Sleeping pills

[gregorio]

5 years in and still off meds but I have started to use sleeping pills for the first time. Does anyone have a recommendation for a sleeping pill that is specifically good for PWP.

[Little_apple]

”sleeping pills” are neurotoxic.

Before taking them, get your D level checked. And take D3 in the am as it is a regulator of your circadian rhythm.

@Growing evidence has demonstrated that vitamin D has a role in sleep regulation [12]. Specifically, vitamin D deficiency (VDD) can increase risk of sleep disorders and is associated with sleep difficulties, shorter sleep duration, and nocturnal awakenings in children and adults [13,14,15].Mar”

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Many are against melatonin supplementation. I am not. If you aren’t already, I would take melatonin. Start very low and work up.

A good organic CBD oil can be helpful for sleep and has other health benefits.

Magnesium Glycinate and Phosphatidylserine are others to consider. I highly recommend staying off of sleeping pills. The meds for PD are not nearly as bad for your brain as sleeping pills.

[gregorio in reply to Little_apple]

Good points and lots to think about, I have Melatonin every nite, about 5 mg and was thinking to up it. I am always unsure when putting pills in my mouth, B1,NAC, NADH, and a few others are all i do, was prescribed the usual Azalect, L/C at the start but dropped everything after 3 months research and changed diet and did more exorcise.

[Little_apple in reply to gregorio]

exercise as early as you can, heart rate up. Research cortisol to understand why.

Sunlight on in your eyes as early as possible. Dr. Andrew Huberman discusses this

Do not eat 4+ hours before bed.

Blue blockers and no screens after dark

Binaural beats. Etc etc etc

There is so much you can pursue that aids the brain in getting to and staying asleep before throwing a nightly bomb at it that is a sleeping pill.

I have succumbed to Azilect as it relieves my internal tremors and enables me to sleep. I wish I was not in it. Ku Shen is something to consider as it’s an MAOB inhibitor that is less potent and OTC. Same with licorice root.

I hope you will stay clear of pharma sleep aids as they literally truly damage the brain

[gregorio in reply to Little_apple]

your advice, passion, sounds very sensible, I have R/H tremors and some leg as well but play golf 3 times a week, walking, so cover the exorcise and sunlight points well😀

[park_bear]

I use valerian root when I need sleep assistance.

[ElliotGreen]

I also would recommend avoiding sleeping pills, especially long-term.

My bedtime supplements for sleep aid include:

Melatonin, extended release, 12 mg

melatonin, powder dissolved in alcohol, ~10 to 20 mg

cannabis oil, including THC

magnesium glycinate, 200 mg of magnesium

Low Dose Naltrexone, ~5 mg

Intranasal Glutathione

The melatonin and cannabis oil are most important I think. I'm pretty sure the other ones help, too.

As someone else said, work your way up with the melatonin. I wouldn't start taking as much as I take.

If I don't take anything, I can expect to sleep 4.5 hours before waking up. With all of my supplements, I usually sleep between 5.5 hours to a full 8 hours or more.

[gregorio in reply to ElliotGreen]

will up the melatonin a bit, thanx

[Little_apple in reply to ElliotGreen]

Naltrexone - I’m very curious and interested in it. How is it going?

Which type of intranasal glutathione are you using? Have you had your Homocysteine checked? I just got my results. I’m on the low end and in the “healthy” range. I’m so relieved but unsure if I should goal for lowering further. I don’t know what is optimum homocysteine level.

[CaseyInsights in reply to Little_apple]

Homocysteine:

Any level above 6 micromoles per liter (also called micromolar) may pose a risk, and the higher the homocysteine, the greater the risk.

GOAL: homocysteine < 7 micromolar.

The End of Alzheimer’s | Dale Bredesen

[ElliotGreen in reply to Little_apple]

I order pure glutathione powder from Blackburn Distributions and dissolve it in distilled water. For more information, see my comment here:

healthunlocked.com/cure-par...

No, I haven't had my homocysteine levels checked. I don't have the money for a lot of lab tests, and I am unsure where to get it done, if I wanted to.

LDN? Pretty good. I think it's of benefit, but it's often hard to be sure. I feel a bit better the day after I take it (it helps my mood). It may help sleep. I'm hopeful about it reducing inflammation, and this being helpful for my Parkinson's disease brain. Curiously I also used to get little growths and sores on the bottom of my tongue (neoplasm?) periodically, especially when I was stressed. I think LDN has largely stopped this. I saw an article reporting a case study with similar happy results.

[twitness in reply to ElliotGreen]

Hi, ElliotGreen - could you please provide your source of intranasal glutathione?

[twitness in reply to twitness]

I just saw you did give your source. Thanks!

[Cv235]

I get a low dosage of an antihistamine (generic name is phenergan) which is in an over-the-counter sleep aid called ‘nitol’. That is a 50mg dose, but I get 10g tablets on prescription so I can take two or three if I’ve been sleeping badly. It really helps. I still try not to use it every night though.

[ElliotGreen in reply to Cv235]

Just a heads up that Promethazine has a high relative anticholinergic potency. Cumulative exposure to anticholinergic drugs increases the risk of cognitive impairment in older people.

uptodate.com/contents/image...

scholar.google.co.uk/schola...

[JustJeff]

How have you managed to not take meds with PD ?

[gregorio in reply to JustJeff]

Long story and you can look at my posts but generally Keto Diet, B1, NAC and NADH , Red light and play a lot of golf. Learned to live with my tremors

[ElliotGreen in reply to gregorio]

Interesting.

