I take a cocktail of various medications so want to avoid taking another chemical one.
I have always had difficulty sleeping but lately it has been worse than ever, in fact I was still awake at 4 am this morning and only dozed until I eventually got up.
I spend the day tired yet when I go to bed I just cannot sleep.
Has anyone a recommendation for a natural sleep remedy that actually works so i can give it a try.
I really need a good night's sleep.
TIA
(hope I used effect properly, with age I confuse it with affect) 😅
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Heather1957
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hello I am a techno phobe I have apple smart phone but not smart enough to use it !!!! How or where do I find this app and instal it, haven’t slept properly for months and it’s seriously affecting my mental health and well being
I recently heard that eating two Kiwi fruits one hour before retiring helps get you off to sleep as they are full of serotonin. I haven't tried it myself as I struggle to stay awake just watching the soaps at 8.30 pm!
Do you get enough exercise? I find I sleep better after a good walk or two.
Hi Heather. I don't have any trouble sleeping, never have had, touch wood!! 😊 My Friend used to have terrible trouble sleeping though so she asked our Local Pharmacist. He recommended Nytol, think there are different types. She now swears by them! Maybe though, you say you are on other Meds so it might be worth your while asking your Pharmacist as to what you can/can't take! Good Luck 😊
Have you tried a weighted blanket? I used one and definitely slept better. I found that if I was not sleeping through worry it didn’t help, but most of the time it did. You have to buy according to your weight.
it isn’t “natural” but I recently started taking gabapentin for neuropathic pain. It gives me an excellent night’s sleep. I’ve had nightmares all my life and they’ve stopped. Great stuff. Needs a prescription though. Remember just because someone is “natural” doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
I listen to a CD of either rainfall, the ocean or similar sounds and don't usually make the end of it. Good luck as sleepless nights are awful - too much time to imagine and worry. Take care
I sympathise whole heartedly. I too have insomnia - a lonstanding and recalcitrant problem. It is certainly aggravated by spells of bad palpitations which tend to kick in when I lie down making it hard to get off to sleep in the first place. I have never found any of the 'natural' remedies any use. I have zopiclone sleeping tablets which I use for a night or two at a time (but no more as i get rebound insomnia after more than about 4 nights at a time) when things really get on top of me or when there is something particularly stressing me - I find it a slight help to 'reset' things.
Has anyone any experience positive or negative of CBTI either from a book, or face to face, or one to one online? Or indeed of Sleepio or Sleepstation apps? I would be intersted to hear of your experiences. Many thanks
I have used the Sleepio programme. Not a perfect answer, like most things, but I do feel it helped in some ways. It can be pretty tough in the beginning so may not suit everyone so you have to be determined.
Circadin helps my husband. He finds he wakes up about 2am and it helps him go back to sleep. Before that he would stay awake until morning. (Circadin is a prolonged release melatonin tablet for the short-term treatment of primary insomnia.) Of course, you have to OK it with your doctor. His doctor prescribed it for him. It used to be an over the counter product in Australia, but the Govt has changed the rules - just like they are going to limit the number of paracetamol tabs we can buy and will soon have to get a script for. 🙄
You can try one or two drops of pure essential lavender oil on a tissue. You can put it directly on the pillow but I sometimes find it too strong and can push it under the pillow. Lavender oil in small quantities will act ad a sedative, too much is a stimulant.
If you have a bath before bed you can add two drops to the bath water instead.
Routine helps, and maybe even a hot milky drink before bed.
I sleep in the recliner if I can't drift off, usually with the telly on low, nothing wrong with that.
I too am not a great sleeper and I take magnesium supplements which has helped but if you don’t want to take anymore pills there are oils you can rub on your skins and bath salts. I haven’t tried these myself but might be worth a try
hi - I used to do night shifts and could never sleep I recall how awful I felt like wading through treacle !
So I used Nytol and it was very helpful .
Thankfully now those days are in the past ! But I can suffer with sleep sometimes .
I now use hypnosis apps or very long boring episodes on radio 4 extra !! I find if something good does come on ( like the amazing David Sedaris ) I try to stay awake to listen and bonk !! It’s morning !
