If you have chronic insomnia, you need to solve the root cause. In my case it is anxiety, and currently I'm trying to solve my anxiety and my sleep quality improves as a corrolary.
For better or worse, a low dose of diphenhydramine hcl (12mg) has continued working for me for over a decade without needing to up the dose. My personal experience as far as habit forming goes: I only take it on work nights, and sleep just fine on weekends, or if I'm on vacation. My main issue with sleeping is the specific times I need to do it. If I'm able to sleep when I'm sleepy, and wake up when I'm not, then I don't need any medication. Unfortunately, that doesn't fit in with a typical work schedule.
http://www.miltonkeynesccg.nhs.uk/resources/uploads/ACB_scal...
These studies are extremely difficult to make an informed decision on, thanks to nearly everything being "linked" to some disease. See: Red meat [1]
I need to wean off it though. Thankfully dementia doesn't run in my family.
But this thread terrifies me now, finding it's also a dementia-inducer. Is there any literature I can review to either allay or justify the fear? Additional horrifying fact from same physician: Chronic benzo use also linked to dementia?
(copyedited)
It's also a pity because I used to feel quite well rested and clear headed the day after antihistamines.
Taking it every day for years though is probably not a good idea.
Still, even the antihistamine (sold as a sleep aid) can't do all the work when something big is going down the next day. Like a meeting with a big client requiring a lot of travel. A big stressor must be addressed.
In that case though, I find that writing 1000 to 2000 words about everything that could possibly go wrong gets me to the point where I can sleep like a baby. Precisely because I'm attaking the source of the anxiety. Most nights though it's easier just to do some basic organization and scheduling and take 1/3 of a little pill.
In the morning I do often take 50-100mg Jet Alert to blunt the fade-in. It's way easier to feel comfortable taking caffeine when fully rested.
An experiment in progress always, but at 9h average sleep (excluding waking times as recorded on FitBit) I managed to go 10 months between illness, as someone with an autoimmune condition (sjogrens). My previous record was 4 months. On top of that, no more depression. My subjective day ratings have gone through the roof. I have to laugh when I'm working with 10 hours of sleep and literally cannot find a single thing to be sour about in my entire life condition (the journaling template I use takes me through this). Plenty of problems, just more resources to work with. Sleep is worth the chase.
Edit: While I'm talking about anxiety, I have been testing L-theanine recently and so far it seems to lower the anxiety floor a little bit. There's nothing like getting your stressors sorted directly, but sometimes things are more complex than that, and if supplements can help, great.
By the way I discourage the use of the term "linked" in light conversation as it has recently and unfortunately become a socio-culturally appropriated term indicating proof of causality. That a linkage exists often means far less than most people think, and this could immediately impact their health-related decision-making for the worse.
"These observational studies have 4 important limitations. First, current anticholinergic use was ascertained at study entry and periodically during follow-up only by conducting a medication inventory. Second, these studies lacked information about the dose and duration of anticholinergic use. Third, these studies had short follow-up periods. This last point is important because the pathophysiological changes in the brains of patients with AD require several years to occur. Finally, these studies did not take into account that certain anticholinergics are used to manage insomnia and depression, prodromal conditions that can be seen in early but undiagnosed dementia, leading to protopathic bias."
I had other concerns as well, and these items alone are a pretty big deal. Like I said above, the _quality_ of the establishment of a "link" is really leaving much to be desired here. This is barely even legitimate science, where any kind of causality is concerned.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullar...
I did not benefit from the few times I tried it. Its very potent, even 1/4th makes me super drowsy. However, under the surface my mind is alert. Its like being very drunk but trying furiously to concentrate through that drowning drunkenness. As a result, I did get sleep, but not remotely of the restful kind.
L-Theanine and writing on the other hand has been a big help. So lots of shared experiences.
(citation needed, just got up, not looking for one.)
Curious if you've tried that?
[1]: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/E4cKD9iTWHaE7f3AJ/melatonin-... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17632668
Still works wonders
AFAIK, no clinical deficiency of either is observed (with iron it will be in your blood chemistry, with Niacin it would manifest as Pelagra if observed).
Do your own reading about them. Both iron and niacin can be overdosed.
From my experience, use only pure niacin (nicotinic acid), rather than nictoinamide or inositol forms (the latter apparently completely useless but still marketed). Also, avoid the time release forms. But ... this is the internet, I might as well be a dog. Do your own research. Woof.
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25827521
- https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02011191 (if you follow this to its completed paper it claims there are neurological effects of biotin supplementation in their study group).
Nevertheless I'm glad pharmacies sell pills with much higher dosage - you can just buy the 2-10mg pills, crush them and take the dose you need. I bet they would sell 0.3 mg pills for the same high price if they knew.
[1] https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/07/10/melatonin-much-more-th...
For some reason melatonin is sold i boxes of 30x2mg for $25, and you need a prescription. It's completely ludicrous. You're only allowed to bring a months worth across the border. It's illegal to order by mail. /rant
Melatonin isn't more effective by increasing the dose. Especially past 3mg. The body doesn't register anything past 3mg. But you also need to keep in mind that the placebo effect is strong.