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CBD gummies and other sleep aids

South Austin

By South Austin
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South Austin

South Austin 52523

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My sleep has not been optimal over the last couple years.  Some of it may be stress-related due to divorce, career, etc.  Sometimes I just wake up in the middle of the night without any particular thoughts or worries keeping me up and it takes a couple hours to fall back to sleep.  My diet and exercise habits are good, and I usually don't drink on the weeknights, as even just a bit of alcohol can interfere with my quality sleep the older I get.

I started taking melatonin last year.  It worked well at first, and gave me some crazy vivid and deep dreams, usually in some kind of sci-fi epic cinematic experience.  I don't know if I've developed a tolerance to it and need to up the dosage, but now it won't constantly produce a good night's sleep.

A good friend started taking CBD gummies, and swears by them.  She also previously took melatonin with the same varying degree of success, and said that the gummies consistently help her sleep through the night without waking up groggy.

Anyone take CBD for sleep?  Any other recommended sleep aids?  I'll hang up and listen.

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Kennythetiger

Kennythetiger 9402

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In January 2020 I think I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Was getting two or three hours of sleep a night. I bought a weighted blanket and a subscription to the “Calm” app. Both were tremendously helpful. The sleep stories helped me fall asleep and the blanket kept me asleep. 
Plus I pretended that Eva Green wasn’t narrating a boring story- she was whispering immoral things in my ear. 

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MillerEP

MillerEP 30492

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They make CBD with Melatonin now, so it seems like that'll be your next natural place to try next. Another thing, which has worked for me was getting on the Texas Compassionate Use Program (medical marijuana) for a different issue. 5mg/10mg of THC will knock me out flat if needed, so if you have a qualifying condition, you can try that. 

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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13515

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59 minutes ago, South Austin said:

 I usually don't drink on the weeknights, as even just a bit of alcohol can interfere with my quality sleep the older I get.

 

A friend of mine can't understand why he can only sleep for ~3 hours at a stretch on nights where he has 6+ beers. Lately he's been talking about CBD options. When I suggested that perhaps cutting back a few beers might help, his response was that has never been the case in the past.

Personally my tolerance for alcohol has dropped since turning 50. The downside is that I can't have quite as much fun on nights out. The upside is that I never have large bar tabs.

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Sbbruin

Sbbruin 21865

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I have had real struggles with sleep for years.  Sometimes it's falling asleep.  More often it's waking up and not being able to fall asleep.  A few months ago my doc prescribed trazadone, which is an antidepressant, but can be prescribed for sleep.  He is very anti-ambien, as he has had patients have some real problems while taking it, and others becoming too dependent on it.  

I have found trazadone works very well for me (relatively speaking), but I haven't stopped, so not sure what my exit strategy is going to be to wean off of it.  But it has definitely worked.

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ztejas

ztejas 43517

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Melatonin isn't supposed to be great long term. Not sure why but a lot of newer wave sleep scientists aren't fans of it. 

As mentioned above magnesium is a great supplement but make sure you are taking the right kind. I take glycinate which can be hard to find sometimes at pharmacies - I've found HEB or CM have a better selection of vitamins. This brand is what I usually get. (And it's fucking cheap, too). Just take it with meals either once or twice a day.

DB162.jpg.b0558f48e28c3029005e2188fd424511.jpg

I like CBD a lot but I don't necessarily use it for sleep - moreso generalized anxiety- that said a lot of people find it helpful for that and I don't doubt it. If you're going the CBD route I think the tincture/liquid form that comes with a dropper is the best. Just use it sublingually before you go to bed.

My main knock on CBD is that for me - I wind up using a lot (way past the "recommended" dosage) as I use it as needed for more acute anxiety - and it can end up being fairly pricey (I can easily go through $100 worth in a couple weeks).

My main tip would be if you don't think it's helping try more of it. Literally nothing bad can happen from taking too much - and it's never made me a zombie or drowsy in the morning or gotten me remotely high. Just kind of zones me out at higher doses. So if half a dropper doesn't put you to sleep try a full dropper. Maybe wait a bit - still nothing - do some more. Until you've at least done quite a bit I wouldn't knock it. 

I like this chain and product and it looks like they are all over Texas - but any CBD store with decent ratings should have similar shit.

Be warned it has the consistency of jizz and tastes like weed. 

https://cbdamericanshaman.com/water-soluble-full-spectrum-hemp-oil-30ml

Per @Sbbruin I have also taken trazadone in the past and it knocks you out (although it gives some guys viagraesque boner issues. Idk. Didn’t happen with me). Especially when I was taking it with hydroxizine at night. Slept like a fucking rock. Problem with that one is that it can glue you to the sheets a bit in the morning - so if you need to be up and at em in 6 or 7 hours I could see how it might not be great.

I also like just straight up benadryl pills sometimes. For anxiety and sleep. And you can get about 200 for $10.

