Is this common? (Sleeping pills)

Matt Till · #1 07-31-2008, 05:52 AM

Do sleeping pills ever make you super super hyper?

This is quite common with me, sometimes they work wonderfully and I think I've narrowed it down. If I take the pills, and fall asleep a short while after the pills kick in, I'm out and I'm fine. BUT, if I stay awake for a while after they kick in, I get a feeling very similar to a caffeine overdose.

I've switched between a few different brands, I'm onto a "more natural" brand that's name escapes me, it's not like those Tylenol PM minus the Tylenol pills, they are these dissolving pills that are actually rather nice. It's not a druggy type of feeling, it is a rather natural feel, but right as I got in bed, a thunderstorm hit. I can sleep through storms fine, but one of my dogs is terrified by them. She runs around, knocks stuff over: She actually knocked over my oscillating fan and that's why I got up.

I locked her downstairs, stood the fan up, took the collar off my other dog to avoid her necklace rattling from annoying me and laid down. All and all, the pill had kicked in 30-40 minutes before I laid down the second time.

Sure enough, I couldn't sit still! I kept spinning around, I couldn't get comfortable. It wasn't until 3 hours later until I could fall asleep.

I wanted to know, is this common? Furthermore, I know sleeping pills are bad news for the most part, but this 3rd shift business has me all sorts of messed up.

Mark Latimour · #2 07-31-2008, 05:55 AM

I would have thought that sleeping pills which make you hyper are probably being marketed incorrectly. FWIW.

Relic · #3 07-31-2008, 06:00 AM

I get something similar when taking antihistimines. I get extremely sleepy to the point where all I want to do is to lay down, but if I do, I just lay there for hours not able to sleep because while my body is tired, my brain is going 100 MPH.
Do the Tylenol PM's work? Maybe try going back to them? I hate taking them but if I need to sleep and can't, they do the trick.

Matt Till · #4 07-31-2008, 06:56 AM

Tylenol PM's were the first to give me trouble, these new pills: http://www.midnitesleep.com/index.asp | they are pretty much the same. As I stated, if I take these and go right to bed, it's very nice, they work great, but I can get super antsy if I don't fall right asleep.

Relic · #5 07-31-2008, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Till

Tylenol PM's were the first to give me trouble, these new pills: http://www.midnitesleep.com/index.asp | they are pretty much the same. As I stated, if I take these and go right to bed, it's very nice, they work great, but I can get super antsy if I don't fall right asleep.

I'm wondering then if you're metabolizing the active ingredients really quickly. It may be a case where the med's doing it's job but if/when it wears off you're bouncing right back.
Do you have chronic insomnia?
Maybe see a doc and get a perscription to try for a while. My Dad was on Ambien for a while and swore by it.
You just have to understand though that ANY sort of sleep aid HAS to be a temporary solution.

Matt Till · #6 07-31-2008, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relic

I'm wondering then if you're metabolizing the active ingredients really quickly. It may be a case where the med's doing it's job but if/when it wears off you're bouncing right back.
Do you have chronic insomnia?
Maybe see a doc and get a perscription to try for a while. My Dad was on Ambien for a while and swore by it.
You just have to understand though that ANY sort of sleep aid HAS to be a temporary solution.

Oh yeah, that's one of the reasons I got these, it was advertised as non-addictive, unfortunately though... doctors are really damn expensive.

So I won't be taking that route for the time being.

And bouncing back would be one thing... I get super bad, think drinking 4 redbulls super quick... that type of feeling.

michelle_andree · #7 07-31-2008, 07:18 AM

Go to GNC and get some Melatonin, it is exactly the same chem that the pineal gland in the brain produces to make you sleep. Non-addictive, no hangover, just good sleep. I used them when I was doing shift-work, now I just use them when I can't get to sleep.

The only other thing that I find effective is alcohol.

Relic · #8 07-31-2008, 07:36 AM

the melatonin sounds like a good idea, alcohol - bad idea..
Have you ever tried taking melatonin? I may give that a try myself the next time I need it.

michelle_andree · #9 07-31-2008, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relic

the melatonin sounds like a good idea, alcohol - bad idea..
Have you ever tried taking melatonin? I may give that a try myself the next time I need it.

Haha! By alcohol I meant like 1 glass of wine or maybe a double rum shortly before bed.

Use the 'sublingual' melatonin, dissolve under your tongue, that way it gets to your bloodstream quicker.

TSanders · #10 07-31-2008, 09:48 AM

I take Melatonin as needed to get some sleep.

I buy it at the health food store and its a good natural alternative to sleeping pills.

TSanders · #11 07-31-2008, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michelle_andree

Haha!

