I can't sleep without kava - sleeping pills?

[Damer]

hey kavaforums,

I have anxiety disorder and this causes servere insomnia for me. I simply cannot sleep without kava or sleeping pills.

I like to go heavy on alcohol in weekends with my friends for social purposes(without drinking kava), but even though I don't drink kava on Fridays, it always makes my skin very red all over my face and body because of the alcohol reacts with the kava from the day before. I don't like this, at all.

So this has got me thinking: (to prevent redness on skin when i drink alcohol): would it be OK to take a sleeping pill instead of kava on Thursdays so I can get my sleep and have no alcohol-flush-reaction when I drink friday?
I'm a bit scared about taking too many sleeping pills, because I have heard so many bad things about them - but wouldn't one per week be OK you think?
Do you guys sometimes take sleeping pills?

Best,
Damer

 

[Wienerschnitzel]

Benzodiazepines and nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics (such as Ambien and Lunesta) are prescription-only drugs that can cause dependence and withdrawal. Unless you already have a prescription for benzos in order to help you deal with anxiety disorder and have experience with taking these drugs sparingly, I'd personally stick to solutions that have less potential for nasty side effects later down the road. Especially since you admit you like to drink a lot on the weekend and you say you have severe insomnia - two potential indicators that may lead to you using sleep aids more often over time.

One thing you could try is to use sedating antihistamines like dimenhydrinate (Gravol, Dramamine) or diphenhydramine (Benadryl, Unisom). These are over-the-counter drugs that make you pretty drowsy. In my personal experience, they are really helpful if you want to get some shut-eye in situations that normally wouldn't allow it. It stands to reason you could benefit from them as well. Side effects are minimal and addiction potential is pretty much nil.

Melatonin and valerian root are two other benign, non-addictive options. You can take a few valerian extract tablets before you go to sleep, or a melatonin tablet, or both. The effect is relatively mild, but both have helped me in the past.

 

[Damer]

Benzodiazepines and nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics (such as Ambien and Lunesta) are prescription-only drugs that can cause dependence and withdrawal. Unless you already have a prescription for benzos in order to help you deal with anxiety disorder and have experience with taking these drugs sparingly, I'd personally stick to solutions that have less potential for nasty side effects later down the road. Especially since you admit you like to drink a lot on the weekend and you say you have severe insomnia - two potential indicators that may lead to you using sleep aids more often over time.

One thing you could try is to use sedating antihistamines like dimenhydrinate (Gravol, Dramamine) or diphenhydramine (Benadryl, Unisom). These are over-the-counter drugs that make you pretty drowsy. In my personal experience, they are really helpful if you want to get some shut-eye in situations that normally wouldn't allow it. It stands to reason you could benefit from them as well. Side effects are minimal and addiction potential is pretty much nil.

Melatonin and valerian root are two other benign, non-addictive options. You can take a few valerian extract tablets before you go to sleep, or a melatonin tablet, or both. The effect is relatively mild, but both have helped me in the past.

Iknow that they can cause dependence and withdrawal, that's why I'm 'scared' of using them too much. But really, once a week? would that really be that bad? I really like kava, because it has no nasty side effects. I would only use these sleeping pills in order to prevent my skin from turning red when I drink alcohol on weekends. I hope you guys understand. The alcohol I drink on weekends are not because of insomnia, it is simply because I like to go out with my friends, and since we are in college, we always drink alcohol when we go out.

I have tried valerian an all that other stuff, and it just won't knock me out.

 

[Deleted User01]

I like Weinerschnitzels advice on using an antihistamine. As Kapm' as often said, he uses Benedryl when he gets allergic reactions and that will also put you to sleep. I used to love to take grape flavored Dimmetap when I had a cold. It was mild and gave me kava-like sleep. But the bottom line is that you have to experiment and see what works for you. Good luck!

 

[Damer]

Unfortunately, Benadryl does nothing for me. I've been taking these since I was a kid because of allergies, so I know them very well.

