Best over the counter sleeping pills?

I've got some suggestions about what NOT to take.

Try Dreamwater. It’s all natural and doesn’t leave you hung over the next day.

Magnesium

R3 - Magnesium Citrate actually. And melatonin.

A fifth of Jack Daniels. No prescription required.

Over-the-counter melatonin gave me the most vivid nightmares of my life. I went back to Nytol.

Not a pill but...Zquil liquid is great to get to sleep fast and feel normal the next day. No grogginess!

I HATE when people favor something because it's "all natural"!!

Arsenic and strychnine are all natural too!

L-theanine. It's an amino acid found in green tea.

Have you tried Tylenol PM?

So is syphilis, R8. But who wants that?

One half of a 3mg melatonin pill and 1/2 OTC 25mg sleep pill ( Diphenhydramine) And a medatation sleep app or white noise like a fan

Beware: Antihistamines (including Benadryl/diphenhydramine) cause weight gain.

Suntheanine. Good for sleep and anxiety.

I like plain old magnesium citrate a quick shower and fresh sheets.

Stilnox washed down with booze.

I go back and forth between Benadryl and Advil PM. I wake up easier with Benadryl, but it takes me 2-3 pills to get a good sleep. I go to sleep easier with Advil PM, with only 1-2 pills, but ironically, I wake up with a headache.

Seriously, if you have problems sleeping, get a prescription for 5mg Ambien if your viable alternative is Benadryl.

Believe it or not, diphenhydramine ("Benadryl") isn't "just" an antihistamine or sedative -- it's REALLY a tricyclic antidepressant. Histamine-blocking and sedation are just two major side-effects that happen to be desirable under some circumstances. Ditto, for chlorpheniramine & brompheniramine.

If you ever need a non-prescription ghetto-fabulous antidepressant, try chlorpheniramine maleate (at the same dosage indicated on the label for antihistamine use). It's arguably better as an antidepressant than diphenhydramine, and isn't quite as sedating (but will give you dry mouth from hell & increase your heart rate, just like diphenhydramine and most other TCAs).

Isnt benedryl the soporific in those combos? If so, just take that. However, prolonged use may affect cognitive function. Also, tylenol is easily overdosable, with liver damage.

I've had luck with melatonin. The thing with it, though, is that it is sold in a wide range of doses, from 10 milligrams to about 1/30th that amount. So it may take some experimentation to avoid taking too much and getting vivid nightmares, and taking too little.

BEWARE: Sominex and Unisom can actually STIMULATE you, give you the jitters and WORSEN your insomnia!

They caused my heart rate to increase and kept me up all night.

My doctor prescribed me Trazadone. You should definitely get a prescription and keep them handy.

[quote]I go back and forth between Benadryl and Advil PM. I wake up easier with Benadryl, but it takes me 2-3 pills to get a good sleep. I go to sleep easier with Advil PM, with only 1-2 pills, but ironically, I wake up with a headache.

Darling, the active ingredient in Advil PM, aside from ibuprofen, [italic]is[/italic] benadryl, about 25 mg.

The max dose of benadryl is 50mg, two tablets.

Quaaludes are nice ...

Probably 99% of common OTC sleep aids (excepting the herbal supplements which never worked for me) contain diphenhydramine (Benadryl). It is an anticholinergic and long term use is linked to dementia later in life.

I have been using unisom instead of Lunesta. Someone at work recommended 10 mg of melatonin but I have taken it before without luck...

Most OTC sleeping tablets are just anti-histamines that don't have much more than a placebo effect on an adult in inducing sleep.

I agree with R25 and as if that wasn't a bad news in itself, diphenhydramine anticholinergic (i.e. potentially dementia-inducing) is much much stronger than the desirable anti-histamine (sleep inducing) effect. Doxylamine would be a better alternative in that regard and so is chlorpheniramine.

Having a regular sleep routine is crucial for a good sleep: go to sleep every night at the same time, reading books rather than screens (blue light is bad). I've inclued drinking a stupid passion flower tea that probably does nothing in itself, but since I drink it every night about half an hour before I go to bed, it DOES signal my body that it's time to sleep. It works most of the time.

The rare occasions where it doesn't work I take an Ambien and tweet stupid appalling stuff that I have to frantically delete before anyone takes notice.

Liquid melatonin, 10 mg via a dropper knocks me out in 15 minutes.

Be careful with diphenhydramine, as it can give you gall bladder problems of all things.

Before bedtime, eat something that contains casein protein, e.g., cottage cheese.

BEWARE of Advil PM. IT works great, but so great I was using it every day for 6 months. Shouldn't be a problem right? Well the sleeping part of it is OK but the Advil every day was a bad idea. It really fucked up my stomach lining that now I have other problems. The main ingredient for sleeping was Benedryl. My doctor said I should have just been taking that instead.

