Reducing sleep aids experiment

[xchocoholic]

It's funny you mention getting stuck for words.
That happens to me all the time.

I'm usually ok following my train of thought but easily
derailed by others. I wonder what people think when
I'm derailed.

 

[xchocoholic]

I lowered my melatonin down to .5 mg and 5htp down
to 50 mg and klonopin down to .1 mg and slept
like a baby from 11 pm until 4 am. I took candidase
and virastop and am falling back to sleep now. I've
found that sometimes I can't sleep because I have
undigested food in my upper digestive tract.

I'm seeing now why I got into taking these aids
to begin with. The ability to sleep is in itself a reward.

g nite. x

 

[peggy-sue]

I've been taking the pain meds for pain. (sciatica)
It's just they have loads of beneficial side effects. (as well as potential bad ones)

There is a ton of anti electronic-cigarette hype circulating out there.

Governments are worried about loosing tax income.
Big Pharma is worried about loosing its highly profitable (and not very successful) "nicotine replacement therapy" stranglehold.

Control freak puritanicals will not be happy until there are no mild stimulants available to anybody - unless its the high they get from being in church... watch out for your tea and coffee next.

There are no "other weird" or "dangerous" chemicals in them.
Odd things were found in the early, cheap, badly made ones which came from China - as did the much over-hyped single one which exploded.

(sorry if i seem a bit curt - I'm not awake yet.... )

 

[xchocoholic]

I'll have to look at the e cigs again sometime. I don't
trust anyone to tell the truth about their product
anymore. I haven't tried chewing tobacco either yet.
; )

No problems. I don't hold pwcs accountable for how
we say things.

So I was wide awake at 3 am.Took candidase and virastop
but still awake. These always help my digestion tho.

I took 1/4 tap children dye free benadryl and was out
in 20 minutes. Awoke at 7.

So it seems like the more sleep deprived I am the less
chemicals it takes to put me to sleep. Maybe.

I only had appr 10 mg mel, 50 mg 5htp and .1 mg
klonopin. Hoping to get off mel within next two days.
Even tho I read this wasn't addictive, in a sleep
deprived state, I would've decided I needed it.

fwiw, I had correlated 5 htp with my mood but it
seems that junk food, probably containing gluten,
was the problem. Still not sure tho.

tc ... x

 

[xchocoholic]

I forgot to mention that I stopped taking
25 mg of dhea about 5 days ago. I saw 2 dark
brown whiskers along with fuzzy whiskers
above my lip. Aagh !

I'd only been on it for 3 - 4
weeks this time because I'd already experienced
fuzzy hair above my lip from it the last time I tried
it.

I think this may have been making me feel intense
anger at times too. I'm almost back to my relaxed self
again.

 

[peggy-sue]

I have to tackle a couple of weird sprouting wiry things on my left upper lip too, but that's just my age (55) and being well past my "Climate Eric" - I did that early. Tweezers, when I remember.

I've never been able to get tested to see if I do need DHEA.

I cannot be doing with anything that makes me anxious or angry, though.

I have stuck to my 5 tablets a day. I had a rotten night last night (didn't go to bed until 3, tossed and turned, but must have dozed here and there).

The worst is my guts. I feel nauseous and am really struggling to eat anything at all.

I don't need to loose weight right now.
I have bought myself some Complan.

chocolate... "flavour"...

 

[xchocoholic]

Sorry to hear you're having digestion problems.
Have you been tested or treated for food intolerances
or pathogens ? Have you tried digestive enzymes either
natural found in papaya mangos or pineapple or
store bought ?

I've been using enzymes for 8 years now.
It sucks but I can't stop without feeling crappy.

So I took 10 mg mel, 50mg 5htp and .1 mg klonopin
and slept from 10 - 3. Took camdidase and virastop and
1/4 tap children's benadryl and slept from 5 - 9. Nine
hours is a good length of time for me to sleep.

I'm not all here tho. It feels like my benadryl reaction.

Probably have some pem too from cleaning.

Gotta go eat. Hope you feel better. X

 

[peggy-sue]

I have not been tested for any "intolerances" and most certainly not treated for any.

I don't have any that I am aware of; my brother is lactose intolerant. I'm not.

It's not something that is in any way mainstream medicine in the uk - it's left to the folk who make money out of dodgy and expensive "tests".

My current gut and nausea problems are purely because I had got accustomed to the effects of the codeine on my gut, I've cut down, my guts don't like it.

I don't have gut problems with my ME.

(what's benadryl again? - is that the sleepy antihistamine diphenhydramine, in the states?)

 

[xchocoholic]

I didn't think I had problems with food until I eliminated
all the common intolerances and felt better. It took
a while year to get over my ataxia that was probably
from gluten. I have the dq2 gene.

I didn't realize digestive tracts could rebel when
pain meds, codeine is removed. How do others
recommend dealing with this ?

I never really woke up today. Not sure what to take tonight
if I'm awake in the middle of the night. So far Lack of sleep
is just as bad for me mentally as the effects of these aids.
Hope this changes soon.

tc ... x

 

[peggy-sue]

Codeine (and all opiates) affect the gut directly - they cause constipation and affect the motility of the intestines.