I was also told “ don’t fight it “ if you cant sleep just lie there your body is resting and that is helpful and focus on that .. think beautiful thoughts ( not the anxiety crazy ones ) and hopefully your mind will follow and soon you will doze off …………zzzzzzzz ( here’s hoping )
I drink 1 hibiscus tea about an hour or two before bed. Seems to work as I barely can stay awake shortly after that! I started drinking it post HA as I learnt it relaxes and widens blood vessels, lowers BP, full of antioxidants and is a more powerful antibiotic than penicillin apparently. (Tastes OK too!)
It came with a warning if already on BP meds to check with doctor. I think it maybe if you drink 3 or more a day.. as I don't see a great reduction in BP.
I find it calming, and relaxing. Hope that helps?
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I have suffered for years with insomnia and have sleep apnea as well, so as you might imagine I have taken an interest in the latest thinking. One of the easiest resources for tips is the podcast series Just One Thing with Michael Mosley.
my daughter was referred through her GP to NHS sleep clinic and this worked for her. I think there is a waiting list. Worth having a chat with your GP.
Hi Heather..I'm on a cocktail of heart medication too, I take the occasional Sominex, I did check with the Pharmacist first and I only take 1/2 a tablet when lack of sleep gets really bad..take care😊
Hi when I came out of hospital I struggled with sleep so I tried nytol I actually thought I was going to die and I am not exaggerating my poor heart was hammering away, I was so scared, thankfully after an hour or so it settled.I have just read on the thread that people use it successfully my partner is fine with it as well.
I think the mistake I made was not speaking to the pharmacist and going through my ton of meds with him and getting advice, I learned a vital lesson there.
I have been prescribed meds for arthritis and nerve pain and they seem to help with sleep as well.
I really hope you can get something that can help, there is nothing worse than lying awake night after night. Take care char
If you are reading some of these replies from people who are all great and really 110% trying to help,but thinking"no this isn't going to work" or "tried that"then honestly i feel for you and there are people that are really bad with getting to sleep.
I am a 48 year old man and I ca probably count with 1 or 2 hands the times i can remember being comfortable like thinking "this is great and cosy" and slept and really got the full benefit and woke feeling great.
I think well I know this started from when I was very young like 2 or 3 years old I have bad asthma and honestly missesd i think my report cards said half my school days through being in hospital after having asthma attacks very often to the point I new all the nurses and doctors in some of the wards in yorkhill hospital in glasgow.Anyway it kind of got better although I still have asthma it has never been as bad as then when i was around my teenage years which i was already a nighthawk and can remember sitting untill it got light again before having a couple of hours here and there which I am just trying to tell you about to get an idea of my problems now .
I have always worked and I have had various jobs that good and some bad and shift times where all the shift times you can think of but mostly night or back shift times which i was comfortablt doing one I can remember for a while was a 4 or 5 deliveries a night driver over a large area that i started at 6pm til 2 or 3 am which lasted a while so sleep was still all over the place .I am sorry for going on and to get to the point just trying to give everyone an idea of what i have to go through on a daily basis.
Anyway my last and main trade was a industrial steam boiler engineer which I really loved and had to work hard with the same company for years and again various shifts was supposed to be when I started 8am to 4:30 pm but was called in at all hours for snow clearance at 3am or flooding etc..and had various positions and too many certificates and courses from fork lift driving to working with chemicals working at height and health and safety to having to learn a trade which i had to go away for weeks some times to do courses to get the qualifications i needed to get the job i loved doing until the factory that i woked in closed and moved.
I still worked with them when they moved and done loads of different jobs but had to stop after what was thought to be a chest infection and after 3 or 4 different courses of antibiotics and steroids etc on the4th or 5th visit to my gp which was a travelling or temp gp but actual saved my life literately spotted straight away and i have searched for since to give her a big hug an say thank you,because she sent me straight to a&e where they founfd out i had chronic heart failure to the point my heart wasenlarged my lungs could not function to the point had an acute event I think they called it ,inserted alarge tube down my throat and pumped oxygen insterted a pump through an artery in my LEG into my my heart th help and was told that if i did not see that doctor on that specific friday night must have been one of the last of the nightabyway the next availble spot would have been the monday which the cardiologist in the hospital i was taken to said i probably would not have made it to as this happened on the Saturday.
