Hey girls... the past two weeks I have had a hard time sleeping, I mean more than normal.

I know this is so bad for me, but I take Tylenol PM during the week so I can fall asleep. Even with that, it's still taking me 3 hours to fall asleep! Once I'm a sleep, I'm good. I normally make sure I'm done working out 2 hours before I plan to go to bed.

I've taken Valerian root before, but it doesn't seem to be working either. I have one coffee every morning but no more caffeine the rest of the day.

Any suggestions? I'm so tired and feel blah.

oh, i antsy to hear what people say. last night i went to bed after studying at 1:45am and probably didn't get to sleep until about 5:15am. i had to be up at 8am to get to work on time, and i'm studying right now. i'm miserable. i tried melatonin, but it didn't really help too much either.

I have insomnia, clinically diagnosed and take 100mg of trazadone at night to be able to fall asleep and stay asleep. Without it I cannot fall to sleep and if I do manage after hours of trying and get woken up, I cannot go back to sleep. I'm not advocating the use of drugs to combat this. I tried everything though. SOme suggestions that my doctor had before she perscribed me meds was:
Creating a nighttime routine the lets your brain and body know that pretty soon you will be shutting down. This is as simple as starting to have a warm cup of caffein free tea and reading a book in bed for 15-20 minutes before laying down and trying to fall asleep.

Also, you seem more stressed the usual, that may be contributing to your sleep issues or your sleep issues can be causeing it, either way it can be a vicious cycle. Try and identify stressors and work on eliminating them.

I don't really have a suggestion on how to get to sleep, just a remark on the Tylenol PM.

Really, the only thing putting you to sleep is the diphenhydramine (generic Benadryl) in the Tylenol PM***. You're just kind of taking the Tylenol part without a need. Unless you have a headache or something, I don't know ;>

So you could just by some generic Benadryl and probably save some cash.

Also, you quickly build a tolerance to it if you take it daily to sleep. So if you've been using it a few nights in a row, it's going to be helping less and less.



***I won't lie, I have a general disdain for how Tylenol (or any big brands) slapp different names on version of the same thing. Don't even get me started on their cough, cold and sinus products.

I also have been dianosed w/ insomnia. I saw many doctors trying to find something I could take. I was extremly worried about addictive drugs as I have had drug issues in the past, so I wanted to make sure whatever I take was non-habit forming. I settled on the smallest dose (can't remember off the top of head what it is) of Trazadone. It's is a non-addictive sedative. I take it when it's been about 3-4 days since I've slept good and above an hour after I take it, I'm down for the count! I generally wake up about 8 times about, I average about every 1/2 hour or so.... But, when I take my meds, I make it usually until about 4 or 5 am. You might want to look into it. :-)

Oh, just a side note to my previous post, your body does not build up a tolerance for this drug, so you do not have to eventually increase the dose if you take it for a long period of time. :-)

I just had a 'wellness' meeting at work where we were given some information on sleep related issues because in my field we work extraordinarily irregular hours and it tends to screw with you.

The recommendations we received were:
- to have a bedtime routine and stick to it no matter what, regardless of what time you go to bed. This could be having a mug of tea, or home hot milk, or as simple as washing your face etc.
-make sure that the bedroom was ONLY for sleeping and sex.
-If you are laying in bed, and can't fall asleep, only stay in bed for maximum 15 minutes. Then get up, go to another room and sit until you start to feel tired, then go back to bed. The trick is to not watch tv or read a book while you are waiting! You are trying to bore yourself into sleep and also to train yourself that your bed is for sleeping, the other rooms are for being awake.


I know that these things aren't 'quick fixes' and near impossible to implement if you are busy... trust me. I can only wish you luck that you find something that works for you! Not sleeping sucks.

Ya, that bed is only for sleeping thing had been suggested to me a zillion times too. I don't have a tv in my room for that reason, but I do read in bed as part of my going to bed routine. But, at one point I didn't even have a lamp in my room so I could us it ONLY for sleeping.

I can actually fall asleep every where in the house besides my bed...yes, that includes the toilet, as you all know. I've had trouble sleeping since I was like 10 y/o. Sometimes, you start to stress about not sleeping which will only keep you up. I was always worried about not getting enough sleep. Now I accept it. I get about 4 hrs of sleep a night if I'm lucky. I wake up constantly. I get out of bed and do something else. Usually, a nice long documentary on the history channel will do it.

Zen Pharmacy is right--stick to just Benadryl instead of Tylenol PM if you're not having any pain.

Also make sure you don't watch TV or stay on the computer too late. The light they emit is stimulating.

aml mentioned Melatonin...it's worth a try. It's a hormone your body makes anyway to regulate your sleeping rhythym. Not everything works for everyone.

I know Melatonin is the only thing that helps my brother who has diagnosed ADHD to go to sleep. But, I'd like to add that there isn't very much clinical experience with this drug. Be careful with it, because that means some of the adverse effects may not yet be known.

If you have more stress than usual I'd attribute the sleeping trouble to that. And, it may sound stupid, but stressing much over it will only help you to have more trouble falling asleep.