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I haven't slept well in awhile. Like 2/3 years. But l barely sleep at all. I will sleep in that weird conscious aware state .
I can feel the effects on my performance, emotional state and , general health. So I finally called my Dr. and ask for some sleeping pills. Now I am afraid to try them.
Any advice. Have any of you used sleeping pills?

I take OTC sleep aid most every night. And if I still wake in the middle of the night, I take a "Mid Nite" melatonin tablet. It helps me tremendously.

H has taken Ambien for years. He is now really trying to wean off and takes 1/2 tab every other night.

Sleeplessness sucks!

Have you tried melatonin? DD and I both take the gummy form once in a while. Sending sleepy, good night's rest mojo.

I take a prescription antihistamine to help me sleep. It also helps regulate serotonin levels and keep my migraines controlled.

Periactin 4-8 mg.

I also use various "go to sleep" aps, some of which contain a biaural beet said to encourage and enhance sleep.

I'm adding melatonin as needed on the advice of my headache specialist.

I had sleep problems for as long as I could remember. After all kinds of hell broke out in my life in '05 (well prior to DD), I couldn't do it any more. I had "reverse baby-doll eyes"....you know how with a baby doll, when you lay it down its eyes close? I swear mine would spring open as all life's worries, concerns, and random disturbing thoughts would come out to play in my mind. I was VERY scared to try a sleeping pill...I figured I'd wind up like Karen Ann Quinlan or something (I wrote a report on her in 7th grade, clearly it had a lasting impact!).

However, Ambien was a godsend.

When I read Jen Lancaster's book, some of her writing totally resonated for me:

http://books.google.com/books?id=GwLSQwdN2IoC&pg=PT132&lpg=PT132&dq=the+ambien+diaries&source=bl&ots=_XKW36FtmV&sig=ipBH6JbzbXB1yBg_DgSykRhp4AY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ewdlU_T8HeeysQSbuYGIAQ&ved=0CGUQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=the%20ambien%20diaries&f=false

I would say if you haven't tired the OTC stuff to start there. Most of the OTC stuff is usually Benadryl, or a combo of Benadryl and Tylenol or Motrin.
If that doesn't work, then adding in a melatonin can help.
You also need to make sure you have cleaned up all your sleep habits.
Develop a night time routine, have a set bedtime, no naps during the day. No sleeping for more than 10 hours at any given time. Use a sound machine or sleep app on your phone, or a box fan, some sort of white noise. Make sure you have good pillows, that room is nice and cool.

Once you have done all that and sleep is still elusive there are several options for sleep aids.
1. Traditional sleeping pills, things like ambien, lunesta, and old school stuff like restoril.
2. Low dose antidepressants - these can be very helpful to improve sleep if you have things like migraines or IBS, because they help keep those things in check too, most common one is Elavil, or amitriptyline.
3. Benzo's - antianxiety meds. Low dose Xanax, and Ativan can be great sleep aids. This is actually what I took when my world fell apart. I still take low dose Ativan for sleep when I have trouble. It works well, and has no hangover.

I am reluctant to take Ambien or Lunesta because I have seen the crazy stuff people do on it, and I find it frightening. I don't like to be out of control, and sleep sex,sleep eating, and so forth, yah I don't need that.

If you are leary of taking anything and it's a whole tablet, break it in half, and make sure that you don't have to be up early, or have commitments the next morning. In case you are tired or hungover.

Not sleeping is awful. I hope you find success.