How much benedryl do you have to take before you risk getting the weight gain/dementia side effects?

Not OTC but I always find a nice big spliff works.

I don't need them often, but when I do need some help, I use Nature Made Sleep softgels, which are 3mg melatonin and 200mg L-Theanine, among other things. They usually take about an hour to work - but I always take them when I'm already in bed or just about to get in, because once I feel it start to kick in, I've got to be able to go with it immediately. If you fight it even a little, it's like the effect passes and it won't come around again. So you can't be engaged in anything more involved than reading a book when it does.

Also, I find white noise (a fan) helps along with the pills. A year or so ago I had a series of dental appointments that kept me up the night before on several occasions, and I discovered an app called Calm which really helped to mellow me out just before sleeping - it has soothing music, stories read aloud, meditation, and other stuff to aid in relaxation. Those kinds of things can really augment any pills you might take.

I am going to try the Nature Made soft gels, I have tried everything else on the planet with no success. Very Frustrating

The best concoction I've come up with is 20mg melatonin + 4mg chlorpheniramine (the active ingredient in Chlor-Trimeton/Coricidin). Puts you to sleep relatively quickly, but since chlorpheniramine only lasts 4 hours in your system, you can take it even later than you would diphenhydramine (Benadryl, Zzzquil, etc) and it'll be out of your system by morning. Bonus: Best sleep you've had in a while.

Beware of diphenhydramine/Benadryl, because it can leave you totally groggy/hungover the next morning. I've taken to using it only sporadically, and for sinus issues.

[quote]IT works great, but so great I was using it every day for 6 months. Shouldn't be a problem right

Why do people think these things are harmless. Even over the counter pain medicines are drugs that you are putting in your body that can cause serious health problems, even death.

They are meant for temporary pain relief where in moderation they can be used safely, they aren't meant to be taken every day or at doses higher than the posted amount.

Trazadone.

On the "Marienbad" thread someone wrote that it puts him to sleep..

Benedryl + Nighttime Robutussin. I used to take klonopin and morphine (I had a script) and this is the closest you can get.

The "PM" in Tylenol PM is the active ingredient in Benadryl. Tylenol does not make you sleepy and if you plan to drink at all you're better off not taking any Tylenol at all.

Valerian root. tea or pills

OTC Dramamine really knocks me out but it doesn't work that way for everyone. I have prescription pills for sleep...which it sounds like you don't want anyway. I haven't smoked pot in ages but that used to make me tired - not exactly "over the counter" - but if you have access to it, there's an option.

Here's a long thread about sleeping problems and medicines, but most of the suggestions are prescription from what I remember.

Over the counter is just a limited selection.

This is bullshit, you're not sleeping, because you're not tired. And you're not tired because your not getting enough exercise. Take the money you spend on OTC pills and buy a treadmill, when you can't sleep run on it. When you're tired you'll sleep.

Dolls, dolls, dolls! How else do you expect me to sleep?

Valerian is better than nothing if you aren't spending enough time in REM... but if Valerian helps, Ambien is better & "cleaner".

Valerian can give you really weird, vivid dreams. Not necessarily *nightmares*, just really fucking *weird* dreams that afterwards when you awaken, you'll be like, "WTF was *that* about?!?"

Ambien dreams tend to be VIVID, but Valerian dreams are vivid & WEIRD. Valerian is also a lot less CONSISTENT between brands, or even between tablets in the same bottle.

I had horrible / vivid dreams on melatonin and my doc told me to take 0.33 or 0.5 (which was more practical based on what was sold in stores -- 1 mg divided by 2)

Or is it mcg? Well you know what I mean. But doses like 5 or 10 made my dreams really vivid and strange.

I think r46 - you're right about valerian too. Plus that bottle smells so bad! I had it in 2 ziplocs and it still stunk up my cabinet.

Valerian smells like my cat's ass.

R48 how do you know how your cat's ass smells?

Benadryl hangover is a real thing. The few times I've used it, yes, I've fallen DEEPLY asleep, but the next morning, I can hardly function. Ambien is fine. The 10 mg pills are ittybitty, and I actually chop them in thirds with my teeth, because I find that 1/3 of a 10 mg pill is plenty, and you can avoid the sleepwalking side effects. I rarely suffer from insomnia unless I have an early morning meeting or appt or flight- then I'm so nervous about oversleeping that I can't sleep at all. So, ambien, PLUS setting 2 or even 3 alarms. Then I can relax enough to actually sleep.

vigorous finger banging can help you fall asleep

" I actually chop them in thirds with my teeth" R50 You are hardcore. I will not fuck with you.

Benadryl/Nyquil fucks me up for days after I take it. I yawn over and over constantly and feel like I'm going to pass out.

