I take it from time to time. I dont think it helps me to get to sleep faster but I do seem to have a deeper, uninterrupted kind of sleep. I dont use it very often. No ill effects for me.

Melatonin does nothing for me. If I need to conk out, Ambien is the only that works.

One of their arguments is that testing saw up to a 10% difference in dose when measured. IE for the highest dosages, 5mg, it could be 4.5 to 5.5 mg in strength….. Not really that much.

It works for me when I need to adjust my sleep schedule a bit. Working evening and night shifts at times, its way better for me than Benadryl, which also works but leaves me with a foggy feeling the next day. I give it to my daughter (10) on occasion when she has trouble falling asleep with no ill effects noticed.

Melatonin doesn't do shit. It's about as effective as warm milk. This article is absurd.

The bottles you buy always say that there has been no scientific testing that establishes any of the claims as fact. Just like all dietary supplements. Why would I believe the claims for any product that has not but itself to the test of a double blind trial?

Insomnia is usually caused by anxiety and accompanied by ruminating thoughts. The most effective cure is to address the underlying anxiety. Benzodiazepines really do reduce anxiety in a way no other medication does. But they are scheduled controlled substances and have to be taken with discipline. There are other non-medicinal treatments for anxiety and they should be included in any treatment plan. Diet, exercise, meditation, etc.

Ambien (Zolpidem) is great for putting you out quickly with no hangover effect. It is a hypnotic not a depressant. The controlled release (CR) versions, which are intended to keep you asleep longer, have caused some people to sleepwalk and/or appear to be awake and lucid but have zero memory. I would avoid them. With Regular ambien you may very well wake up after about 4 hours.

I know a young Mom that gives them out to her children regularly to wind them down at night . I'm not comfortable with that but it's not my business .

I use it once in a while. It works, no after effects. I do seem to build up a tolerance to it fairly quickly but these days I rarely need it so that hasnt been an issue.

I take it every night.

My wife’s Radiation Oncologist recommended it for her and it worked so well I started using it too.

quote:

Translation: Big pharma and their drug peddlers currently aren't making money off it--and it's probably cutting into their prescription drug profits.Can't have that, can we?

This.

Exactly how I read it.

Nothing about actual safety or serious issues. 3-4 maybes and then straight to regulation = we're not getting our cut.

Someone just mentioned CBN for insomnia. I'd never heard of it. Anyone have experience with it?

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
I know a young Mom that gives them out to her children regularly to wind them down at night . I'm not comfortable with that but it's not my business .

I agree. That seems like a terrible idea to get started. I take it once in a while if my mind is racing and I know it’s going to take me a while to get to sleep. There’s no question it absolutely works for me.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

No agenda with that writer. No sir

What a load of bullshit

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Physicians are required to report conflicts of interest. Are you suggesting he is shilling for Big Pharma??

The linked article is medical "news", written by by medical writer Laura Lillie, not a physician publishing research findings. I don't think she's required to disclose anything.

Ho Lee Chit! Drugging children so they don’t bother mom and dad. The mind boggles and I really should try to remain ignorant about some things. That is something I won’t unlearn.

“My doctor said ….” Yeah, doctors said that thalidomide was safe and an effective way of dealing with the annoyance of morning sickness. Doctors said that drawing large amounts of blood was the best way of treating the sick. Doctors said that cholera wasn’t caused by bacteria and AIDS wasn’t caused by the HIV. Doctors are founts of knowledge about all things relating to our bodies—until they tell us something we don’t like, such as “Get vaccinated against COVID-19,” then what do they know?

Put whatever you want in your own body: it’s yours to do with what you will.
Putting things in the bodies of people who are unable to object or even have an idea what’s being done to them is the reason the “government” (other people) believe they have a right to interfere with how other people raise their children.

