Benadryl?

[Celeste]

Benadryl isn't necessarily a sleeping aid, altwight. You're a fucking moron for using it as such. There are several herbal remedies you can try before you string yourself out on a prescription drug. Try Mellodyn, or Chamomile tea as Nuriko suggested. Your local vitamin shop will have several alternatives you can try.

I feel, however, the filling yourself with either of these is stupid. you obviously haven't done as much as should throughout the day if you have too much energy to sleep. Work on that instead.

[Brill Weave]

Benadryl isn't necessarily a sleeping aid, altwight. You're a fucking moron for using it as such. There are several herbal remedies you can try before you string yourself out on a prescription drug. Try Mellodyn, or Chamomile tea as Nuriko suggested. Your local vitamin shop will have several alternatives you can try.

I feel, however, the filling yourself with either of these is stupid. you obviously haven't done as much as should throughout the day if you have too much energy to sleep. Work on that instead.

Wow. You're a real peach. I'm sure altwight is already aware and concerned with what the toll is to his body should he continue to use Benadryl as he is. Yes it's not the smartest thing in the world to become dependent on this stuff to sleep, but I hardly think your calling him a fucking moron helps either way. You don't use Benadryl to get to sleep. Good for you. You've obviously never been addicted to something. Once again, good for you. May you never have to go through something like that so you can continue posting your insults to someone who is clearly asking for input and help. Dickhead.

[Solefald]

Benadryl is fine as a sleeping aid. It's not a prescription drug. 8 pills is crazy though, it only takes half a pill to put me out, then again I only use it about twice a month.

[thetruepandagod]

If you want to strictly focus on pills to help you sleep then seroquel is one of the best. Unfortunately it might work a bit too well for most people and leave u groggy for 3 days or so

[Atreides]

If you want to strictly focus on pills to help you sleep then seroquel is one of the best. Unfortunately it might work a bit too well for most people and leave u groggy for 3 days or so

I had the same problems with Seroquel as I did with Desyrel/Trazadone, insane grogginess almost like a hangover the following 2 days. Some people aren't as affected I guess but they're pretty potent, the only problem is they work too well, lol.

[CalaisDL]

I used to take benadryl to sleep when I had terrible insomnia. I never took quite as much as you, I think the most I took was about 3 1/2 50 mg tabs. You do build resistance to it pretty quickly over time. My mother, who worked nights as a nurse, also had a lot of difficulty sleeping during the day. She regularly took 3-4 50 mg tabs for about 8 years. She seems to be in fine health now and has gotten off nights and no longer takes benadryl.

Using benadryl as a sleeping aid definitely works and is not damaging to you in small daily doses, so far as I know. You seem to be taking a really excessive amount of it though. If it's not working for you anymore there's no reason to keep upping your dose.

I no longer have much problem with insomnia. What I did that seems to have helped is getting daily exercise and cutting down on caffiene. Even drinking a soda too late in the day would keep me wired for hours at night. Switching to a healthier diet can also help. If you're on any prescription drugs at the moment, ask your doctor if they might be interfering with your sleep.

[Atreides]

yea that's another big thing, generally speaking drinking caffeine past 2-3pm will affect your sleep cycle. Going down to 2 cups a day before noon drastically cut down on my need to take sleep aids.

For the sciencey people out there, is the Diphenhydramine in Benadryl the same as the stuff in Tylenol PM? As far as I know they're the same, or similar, so maybe suggesting that the OP take tylenol PM isn't the best idea? Also, the Dimenhydrinate in Dramamine is similar to Diphenhydramine, ya?

[Kerberoz]

You really shouldn't be taking Tylenol ever. It's horrible on your liver. Same DPH in both, just Benadryl doesn't have the acetaminophen.

Best natural way to sleep is to just get plenty of exercise during the day.

[Ordengate]

For insurance reasons, Trazadone is your best bang for the buck. It's usually on the $4 perscription plans at your local Walgreens/CVS/Kroger/Etc. I took it and only had problems for the first week. After that, the grogginess and "hangover" tend to go away in most people. You will sleep like no other on it. I took it for my night thrashings, so it's got that going for it too. Just make sure you're going to get at least 8 hours of sleep, otherwise you will feel like shit the next day.

[altwight]

Okay well I managed to fall asleep from 3am to 5am after being awake from 5am the previous day.

Anyway to answer some questions.

Someone said they take 3 1/2 50mg tablets a day or used to. Well I take 8 25mg tablets so it's the same dosage.

As for exercising, I used to play FFXI all day and night then WoW. I've quit both however for atleast 2 months now (which is when I started not being able to sleep or so) . I play a lot of DDR which is really really good exercise on the level of play I'm at so I'm good there. I also swim sometimes in the middle of the night but it doesn't make me tired.

As for being a fucking moron, I'd rather be the one to ask questions about the problem than sit there and continue doing it in ignorance.

[Atreides]

Exercising too late can backfire, if you get too wound up just before bed (physically or mentally) it can make it harder to fall asleep. I'd try to cram in as much exercise as possible before dinner, then take it easy for the rest of the night. One thing I've noticed is that playing video games or even doing sudoku/crosswords past ~1-2 hours before bed really gets my mind wound up to the point that sleep is impossible, so I make sure to get in bed and either read or watch TV at least an hour before sleep.

As for trazadone, I had heard that the hangover symptoms go away after a few days but I reacted so strongly to a 50mg dose that I was a zombie right up until it would have been time to take my 2nd dose the next day (and well into the following day!), and I couldn't imagine taking it for long enough that those symptoms would go away. I suppose I'll have to reconsider sticking with it eventually.

Anyone have experience with melatonin? Honestly I'd rather take that than a prescription sleep aid, but yeah.

