What's the best prescribed sleeping aid for bodybuilders from your experience?

[marssel]

Methocarbomal did nothing for me, cyclobenzalprine was better but as bodybuilders we really want as little muscle relaxers as possible in our bodies unless we are actually injured, IMO. You could always try high dose kava kava powder.

 

[marssel]

Ambien is my all time favorite when I’m wired and cannot sleep. Hits your fast (20-30m) and you’re out like a light.

It also has a relatively short half life (maybe 3-5 hours?) so no grogginess in the AM.

At the end of the day, it’s still a benzo (albeit, new generation), so long term chronic use is not wise.

I got a Rx 2 years ago for 30 x 10mg tablets. At the time, my life was a trainwreck and I couldn’t sleep due to the stress and anxiety of what was going on.

I split the tabs using 5mg and still have some left over. I save it for emergencies. Lol.

Valerian Root and Kava are my daily go to’s and they work great.

I add a small dose of Benedryl a few times per week as well. Augments these nicely when needed.

Conversely, Melatonin has a paradoxical effect on me. Makes me wired. Hate the stuff.

Know you don’t like melatonin but try Somalyze from Species I take it every night and I was at a show last weekend, forgot it and I was shit for sleep even with a thc vape and valium.

 

[warlock]

Methocarbomal did nothing for me, cyclobenzalprine was better but as bodybuilders we really want as little muscle relaxers as possible in our bodies unless we are actually injured, IMO. You could always try high dose kava kava powder.

How high of a kava kava dose?

 

[cmryan]

Trazadone or gabapentin

What dose of either did you use and were they particularly effective at keeping you asleep? 90% of the time, once I put my head down I'm out in 10 minutes, but I'll wake up 3-4x during the night. I was curious about gabapentin in particular. I have a massive amount that was prescribed to me for neuropathy. It wasn't particularly effectively for that but quite frankly nothing I used was.

 

[Fit2Serve]

Hydroxyzine hcl 25mg

its actually an antihistimine but is prescribed for anxiety and DEFINITELY causes sleepiness.
i take 50mg an hour before bed and its lights out after bout 1 hour.
it starts to kick in at 30 min and full effect at 2 hours.

 

[KillerStack]

What dose of either did you use and were they particularly effective at keeping you asleep? 90% of the time, once I put my head down I'm out in 10 minutes, but I'll wake up 3-4x during the night. I was curious about gabapentin in particular. I have a massive amount that was prescribed to me for neuropathy. It wasn't particularly effectively for that but quite frankly nothing I used was.

I had a very weird reaction to gabapentin. I took like 50 or 100mg, I forget, and felt absolutely fantastic, killed anxiety and I felt a bit drunk. Maybe I have a weak blood brain barrier or something lol. For me, it would have been effective for sleep.

 

[Rainmanisback]

Over the counter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetiapine

 

[g.r.o.w.t.h.]

5

What dose of either did you use and were they particularly effective at keeping you asleep? 90% of the time, once I put my head down I'm out in 10 minutes, but I'll wake up 3-4x during the night. I was curious about gabapentin in particular. I have a massive amount that was prescribed to me for neuropathy. It wasn't particularly effectively for that but quite frankly nothing I used was

What dose of either did you use and were they particularly effective at keeping you asleep? 90% of the time, once I put my head down I'm out in 10 minutes, but I'll wake up 3-4x during the night. I was curious about gabapentin in particular. I have a massive amount that was prescribed to me for neuropathy. It wasn't particularly effectively for that but quite frankly nothing I used was.

50mg for trazadone does the trick. Gabapentin I take a high dose, 800mg. I actually feel I sleep deeper with the gabapentin but do need a stiff cup of coffee in the morning. After that I’m good to go. I try to rotate meds as to not become dependent on any particular one.

 

[micro2000]

I've been having sleeping problems for well over 2 years now and lately it has gotten real bad to the point where some days I couldn't even function properly at work because of either no sleep or 1 hour of sleep.

I've started visiting my doctor lately and she has no problem prescribing me almost whatever she just gives me options and prescribes me tabs for just a week to try out and then I revisit to tell her it works and I want the full prescription or it doesn't work and I want to try something new.

I've been shooting in the dark lately and have had almost all bad outcomes and I was wondering what you guys use here for sleep that's prescribed from your doctor so I could also pass it on to her.

Med's I've tried so far.

Ambien (Zolpidem) - Started dosing at 10mg's felt nothing, went up to 20mg's didn't help me fall asleep one bit felt like I wasn't using anything. Didn't notice anything from it.

Zopiclone - 7.5mg dosage knocked me straight out but I was tired until the day after for 24 hours so I basically still couldn't function during the daytime. Felt like I could fall asleep anywhere and anytime, head wasn't there at all walked everywhere aswell didn't trust myself driving and didn't want to bring anyone in danger.