I suspect I am quite sensitive to the side effects as well as the drug, but with the assistance of the magnesium citrate I take (which causes a bit of looseness) and taking psyllium husk at the beginning, I managed to get to a state of everything functioning normally with the dose of codeine I was taking.

What's happening now is it is all going haywire with the dose reduction.

And I'm a bit stressed - which puts me of my food too.

 

[xchocoholic]

bummer. I hope you get this worked out. I use mag
citrate for bms too. Nothing else I tried worked. Like you
I find it's tough to get the right balance.

So I took my .10 mg melatonin, 40 mg 5htp and 1/2 of
a .125mg klonopin at 8 pm and was sound asleep by
9 - 9:30. And awake by 11:30. I took 1/4 tsp benadryl and 1/2
of the .125mg klonopin and I slept till 7:30.

When I wake up in the middle of the night nowadays, I'm wide awake. Not like
before when I was taking more mel, 5htp and klonipin.
And most of the time I also took benadryl. I'm still
waiting for the mental sluggishness to fade. This is taking
forever.

tc .. x

 

[peggy-sue]

I was able to eat a little bit more last night and the evening before - I think/hope I'm adjusting.

Sleep was ok last night. Went to bed at 4 30am (after a nap on the sofa.)
I find when I'm tired, I prefer to just sleep there and then. Getting to bed wakes me up again.
I woke at 8.25am and 10.33am and got up at 11.

 

[xchocoholic]

Getting up wakes me up too. Got any ideas
why ? I didn't wake up as easily on the sleep
aids I was taking. But ... that's why I'm trying to get
off them. I'm working at convincing myself that
not sleeping like a log is ok.

So you only got 6 hours of sleep. bummer. are you
a night owl ?

Tonight will be my first night in 5 - 6 years without any melatonin. eek.
So just 40 mg 5htp and .1 mg klonopin. 5htp will be the
next to go.

g nite .. x

 

[maddietod]

Sleep is such a disaster for me that I'm rewriting my rules. You know how they say you HAVE to get x hours of sleep a night? Well......or what? I wake up 5 times a night and I've decided that if this is who I am for the rest of my life, that's just the way it is. It's my normal.

Of course I'm endlessly trying things to get better sleep [sleep meds don't work for me]. But now that the bar isn't set so high, I feel more at ease with the whole process. I'm not failing at anything, every single night. I'm just in this place in this process in my life.

I guess my point is that it takes as long as it takes, and your only standard is yourself.

Sleep tight!

 

[peggy-sue]

I am a night-owl, yes.
I've never needed a whole load of sleep, 5-6 hours was always my normal before.
More made me feel yukky.

The timing of the melantonin is important, isn't it?
That's not one you can take in the middle of the night to help a bit, if not taking it makes you feel bad.

It's only tonight.
If you have a very bad time, you can start it up again.

Maddie, you are completely correct. We have to establish what is normal for ourselves, individually.

 

[xchocoholic]

I've always needed about 9 hours of sleep in order
to feel refreshed in the morning. That's great you don't
need as much. I wasn't sleeping well when I came down
with cfs/me. My DD was 2 and I got up in the middle of
the night with her often.

I've taken melatonin in the middle of the night before.
After a few years of experimenting with mel, 5htp, theanine
and later Klonopin, I decided to take all my sleep aids
again if I woke up. With my seizure disorder, I feel
jittery if I don't sleep well. I'm just taking Klonopin
for this now.

So I slept from 11 - 5. Took 1/4 of the .125mg klonopin
and slept from 6 - 9. Nine hours.

I'm not quite awake but working on it.

 

[peggy-sue]

You survived - and you slept!

brilliant - I'm really pleased for you.

I wish I could sleep a lot more... I get very, very bored trying to fill in the hours I am awake..... .

 

[xchocoholic]

I've recently gotten into watching old tv series
on dvd. It's almost like I never saw these. lol.

So I took 40 mg 5htp and .125 mg klonopin. Slept
from 9:30 till 11:30. Took virastop at 12:30 and was
asleep quickly.

I woke up after that but not sure when with a little headache in my temple area
which is new. Fell back to sleep until 6:30 tho.

Gotta eat. Blood sugar is low. tc .. x

 

[peggy-sue]

Bad night last night for me.
Went to bed at 3.30 (no sofa nap) no sleep until ~ 6.35 ish, saw 7.10, then 7.45, then suddenly it was 10.30.

Woke up in sweats then cold, sweats then cold... not fun.

But I'm eating properly again. My guts do seem to have adjusted to the lower dose, my pain is controlled.

Just sleep is elusive and difficult.

Sleep and I have never been comfortable bedfellows.

 

[maddietod]

So I took 40 mg 5htp and .125 mg klonopin. Slept
from 9:30 till 11:30. Took virastop at 12:30 and was
asleep quickly.

Did I miss that you're sick? Or did I miss that Virastop helps you with sleep?