 

Edited by ztejas
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Dbeasy

Dbeasy 15074

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As a serial insomniac, here is my long list of changes I do:

-eat early in the evening

-minimize daytime naps, and if so less than 15 minutes

-blackout curtains

-no bed clocks with shining LED’s

-meditation apps

-perfect pillow

-low temperature

-mouthguard

-weighed blanket

-minimize alcohol on days I need sleep

-CBD occasionally

-magnesium occasionally

-noise machine

-cotton blanket that stays cool

-flip upside down in the bed when I wake in the middle of the night

 

 

 

 

Edited by Dbeasy
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South Austin

South Austin 52523

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48 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

A friend of mine can't understand why he can only sleep for ~3 hours at a stretch on nights where he has 6+ beers. Lately he's been talking about CBD options. When I suggested that perhaps cutting back a few beers might help, his response was that has never been the case in the past.

Personally my tolerance for alcohol has dropped since turning 50. The downside is that I can't have quite as much fun on nights out. The upside is that I never have large bar tabs.

I can still enjoy a few beverages on the weekends, with football season giving my liver a workout.  But as I hit 40 I noticed that the couple beers or glasses of wine on a weeknight, either at a professional gathering or just at home to take the edge off, affected my sleep quality, and when I cut out the weeknight drinking I slept better, which in turn made for a better work day. 

I'm going to give the CBD a shot.  I might also give magnesium a try.

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Onboard 2.0

Onboard 2.0 9083

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1 hour ago, South Austin said:

Cool. But I want drugs. 

Who doesn’t ???!

 

I think there are some gummies that help with sleep. But …. I’d try to ride out the issue, and let your natural cycles come back. If you start relying on outside sources I think it gets harder to deal with when those outside sources stop working.
 

How old are you ? I get 5-6 typically and that’s done for 8-9 when I was younger.


Over 45 or so, and sleep doesn’t seem to come quite as easy, or deep. 


I can go to sleep at 10 or 12 and I’ll wake up around 3:00 or 4:00 and find a way to fall back asleep for a couple hours usually . But if I don’t o just get up and try to crank out a couple hours early work and get a head of the day a bit.. that or just binge watch the Andy Griffith show .

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Dbeasy

Dbeasy 15074

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47 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I can still enjoy a few beverages on the weekends, with football season giving my liver a workout.  But as I hit 40 I noticed that the couple beers or glasses of wine on a weeknight, either at a professional gathering or just at home to take the edge off, affected my sleep quality, and when I cut out the weeknight drinking I slept better, which in turn made for a better work day. 

I'm going to give the CBD a shot.  I might also give magnesium a try.

Try Magenesium glycinate. It's less of a laxative than other forms of magnesium like citrate or oxide.

Edited by Dbeasy
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South Austin

South Austin 52523

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6 minutes ago, pearlandhorn said:

Try switching up your workout routine.  I wake up before 5 most mornings (when I go in to the office) and go exercise.  It gives me energy throughout the day and I sleep like a baby at night.

Also, drink more water.

I already do both -- early morning workouts, and I drink a ton of water throughout the day, but taper off toward bedtime so I don't have to get up and take a piss in the middle of the night.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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she certainly tried to milk me.  

thanks for starting this thread though.  I blame Covid, but I'm sure it's other factors in my life (even though I'm probably eating better and swimming more than I did before Covid)...but I am just sleeping like absolute fucking garbage the last 1-2 years.  Most of my adult life was insomnia.  Take forever to fall asleep, but at least slumber down for ~6.5-7.0 hrs.  But lately it's "let's get to bed early" and I'm up between fucking 4-5am and can't get back to bed.  It's 5.0-6.0 hrs. and it's shit sleep.  It'll go normal for a week here and there, but it's been for shit for almost 2 years.  I don't like pills or drugs, never did well with weed back in the day.  But I am willing to try something different.  Because I thought it would go away with the new school year schedule and swimming more, but nothing doing.  Good to know I'm not alone.  

I know deep down inside most it is psychological.  But that's a whole other rabbit hole...

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Onboard 2.0

Onboard 2.0 9083

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4 hours ago, BearSchlong said:

27 posts and nobody's mentioned Valerian root?

More subtle than melatonin, but it keeps me asleep longer.

Also - get your T levels checked. Low T is a sleep killer.  When the sleep problems start, I know it's time to get re-upped.

I gave yer mom my...... you know how the rest goes....

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Passive Aggressive Coach

Passive Aggressive Coach 87

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4 hours ago, gurt said:

I use CBD for sleep and anxiety and have found it to be very effective. I take the tincture and do a 25mg dropper at bedtime and occasional half droppers during the day if I’m stressed out.

It has helped me sleep a whole lot more sound. Just make sure you're getting from a reputable supplier. 

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dcbc

dcbc 14492

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18 hours ago, ztejas said:

Melatonin isn't supposed to be great long term.

This.  For occasional use, it's fine.  For more occasional use, ask your doctor if Xanax is right for you.