My actual so called GP was at my mothers door apologising for not seeing it the firsrt 3 or 4 times before .
so after months in two hopitals as i was moved to the heart transplant waed in the amazing a brilliant Golden jubilee wher i had all sorts of different medication ,scans to get my heart rate down from 150- 170 or ?bpm to a normal or slowed it own as my eff was 12% and as i said months later and was told i would never work again which i could not accept at the time but I understand now but still have trouble with anyways again sorry for going n but before they inserted the pump at the start that gave me a couple of tablets to help me calm down and i can remember as i thinki can remember i said i could count how many times in my life i have felt comfortable well this and is quite unusual given the circumstances was one of the it didnt last long as i was rushed into theatre and cant remember much till i woke later.
Just to mention the tablets they gave where diazapam or valium (yellow)think they where 5mg and if they where not so addictive as i already take so many all the usual heart meds carviodorol or dont know how to spell it apixiban was warfarin for year or two furosomide sucum+valstatin ?and couple more was justtaken off amiodoron sorry for all the typos as i domt have my box here sitting anyways I have had a lower dose of these dizapam for a week here and there but as i said dont want to have to depend althou i have been tempted as i get very frustrated well i am talking from experience from years of sraring at walls etc for hours and also diagnosed with ptsd after seeing a very bad accident ar wotk which is another thing which i have never been the same since so now have bad anxiety which started before CHF so to add if you really need a good niht rest where you get the full benrfit anf feel it although sometimes a bit drowsy after a couple of hours after waking up then maybe need a week or?of these meds to rest and i know they are not a long term solution but I have maybe Slowly getting it through my head that i will never have a normal sleeping pattern
Warm regards and sorry for all that which has taken me all morning to type
I have always been more of a night person than a morning person. For many years I worked shifts, 6 am - 2 pm, 2 pm - 10 pm and 10 pm - 6 am. They were not a week about (apart from nights) but we had long and quick changeovers and if I had a day off I would take an earlies as I HATE mornings.
I had no problem on nights and slept very well (and long) even had someone working on the roof and slept through it.
Since 2017 and my bypass I have not had a decent sleep one where I wake up feeling refreshed, I put this down to medication based on posts I have read on here.
Lately though I seem to be in a vicious cycle, I cannot get to sleep and when I do it is only a light sleep and I feel exhausted. I go to bed believing I can't sleep so it is a self fulfilling prophesy!
I just need to get out of the cycle but want to do it without taking chemical pills.
I will look into these suggestions but am off to Orlando in 2 weeks so am hoping a complete change of time zone and lifestyle will help bump start some normality.
My husband takes magnesium glycinate supplement after dinner and says it really helps him sleep. As with anything, check the leaflets & with your pharmacist for amy interactions.
My sister and her husband tried to buy 2 packets each in B & M and were refused as they were together. My sister kicked up stink but they wouldn't budge now THAT is against the legislation.
That happens here, so Husband buys one pack, and I wait for a while and buy another. We go to different staff because they label it. The powers that be are teaching us to be sneaky. (I just checked on the Chemist Warehouse site and it now says Prescription only medicine.)
I get it !quite similar work shifts and i am still trying to gat as always an as close to normal sleep pattern but when I was in hospital when I did sleep I did have maybe understandable quite bad and unusual dreams which I recently have been having again well was after having a monitor implant put in which was one of the mostpainfull things i have had and had my fair share but was to say let you're hair down so to speak and enjoy yourself and wish you all the best have a great time on holliday!
Crazy, isn't it? Just because some misuse it, we are all treated like idiots. We have been stockpiling Aldi panadol - Hedanol - cheap as chips, about 80c a pack.
hi Heather. I’ve heard really good things about melatonin (it’s a hormone) but it’s prescription only in the U.K. and can interact with meds like warfarin. Might be worth asking your GP. X
Hello Heather. I'm very much a night owl and find it v difficult to go to sleep. My lifesaver is BBC Sounds on my smart phone. I listen to it all day and when I go to bed I put on what I reckon I'll find a rather boring programme and quickly drop off.
Valerian tea works a knockout!! Sedative and triggers so much vivid dreaming. Its an amazing herb!Other than that, cbd or cannabis itself would work for getting a full nights sleep.
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