Dear RIU HELP ME!! *sleep issues for a year now...im goin insane*

dont soully rely on RIU to help you

themanwiththeplan said:

to clear a few things up im in my mid 20s. i smoked from age 13 till 23. so thats why i dont rule out the harmful chemicals in cigs as helping me sleep...the entire time i was a smoker cigs were a sleep aide..like if i were in bed and couldnt sleep i would just go outside...smoke a cig...and boom id be out. so like i said. idk what cigs have to do with it (beyond the nicotine which i still get some)

so idk.

i feel ive built up a tolerance to the melatonin as it seems to be taking longer to fall asleep like its not as effective anymore. i take 3mg tablets by the way (1 tablet 30 mins before i intend on going to sleep). usually at the end of the 30 mins ill start yawning and realize its kicking in.

sometimes i cant sleep because of thoughts racing in my head...

but other times im actually tired and i WANT to go to sleep but i cant actually FALL ASLEEP.

last night i laid in bed for 2 hrs (2hr 30 min since taking the melatonin) trying to sleep b4 i did.


whats even worse is sometimes i dont feel tired at night when its "bedtime" but during the day ill be dragging ass cuz im finally sleepy...soon as night falls: boom. wide awake. (even if i dont "nap" during the day from being so deprived of sleep)

idk if its stress of the cigs but thats the only two things that have changed (and they changed at the same time) that im aware of in my life.


beyond melatonin idk what to do and i dont wanna start upping my dose on it because frankly i dont like "medicines" in the first place and im always hesitant to abuse the suggested dosage.

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happens to me every night man, and it's only getting worse lately. I'm glad you made this thread because I was coming close to making one myself. Will be trying some of the advice given, thanks folks

themanwiththeplan said:

thanks guys. this is helpful. might take a week or two to figure out the right combo of remedies but its certainly a starting point.

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You could also try L-Theanine or chamomile (http://www.naturalnews.com/034454_chamomile_anxiety_depression.html). Scroll down a bit for the relation to sleeplessness.

Yeah I wouldn;t take prescription sleeping meds, but the lightweight shit they sell over the counter works just fine.

I mentioned somnil, as I find it doesn;t make you tired the next day, and is usualy only effective for about 5 hours, so you are pretty much back to baseline before its wake up time.
Don't make a habbit of it, but its good to get some proper sleep in for a week or so, when your resources are running thin from lack of sleep.
I find it kinda sleep trains me, and that by the end of the week I can normally fall asleep for the forseeable future...

you just need MORE weed. more weed is the answer to everything. smoke enough and you'll force yourself to sleep. your lungs might take a beating though.

Stress, life changes, etc. To Drolove's point above, some deep rips and laying down will probably help. And I feel for you man, I haven't had quality sleep in years. About every 2-3 days, I will purposely not sleep at night so I will be dead tired the next night. It is not healthy at all, but it allows me one good night of sleep every few days.

lack of sleep is hell man, im in the same boat...its like a cycle... it takes me a couple hours to fall asleep, my mind burning rubber and i will wake two hours later....in a couple of hours i can fall back asleep then two hours later im up...and if a mouse farts during the 2 hours of sleep, then im up again for two hours. this will continue for a week, then a night will pass where i wont sleep at all, and then the following night i will sleep for about 5 or 6 hours and then its up to just sit and watch the hours pass. ive tried sleeping aides, dope, ambien, moonshine, exercise, you name it, nothing works. it sucks.

last night: success. took me about 20mins to fall asleep. not bad. i ate a light dinner (a salad...rice and two very small chicken tacos about 4-5hrs before bed)...took a cool shower...took melatonin again about 45min before bed (instead of 30 mins before). it make some difference but im not sure how much of that was me being tired from the night before. had a long convo w/ my girl before bed. it actually helped since we had a really good conversation...it just put me in a better state of mind i guess and make me feel hopeful for tomorrow (today) w/o feeling anxious or nervous etc.

we'll see how it goes 2nite. i try to only take melatonin 5 days per wk (the days i have work/school etc) and the other two days (friday night and saturday night) i only take it if i cant sleep after an hour of trying (rarely have i taken it on fri-sat nites) so i TRY not to build a tolerance to it.

