I have chronic insomnia due to personal and unknown reasons… What is the best over-the-counter sleeping aid/medication for this?

Chosen Answer:

Go to the drug store and in the supplements section find 3mg Melatonin.
Take two tablets 30 minutes before you plan to lay your head down.
Melatonin is our bodies natural sleep hormone.
Taking two just jumpstarts your own Melatonin.
My wife and I have been using it for decades.
by:
on: 6th April 11

I have insomnia most work nights, only getting 5-6 hours. I catch up on my sleep on the weekends. Is this healthy?

Chosen Answer:

Mostly yes. I am an athletic medicine student trainer at my school so I have been over this type of issue before. Just think of yourself carrying a backpack- every hour of sleep you miss that your body needs, its like adding 2 bricks to your backpack. Eventually when you seriously are lacking in sleep your body shuts down (just like you would eventually tire out from carrying a bunch of bricks in your backpack). This is a simplistic way of understanding your body’s need for sleep but I think you get the point. Your napping on the weekend is just your body’s way of “catching up” of the sleep you need. The only down side is you miss out on the weekend activities you could be doing :]
by: Nicole S
on: 10th November 07

I think I had existential depression for a few weeks and now I’m wondering if I’m clinically depressed. I get angry at basically anything and I want to cry almost constantly. I haven’t contemplated suicide, but I do feel like my life is useless. Any advice?

Chosen Answer:

I’m not sure if there’s a recorded time, it just happens to get worse over time and then its Clinical depression.
As for advice;

Depression has been mostly effected by Stress levels. If you feel stressed a lot, then try keeping a diary or a Journal. Check this site out: my-diary.org — You can have your Diary private or public, which means people can give you advice if its public, but not all the time will you get advise.

Try drinking a glass of milk before you go to sleep at night. During the sleeping stages, Milk helps the body produce a neurotransmitter called Serotonin, the main active ingredient in anti-depressant medications.
Though with milk and sleep; Its a natural Serotonin rather than what you get in the pills, so its more helpful.

And finally, try relaxing. Do stuff you enjoy; Watch a funny TV show, or movie. Do stuff that makes you laugh and smile. Laughing and smiling release endorphins, which will eventually make you feel happier.

Hope this helps you a bit
by: DeadBattery
on: 7th February 11

I think i’m an insomniac. I can’t fall asleep until 4 am each night. I always get super anxious at night. Is this something worth going to the doctor over? Do i have insomnia?

Chosen Answer:

You may take a trip to the doctor but pre-diagnosing yourself may be part of the problem. Only a doctor can actually tell you what the problem is. Try getting ready for bed earlier, cut off the tv an hour before you intend to fall asleep. I usually get a book and read until I get sleepy.

Eating before can also cause you to lose sleep.

The less thoughts you have running through your mind the better your body starts to relax. Try that first and if that doesn’t count then you should see a doctor.
by:
on: 24th July 11

I am a financially stable 20 year old. A little over a month ago, I had an unexplained miscarriage when I was 7 weeks pregnant. My fiance and I want to try and conceive again, but I am scared I will not be able to deal with the constant panic and anxiety. I feel like everytime I go to the bathroom I will be expecting to see blood.

Chosen Answer:

Sorry about your loss. I am sure it is devastating.

If pregnant again, you will most certainly check for blood everytime you go to the washroom, at least for the first trimester. There is no doubt about that (after one miscarriage, my pregnant wife still does even though last pregnancy was a success). After that you can relax. There is nothing that you can do to get around this – still need to be mentally prepare to accept that miscarriage can happen and do everything in your power to reduce risks.

Good luck.
by: Face T
on: 23rd July 09

I notice that I have insomnia which is something that I have never dealt with before and it is making it hard for me to go to sleep. I have heard that Sleeping pills are bad because they make the body dependent on them later on but I feel like I have a hard time going to sleep.

Chosen Answer:

benadryl (diphenhydramine) is a great drug to help you sleep. It is sold over the counter (OTC) in most pharmacies. The best part is that it is non-habit forming, so your body will not get dependent on it.

Another drug to try is melatonin. Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone in the body. Taking it medicinally can help with insomnia. Do not take melatonin if you have high blood pressure (can raise BP), diabetes (can raise blood sugar), depression (can make symptoms worse), or a seizure disorder (can potentiate seizures)

One more option could be Valerian root extract. This has been shown to help treat insomnia. Do not drink alcohol with this drug, or other CNS depressants because they could increase each others effect in the body
by:
on: 24th October 11

I have Social anxiety. My doctor prescribed Zoloft which is a depression medicine. I am just curious, how does the same medicine also treats social anxiety???

Chosen Answer:

They go hand in hand. You get anxious about something and after some time it becomes depressed over that same thing. In both cases, when the nerve ends send messages to the next nerve thru a gap, these messages don’t get there, they sort of bounce back to their origin. This is what’s called a chemical imbalance in the brain. These messages are sent via chemicals ‘jumping’ from one nerve end to the other. If they don’t get ‘absorbed’ by the second nerve, we become depressed and probably more anxious about more things in life.
by: FlowersYes
on: 11th December 09

I’ve been clinically depressed and stricken with associated insomnia for over 10 years. I’ve tried a lot of different medications, yet nothing seems to work consistently (or the side effects are too severe). I can’t financially afford any type of therapy.

What else can I try at this point?
I do run about an hour a day, yet it has no effect at all.

Chosen Answer:

Try Effexor XR; it is the best antidepressant medication out there to date. I am on a low dose and feel great.
If you don’t like this or a lot of other medications then try Vitamin therapy. Nutrients linked to cure depression are:
All B vitamins, especially B 6.
Folic Acid (also found in dark, leafy greens)
Vitamin C paired with Calcium
Taurine (slows down racing thoughts associated with some depression sufferers)

Edit: Running, walking, or any kind of exercise has no effect on people with clinical depression.
by:
on: 28th November 11

I’ve had an anxiety disorder for as long as I can remember. But it is gradually getting worse, to the point where the simplest things will cause me to have a panic attack. It’s taking over my life. Every therapist I’ve ever tried seeing has always just given me prescription after prescription. I want to know if any of you have this problem- if so, how do you deal with it? How do you calm yourself down? How do you cope with it?

Chosen Answer:

Ive had an anxiety disorder for a while as well, and I deal with it without prescription drugs.

Basically, to deal with my panic attacks and general anxiety I will do one of 3 things.

1. If possible, I will take some time to sit alone and meditate, it really helps to clear your mind. I cannot suggest this technique more – it takes a while to get to the point where you can meditate easily, but it works better than any medication I’ve ever taken.

2. Write/Talk out my fears at that time. I will write down or say out loud what is causing my anxiety, and the more I read or say them, the stupider they seem.

3. Talk to someone about it. In the past I used to talk to my therapist about my issues, and it did really help, but now that I don’t have health insurance, I talk to my girlfriend about it, and it really helps me out.

I hope these techniques can help you, they really help me.

I really dislike prescriptions and medications in general, I believe they cause more problems than they fix.
by: googlegot
on: 1st November 09

I have to rely on taking 2 pills a day to keep my anxiety under control and it’s starting to pi55 me off! I really want to get better naturally, but i am finding it hard. If i don’t take the pills i end up getting anxiety symptoms again and again, so please tell me how i control anxiety naturally? I hate the symptoms of anxiety as well and it’s horrible that i have to suffer with this.

Chosen Answer:

You can control anxiety attacks without drugs. Try the simple 4 step (Observe, Label, Watch and Move On) method. Watch the video in the source box below to see how it is applied.
by: Chiam
on: 3rd July 10