I'm six years in and I'm still not on levodopa meds.

[gregorio in reply to ElliotGreen]

you have tremors?

[ElliotGreen in reply to gregorio]

A little bit of tremors, not a lot. I'm predominantly bradykinesia-type Parkinson's. I have reduced movement of my right arm and right leg. Some rigidity, especially of my right arm and hand.

[gregorio in reply to ElliotGreen]

Amazing disease this is for sure, everyone is different. I am tremor dominant, right arm and a little in the leg but suspect it might be moving to my left hand. obviously I have a few other things like no smell, drool a bit but am convinced it is the walking, golf, that is keeping it slowed down. I had constipation for a while but put ground Flax seeds in my yogurt very morning and that sorted that out.,I will work on the sleep issue, goood and bad nites, just tackle each issue as it comes uup

[Rafiki2]

Occasionally my PWP wife (since 2019) has had trouble sleeping and I try not to give her sleeping pills.

I recently came across a device called Alpha Stim which helps to treat Anxiety, Depression and Insomnia. EPI, the company that makes this device has been in existence for over 40 years and this device was developed 30 years ago and is FDA recognised. It has gone through over 140 clinical tests over the years with clear results reported on their website. alpha-stim.com

Alpha Stim has also been independently tested by the NHS in UK and now adopted to help treat these conditions.

I obtained the Alpha Stim two weeks ago and my wife has been using it twice a day. Initial results are very promising and instructions are on the website.

It is not cheap at $840 but it could help reduce various meds which one should bear in mind. It is also without side effects which is the biggest plus.

There are other similar (and cheaper) devices that use this technology (TES) Transcranial Electrical Stimulation but none seem to have done the research that Alpha Stim has done.

I hope this information will help others with sleep problems as it seems to be doing with my wife. It can also be useful for others that don't have PD in reducing stress.

[Little_apple in reply to Rafiki2]

alpha-stim.com/

How is it different from a tens unit?

amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00NCRE4...

[Rafiki2 in reply to Little_apple]

Firstly, from what I understand about a TENS unit is that it sends just plain electrical impulses which can be a lot higher than the TES devices and this is aimed at muscles, not the brain. The TENS can go as high as 100mA while the Alpha Stim goes to a maximum of 5mA. Usually this is also too high and one needs to dial it down to around 2 to 3 mA.

One needs to take precautions using the TENS with certain parts of the body whilst the only care one must take with the Alpha Stim is not to use it if one has a pacemaker.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Alpha Stim is that they claim to have patented a specific wave pattern specially developed to stimulate the Alpha waves in the brain (hence the name Alpha Stim).

If one considers that the Dr Tass Parkinson gloves are currently undergoing the 3rd (and hopefully final) sham or placebo clinical test where half of the participants will be given gloves with a normal electrical impulse and the other half will be given the gloves with the correct and active wave length current, it becomes clear that the electrical wave pattern is of vital importance.

The best is to do some research on the Alpha Stim and then compare it with other devices and procedures. There are also a number of videos on YouTube which are very informative.

The device that comes close to the Alpha Stim is called the Fisher Wallace but its application is not as practical as the Alpha Stim. Also, one wonders if their electrical wave length is as researched as Alpha Stim.

I live in South Africa and bought the Alpha Stim through their agent in Cape Town. They have agents in about 50 other countries.

[rebtar]

yes, stay away from sleeping pills. As one who was led down that road and accepted it out of a great fear of not sleeping (PTSD related, major trauma with prolonged insomnia), I’m now being advised to taper off the sleep meds which is worse than plain insomnia!! Which I now have again since I developed tolerance to sleep meds!

I was told that the effects on the brain of not sleeping are as bad as the effects of sleeping pills. Also told this is not true. I have no idea. I do know that when I don’t sleep much, my cognitive is much worse.

Some herbs and alternative treatments are also anti-cholinergic.

Cognitive behavioral therapy fir insomnia works for some. CBT-I. Worked for me about a decade ago pre-PD.

I’m beginning to experience cognitive deficits, and know I need to taper but it’s a rough road a slow road, I don’t know if I’ll be able to at this point. So do be careful.

[gregorio in reply to rebtar]

thanks for that, not a great lover of pills, good reading everyone's thoughts

[rmmm]

Use Melatonin 5mg nightly but 2 or 3 times a week will add Hydroxyzine 10mg, an antihistamine that helps too.

[ElliotGreen in reply to rmmm]

Just a heads up, Hydroxyzine also has high relative anticholinergic potency.

uptodate.com/contents/image...

Increased use of anticholinergic drugs is associated with increased risk of dementia, according to several studies.

scholar.google.co.uk/schola...

My father took high doses of an anticholinergic drug to sleep for years, and I think it really affected his cognition for the worse. It also affected other aspects of his health.

[gregorio in reply to ElliotGreen]

thanx for all the info

[Rufous2]

I don't know if it's available where you are, but in the US Trazodone (an antidepressant) is used off-label for insomnia. The dose is much lower than that used for depression.

Many sleeping pills have a negative affect on sleep architecture, so I was surprised when I recently read that Trazodone increases slow-wave (deep) sleep. Most glymphatic drainage takes place during SWS, and it's reduction is associated with neurodegeneration.

I was even more surprised to read that Trazodone might slow down progression of Alzheimer's disease. content.iospress.com/articl...

[BS-ZIG in reply to Rufous2]

Trazodone works for sleep. I have been taking it since 1990… No problem here.