Big meal and about three beers does it for me every time. If i dont eat much, drink, or smoke much, I am sure to be awake into the wee hours of the night. But like clockwork, as soon as I get that food and those beers (and a bowl or two) In me I am passed out within a half hour. Been struggling with sleep issues most of my life though. Had always had troubles falling to sleep before I discovered mj.

ugh! last night...insomnia returned.

i laid off the melatonin fri and sat nite hoping that sunday it would knock me out.

well i took it 40 mins before bed...got in bed...and proceeded to lay in bed and yawn my ass off for about 3 hrs before i fell asleep. so instead of getting my usual 7 hrs of sleep (when i do fall asleep as planned on time) i only netted about 4 hrs. whats worse is i woke up each and every one of those hrs for no real reason (didnt have to pee or nething).

so this morning im dead tired. luck would have it that soon as the alarm goes off i realize im so tired that i could roll over and EASILY fall asleep but nope...time to get up.


this really blows.


idk what its gonna take to make me fall asleep in 5 mins again w/o assistance. i miss those days so bad :'(

themanwiththeplan said:

ugh! last night...insomnia returned.

i laid off the melatonin fri and sat nite hoping that sunday it would knock me out.

well i took it 40 mins before bed...got in bed...and proceeded to lay in bed and yawn my ass off for about 3 hrs before i fell asleep. so instead of getting my usual 7 hrs of sleep (when i do fall asleep as planned on time) i only netted about 4 hrs. whats worse is i woke up each and every one of those hrs for no real reason (didnt have to pee or nething).

so this morning im dead tired. luck would have it that soon as the alarm goes off i realize im so tired that i could roll over and EASILY fall asleep but nope...time to get up.


this really blows.


idk what its gonna take to make me fall asleep in 5 mins again w/o assistance. i miss those days so bad :'(

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i don't know what brand of melatonin you're using but if it doesn't start melting the moment it hits your tongue it might not break down so well. a dissolving melatonin should go to work in no more than 20 minutes. if you miss the "window of effectiveness" you're going to be stuck wide awake. the shit is weird like that.

try a benadryl an hour before bed, and take the melatonin right before bed. if it's not a melty brand then chew the shit if you have to. not kidding. if you take melatonin an hour before bed you may be missing a big chunk of the effectiveness window depending on how well it breaks down. if you feel even a little tired go the fuck to bed asap. if you "fight it" in any way you will NOT be sleeping that night.

i use the cvs store brand melatonin. it melts so fast that if i don't have water ready i'm swallowing dust. trader joe's has a mint flavored chewable melatonin but each pill is only a half mg (500 micrograms) so sometimes i'll take 4 or 6 at a time to get the full 2-3 mg i require for sleep. when i use that brand i go through it pretty quickly but it's pretty cheap at around 5 bucks a bottle.

Total Head said:

i don't know what brand of melatonin you're using but if it doesn't start melting the moment it hits your tongue it might not break down so well. a dissolving melatonin should go to work in no more than 20 minutes. if you miss the "window of effectiveness" you're going to be stuck wide awake. the shit is weird like that.

try a benadryl an hour before bed, and take the melatonin right before bed. if it's not a melty brand then chew the shit if you have to. not kidding. if you take melatonin an hour before bed you may be missing a big chunk of the effectiveness window depending on how well it breaks down. if you feel even a little tired go the fuck to bed asap. if you "fight it" in any way you will NOT be sleeping that night.

i use the cvs store brand melatonin. it melts so fast that if i don't have water ready i'm swallowing dust. trader joe's has a mint flavored chewable melatonin but each pill is only a half mg (500 micrograms) so sometimes i'll take 4 or 6 at a time to get the full 2-3 mg i require for sleep. when i use that brand i go through it pretty quickly but it's pretty cheap at around 5 bucks a bottle.

