Sleepin pill recommendations.

[Guppy70]

I can't sleep, I wake up every hour on the hour and usually wake up at 4 am, sweaty and with a racing heart and can't fall back asleep again. I'm going in the my doctor on Monday with my test results (posted them in another thread) and want to ask, among other things, for sleeping pills.
I have tried Ambien before but I don't like them. I don't get a true sleep and still wake up after 4 hours when taking them. They sort of just knock me out cold, I'm in a "coma" for 4 hours, then wide awake and just as tired as before.

I want a sleeping pill that keeps me asleep. For at least 6 hours. I've tried Lunesta too but those didn't work at all and I did get an aweful taste in my mouth that stayed with me for a whole day.

If any of you here have any suggestions for a good one please share. I do take 2 Benadryl at night which works pretty good in making me sleepy but I still wake up after just an hour after falling asleep.

Thank you all.

[LazyMoose]

First step - proper thyroid levels, we all need to know what levels work best for us.

Stuff for better sleep:

400mg magnessium malate, citrate or glycinate before bed, must be  hrs away from thyr meds.

valerian root, Hylans sleep tonic, vitamin B3 (niacin), 5htp, liquid nyquil sleep "zzzz"

Google all of those.

Awaking in the early pm is a sighn that something is out of ballance, could be adrenal fatigue as well. - Holy basil capsules can help if that is part of the peroblem.

Note: your regular MD will most likely not know much of what I shared with you.

LM

[Guppy70]

Thank you very much!

I just started taking magnesium citrate pills and I've been taking 5-htp since January. But if I take them in the pm I definitely can't sleep, so I take just 100 mg of 5-htp first thing in the am.

I've been thinking adrenal fatigue for the longest time now but nothing that I do gives me any relief. I will check out the Holy Basil capsules.

The liquid Nyquil has the same "sleepy"  ingrediense as Benadryl, I've been taking that too but not too often due to the acetaminophen.
I do drink tea with Valerian root too but not much help. All of these used to put me out for a good 8+ hours, but that seems like such a long time ago. I miss it.  

[Barb135]

I read your other thread about the possibility of a toxic nodule.  If that's what's going on, sleeping pills aren't the answer; getting treatment is.

[Guppy70]

Barb, thank you. Yes, that's what I'm hoping for. I really hope I can get to go to the bottom with this once and for all. But I hope I can get some relief in the meantime. This is driving me nuts...:)

I'm seeing my PCP on Monday, but I have no clue (yet) how good he is with the thyroid.
I went in over a year ago with anxiety and I told him I thought I might have some hormone trouble (I told him my symptoms) but he just told me to contact the doctor that did the hysterectomy on me. And just wanted to give me antidepressants (which I refused)
I called the surgeon that worked on me to get help but he didn't deal with hormones and such, just surgery. So I just gave up.

I hope my PCP will help me now. I'm desperate.

[Barb135]

You may have to "guide" your doctor, by asking for the proper tests, etc or even get a second opinion, if necessary.

Unfortunately, too many doctors only want to pass out the anti-depressants, which is usually the last thing we need!!  

Remember, the squeeky wheel gets the grease, so don't just give up; keep researching and bugging him until you some answers!!  We'll help you all we can.

[Guppy70]

Barb, yes, I won't give up. I can't go on like this, I need to work, I'm running out of money.
I've already told myself that if it feels like he doesn't want to help me this time I'm going to another doctor.
Thanks again! :)

[jacrjacr]

you may want to try a female dr GYN to check your hormone balances which can cause your symptoms as well and your thyroid.

Personally I went to a bioidentical GYN dr that was a better listener and checked everything at once so need for 3-4 drs.....and ended up doing all my meds and hormones in cream form. Taking progesterone cream before bed helps a lot if you are estrogen dominant.

Your thyroid out of balance also can make you wake up like this as well and it seems a lot of times all the hormones are off including vit d3.
I know the feeling with the drs that only do surgery and don't want to medicate patients, in it just for the big bucks only.  You really need one dr to look at everything and a good gyn will do that.....
Just a suggestion

[jacrjacr]

meant to say, no need for numerous drs if you find the right dr to look at everything that can guide you....I find female drs have been the best for me...

[Guppy70]

Jacrjacr; thank you for answering.

Where/how can I find a bioidentical gyno? Are those MD's?

I did start to take 2000 IU(?) of vitamin D3 in December of last year and that's when my hair stopped falling out around the same time. And the crippling hot flashes stopped.
I thought I might needed it since I never go outside, not the way I used to. Never did I think that it might help me stop my hair fall. I'm still not sure if that's what helped it but my hair is ok now. Not thick, but not falling out in clumps anymore.
My sweats have come back, but not at all as strong as last year.

I would love to find a female doctor too. I think they can relate much better with other females.

[jacrjacr]

you can go online and google bio identical doctors and your state....and they are sites that list them and usually they are one or more in neighboring bigger towns for a short drive but worth it so you can also google 'bioidentical drs and city state" as well. then many have online sites that you can read more info on them.
I also take melatonin, magnesium before bed when I cant sleep .

Yes bio identical drs are MDs. Many have PA's also like most dr offices and just like drs, they are good ones and bad or okay ones. I would try to get a apt with the dr first. you can find a lot of information about them googling.Where region are you located?

Bio identical drs use more natural hormones and most like creams and gels that bypass the liver which is great for thyroid people . I take all mine in those forms. They tested everything on my first visit and found out that I was vit d deficient, vit b12,low dhea, hormones all in the tank and hypothyroid. I started feeling better almost immediately and before I went I was crawling I was so exhausted, couldn't sleep, and feeling weird.

[Guppy70]

That sounds awesome, thank you for giving me hope! I will do a search in my area, I'm close to Denver in Colorado, they should have some there.

I've tried melatonin too but I think it made my sweats much worse. And I still slept bad. It also made my brain fog worse, or at least I think so. Too bad, because I liked the idea of it being natural.

Well, I'm off to my pcp tomorrow morning. See what he says about all of this.

[jacrjacr]

I will warn you ahead of time...most PCP drs don't like bio identical drs or the natural approach....I have a pcp that does hormones but only the synthetic versions but I still do only bio identical with my bio identical dr eventhough I have to drive a hour to that dr for that. I also insist on only cream or gel form of bio identical etc because it seems to be so much better on the body.....from everything I have researched. I found relief very fast.....also if you thyroid is off in free t3 or free t4, you will have sleeping problems as well.....amazingly so many drs don't really have a clue about where free t4 and free t3 should even be in the normal range....so you really have to know yourself and guide them to let you try this or that to get yourself in those ranges. Women drs have been easier to deal with for me.