Good Nights Sleep

[Johnny]

Current studies listed in Australian Pharmacy has noted L-DOPA as a treatment for RLS. L-DOPA is a precursor to dopamine in the brain and people with RLS seem to have lower dopamine in functional MRI's.

Having RLS myself, ive used it myself with great results.

How to get it: at the moment, L-DOPA is avaliable bby prescription but it is also found in a bean called Velvet bean. A company called herbosophy sells it and it seems to be standardised to 15%, so 3 tablets (100-150mg) before bed is your best bet.

Side effects are nausea and blood pressure changes but its well worth the benefits (my 1st hand experience)

One main issue is conversion of L-DOPA in the body to D-DOPA which cannot pass the blood brain barrier so its best to take it with green tea which can hinder the conversion and prevent the extrapyrimidal effects.

all the best mate

[defari]

sorry to hijack the thread but seemed pointless making another one about sleeping etc.

ive noticed since i quit smoking (10 weeks today!) i find it even harder to get to sleep now than i did while i was smoking. (im a light sleeper, any noise will wake me up, room has to be pitch black i.e even with the led on my tv i have to turn it off) and sleeping next to the gf just makes it even tougher)

im trying the melatonin pills you've mention terry along with magnesium pills about 30 mins before i go to sleep...

for example.. sunday morning i got up at 8am , sunday night i was knackered around 9:30pm... the last time i looked at my phone was 2:10am and woke up at 6:30am.. nearly 5 hours of just lieing there... Not only do i then feel tired when i wake up but it usually comes with incredibly bad back pain..

I have a fairly healthy diet - dont smoke - no drugs apart from a few beers on the weekend.. very rarely do i write myself off either..

Im at the point now where im looking for something thats pretty much going to KO me so i at least have a good sleep.. Or would something like that have big side effects in the morning?

(i know its basic information... could be other factors i.e back pain, diet etc)

Edited August 1, 2011 by defari

[iamhe77]

How old is your bed?

Perhaps look into new mattress that is better suited to you?

[GTR-N1]

ive noticed since i quit smoking (10 weeks today!) i find it even harder to get to sleep now than i did while i was smoking. (im a light sleeper, any noise will wake me up, room has to be pitch black i.e even with the led on my tv i have to turn it off) and sleeping next to the gf just makes it even tougher)

Stopping smoking reduces dopamine levels in the brain (aka physical withdrawal).

Taking l-Tyrosine each morning increases dopamine.

Tyrosine is also a cousin to l-Tryptophan which is taken at night to aid sleep to by producing Serotonin.

5-Hydroxytryptophan is 5x stronger than l-Tryptophan so...

I'd get some 5HTP or Proxan from your local naturopath and take one either 2 hours after dinner or 40mins before dinner on empty tummy with fruit juice (so it crosses the blood-brain barrier with ease). Equivalent to 100mg of 5-Hydroxytryptophan.

And take 1x 500mg Tyrosine on waking - also available from the naturopath.

Get back here to relay feedback 5 days after starting. Take sugar or pot or alcohol yourself? One would also like to know what your diet's like? Parents have had sleep problems?

Sleep deprivation is horrible.

Plan B will be Theanine 200mg (aka Ultra Theanine) & Bupleurum (aka Stressan). From naturopath.

Plan C will be Chinese Acupuncture (considering other hormones or genes). Acupuncturist will take pulse tests on wrist or ankle.

Plan D will be a benzodiazepine like temazepam Temaze or Xanax

Plan E will be Stilnox.

Trying desperately to circumvent Plans D & E

[defari]

bed is less than 8 months old.. queen size posturepedic something or other..

terry: cheers for the info.. i know i was a bit brief with my problem... no pot, no cigs, i do drink coffee in the morning with 1 sugar apart from that i dont put any extra sugar into things (dont really have much of a sweet tooth either) My dad and my uncle have sleep apnea (sp?)

my diet is usually 4-5 meals a day.. a typical day would be

breakfast: cereal or toast with a banana + cup of coffee with 1 sugar

lunch: usually left over pasta/chicken/salad from the night before and sometimes another cup of coffee.. or a few hard boiled eggs on bread

dinner: either chicken breast with rice and veg, steak with mash and vegies, pasta, or spag. bol.

snacks are usually a few saladas with avo on it, pack of chips every now and then, and trail mix (dried fruit,nuts,choc bits)

Edited August 1, 2011 by defari

[GTR-N1]

Is that uncle your dad's brother?

If so, Serotonin deficiencies tend to follow an "agnate genetic" line ie patrinlinear through the males.

