[Hypra]

I've been cutting down and finally eliminating my use of sleeping pills. I had been on them for several years, 3 or 4 actually, so it's been hard adjusting. But I won't bore you with all that. What you might find interesting, however, is that since I've stopped using the sleeping pills I *no longer struggle with late night binges and/or snacking*

For years I had the same pattern every night: take my sleeping medication, and just as they started kicking in I'd get this incredible urge to have a snack. And that snack would lead to another snack and another until I had really had several meals. I would get SO frustrated. I would eat so well and carefully during the day, only to screw it up consistently every single night. I was convinced I had no will power.

As soon as I started cutting back the dose i noticed my behavior changing. I didn't have this desire to eat before I went to sleep any more. Apparently this is a real, although uncommon, side effect of several medications to treat sleep problems. I'm not entirely sure what causes it, but essentially the drug gave me the munchies!

If any one is having trouble with being extra hungry at night or unable to control how much you eat while on the pills, GO talk to your doctor! It may not just be a lack of willpower after all. But whatever you do make sure you talk to your doctor first and do NOT quit cold turkey without medical advice, it can be really dangerous.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up!

[BonnieMcC]

I am so glad you write this. For several years I was binge eating at night as well. I wasn't on sleeping pills tho, not at first. It started when I was pregnant with a spoonful of peanut butter. i did it all throughout my pregnancy. I wasn't sleeping soundly through the night. I just wrote it off as one of those weird pregnancy things. This continued after the birth of my son and 99% of the time it was peanut butter. Most nights I wouldn't even remember doing it, but soon the spoonfuls got bigger and more often. One night I even ate half a small jar of peanut butter! If there was no peanut butter I would graze on many things to figure out what it was that I wanted--still not really being fully awake. I started taking tylenol pm but it made it worse. Finally I switched to Melatonin. Within 3 days I had completely stopped binge eating at night...although I have always been a yoyo dieter during the day...really good...or really bad. Finally I stopped eating bad all together...lots of fruit, veggies and protein...no more white bread, rice, potatoes. I also stopped the melatonin and now I sleep thru the night with no binge eating whatsoever. Thank God!!!