Personal observation with Ambien: if you take it daily for months, you won't necessarily develop a *tolerance* for it, but you *can* become *dependent* on it. Meaning, if 5mg does the job on an average night *now*, 5mg will still do the job on an average night 5 years from now... but if you take it daily for 5 years then try to quit, the rebound insomnia will damn-near *kill* you. 60-80% of the rebound insomnia will be due to withdrawal, but 20-40% will be due to the same sleep problems you had in the first place (amplified by the withdrawal).

Solution: take 5mg daily, but take 10mg once in a while if you have a day when your sleep pattern gets *really* fucked up & needs a one-time reset. Just know that if you take 10mg too many nights in a row, it'll take a few days to a week or two for 5mg to feel like it's working again.

Put another way, reducing your dose in 5mg steps takes about a week per step (with night 1 by far the worst, 2 & 3 a little better (but sleep deprivation from the previous few nights adding up), sleeping (more or less) normally around night 4 or 5, and waking up feeling ok around day 6 or 7.

If you try eliminating it completely after being down to 5mg (after taking it for years), you'll generally get stuck after day 3 or 4... it just doesn't get any better. You'll feel like shit for weeks until you relent & start taking it again. Some of that is physical dependency, but MOST of it is just your original problem coming back untamed & with a vengeance.

Also, Ambien is NOT for people who can't sleep because their heart is racing or they're worried/scared. It's N0T a tranquilizer. If you lie awake ruminating or worrying about things (besides how tired you're going to be tomorrow), Ambien can make matters worse.

Ambien is for people who can fall asleep when tired, but either have poor-quality sleep (esp. not enough REM), wake up in the middle of the night then crash at dawn, or need to maximize the quality of every minute they get (ex: you'd naturally sleep 8-9 hours, but have to settle for 6-7).

That said, Ambien is the tamest sleep med out there, prescription OR otc.

I agree the Diphenhydramine (used in benadryl and most "pm" medicines) hangover is a bitch.

It helps for me to lower the dose, don't take the recommended 25mg, take half.

Melatonin is good, ESPECIALLY if you suffer from DSPS, but finding the right dose & timing is a bitch because the timing itself is a moving target.

Take it too soon or take too much, and you'll end up with the equivalent of a too-long afternoon nap that leaves you groggy & fucks up your sleep even more. Take it too late, and it'll push your "get tired" time later and later. Google "Dim Light Melatonin Onset" to learn more.

My tips:

1. try 300mcg - 1mg. More can leave you seriously groggy the next day.

2. take it at a consistent time, about an hour before your normal "go to bed" time. You can stay up later (doing non-dangerous things, because you'll be sleepy), but the consistent melatonin timing will matter more than the time you actually go to sleep.

^ Not many people know about DSPS. Interesting to see it posted here. I agree with everything you wrote though, about those doses and how to take it. Some people with severe delays need to take it up to 6 hours before bedtime and wear orange goggles to block out blue light. Don't ask how I know... ugh. It's been a long battle with that.

What's weird is melatonin sometimes won't work for me at all. Or, it'll work a few days and then on the 5th day - I'll jump ahead 2 hours and it won't work - and the whole 4 days shifting back will have been for nothing.

R56 Normal adult dosage can vary WILDLY. From 0.5mg (500mcg) to 75mg. I, personally, do well on 20mg. Under that, nothing.

Also, buy a TRUSTED brand, like Nature Made. That USP seal makes all the difference.

It's very frustrating when you have tried everything under the sun and nothing works

I do pretty well with Tylenol PM, but (similar to the warning about Advil PM above) you can't take a lot, or take it every night, or you will screw up your kidneys.

one aleve pm about an hr before you want to go to sleep. Works pretty well for otc. I have been off and on on prescription sleeping pills and they work to some extent but the huge downside is extremely vivid sometimes awful nightmares................

If it is an occasional thing, then just take benadryl or a product with bendryl in it. It's true that benadryl causes weight gain to an extent, though lack of sleep causes weight gain too. Here's one of dozens of studies on that...more in the right margin. The study I'm trying to find shows that when they deprived people of just 2 hours (in just one night) they overate that day & had more ghrelin in the blood (hunger hormone). I can't find it though it's pretty shocking to read.

Anyway... if you have a chronic sleep problem, is to see a sleep specialist. There are so many types of insomnia (onset, maintenance, early wake-up) on top of the causes which can be all over the map.

Iceberg lettuce in a hot broth. Ehen heated lettuce acts like an opiate

OP, you probably have delayed phase sleep disorder There's no cure My cycles are 36 hours awake, 10 hours sleep

R54, yes DPSD

Tried everything all my life.