[Melly]

Urgh lack of sleep is the worst!! I've been put on pill after pill after pill to fix my sleeping but it doesn't happen, my vit d is low and vit d supplements helped but didn't fix it. Only thing that puts me to sleep is panadine forte or Mersyndol (codine) they are running out of options because anything else they try messes with my medications needless to say having wisdom tooth surgery and root canal work I've been sleeping great lately lol.

Hope you get it sorted, possibly look into seeing a nutritionist incase there is something in your diet or look into aromatherapy and some of the theraputic complimentary medicines.

You said could be other factors back pain, diet etc.. do you have or have you had a back injury or back pain? Also do you exercise? If so how often for how long and when?

[Trozzle]

Lately (last 2 weeks) I've been waking up most nights absolutely soaked in sweat....to the point where I need to flip my blanket and pillow around to avoid the wet patches.

wtf?

[Melly]

Night terrors... Homer had them on the simpsons yesterday :-)

But seriously, do you have an electric blanket? Heating on? Stress? Change is what you eat?

[Trozzle]

Heating yeah, but it's only been happening since I stacked at the snow 2 weeks ago

[Melly]

Hurt your back and pinched a nerve? Is heating higher than it was?

[Trozzle]

I rolled my head downward and to the right, so it pressed towards my chest. I think I've pulled/torn muscle(s). Kinda cramps up at night, but I've been hitting ibuprofen before going to sleep lately and it's helping (sweating started before taking painkillers).

Heating is....maybe higher, though it's not really warm in the room. I'll try go a night with it turned off, see how it goes.

[Melly]

Or even down because nights haven't been as cold.

[TimR]

There's a article explaining the sleep cycle in-depth, I'll have to dig it up.

Found this though. It's not really about how long you sleep but how many cycles and at what point in the cycle you wake. I don't sleep much and find it hard to get out of bed. BUT! When I'm up, I feel a million bucks.

http://www.sleephealth.com.au/The%20Sleep%20Cycle.htm

[oweban]

Would love to get some of those melatonin brownies. i have the worst sleep sometimes... VERY light sleeper. i have temazepam but try and space it out so i dont build a resistance.

[mad082]

i had a great sleep last night.

note: i don't drink coffee or drink energy drinks at all. sometimes have tea with quite a bit of raw sugar, lol.

here's the lead up. wednesday night, got to bed at 10, didn't get to sleep to at least 10:45. woke up at about 2am. got back to sleep at about 2:45. woke up to my alarm at 4:30. drive to work to go for a 6am ride before work (takes me 50 mins to drive to work which is 62kms away). ride 47kms (first half at average pace, second half at high pace). work from 9 till 5. drive home. eat dinner, watch tv and then bed about 10pm. i was out within about 5 mins of the light going off. slept in till 8:20 (no work today).

have a feeling i will sleep well tonight too since i rode 50kms this arvo.

i used to sleep like crap when i had my business. sleep much better now that i'm working for someone else (much less stress). i still often wake up once during the night though, but only for a short time, unlike before when it would be for a few hours.

[GTR-N1]

Would love to get some of those melatonin brownies. i have the worst sleep sometimes... VERY light sleeper. i have temazepam but try and space it out so i dont build a resistance.

Melatonin 5mg Lozenges (sublingual = suck under tongue for a couple of minutes).

Available from Gold Glow in Qld. $19 for 90 lozenges.

Try a couple per night to see if a) going off & b) quality of sleep improves Owen. If so, the circadian rhythms have improved.

[oweban]

Awesome. I try and avoid sugar after about 5pm or so; although I know in my dinner there's sugars.

Will grab some of these and see if it helps me drop off. Had a lot of trouble last night (although this might be in part thanks to roadwork at midnight, bastards)

[GTR-N1]

Awesome. I try and avoid sugar after about 5pm or so; although I know in my dinner there's sugars.

Will grab some of these and see if it helps me drop off. Had a lot of trouble last night (although this might be in part thanks to roadwork at midnight, bastards)

Complex sugars in your dinner are good actually Owen. We need sugar as fuel.

Complex sugars/carbos are not top heavy with glucose or sucrose > Moreover they have a broad spectrum of other sugars too eg, fructose, cellulose, mannose, galactose etc.

It's the sugar cane derivatives that we are concerned about.

Also -vely affecting l-Tryptophan production in the liver are alcohol, recreational drugs, anaesthetics, paints/thinners/varnishes which I may have mentioned before.

[oweban]

Nope, don't take any of them. I barely drink at all, and no drugs.

I used to be medicated a few years back for anxiety (lovan + temazepam) but I'm off them now, excepting the Temazepam I got a repeat for after Dad died (didn't sleep for a few days taking care of Mum, was killing me)

Ah, good to know that my pasta in my spaghetti isn't too bad for me then