Suggest a sleeping pill?

[susanna]

No matter how hard I work in the daytime, I can't stop my head from racing at night so I get bad sleep. The last thing I was prescribed was benadryl and thats what I take noe. Its pretty good for giving me some of the good sleep back that I need but I still take a couple hours of kicking around to fall asleep and still wake up too early, tired.

Can anyone suggest an OTC sleeping pill that works for them? I know there are a lot that do not work. I don't have insurance so I dont want to go ask for a prescription for $$$ reasons but will do if nothing OTC works.

I'm looking for a real magic pill. Maybe I need valium?

[Nurse Ratched, RN]

Hope you get some rest soon, Susanna. :) (BTW, the sleep agent in Tylenol pm is benadryl.)

[2ner]

Thanks for the Rxes guys. Sorry, I know you guys all come here to talk about nursing, not to nurse and doctor other people off the job. I really appreciate it.

I've made a plan to sleep better and here's what I'm planning to try in this order:

1) tylenol pm (cheapest and easiest to find)

2) valerian root(two people attested to it and its otc)

3) dig into emergency money to go to the doctor and ask for a generic brand sleeping drug (the ambien or dramamine)

QUOTE]

I am a very stressed person, so I went to the doc and got the miracle drug....Ambien (10 mg). You can take it a while before you go to bed and you still get a good nites sleep w/o the "hangover in the morning" If you don't have insurance it's kind of pricy (95 bux for a months supply - but well worth the money). I have used Tylenol PM, NyQuil and Sominex and they worked for a bit, but started acting like caffeine to me (I'm talking an entire pot of caffeine = and it appears w/ all of the above with the exception of ambien, there seems to be a 15 minute window of opportunity in which you can fall asleep , if you pass that window you can hang up getting to sleep)

I also find taking hot showers to relax your muscles prior to getting in bed (sometimes i end up taking like 10 just to get my muscles from tensing and my brain from going ninety to nothing while I try to relax.

Hope all goes well and you get a good nights sleep!

[veteranRN]

Tylenol PM works great for me. I use it when I work evenings and then need to be up fairly early in the morning. Most of the time I don't have that "hangover" effect. The key is to take it 30-45 minutes before your ready for bed. Don't take it and climb in bed right away and expect to fall right to sleep.