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mine melts pretty quickly. usually i pop it in my mouth and by the time i get the water to my lips i can already taste a little powder.

my problem could be that ive been using melatonin for 4-5 months straight (no breaks as advised on the bottle) the bottle suggests after 2 months of continuous use that you should lay off for 2 wks and then start it again. i guess because people build up a tolerance to it. which makes sense. i use to yawn and feel drowsy when i took melatonin. now i take it and nothing. its like taking a placebo.

funny you mentioned benadryl. yesterday i took a trip to the store and was looking and sleep meds. i ended up getting zzzquil which is overpriced benedryl (i found that out after i bought it). ive never taken benadryl before. im not sure if it worked last night or if i was just really tired from not sleeping much the night before. it wasnt very powerful though ill tell you that. i took it an 40 mins before bed and it took me about 40 additional mins to fall asleep.

i hope it works. idk. whats odd is the night before i WAS tired...i just couldnt fall asleep. instead i just laid there and yawned and yawned for nearly 3 hrs (2 the point i was constantly cleaning my tears from all the yawning...but i just couldnt sleep. its weird.

idk y but my issue is i cant "turn off" and go to sleep.

whats even more odd is i was draggin ass all day yesterday being super tired but soon as 6-7pm rolled around i was wide awake and i didnt get drowsy the closer i got to my "Bed time" lol.

only options i see left if this overpriced benadryl doesn't work is unisom (an otc sleeping pill i believe) OR ill by nyquil and abuse it like a normal person lol. i got the zzzquil because i thought why abuse nyquil when now i dont have to but now i see zzzquil's scam (selling expensive benadryl). 48 tablet box = 14 bucks!

oh and the melatonin i take is either nature made or nature's bounty (its a green bottle w/ a green flip up lid that has yellow-ish font on the top of the lid.

also my melatonin is 3mg. i seen they do have 5mg available as well but if tolerance is the issue i just need a substitute for 2 wks then i can go back to it.

For the past 5 or 6 years I had a lot of trouble sleeping. If I got 4hrs that was a good night. It was starting to wear me down. 8yrs ago I quit smoking and slept fine. I got me a Rotweiler dog and have a 9mm under my pillow and I have no problems sleeping now. If I dont hear anyone at the door or breaking in the dog does and goes Phsyco, which gives me time to take the safety off and Rock! I always have one chambered.

You need to see a doctor. There is this disease where people can't sleep and eventually they die a horrible death from it.

If nothing else, get some seroquel. Two will drop you on your ass.

I have been an insomniac my entire life and I vote Stress as the culprit! The longer the insomnia lasts, the harder sleep becomes. You pysch yourself out.
Try going on YouTube and search sleep hypnosis and meditation-there's some trance ones with visuals that keep the stubborn part of the brain occupied while you slip away to the bliss of sleep. Good luck!

Sleep.



1. get at least half an hour if not an hour of excercise of some sort every morning.
2. No stimulants, beware, they are everywhere, no coffee, no coke, no mountain dew
3. You are allowed to do only two things in bed - screw, or sleep, period
4. Go to bed at the same time every night
5. Warm or cool shower just before you go to bed - if it tends to wake you rather than relax you, quit doing that.
6. Review point 3 - if you are awake for more than 15 minutes get the fuck out of bed and do something - other than TV btw
7. When you feel tired again, go back to bed, can't sleep within that 15 minutes? get out of bed again.
8. Use your melatonin as the folks are saying
9. Have faith
10. When all else fails, get your doctor to give you something starting with a light benzo and then moving on to the harder stuff but try your best to avoid these things and even when you are given them skip a day, don't make them a habit.