Use the 'sublingual' melatonin, dissolve under your tongue, that way it gets to your bloodstream quicker.

This is the key to melatonin.

Georynn · #12 07-31-2008, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relic

My Dad was on Ambien for a while and swore by it.

My wife gave me an Ambien before she went to work one night (10:30PM), I immediately took it. To me she walked right back in the door thirty minutes later ( i was sitting in the same chair/position), but it was 8:15 in the morning... didn't remember a thing I had done that night. I'm never taking ambien again after that.

Back on topic,
I Often have the same chronic insomnia problem, Lunesta, works really awesome, but I only take it immediately before bed, it works very (VERY) fast.
From the sound of it, your body has built up a tolerance to dipenhydramine, Makes me restless and weird if I take it 3 days in a row....

NJL · #13 07-31-2008, 10:43 AM

sleeping pills make me ancy sometimes, too - if i take too many..

as well, are sleeping pills cheaper or Benadryl?

next time you need some Benadryl, look at the active ingredient in both sleeping pills and Benadryl.. you'll save a few bucks..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphenhydramine

LzeroKI · #14 07-31-2008, 01:32 PM

Twice in my life I have taken a prescription sleeping pill called Sonata.

The first time I took two of them, (this was when I was in art school and thought it was totally hip to mess around with prescription meds), I was tweaking out for the next 3 hours, I was sort of spazzing out the whole time and could not stop moving, I had a friend who was stone cold sober check my pulse just to be sure I wasnt in some kind of medical danger, and he said it seemed fine. I wound up passing out on the floor of my buddies dorm room after laughing hysterically for a while.

The second time, about two years after the first incident, I took only one of the pills, and was using them solely to get to sleep before having to get up at 5 am to move into my new apartment. I fell asleep reasonably quickly, but awoke about 3 hours later and looked around my room, the lights were all on, the walls were breathing, shelves were moving back and forth in and out of the walls and some small statues I had on a dresser nearby were slowly crawling towards me on the bed (note, this was not a dream, I distinctly remember this actually happening.) I turned off the lights and rolled over trying to ignore what I had just seen.

When I woke up the next morning I checked the internet for possible side effects of Sonata, and found some information from the company that makes the medication that said side effects could include "drunkenness" and "mild hallucinations in some people." I have since switched to Tylenol PM.

So essentially the moral of my story is this, some sleeping pills can do some straaaaaaaaange things.

NJL · #15 07-31-2008, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LzeroKI

The second time, about two years after the first incident, I took only one of the pills, and was using them solely to get to sleep before having to get up at 5 am to move into my new apartment. I fell asleep reasonably quickly, but awoke about 3 hours later and looked around my room, the lights were all on, the walls were breathing, shelves were moving back and forth in and out of the walls and some small statues I had on a dresser nearby were slowly crawling towards me on the bed (note, this was not a dream, I distinctly remember this actually happening.) I turned off the lights and rolled over trying to ignore what I had just seen.

that's just really scary!!

jady · #16 07-31-2008, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LzeroKI

I fell asleep reasonably quickly, but awoke about 3 hours later and looked around my room, the lights were all on, the walls were breathing, shelves were moving back and forth in and out of the walls and some small statues I had on a dresser nearby were slowly crawling towards me on the bed (note, this was not a dream, I distinctly remember this actually happening.) I turned off the lights and rolled over trying to ignore what I had just seen.

AWESOME!!!!!! ****jots down name of sleeping pill****

rjny36 · #17 07-31-2008, 09:01 PM

A big +1 for melatonin.

I've been using it when I need some help getting to sleep for about a year. Works great, and I never get that sleeping pill hangover.

jucas · #18 07-31-2008, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJL

sleeping pills make me ancy sometimes, too - if i take too many..

as well, are sleeping pills cheaper or Benadryl?

next time you need some Benadryl, look at the active ingredient in both sleeping pills and Benadryl.. you'll save a few bucks..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphenhydramine

Yep, I usually buy the generic brand antihistamines because the same drug and dose is a few bucks cheaper per box than the "sleeping pills".

I don't get hyperactive, but if I don't go to bed about half an hour after, I have just as much trouble sleeping even though I feel tired. Same thing if something really wakes me up for a while... thats on over the counter sleep aids, and a generic ambien type drug (zopiclone).

LzeroKI · #19 07-31-2008, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jady

AWESOME!!!!!! ****jots down name of sleeping pill****

You know, Id be lying if said in retrospect it wasn't a fun mini-trip.

hubcaps · #20 08-02-2008, 11:42 PM

It doesn't surprise me that it makes you hyper. I know a lot of sickle cell patients who request benadryl pushed fast through their IVs because they get a rush/high. The benadryl is for the morphine they get, which often causes an allergic reaction.