Last ditch & works

Seroquel

R64, seroquel stopped your clock from shifting forward? I have taken that, actually. Only 12.5 or 25 mg. I found it to be very very strong, with a bit of a hangover effect the next day. It was hard to take daily because of this. There's another drug in that class - zyprexa - which works well in 5 mg but it causes massive weight gain (screws up the pancreas or something?) and now there's some research on giving zyprexa with metformin which looked promising.

I've never tried it, but I've been told that if you take Adderall for AD(H)D, an occasional small overnight dose of Seroquel will reset any developing tolerance you might have. Basically, it neutralizes any amphetamine metabolites left in your system & causes an instant overnight total amphetamine crash while you're asleep. You'll be hung over the next day & need to be able to sleep 10-12 hours, but apparently you'll feel fantastic a day later.

Is it favorite sleeping scrips now? Because melatonin (liquid: 3-4 mg) and GABAPENTIN (300 mg) is a lovely little cocktail. They work synergistically and little to no hangover in the morning.

We nurses used to fight with doctors years ago for prescribing Benadryl for sleep for elderly hospitalized people. We saw the results - patients were groggy for 2 days, off balance and more likely to fall. Meanwhile, patients who got actual sleeping pills were fine because they wore off more quickly. This was before halcion & ambien were used for sleep. We had RX drugs like Dalmane & Restoril, as well as the old Mickey drug, chloral hydrate.

I now use medical marijuana for sleep. For pain I use 20 CBD:1 THC pills, but for sleep I use a vaporizer that’s 20 THC : 1 CBD. It works, but I’ve gained 10 lbs from nighttime eating. It gives me the munchies.

Op, what you're in need of is a daily dose of Vit. D3, 5K IUs. Now.

Skip the supplements; you'll mess up your circadian rhythm.

R43 Dramamine is Benedryl + Caffeine.

I used to take Benadryl and Doxylamine on alternating nights. I started having terrible problems with restless leg syndrome. I switched to Melatonin, but my understanding is they impact the same receptors in the brain, and my dreams were insane on Melatonin (Trump started a nuclear war while I was on a ship a couple of miles off-shore - old sailing ships were being torn apart everywhere and I was trying to figure out how to get back to shore because I left my dog home alone. It was at night and the mushroom clouds were completely black and gave off no light, but you could still see them and they highlighted the ragged sails of the ships.)

I don't take anything now. I have Hue lights in the bedroom, and I set them to a peachy pink shade and I have them gradually dim and turn off until only one is on at the lowest level. Once I am down to one light I rub a little lavender essential oil on my upper lip as lavender is a natural relaxant. I am generally reading as the lights are dimming, and once I am down to one light at the lowest level my eyes start to get all watery and I get really sleepy.

I have the light set to turn off completely at midnight, but I hope to fall asleep with the light still on as sometimes the act of turning off the light will make me more wakeful.

Op, leave the light on, yet purchase a 'sleep mask' for your eyes. This particular product has 'raised' eye wells so your eyeballs are not squished upon wearing it. No eye pressure. Nice seep, no light seeps in.

(I have a pair for traveling as well.)

^^ Dammit! That should be "Nice Sleep"!

As needed (usually traveling) I do one Benadryl, sleep fine, no grogginess in the morning. Old school NyQuil used to be awesome, not so much now.

Melatonin gave me the worst nightmares of my life.

I know you said OTC, OP, but Trazadone changed my life for the better.

Try a good old fashioned orgasm

R65, Seroquel origin antipsychotic. Non psychotic me figures out all problems in dreams on Seroquel. You can't fight it like Ambien. When it hits, it hits. Clear head just a an extra.

I have Delayed Sleep disorder due to ancestors near the north pole. Lots of arctic in there.

R66 thanks. Let me think about that. Moved on from Addy to Vyvanse.

Put tongue between teeth to relax jaw. Breathe in nose, out mouth. Try to count to 30. You can't

Holy shit - I took Kroger benadryl (diphenhydramamine) and was knocked out cold for 4 hours! I usually have taken target version.... and it barely does anything. How can this even happen? I'm actually still a little dizzy / light headed. WTF?

I can't sleep on an empty stomach so I make a little something to help me sleep.

I end up sleeping like a baby.

Carb coma is real.

[quote]I can't sleep on an empty stomach so I make a little something to help me sleep. I end up sleeping like a baby.

Same here. If I eat something small, not a big meal, I fall right asleep and sleep deeply.

Do NOT take Ambien.

It can cause you to become a racist, and you might be fired from your sitcom reboot!!

high mg of calcium and magnesium.

Turn off all lights and electronics. Take a warm to hot bath or shower. Keep all electronics out of bedroom, including cellphone and chargers.

[quote]high mg of calcium and magnesium.

Taking too much calcium can lead to kidney stones and other problems.