Look, you are training yourself in the same way you tend to get hungry at noon, in the same way you want that cup of coffee at dawn. The main point is that you never be in bed for anything but sleep and if you can't sleep then go do something productive rather than laying there wishing, fretting and worrying. I know it is hard, you feel as though you are giving up but you will be surprised at how many books you can read in those deep hours and if you follow the plan your sleep time will steadily get longer. Reading will help you out with your fretting if that is a part of the problem, you can't get involved in a Grishem Book and still worry about the taxes. But you have to be careful, no matter how good the book, if you find yourself nodding AT ALL, you get up from your chair and go directly to bed.

The excercise as well is a key, doesn't matter what you do, just do it every day, walk, run, lift weights, stretch whatever. Fine, excercise is wonderful for your body, great, you might lose some weight and drop the cholesterol or resting heartrate or any of the rest of it, but the real point here is to get some damn sleep and it will begin to help.


I speak from long long experience with sleep deprivation Yeah yeah, I know this is a pot site and we all figure pot is good for whatever ails you but.... with me it was always a risky proposition. Lay in bed, take a single puff of the most indica thing I have and 30 percent of the time I not only get to sleep but have wonderful dreams, waking up maybe 4 hours later. But I might just wind up reving my mind, and now not only am I not sleeping, but I am fretting even more, now I am high and alone and tired.



Alprazolam might work for you if you tend to fret but it is short acting and you may well not stay asleep, and if for any reason you don't fall asleep in the first place you are miserable and drowsy.

Valium might work, it is the mother of alprazolam. Alprazolam is a metabolite of diazapam but alprazolam has little in the way of muscle relaxing qualities, valium does. Start with 2 mg half an hour before you attempt to sleep. Keep another by your bedside in the event you wake up at hour 4.

Clonazapam can work as well, half of a 1 mg pill, a quarter by your bedside. the Clnazapam is nice because you can put that quarter pill under your tongue and it will dissolve in a rather pleasant minty way getting into your system very quickly - careful not to choke on it before it melts though.

And finally there is Temazapam for if you just can't make it any other way. The downside as always is if they don't work you are in trouble, of course the other down sides are:


you can no longer use the drug you are using to sleep as any sort of recreational chemical (another reason pot doesn't work for me). It must be used only to sleep.
The drug will steadily lose it's effectiveness so you can't depend on it for anything but to train your body to sleep at a certain time.
If you get to the point where you are upping the dose something is wrong and you are risking addiction - not so bad as you can wean yourself off of them, but during that weaning process - you aren't sleeping.

If this goes on, have your testosteone checked (if you are a guy anyway). I suspected that the excercise was upping my testosterone levels and thus helping me sleep, when I discovered my levels were low I got a suplement and it gave me an additional hour or so a night. That Androgel gave me 7 hours total but only after all of the other things were done and you don't want that stuff unless you are rich or have damn good insurance - it's $360 bucks a month.


And MellowFarmer could have it right as well - Try trance music, someting without words for god sake and something without a melody, just soft gentle tones, give it a few days but it can also keep you awake for the noise itself.

I wish you luck, it is absolutely miserable, they say that many of the famous people who seem to have killed themselves with overdoses of meds didn't intend to do that, they were just so stressed and so sleep deprived that they would do ANYTHING to get some sleep so that first pill didn't work, the second didn't, the third or fourth was hooked down before the last ones even took effect and before they knew it they DID sleep - forever.


I am now forever cursed though - even the smallest amount of caffeine will cost me a night sleep. I was a home roaster, purchasing green beans from all over the world and roasting the finest coffee around, now, a single cup spells horror and even temazapam will simply cause me to "sleep" while being fully aware of everything in my room and neighborhood. I am sure that were I to drink a cup of coffee a day for several months I might train my body to adapt or perhaps metabolize the caffeine faster but I am unwilling to go months on just that exhausted collapse "crash" I would get at the very last part of the early morning - like 5:30.