Strongest sleep introducing options

If you don't like this I wouldn't try Dayvigo. It has a longer half life so it will probably be worse. It takes me about an hour to get over the morning drowsiness from Dayvigo. Totally worth it to me, though, for the great sleep.
If it’s more of a timing issue, I can deal with that. I’ll just take it earlier. The one that keeps me asleep the longest and provides the most quality sleep will be my go to. I work from home so I’ll never be jumping into traffic first thing in the mornings.
 
Gabapentin use for back pain linked to higher risk of dementia, study finds

While the study included a large sample and attempted to control for a wide range of confounding factors, it remains observational. This means it cannot prove that gabapentin caused dementia or cognitive impairment. Other unmeasured variables could have influenced the results, such as dosage, duration of treatment, or severity of underlying pain.

 
Well, my experiment with Quviviq was a disaster. The first night I took 25mg. 2.5 hours later it was preventing me from sleeping. Took another 25mg and that knocked me out. Slept 7.5 hours but didn’t feel rested. Next night I took 50mg and slept 7.5 hours and felt great when I woke up. 3-4 more days of 50mg but woke feeling tired. Then one night it prevented me from sleeping at all. I even took gabapentin to fall asleep and Quviviq overpowered Gabapentin and would not let me sleep. The next night no Quviviq and 900mg Gabapentin and barely any sleep that night. It’s taken 2 days to get that medication out of my system and finally get some sleep.
 
I saw gabapentin listed earlier in the thread. I used it long term for nerve pain and it works, but I developed some short term cognitive issues. Could have been due to a high dose, 1800mg if I recall correctly? Worth a try though
Same boat. I stopped after some months of 900mg 3x day for nerve pain as I could not deal with the zombie/slow brain side effects anymore. For me, sleep was no impacted either way on the gabapentin.

Not super helpful to the thread but worth mentioning: Trazodone def works for some people, and initially it helped me too. After very quickly having to up the dosage to get the same effects I stopped because the sides were rough, and god forbid you actually have to get up in the middle of the night to do/handle something. I had a smoke alarm go off one night as the batt was dying and nearly died trying to use a ladder because I was so dizzy/drunk feeling from the meds.
 
For me, sleep was no impacted either way on the gabapentin.
It alleviated a good portion of my nerve pain and definitely “mellowed” me out, making it easier to fall asleep. Would also make me hungry so I ate before going to sleep, easier to fall asleep with a full belly. So I wouldn’t claim it was a sleep med but it had that effect on me.
 
Well, my experiment with Quviviq was a disaster. The first night I took 25mg. 2.5 hours later it was preventing me from sleeping. Took another 25mg and that knocked me out. Slept 7.5 hours but didn’t feel rested. Next night I took 50mg and slept 7.5 hours and felt great when I woke up. 3-4 more days of 50mg but woke feeling tired. Then one night it prevented me from sleeping at all. I even took gabapentin to fall asleep and Quviviq overpowered Gabapentin and would not let me sleep. The next night no Quviviq and 900mg Gabapentin and barely any sleep that night. It’s taken 2 days to get that medication out of my system and finally get some sleep.

Did you take it on an empty stomach?
It seems to not work when i take it with food.
 
Did you take it on an empty stomach?
It seems to not work when i take it with food.
Yes. Empty stomach. Taken 30-45 minutes before bedtime. It was working ok until it wasn’t. I’ve never had a problem falling asleep. I wake up too much and struggle to fall back asleep. But Quviviq prevents me from falling asleep.
 
Had the weirdest eszopiclone experience last night. I've used Ambien a few times in the military but other than that I'm pretty new to Z drugs. Went to bed around 10, took melatonin some mag glycinate and 1.5mg eszopiclone. Woke up from dead ass sleep around 1115ish to the dog barking like mad at something outside. Grab the Benelli from beside the bed and just walk out into the hallway and stare down the end of it for like 30 straight seconds in utter confusion. I've never experienced being awake and my brain not working at the same time. Like the instinct to do something was there but the brain cells were not firing. Hypnotics are fucking whack :oops:

It's great for sleeping but God help you if you get woke up in the height of whatever it's doing to your brain and need to make complex decisions.
 