 

[Kalm with Kava]

Some NAC and milk thistle would go a long way to help detoxify your liver and combat the alcohol flush reaction. I personally have had the reaction from alcohol often (mostly from Vodka and Red wine) even before drinking kava and know what a pain it is. Drinkwel is a company that I use - their product revil has everything you need but they also make a supplement called "code red" that helps with the alcohol flush. Fairly inexpensive on Amazon.

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[The Kap'n]

I see no problem with using a sleeping aid once a week. The problem is when it becomes every day of the week. Be careful with benzos. We aren't doctors (well at least none of us that I know of). So we can't offer official medical advice. However, with benzos, there are a number of people here that are refugees of the benzo addiction camp. They'll tell you that benzo withdrawal is the most insidious experience you can imagine. Once per week wont get you to that point, but we still stress being careful.

 

[SelfBiasResistor]

Using a sleeping pill once a week will do you minimal harm, no physical dependence. The problem is having the self control to use them once a week. Another option that hasn't been mentioned that has worked very well for me and others I know is phenibut. It has addiction potential like just about anything else that relieves anxiety or induces sleep but used at low doses produces a comfortable, restful sleep very much similar to kava. I have quite a bit of experience with it and the sleep quality it provides is very nice.

 

[Damer]

Some NAC and milk thistle would go a long way to help detoxify your liver and combat the alcohol flush reaction. I personally have had the reaction from alcohol often (mostly from Vodka and Red wine) even before drinking kava and know what a pain it is. Drinkwel is a company that I use - their product revil has everything you need but they also make a supplement called "code red" that helps with the alcohol flush. Fairly inexpensive on Amazon.

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That sounds nice. The only problem, literally, is the flush reaction I get from drinking alcohol. If this wasn't a problem, I would not even think about sleeping pills. Does this product remove the redness on your face completely?

@Kapmcrunk @SelfBiasResistor

Yea, I have to be careful with them, Iknow. But I can't seem to think why taking one pill per week could go in a bad direction? I'm really happy about kava, and I have never experienced any dependency on any kind of drug - neither have I seen it in my family. Kava makes my everyday life function very well. So why should I ever begin take sleeping pills or other benzos instead? I don't use kava or alcohol as an "escape" from reality. I use kava for sleep and alcohol because I'm in college and it's part of almost everything social we do there. And one of the best ways to increase my quality of life as a whole is to be social and have a laugh with good people - and having red skin all over makes this very unpleasant!

 

[Damer]

Using a sleeping pill once a week will do you minimal harm, no physical dependence. The problem is having the self control to use them once a week. Another option that hasn't been mentioned that has worked very well for me and others I know is phenibut. It has addiction potential like just about anything else that relieves anxiety or induces sleep but used at low doses produces a comfortable, restful sleep very much similar to kava. I have quite a bit of experience with it and the sleep quality it provides is very nice.

Phenibut sounds interesting. Never heard of it. How do you use it and how does it make you feel?

 

[BulaJones]

I have been an insomniac for as long as I can remember. Sleeping pills rarely work for me and if they do I build a tolerance in a few days. Kava only makes me sleepy on rare occasions.

My wife found an article related to extended evening use of illuminated electronics (cell phone, iPad, laptop, tv, etc) and insomnia. I guess the blue light they emit makes bodies think its daylight and prevents it from producing melatonin. Solution: wear blue light filtering glasses for a few hours before bed. I tried it last night and fell asleep in like 5-10 minutes. Everyone seems to find these to be the best: Amazon product. They run $10, are not attractive, but get the job done. If you are staring at a screen late in the evening, this might be a nice alternative to pills.

 

[wormwood]

Try melatonin
It's natural, healthier, safer than other OTC's. And it can work quite well actually.

 

[tomkrat]

i have suffered from chronic insomnia since i was a wee boy and i've had really good luck with valerian extract supplements, specifically "Relax All" (the version without phenibut) and "ZZZ sleep" both are great and don't seem to precipitate any rebound or withdrawal symptoms when stopped abruptly