Insomnia - Canton,GA

I, too, suffer from insomnia. Melatonin is not good for women of child bearing years.... I used to take a supplemet called Tryptophan (which is found in Turkey, and why people get tired after a turkey dinner) Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, meaning that the body can't manufacture it. The body has to get tryptophan and other essential amino acids from food. Tryptophan helps the body produce the B-vitamin niacin, which, in turn, helps the body produce serotonin, a remarkable chemical that acts as a calming agent in the brain and plays a key role in sleep. They banned tryptophan supplements in the 90s... but I think they have one called l-tryptophan out now. I would not recommend the supplement.. but maybe a turkey sandwich before bed?!
Warm glass of milk? Stay away from any alcohol, the sugars can wake you up at night... as well as any caffeine.. (chocolate, ice tea, or other things you don't think about).
If you are up because your brain won't turn off, and you are obsessing about things; try writing it down on a pad before you go to bed, or even when you wake up in the night so you can go back to sleep and not have to worry about remembering something.

Make sure your room is dark. Pitch Black is best. Room Darkening shades, and no ambient light. If the clock is illuminated, that can be an issue. ALWAYS turn the clock away so you can't see it when you sleep. If you have insomnia, you are likely to keep looking at the clock, if that is not an option it may be easier to go back to sleep. Also no television in bed... or stimulation like that prior to sleep.
It is best to try and read a good book for about 1/2 hour before bed.
Good Luck, I feel your pain. Sometimes nothing seems to work, but that is usually when I just can't shut my brain off.

I saw this a few days ago and saved it. I have had insomnia all of my life. I have never found a perscription sleeping pill that works for me. However, I have found three things that do work most of the time. One is dyphenhydramine. That is the active ingredient in most over-the-counter sleeping pills such as Tylenol PM. You can get it without the pain reliever. It is sold under various names in the pharmacy, grocery or even the dollar store. . . . Simply Sleep is one. But a generic is excatly the same and much, much less expensive. This is very safe and not habit forming ( unless you count sleeping every night a habit) Read the active ingredients list to make sure it is dyphenhydramine. You can take up to 50 mg but 25mg may be enough. I hope this helps.

Insomnia. What a topic!
I have had anxiety and insomnia for years. I take an antidepressant that helps with anxiety and sleep called mirtazapine or something like that. Try WebMD for ideas on a better medication. Look under the antidepressants. I have my scripts but when I run out or forget to refill them I find that there are herbal remedies that do help. I may sound a little contradicory but I do not believe it's all or nothing when it comes to life. I eat well, exercise, herbally cleanse and still take my meds. So what are you gonna do. I just want to sleep so any port in a storm. If you want to do that route I have a few suggestions.
First examine your diet. Cut out all stimulants. Do an herbal body detox and clean your system. GNC has a colon cleanse detox around $22, 2 bottles, very good. Most problems with your body are based in your digestive system and the ability your body has to remove toxic waste out. Don't get me started because I am a chef and have a family with anxiety problems galore and have helped most of them get some relief with diet and herbs.
Then consider some of these...
Valerian Root. You need to find one from a reputable source because some do not work because you need so many because they have not been properly concentrated. Experimentation is how I found proper dosing for my body. It takes quite a few but if you don't mind taking horse sized herbal pills, you're good. I personally have found that taking one when I'm done with dinner,(a healthy carbohydrate dinner for the crash effect), one after baths, and one or two after my computer time and before bed will have me relaxed enough to sleep. They also now have tryptophan, the thing in turkey that makes you sleepy, available in capsules. Never tried it. Don't know. I know others have tried chammomile and it has worked. More exercise, a walk with the kids after dinner, blah, blah, I could go on.
In the end I would probably do a combo of diet change, body detox, and get a new doctor.
Good luck and hope this helps.

My son is 8 months old now and 6 out of 8 months I'd had insomnia. It was awful! I developed it after he was born. At 2 months he started sleeping through the night, but I couldn't fall asleep sometimes for 4 hours! I decided that my sanity was more important for me that all the "scary stories" about sleeping pills and started taking Ambien. It helped, but I developed tolerance to it after a few weeks. Now I'm on 15mg Restoril and it works. My doctor told me that I should take it for 2 months to give my body so needed rest and than he'd start taking me off of it gradually. Let me tell you - I'm so much happier and feel so much better now, just like before I had this terrible problem. I don't care about all of these "scary" articles and answers about how bad sleeping pills are. It works. What's better - not sleep and get depressed and start taking depression medication anyway or address the problem, take sleeping pills for a while, feel better and get off of them when rested? This is called "conditional insomnia" and is treated with sleeping pills. I'm very much pro sleeping pills!!!!!!!!

Hi!
I can't say I have had insomnia but know that getting up and not going back to sleep or not being able to go back to sleep happens to me when I don't include exercise into my routine. It may sound simple and maybe you do it and it hasn't helped. If you don't I might suggest it. Get your heart rate up for 1/2 hour at least four times a week and maybe add some weights, you will be amazed!
Hope this helps.