[Jeryhn]

Time to wean yourself off. Have fun, learn from your mistakes and don't do something this stupid again.

How did the fact that this quote being attached to a House avatar slip past anybody?

Genius.

[aduidarnenye]

Anyone have experience with melatonin? Honestly I'd rather take that than a prescription sleep aid, but yeah.

I have tried melatonin before. It does work fairly well, but if you don't get enough sleep after taking it you will feel very groggy. In my experience, you need 6 1/2-8 hours of sleep to avoid the grogginess.

edit:Oops, posted that under my girlfriend's account. Meant to post as CalaisDL.

[aalryn]

Yea if you can't fall asleep without the pills then you are addicted. Sorry man.


As others have said try exercising. When I exercise at 6/7ish pm I have trouble staying up past 10/11. It really tires you out. Plus you get sexified.

[Effluo]

I've used melatonin in the past, and it always helped me get to sleep. As mentioned, you want to make sure you can get a good 7-8 hrs sleep, or you'll feel groggy as hell.

[deft]

I had this exact same problem for about the last 6 months or more. Usually MMO's or online games get me into this cycle. It would start by going to bed at 4 or 5am and got to 8-10am and sleeping until 6 or 7pm. I would try to stay up all day to reset my sleeping schedule but that would only last a couple of days.

I got a job this summer that starts at 8am so I had to fix the problem. The only way I could do it was by using Diphenhydramine HCl (I'm 90% positive on that name). I used it the first night before work at around 11p and forced myself to get up in the morning. It took about an hour to kick in, it sounds similar or the same to what you're using. Waking up that early makes me somewhat tired by 11p, so I can usually fall asleep by midnight for the rest of the week.

Weekend comes, I stay up until 3 or 4a, sleep until noon and I usually end up taking a pill on sunday night.

Anyone giving you a hard time doesn't understand that you're not just being lazy and sleeping in so you can't fall asleep. You can't fall asleep so you are sleeping in and starting the cycle that way. I looked into that wikipedia page that was posted earlier and it seems to relate to me (and you).

Good luck, sorry for the wall, hopefully you have something that can get you up early in the morning.

[sephir]

Exercise is the best way of getting to sleep. I used to have problems getting to sleep but I decided one night that I would exercise instead of jsut wasting time in bed. So I went out for a 15 min run and just crashed afterwards. Ive been doing it ever since. Now I usually go for a run around 10 to 11 and crash around midnight. It works wonders.

[Despain]

So I've been unable to sleep for quite a long time and to force my self to sleep (so I don't have such a retarded schedule) I've turned to benadryl. At first it was working okay. Two benadryl and I'd be out within the hour. Well after three months or so of taking benadryl almost every night I'm kinda starting to worry.

I'm not addicted to it but without it I really can't sleep. The problem comes when it requires atleast 8 pills to knock me out. Eight pills a night sounds pretty bad for my body. When I don't take benadryl regardless of what time I wake up I'll be up until the next morning around 8am or so.

So I'm asking if benadryl is large doses like that is a bad idea (which I think is)


Also I'm unable to go to a doctor and gets something prescribed to me cause I don't have insurance at the moment.

Meh. Why don't you have health insurance? Its probably one of the most important investments you'll ever make in your life, and this is obviously just my opinion.

When I have trouble sleeping, I never turn to medicine... because I know dependency's a high risk on a lot of sleep meds. I did suffer from insomnia for a long ass time, which was caused by anxiety, which just kept me up long nights, but never used meds. I'd recommend just stopping, even if you can't sleep. Eventually, your body will just give in and "shut down". This has been my experience though.

[Mistress Stowastiq]

So I've been unable to sleep for quite a long time and to force my self to sleep (so I don't have such a retarded schedule) I've turned to benadryl. At first it was working okay. Two benadryl and I'd be out within the hour. Well after three months or so of taking benadryl almost every night I'm kinda starting to worry.

I'm not addicted to it but without it I really can't sleep. The problem comes when it requires atleast 8 pills to knock me out. Eight pills a night sounds pretty bad for my body. When I don't take benadryl regardless of what time I wake up I'll be up until the next morning around 8am or so.

So I'm asking if benadryl is large doses like that is a bad idea (which I think is)


Also I'm unable to go to a doctor and gets something prescribed to me cause I don't have insurance at the moment.

Yes it is bad for you at that amount. Over the counter sleeping medication costs about the same as Benadryl. Benadryl itself is not harmful at prescribed dosages but it is not a sleeping medication. Drowsiness is a side affect. Using one med for other uses, especially over recommended doses is not a good thing. I take prescription benadryl daily for allergy but do not go over the dosage suggestions.

Also sleeping medication can be habit forming so be careful. Habit forming can mean that you cannot perform the action without the medication. You stated you cannot sleep without it.

You can try keeping rigorously to a regular sleeping pattern with the same time slots daily. Exercise helps too. There are also numerous foods that can assist and teas that can help you sleep. Taking that many benadryl without a doc's advice and monitoring is not a good idea.

My husband has problems sleeping sometimes. He uses a sensory deprivation technique to get to sleep. He makes sure all appliances are turned off and he lays in a comfortable position with head phones on or ear plugs and the lights off. The headphones are the monitor type that are made to block outside noise but ear plugs also work. Regular breathing in a meditative pattern helps this process. Also look into monitoring you caffeine or stimulants intake to possibly reduce that on a schedule that does not conflict with sleep time. Fapping is probably the least harmful and least expensive method to get to sleep but I cannot comment on the practicality or dangers of it being habit forming.

[Grey Jorildyn]

Smoke a bowl. Pass out. Done deal.