYBE once every three months for some drugs/patients. They figure out how much your insurance will tolerate and how much the patient will put up with. Besides giving you the prescription for what you were already taking, they say you need all sorts of other treatments THEY offer - shots in the neck, TENS units, compounded creams that are so sticky you can't use them. They make you take urine tests. We caught them billing our insurance for urine tests twice within just a few weeks but my daughter hadn't even been there but the one time. The compounded cream they said was covered by insurance - we got a $600 bill for saying that part wasn't covered - we never paid. The TENS unit was like $400 or more and then when she went in to pick it up, they had her go back just behind the door and the receptionist handed it to her and started to show her how to use it - she said, I have already researched it and left. We got a bill for $125 for that "consult" with the receptionist.

My daughter was diagnosed with myofascial back pain and then with fibro when she was 18 and had a pretty bad case of it according to every doctor and specialist we went to. She was pretty much bedridden after her second semester at college. Until we found a trial with drugs that were already on the market for other uses, she was having a hard time doing anything and the first doctors put her on heavy duty painkillers which didn't help her do anything but live with the pain because she couldn't function.
My daughter has also been diagnosed with fibro, though we aren't sure the diagnosis is correct, as the drugs for fibro make her worse. I have read about the laws for those drugs, and it is frightening for anyone who needs something for a chronic condition.
 
My daughter has also been diagnosed with fibro, though we aren't sure the diagnosis is correct, as the drugs for fibro make her worse. I have read about the laws for those drugs, and it is frightening for anyone who needs something for a chronic condition.
A doctor at University of Alabama was researching a combo of Valtrex and Celebrex. I cannot tell you the difference it has made for her. Our PCP said she didn't need to continue going down to AL just to see him and get the prescriptions. He read up on it and saw the difference and agreed with my husband's brother-in-law that they were tried and true and considered safe so it was worth a try. She has been on that combo for over 10 years now and it gave her back a life.
 
I’m so sorry you've had some many issues. I don’t think we have those pain places in our state. There are pain specialists, but they are like regular drs In private practice or a dept clinic in the hospital. Glad to hear you daughter is doing better!
 
A doctor at University of Alabama was researching a combo of Valtrex and Celebrex. I cannot tell you the difference it has made for her. Our PCP said she didn't need to continue going down to AL just to see him and get the prescriptions. He read up on it and saw the difference and agreed with my husband's brother-in-law that they were tried and true and considered safe so it was worth a try. She has been on that combo for over 10 years now and it gave her back a life.
That's amazing, and wonderful. I must tell my daughter.
 
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