Sleeping tablets

[Bones]

I take them a couple of times a week, I simply haven't slept well for 12 months. I go to bed for an hour and if still wide awake I pop one. I never take them on the weekends as I just stay up all night anyway.

The side effect as they kick in is quite.....interesting.

Any experiences?

[whammoed]

I have had trouble sleeping in the past as well.  I have taken the over the counter stuff but noticed no side effects.  I had a prescription for ambien but never took any (because of the possible side effects)  I assume you mean prescription stuff?

[HaRuMaN]

I've never had any side effects from the OTC stuff...  'cept, they make me a little drowsy... 

[Stingray]

I've never had any side effects from the OTC stuff...  'cept, they make me a little drowsy... 

In the case of sleeping pills, I'm not sure that's technically a side effect.

-S

[psik0tik]

I take an ambien with a shot of vodka...after 30 mins if theyre were any side affects I wouldn't notice them. As for the weekend i just stay up all night till i get to tired to stay awake.

[DrewKaree]

Wife has the same issues at times.  She went to a place called "The Vitamin Shoppe" or mebbe it's "Shop".  Dunno if you can find them online.

ANYHOO, she found some that were all-natural tree-huggy organically-no-animals-were-harmed-in-the-making-of type.  And they have a couple different ones.  Seem to work well for her, although they told her to switch active ingredient products so her body wouldn't become tolerant of 'em.

I have no problems NOT sleeping where I feel the need to take a pill.  An hour seems to refresh me, and when I get that hour, I'm hard-down for that hour.  I never considered taking a pill.

[daywane]

I have some prescription sleeping pills.
side affect? fell very groggy all day after 8 hrs sleep.
funny we all have problems sleeping.
I do not take them on on week days I save them for week ends.
I sleep 1 or 2  hrs and wake up for 3 or 4
sex knocks me out the best. ( not kidding)
If I have a problem (PC Problem. I solve it in my sleep)

[quarterback]

I have some prescription sleeping pills.
side affect? fell very groggy all day after 8 hrs sleep.
funny we all have problems sleeping.

It's common.

[shmokes]

I highly recommend researching melatonin.  Just do a google search and read a few different sites.  The effects are more subtle, but there is no hangover whatsoever and for me they work wonders.

Melatonin is the chemical your own brain releases to put itself to sleep and seems to be tied to the light and dark cycles of day and night so may not work for people who work graveyards, but I don't know.

Anyway, people usually take 1-3 milligrams and one guy, to prove its safety took something like 10,000 milligrams in one night with no appreciable side-effects (other than a good nights sleep, I guess).  Another, formal study, had 4000 women take 4 MG every night for a year (or maybe 1000 women for 4 years), once again with no negative side-effects reported whatsoever.

You can pick it up wherever vitamins and herbs are sold including Wal-Mart, etc.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I highly recommend researching melatonin. 

I haven't slept a good night's sleep in pretty much my whole life and I can vouch for Melatonin. It's natural and worked pretty well for me when I was taking it. No side effects.

I needed something a little harsher though...

Turns out, I wasn't sleeping well because I was suffering from undiagnosed RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) or as my beloved likes to call it, "The Kicky Legs". It's a neurological disorder that causes my legs to 'pulse/kick' every 15-20 secs while I sleep, keeping me from really ever fully enjoying REM sleep (as well as infuriating my girlfriend trying to sleep next to me).

After a recent visit with a neurologist, I'm now taking Requip (a derivative of a drug used to treat Parkinson's) and the creepy-crawly, uncontrollable leg-kicking is now under control...I sleep WAY better, although I'm still getting used to the daytime side effect of (unfortunately) drowsiness.

Fair trade in my book, 30-odd years of haggard sleep had certainly taken it's toll and made me the psycho I am today! Maybe some sleep will finally mellow me out 

The only reason I'm really sharing this is that it's estimated a good 15% of the country is suffering from it and are not aware of the symptoms. It's a fairly new diagnosis, and very little is known at this point. No cure, just treatment.

mrC

[psik0tik]

Yes the drowsiness does suck a bit during the day. I tried the melatonin thing but I work night shift so they don't work all that well. Insomnia sucks.  You just lay there half dead on the couch bearly awake then 5 mins later your wide awake. Its a visous cycle.

[Bones]

The ones I take were prescribed and I wake up feeling OK. Yeah.... I am tired, but it's 5:30am, I am gunna be tired no matter what! They are called Stilnox.

The side effect is the totally stoned feeling I get about 20 minutes after taking them. I get out of my office chair and whammo! It's like drinking beers in front of the fire and you don't realise how tanked you are till you get up for a leak and almost fall in.

I hate pills, all pills. After my last operation I refused to take them (painkillers). The nurses didn't understand. I just hate pills that much.

But I need to be able to function and with my average sleep being around 10 hours over three days without them, it is just not possible.

It's common.

[DaemonCollector]

I took ambien for a bit, ran into some weird side effects. I'd wake up the next day and talk to my friends, they'd say I called them on the phone and had a lot of messed up conversations :/  I still need to get some sleeping pills though. Going to sleep at 4 and barely sleeping untill I have to wake up at 7 is causing problems.

[daywane]

RLS?
hmmm. I wonder if that's me. I have been doing some thing like that for some time. blows my wife mind. I can kick the top sheet off the bed but not disturb the to other covers on top of that.
like yanking a table cloth out from the dishes and leave the dishes undisturbed
kinda cool when you look at it.
Caffeine is probably my down fall. 3 to 6 quarts a day

[daywane]

I took ambien for a bit, ran into some weird side effects. I'd wake up the next day and talk to my friends, they'd say I called them on the phone and had a lot of messed up conversations :/

[Bones]

RLS?
hmmm. I wonder if that's me. I have been doing some thing like that for some time.

Yeah I have a similar thing happen. My legs feel like they are "jumping" but they are not. I still get the sensation and have to try and relax it away.

[screaming]

RLS?
hmmm. I wonder if that's me. I have been doing some thing like that for some time.

Yeah I have a similar thing happen. My legs feel like they are "jumping" but they are not. I still get the sensation and have to try and relax it away.

  Yeah I get that in my legs too and I think it actually has a name, "Restless Leg Syndrome".  I notice it happens though only when I'm in some kind of in-between state of sleep and awake.. Like when I lay down to go to sleep but can't fall asleep right away but I'm sleepy enough to not want to watch TV.

  When it happens I get up and walk around for a few minutes to get the blood flowing and wait until I really start to feel sleepy again.  Then I go to bed and usually I fall asleep right away.

*shrug*

-sab