“How are the children, Frau Goebbels?”
“Sleeping peacefully, thank you.”*

* Yes, murder is profoundly different from dosing people with an untested drug and stubbornly asserting that one is convinced that it can’t cause any harm, but the underlying principle is the same: “They’re my children and I can do what I want to, do what I want to, do what I want to.”

Look, it doesn’t matter what any doctor says (the author of the article, your pediatrician, etc.) - there’s either evidence about dosing, efficacy, safety, and long term effects or there isn’t, and it doesn’t sound like there is much. If the pandemic has taught us anything (and I’m not being political here, just drawing a parallel) it’s that science doesn’t say anything, scientists do, and they are as prone to bias and hyperbole as anyone else.

Just because it isn’t regulated doesn’t mean it’s innocuous. I’ve taken it and it knocks me flat out so I’m really careful with it becauseit’s so effective.

quote:

Originally posted by DaveL:
Just because it isn’t regulated doesn’t mean it’s innocuous. I’ve taken it and it knocks me flat out so I’m really careful with it becauseit’s so effective.

Conversely: It has about as much effect on me as Diazepam (Valium®). It may help me sleep, but it won't put me to sleep. Whatever effect it has is long gone by waking time.

Now Zoldipem Tartrate (Ambien®) is another story entirely. That usually will take me right out, and, at times, if I've taken it too late its effects have sometimes lingered upon waking the next morning. I use that only sparingly.

I've used it for a while. Frankly I don't think it's that effective. Plus the several cups "Sleepy Time" tea require several piss breaks.

quote:

Now Zoldipem Tartrate (Ambien®) is another story entirely. That usually will take me right out, and, at times, if I've taken it too late its effects have sometimes lingered upon waking the next morning. I use that only sparingly.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wish they would take that drug off the market. The rate of dissociative episodes is sky high. Somnambulism, sleep driving and eating a whole pie at night are not uncommon. The drug gets abused quite frequently when combined with alcohol. Ambien and alcohol are the reason Patrick Kennedy showed up for a vote at 3:OO am. Glad it works for you be careful.

quote:

“My doctor said ….” Yeah, doctors said that thalidomide was safe and an effective way of dealing with the annoyance of morning sickness

^^^^^^^^^
Thalidomide was never used in the United States. The FDA is those days was independent from Big Pharma.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

Now Zoldipem Tartrate (Ambien®) is another story entirely. That usually will take me right out, and, at times, if I've taken it too late its effects have sometimes lingered upon waking the next morning. I use that only sparingly.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wish they would take that drug off the market. The rate of dissociative episodes is sky high. Somnambulism, sleep driving and eating a whole pie at night are not uncommon.

Yeah, I use it only very sparingly--and then only if I have trouble sleeping for more than a couple nights in a row.

I didn't used to worry about it so much, because I never suffered a known episode with it, but then, a month or two back, apparently one time when I took it, it kicked-in while I was still reading in bed. I no longer recall what my wife related to me I did, but I was alarmed enough by what she related to me the next day that I now look upon that drug with a distinctly jaundiced eye.

Good to hear.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Thalidomide was never used in the United States.

Yes, that’s true and something I suspect most people who are aware of the subject know, but it can’t hurt to educate the ignorant.

It’s also totally irrelevant to my point which is that doctors make mistakes all the time (look up medical error deaths), and are very unlikely to know much about the safety of uncommon drugs from their own personal efforts. Like most of us they know what other people tell them about such subjects, at least in the beginning of their practices.

Possible effects on pregnant women and their fetuses or on children are especially difficult to determine through normal trials because what woman in her right mind would agree to, “We’d like to find out if this drug has any bad effect on developing babies and/or pregnant women; will you take it?” How much practical experience would a pediatrician need to have to discover for himself that something he’d been saying was okay for young children to take actually affected their puberty development years later? If a child developed a problem later in life, would he so much as suspect that his guidance might have been at fault?

To reiterate my point, most people are more than willing to believe a doctor—any doctor—cannot be wrong when giving advice that we like, but not so much when it’s something we don’t.