Insomnia

[sexygatubela]

I have been suffering from insomnia for a long time. Sleeping medications have not been very helpful. Do you know of any herbal supplements or the like that is effective with insomnia?

Thanks!

[Sequoia]

Valerian is reputed to be effective for insomnia, although I tried it myself years ago and didn't get any relief.

Chamomile has a similar reputation, and can be drunk as a pre-bedtime tea. I found it relaxing, but it didn't help with sleeplessness.

[Bob698]

If you're in a situation where work isn't an issue, try riding it out.
I sleep odd hours, its just the way things settled out for me. Eventually you'll get tired enough to sleep.
The insomnia stuff also seems to be one of those "on and off" Sx for me. Sometimes it bugs me, sometimes I sleep too much, sometimes my days are pretty normal.

[sexygatubela]

Hi Sequoia:

Thanks for the recommendation. I just sent my hubby off to the pharmacy to get it for me. I'll give it a try to see how it goes.

Hi Bob:

Thanks for your advice, but unfortunately with three children, I can only try to sleep at night. I have to wake up early to take care of the baby and get the other two ready for German Kindergarten. They are not in the kindergarten all day, so I cannot nap in the afternoon with the baby either. It is very frustrating. Every night I'm tossing and turning until 2 am or 3 am in the morning! Not fun!

Anyhow, I wish you both good sheep counting tonight.

[zilphia01]

not riding it out well

This is a horrible effect of ms for me too. 2 years long. drugs, herbs, diet, exercise.... no help

I teach, so naps are out.

Have tried all that has been suggested, with no positive results. Neuro keeps pushing the pills, but the side effects are AWFUL for me.

I just read that light therapy (like a tanning bed) may be helpful. The site selling the lights claim the hour of day is dependent on whether you can't fall asleep, or if you can fall asleep and wake up in the wee hours. I am really tempted, thinking skin cancer is easier to cut off as opposed to continuing with no sleep.

[Sequoia]

Light therapy is not like a tanning bed. It uses high powered full spectrum bulbs with the ultraviolet filtered out. You can purchase units in various shapes to suit where you're going to use them.

I have one that sits on my desk, and I use it every morning.

BTW, skin cancer can't just be cut off if it's melanoma. Melanoma metastasizes and can be deadly. Tanning beds = ultraviolet light = melanoma. Light therapy = no ultraviolet = no melanoma.

And for that matter, even having a basal cell skin cancer (the least dangerous form) is kind of a big deal. I had one removed from my nose a while back, and the surgery took a long time because they had to keep sending scrapings back to the lab to make sure they'd gotten all of it. If the doctor had needed to go any deeper than he did I'd have needed a skin graft. Plus, it was expensive even with insurance.

[nutritiontara]

Light therapy and melatonin.

Full-spectrum light is required to make melatonin. Which you can get with the light therapy.
Or you could try some melatonin supplements (starting dose is 2-3mg).

When your eyes are exposed to full-spectrum light, the pineal gland metabolizes melatonin (basically)
Then when it is dark - the melatonin is released - to help you fall asleep/ stay asleep.

And we "cave-dwellers" are not getting enough full-spectrum light everyday.

I would suggest you give this a go before medication.
Good Luck

[sexygatubela]

Light therapy

Thanks for the insight in light therapy. That might explain why I can't sleep. I'm indoors most of the day and here in Germany there's no much sun this time of the year anyway. What is the site where I can get one of these lamps?

Thanks and happy dreaming..hopefully!

[Sequoia]

Thanks for the insight in light therapy. That might explain why I can't sleep. I'm indoors most of the day and here in Germany there's no much sun this time of the year anyway. What is the site where I can get one of these lamps?

Thanks and happy dreaming..hopefully!

Amazon.com offers a wide variety of light therapy lamps and boxes. There are many brands on the market these days.

The one I use is the Day-Light Sky; item model #DL2000.

It's best to do some online comparison shopping, reading specifications and customer reviews.

[sexygatubela]

So, I just got by light box yesterday. It is just my second day using it, so I'll let you know in a few days how is going. I really hope that it works. Not sleeping is driving me bananas.

Sleep tight!

[Redwings]

The counterpart to using full-spectrum light during the day to is sleep in darkness, so that melatonin is properly released. That means no TV, no monitor, no laptop, no nightlight, no outside light that reaches the eyes during sleeping hours. It might be necessary to use black-out curtains or a sleep mask to achieve darkness. As Tara mentioned that the "cave dwellers" among us aren't getting enough full-spectrum light during the day, we also often aren't turning off the artificial lights in our caves during the night to complete the sleep/wake cycle.

[diomed]

I have been taking 2 tsp of honey with my herbal tea in the evening as well as adding it to certain things for sweetness to replace sugar. Now, this is not the honey you buy in the store; It's straight from the farm(not pasteurized). Since I have been doing this I have been sleeping great and my sinuses are much clearer too.
Just something I wanted to share.