Hi Brian, I too have suffered for decades from the kind of insomnia you
describe, including all the alternative medical treatments that didn't
work.
I finally have made headway with a combination of:
- trazodone (which you have to take with food, so I have a bit of a snack before I go to bed)
- lamictal (new drug for a variety of anxiety-related syndromes, ADD, depression.... gives me more "slack," more control over my tendency to ruminate and catastrophize)
- temazepam as a backup for nights when the others don't work and REALLY need to get up the next morning. (But I get habituated to benzodiazipines very fast so I never use it more than 3 nights in a row.)
- valerian, an herb which really does relax you. It's very subtle but it helps.
- L-theanine, an amino acid which also helps relax, it's very popular in Japan)
I don't know if you can get this in Israel, but there is a sleep formula I get in health-food stores called "Fatigued to Fantastic: Revitalizing Sleep Formula." Everything in it is benign and it helps relax me.
I take some of these right when I get into bed and then I read a bit and then fall asleep.
My psych says to combat depression (which is usually a component of insomnia) get outside for for at least 1/2 hour before 2 PM, 30 min. brisk walk every day, increase Omega-3 fatty acids to 1200 mg/day (these help your brain process stuff), avoid aspartame (a non-caloric sweetener found in zero-calorie sodas.
Crazymeds.org is a great community site about psychoactive medical drugs. Irreverent, lots of personal anecdotes, and distills medical knowledge about the drugs.
I finally have made headway with a combination of:
- trazodone (which you have to take with food, so I have a bit of a snack before I go to bed)
- lamictal (new drug for a variety of anxiety-related syndromes, ADD, depression.... gives me more "slack," more control over my tendency to ruminate and catastrophize)
- temazepam as a backup for nights when the others don't work and REALLY need to get up the next morning. (But I get habituated to benzodiazipines very fast so I never use it more than 3 nights in a row.)
- valerian, an herb which really does relax you. It's very subtle but it helps.
- L-theanine, an amino acid which also helps relax, it's very popular in Japan)
I don't know if you can get this in Israel, but there is a sleep formula I get in health-food stores called "Fatigued to Fantastic: Revitalizing Sleep Formula." Everything in it is benign and it helps relax me.
I take some of these right when I get into bed and then I read a bit and then fall asleep.
My psych says to combat depression (which is usually a component of insomnia) get outside for for at least 1/2 hour before 2 PM, 30 min. brisk walk every day, increase Omega-3 fatty acids to 1200 mg/day (these help your brain process stuff), avoid aspartame (a non-caloric sweetener found in zero-calorie sodas.
Crazymeds.org is a great community site about psychoactive medical drugs. Irreverent, lots of personal anecdotes, and distills medical knowledge about the drugs.
It's true that insomnia is often linked with depression, that's certainly what I found and am working on as well (I'll write about this in an upcoming post). I was using Trazodone for awhile, but found it didn't make a huge difference in either sleep or depression symptoms. But everyone's experience is different. Valerian helped too, but for me it wasn't strong enough. Perhaps as part of a cocktail, my results may have been different.
Dear anonymous commenter - if you'd like to be part of this group blog, please write me directly and I'll set you up as a blog author. My email is insomniablogger@bloggerce.com. This blog will really work if readers like you get involved on a regular basis. I hope to welcome you soon!
-- Brian