Also horrible metallic taste in your mouth that seems to last forever.

Diazepam (Valium) - Pretty much same experience as zopiclone without the horryfic metallic after taste.

What do you guys recommend, I've been reading around and I'm visiting my doctor tomorrow I was thinking about giving Xanax a try?

Are you unable to sleep because your brain doesn't shut off and you constantly ruminate over things?

 

[KillerStack]

Over the counter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetiapine

OTC where? This is a very "serious" drug.

 

[cmryan]

50mg for trazadone does the trick. Gabapentin I take a high dose, 800mg. I actually feel I sleep deeper with the gabapentin but do need a stiff cup of coffee in the morning. After that I’m good to go. I try to rotate meds as to not become dependent on any particular one.

Thanks bro. A very quick search for gabapentin sleep studies brought this up, which might coincide with your observation of deeper sleep from it.

Treatment effects of gabapentin for primary insomnia - PubMed

Gabapentin enhances slow-wave sleep in patients with primary insomnia. It also improves sleep quality by elevating sleep efficiency and decreasing spontaneous arousal. The results suggest that gabapentin may be beneficial in the treatment of primary insomnia.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[OuchThatHurts]

Prescribed: I would say the common ones are Ambien (zolpidem) and Vistaril (hydroxyzine). Not a fan of either. Ambien makes me somnolent the next day in a total brain fog and hydoxyzine makes me bloated and gassy and dries my nasal passages out badly. Both work well for sleep but not my lifestyle.

I should note that when Ambien first arrived on shelves, it was given in prescriptions of just 5 tablets and patients only used them to get themselves back on a better sleep schedule to avoid dependence on a sleep aid. That went out the window and people are now prescribed daily tabs (craziness). Others abuse it and became dependent. I'm not sure what abuse does for people. Not exactly a party drug. Vistaril and Benadryl are just antihistamines and also mess with histamine in the gut causing gas and bloating in many people

Seroquel (quetiapine) has more side effects than I could name here but it will knock you TFO.

Over-the-counter: Benadryl works well for me (diphenhydramine) but I take magnesium chelate, zinc, and ashwagandha KSM-66 near bedtime and I need little else. Although melatonin works, I avoid it b/c I don't want to mess with my natural production which regulates our circadian rythm.

I tried GABA and got nothing but maybe you just need to take a ton of it.
Neurontin (gabapentin) got me wasted, no thanks.
L-tryptophan and 5-HTP did absolutely nothing which is concerning b/c on paper, it should.

 

[OuchThatHurts]

OTC where? This is a very "serious" drug.

Quetiapine s available by Rx only. It is not OTC.

 

[pickapeck]

Try a blow job from a fat girl. That should do it. There may be side effects.

 

[OuchThatHurts]

Try a blow job from a fat girl. That should do it. There may be side effects.

Big side effect. Another gut wrenching divorce.

 

[micro2000]

Thanks bro. A very quick search for gabapentin sleep studies brought this up, which might coincide with your observation of deeper sleep from it.

Treatment effects of gabapentin for primary insomnia - PubMed

Gabapentin enhances slow-wave sleep in patients with primary insomnia. It also improves sleep quality by elevating sleep efficiency and decreasing spontaneous arousal. The results suggest that gabapentin may be beneficial in the treatment of primary insomnia.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Gabapentin works well for keeping one asleep but not great for putting you to sleep.

 

[cage99]

Xanax 1mg nightly. Knocks me out within 30 minutes, and out SOLID for a minimum of 6hrs. I can EASILY sleep for 9-10hrs too without feeling any groggy type effects!

Cage

 

[IronViking69]

I started taking 15mg of Mirtazapine (prescribed for anxiety) prior to bed not quite a year ago, and I haven’t had a single night of restless sleep since. Prior to that I struggled significantly with sleep, trying countless supplements and a few prescriptions (often all at once, out of desperation) to no avail.

 

[warlock]

I started taking 15mg of Mirtazapine (prescribed for anxiety) prior to bed not quite a year ago, and I haven’t had a single night of restless sleep since. Prior to that I struggled significantly with sleep, trying countless supplements and a few prescriptions (often all at once, out of desperation) to no avail.

Problem most people find with Mirtazapine is lots of morning grogginess. Do you wake up feeling refreshed?

 

[IronViking69]

Problem most people find with Mirtazapine is lots of morning grogginess. Do you wake up feeling refreshed?

I do wake refreshed, after some initial experimenting. I now take it about 2 hours before I plan to retire (it doesn’t make me sleepy until I lie down). When I took it right before bed, I was groggy the first few hours of the following day. I learned that I need to give it about 10 hours before I’m normal again.