Had the weirdest eszopiclone experience last night. I've used Ambien a few times in the military but other than that I'm pretty new to Z drugs. Went to bed around 10, took melatonin some mag glycinate and 1.5mg eszopiclone. Woke up from dead ass sleep around 1115ish to the dog barking like mad at something outside. Grab the Benelli from beside the bed and just walk out into the hallway and stare down the end of it for like 30 straight seconds in utter confusion. I've never experienced being awake and my brain not working at the same time. Like the instinct to do something was there but the brain cells were not firing. Hypnotics are fucking whack :oops:

It's great for sleeping but God help you if you get woke up in the height of whatever it's doing to your brain and need to make complex decisions.
I acted my dreams out on Ambien when the Army prescribed it. I busted my head open twice and laid back down in bed and resumed sleeping.
 
I had sleep issues even before starting back on aas. Ambien works for a while then you gotta take a break because it stops working. On these days it's 4x12mg melatonin and nyquil.

Ambien isn't so great when cutting. My wife would tell me I continually sleep walk to the frig and comeback with a plate of food. Just me sitting on the edge of my bed eating away and asleep.
 
Amanita Muscaria for Sleep

For true knockout sleep, my top tool is an Amanita muscaria tincture.


I take about six full droppers before bed. If you’re new, start with three and adjust until you find your sweet spot.

If you can’t get the tincture, be careful preparing caps on your own, the precursor to muscimol can make you sick if it’s not decarboxylated properly.
 
Instinctively I'd think anything that you "feel" so potently like a sleep med is inherently riskier because it's such an unnatural effect, but that's just a gut feeling and I haven't done any work to back it up.

On the other hand, when used properly ("proper",in my opinion), sleep meds are a last resort and taken sparingly. For me if it's 2-3 a month it's unusual.

Gabapentin otoh seems like it's normally used daily by many, so even if risk is lower, exposure is far higher; making potential for damage much more significant.

Finally, I'd say of the Z meds, Zaleplon does seem to have the best safety record, and its short acting, non-lingering effects are probably a clue as to why.
any sources on zaleplon having the best safety records?
 
For long term option fixing sleep hygiene and getting sunlight in the morning.
For short term fixes try zopiclone
 
I have been using eszopiclone near daily for like 4 months now. 4 mg per night, helps me sleep, but it only "helps", doesn't knock you out, you still have to "decide" to fall asleep and it helps you fall asleep faster if you do that.

Taking higher doses like 6 mg, 8 mg, 10 mg (max I've ever done) has no benefit, just makes me a little sleepy in the morning, does not increase sleep pressure.

I had to go on vacation for a week and tried diphenhydramine. I don't have any tolerance to it but I was pretty shocked, it induced sleep in me super fast, like 10 mins.

EDIT: OMG it has actually been 10 months, not 4. lol.
 
I have been using eszopiclone near daily for like 4 months now. 4 mg per night, helps me sleep, but it only "helps", doesn't knock you out, you still have to "decide" to fall asleep and it helps you fall asleep faster if you do that.

Taking higher doses like 6 mg, 8 mg, 10 mg (max I've ever done) has no benefit, just makes me a little sleepy in the morning, does not increase sleep pressure.

I had to go on vacation for a week and tried diphenhydramine. I don't have any tolerance to it but I was pretty shocked, it induced sleep in me super fast, like 10 mins.

EDIT: OMG it has actually been 10 months, not 4. lol.
So only 60% chance of blackouts
 
Hydroxyzine works surprisingly well for me, though it leaves me quite groggy the following morning. I've tried splitting the tabs, which helps, but they don't split very well. 10mg roughly seems to provide the best balance of sedation and morning functionality. I'm still using small amounts of Xanax from my old dog's thunderstorm/fireworks stash every few weeks when I just absolutely have to be guaranteed some rest... averages out about once a month really. I try to quarter a quarter of a 2mg bar, but eventually I'll run out of that. I feel like the Hydrox will fill in well enough. The best thing about the Hydrox is it's just an antihistamine so no doctor is going to give you much crap about it.
 
Lurking here to find a solution to sleep through my bi-annual 12 hours flight. I even got business class ticket to try and sleep on a bed. I can never sleep on a plane no matter how sleep deprived I am. I fear taking a normal sleeping pill and then not sleeping, then it's worse.

