Posted by bleauberry on May 25, 2010, at 18:02:58
In reply to OTC Sleep Aid for True Insomniacs, posted by Dan_MI on May 25, 2010, at 10:18:09
To your OTC sleep meds add valerian root, passionflower, and skullcap. All in combo.
And, or, GABA with glycine with magnesium, all in combo.
Order an herbal sleep aid called HerbSom, by Dr Zhang of New York. Made of some potent Chinese medicine stuff for Lyme disease sufferers who often have complications of severe insomnia and anxiety. I haven't tried it myself, but several LLMDs and some people at Lyme forums have commented on how well it works.
In the meanwhile, you and your doc gotta figure out why the insomnia exists. Have you tested cortisol at 9pm? Midnight? What is your thyroid doing at those hours? Forget about testing them in the daytime...you need to know what they are doing during the hours you should be sleepy. Are you making enough Melatonin? Try adding some for a couple weeks? Shortage of serotonin? Tried a bit of 5htp. Short on magnesium or GABA? Tried a combo of GABA, Glycine, and Magnesium supplements? I think there is a lot to learn here by trying a few inexpensive OTC things to test if your biochemistry is weak in them or not.
They are all safe to try no matter what you are taking, except 5htp which should not be taken with a SSRI, SNRI, or MAOI.
Get the herbs and supps and get some sleep.
The herbals work modestly good, but they synergize with each other and need to be taken in combo to get the real desired effect. None on their own is potent enough, with the possible exception of skullcap. And Herbsom for sure.
poster:bleauberry
thread:948777
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100524/msgs/948864.html