I have the same issues and, during the week, laying off booze works for the most part.  I tried melatonin for a while, but it stopped being reliable after about two weeks (and I read about long term use issues and the possibility that your body will stop making its own, etc.).  I have a friend who has a prescription for Xanax for just this purpose. She takes it infrequently as needed and doesn't feel groggy the next day.  I haven't taken that step yet.  I seem to have the issue less frequently ever since I started TRT, but I have no idea if there's any correlation there.

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South Austin

South Austin 52523

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1 hour ago, dcbc said:

I read about long term use issues and the possibility that your body will stop making its own.

I've read that same thing about melatonin, which is why they don't recommend taking it long term before your 40s, especially in adolescence.  But I've also read that the body stops naturally producing melatonin in your 40s or so, so supplementation at that age doesn't bring the same concerns with causing your body to stop making it on.

Xanax and other anti-depressants worry me, which is why I'm looking to CBD or other nonpharmaceutical supplements. 

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dcbc

dcbc 14492

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1 hour ago, South Austin said:

I've read that same thing about melatonin, which is why they don't recommend taking it long term before your 40s, especially in adolescence.  But I've also read that the body stops naturally producing melatonin in your 40s or so, so supplementation at that age doesn't bring the same concerns with causing your body to stop making it on.

Xanax and other anti-depressants worry me, which is why I'm looking to CBD or other nonpharmaceutical supplements. 

Whatever you produce naturally, you'll probably produce again when you stop taking it.  But if it's not doing a good job at this point, no worry with supplementing with it if it works for you (same logic that got me on TRT; I was medically well-below range). 

If I take it (melatonin) once in a blue moon, it works fine, but I'm definitely foggy the next morning.  But that beats not getting sleep.  I feel the same reservations about Xanax as you do, which is why I haven't bothered with it.  I briefly investigated other nonpharaceutical supplements recently, but I had a difficult time finding any that didn't have melatonin in them. 

I haven't tried CBD (by itself).  But it seems like it works well for some but not for others.  Maybe that's a difference in cannabinoid receptors among individuals?  Like anything unregulated, you will want to get it from somewhere reliable that has a good, lab tested product.  I got my mom a topical for her knees a few years back based on a recommendation from Surly. 

Or, if you were in another state, you could skip the CBD and go for its big brother, which probably works great for getting to sleep and staying asleep, or so I'm told.

Good luck.  Give CBD a try.  It's not going to hurt you.  It's miserable waking up in the middle of the night and spending hours staring at the ceiling, then having to go do lawyer shit all day.  Been there.

Edited by dcbc
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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13515

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A friend was telling me how she takes larger doses melatonin nightly. I attempted to tell her that she should read up on frequent use and impacts. Her reply was that melatonin was natural so large, frequent doses weren’t harmful. I told her I had read otherwise but then I stopped lecturing her.

I wanted to reply that arsenic is also natural but you don’t want to ingest it. 

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beer

beer 3220

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On 11/10/2021 at 12:04 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

A friend was telling me how she takes larger doses melatonin nightly. I attempted to tell her that she should read up on frequent use and impacts. Her reply was that melatonin was natural so large, frequent doses weren’t harmful. I told her I had read otherwise but then I stopped lecturing her.

I wanted to reply that arsenic is also natural but you don’t want to ingest it. 

Evidence is showing lower doses are more effective. 

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South Austin

South Austin 52523

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I took one of the FAB nighttime chews last night.  It has 12.5 mg of CBD, 2.5 mg of melatonin, and some other stuff.  It took me a while to get to sleep, but then I was pretty out, but not really more so than when I just take melatonin.  It did feel like a calmer sleep, though.  It might have been psychosomatic, or my week has been less stressful than average.  I was sleeping hard when my alarm went off, and I felt groggy as fuck when I got out of bed, but shook it off in about five minutes and was fine the rest of the morning.

The bottle suggests taking one or two, so next time I'll try two and see if there's any difference. 

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dcbc

dcbc 14492

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18 hours ago, South Austin said:

I took one of the FAB nighttime chews last night.  It has 12.5 mg of CBD, 2.5 mg of melatonin, and some other stuff.  It took me a while to get to sleep, but then I was pretty out, but not really more so than when I just take melatonin.  It did feel like a calmer sleep, though.  It might have been psychosomatic, or my week has been less stressful than average.  I was sleeping hard when my alarm went off, and I felt groggy as fuck when I got out of bed, but shook it off in about five minutes and was fine the rest of the morning.

The bottle suggests taking one or two, so next time I'll try two and see if there's any difference. 

That sounds about how I feel about taking melatonin by itself in the same dose. 

Here's a little anecdote for what it's worth.  Several years ago, we were in Colorado.  My wife slipped on some ice the first morning and landed on her knee and right elbow.  Nothing broken, but she had a lot of soreness afterward.  So we ventured out to one of the dispensaries and picked up a topical which contained lidocane and a % of CBD's older, cooler brother.  We applied it and it helped to a certain degree.  But if I had to guess, I'd say that mostly was due to the lidocane.  It smelled good though.

If I were in your shoes, I'd be tempted to try something that was just CBD to see if it made a difference.  If not, melatonin gummies sans CBD are much cheaper.

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