sleeping tablets?

Since moving into halls, I've found it very difficult to sleep properly. I'm not stressed about anything, I love it at university and I've settled in well. However, I have been experiencing insomnia and for about a fortnight I slept in the afternoons/early evenings and so my awake time was when everyone was asleep. I managed to get back into a proper routine, but this made me sleep in and I've already missed five days of uni in a row because I'm too knackered to get up. I've been trying to sleep for the past four hours but I can't seem to settle.

I don't want to see a doctor, I'd rather go to Asda and buy Nytol or something. Any suggestions as to what would be most effective?

Reply 1

Revd. Mike

17

Be aware that Nytol can leave you feeling absolutely rubbish in the morning. The best way to use sleeping tablets is for a short period of time, to get yourself back into rhythm. Try using them to get yourself to sleep at approxiamtely the same time each night for about 4/5 nights, then stop using them. If you still can't sleep, it's doctor time.

Reply 2

*knowitall*

Go home for the weekend and get your parents to kick you back into line!

Reply 3

danesh

dont use over the counter sleeping tablets - they make you feel like **** inthe morning (huge drowsiness hangovers until about 11am). See a GP and explain your case, he will give you either temazepam or zopiclone. Probably about 15 tablets

Reply 4

Lady Venom

14

Tamazipan will send you to sleep for 7hrs and you wont feel rubbish when you wake up. I took some Tesco sleep aid and it certainly worked although I needed to get up less than 7hrs later so felt rubbish. The tescos stuff just helps you get to sleep easily.

Or

Suggest you man up, force yourself to stay up and get out of the afternoon nap rubbish. Go do some physical exercise that will make you tired.

Reply 5

Mellanie

1

InaSpin

Or

Suggest you man up, force yourself to stay up and get out of the afternoon nap rubbish. Go do some physical exercise that will make you tired.

Or, "woman up", in the OP's case lol :p:

Nah, erm I want some sleeping tablets too - but I don't want to feel that sh*t in the morning either, this temazepam looks quite good, would the doctors just prescribe it like?

Reply 6

Lady Venom

14

Don't know... it was my other half's I took :smile:

Reply 7

Leisure17

8

You ought to do a course of "sleep hygiene". Means you get up, regardless of how knackered you are, keep going throughout the day and go to bed at a certain time only to sleep. It ususally takes about a week to come round.

http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/howto.html

You could also try "progressive muscle relaxation".

http://www.rugbycoach.com/mental/les1.htm
http://www.guidetopsychology.com/pmr.htm

What I also find works, is thinking of the following situation: think you are the one person in a camp who has to stay awake, you are the guard,... you are the one the others are relying on,... you are staring into the fire,.... you must keep awake... Try desperately to stay awake, eventually you will surrender to sleep. But don't do it thinking "I will go to sleep eventually", really try to stay awake.

It may be you have some underlying stress you aren't aware of.

Reply 8

Anonymous #1

danesh

dont use over the counter sleeping tablets - they make you feel like **** inthe morning (huge drowsiness hangovers until about 11am). See a GP and explain your case, he will give you either temazepam or zopiclone. Probably about 15 tablets

Can't say I agree; diphenhydramine (Nytol) has a halflife of between one and four hours, so it should be almost wholly eliminated by the time you wake up. Temazepam on the other hand has a halflife of up to twenty hours, so it can remain in your system for days. Last time I took temazepam I felt the effects for several days thereafter (admittedly it's just a rather pleasant benzodiazepine numbness, but it's not particularly great if you have to do any work).

To the OP: If you do go to the GP, you might try getting zaleplon instead of zopiclone (although they're reluctant to give it out): it has a half-life of only one hour, and helps you cross the boundary into sleep. I experienced retrograde amnesia and slurred speech with zopiclone.

Reply 9

tbm

13

I tried Nytol and it didnt work for me.

Some prescribed sleeping tablets can make you feel drowsy the day after so bear that in mind, especially if you need to attend lectures etc.

Try going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, you'll soon get yourself into a routine. And if you cant fall asleep after 15 mins of going to bed, read a book for a while, then try again.

Reply 10

Leisure17

8

Anything with the ending "-zepam(e)" is from the group of benzodiazepines. They have high addictive potential and I would really stay away from them.

It is anything but a "light sleeping" help. In many countries it is a prescription drug.

http://www.mentalhealth.com/drug/p30-r01.html

Reply 11

hannah_dru

2

I used to use Nytol but I heard that if you take it too often it damages your liver. I use Piriton (for skin allergies) but it makes me drowsy.

Reply 12

Revd. Mike

17

Another thing you can do (something my neurologist recommended hehe), was to take something that's not a sleep aid, but a medication that induces drowsiness, like certain antihistamines or night nurse. Again, only to be used for the short period of time (like a few days) to get you back into the correct routine.

And temazepam is not worth it. My Nana was given a course after a hip op to help her sleep through the pain, and she's now quite dependent, most nights she can't sleep without at least half a tablet.

sleeping tablets?

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