Need to be knocked out for those 12 hours, cuz I literally have to raw dog every flight without any shows/movies/games to keep me occupied. Bored to hell every time.

Gabapentin 600 mg + Trazodone 75 mg seems like a great option.

My though process was: Gabapentin + Trazodone so I could try to fix why I can’t sleep in the first place.
Gabapentin makes me feel less over-stimulated “on” feeling I get from travel.
Trazodone complements it by forcing the brain into real, slow-wave sleep rather than the light, fragile sleep most pills cause.

Together I feel is can promote sleep to happen naturally and stays deep for 8–12 hours. For me specifically who can’t sleep on planes.

Although idk how potent it will be in actually forcing me to sleep, theoretically it's better than ur run of the mil sleeping pills. Cuz I swear if I take another sleeping pill and stay groggy the whole flight and don't sleep imma kms (joke btw, not serious).
 
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Hydroxyzine works surprisingly well for me, though it leaves me quite groggy the following morning. I've tried splitting the tabs, which helps, but they don't split very well. 10mg roughly seems to provide the best balance of sedation and morning functionality. I'm still using small amounts of Xanax from my old dog's thunderstorm/fireworks stash every few weeks when I just absolutely have to be guaranteed some rest... averages out about once a month really. I try to quarter a quarter of a 2mg bar, but eventually I'll run out of that. I feel like the Hydrox will fill in well enough. The best thing about the Hydrox is it's just an antihistamine so no doctor is going to give you much crap about it.
The funny thing about hydroxyzine is it makes me have scary hallucinations even at normal doses. Sorta how I’ve seen dph shadow people/ spiders etc described.

I only took it once, never again. Went to promethazine as my go to anti histamine sedative.

Although use zaleplon now instead of either of them when a sleeping med is needed.
 
Lurking here to find a solution to sleep through my bi-annual 12 hours flight. I even got business class ticket to try and sleep on a bed. I can never sleep on a plane no matter how sleep deprived I am. I fear taking a normal sleeping pill and then not sleeping, then it's worse.

Need to be knocked out for those 12 hours, cuz I literally have to raw dog every flight without any shows/movies/games to keep me occupied. Bored to hell every time.

Gabapentin 600 mg + Trazodone 75 mg seems like a great option.

My though process was: Gabapentin + Trazodone so I could try to fix why I can’t sleep in the first place.
Gabapentin makes me feel less over-stimulated “on” feeling I get from travel.
Trazodone complements it by forcing the brain into real, slow-wave sleep rather than the light, fragile sleep most pills cause.

Together I feel is can promote sleep to happen naturally and stays deep for 8–12 hours. For me specifically who can’t sleep on planes.

Although idk how potent it will be in actually forcing me to sleep, theoretically it's better than ur run of the mil sleeping pills. Cuz I swear if I take another sleeping pill and stay groggy the whole flight and don't sleep imma kms (joke btw, not serious).
FWIW, I was on high doses of both of those for a time (not directly related to sleep) and it's something you'd def need to test and see how you respond. The gaba didn't do much positive for what it was intended or for sleep, and high (300mg or more) trazodone would work to help me fall asleep but either I'd wake up in the am feeling groggy and slow or wake up during the night and the room would be spinning.

Enough trazadone should get you to fall asleep, but how much will really depend on you. Also, I built a tolerance to it pretty quickly and got the sides at max doses w no real benefits so I stopped bothering.
 
FWIW, I was on high doses of both of those for a time (not directly related to sleep) and it's something you'd def need to test and see how you respond. The gaba didn't do much positive for what it was intended or for sleep, and high (300mg or more) trazodone would work to help me fall asleep but either I'd wake up in the am feeling groggy and slow or wake up during the night and the room would be spinning.

Enough trazadone should get you to fall asleep, but how much will really depend on you. Also, I built a tolerance to it pretty quickly and got the sides at max doses w no real benefits so I stopped bothering.
Thanks for the anecdote, it would be a one time thing tho so I shouldn’t need that doss?
Plan to take it like 4 times in a year. Doing some more research into it, need to be knocked out for 12 hours of hell on a plane.
 
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