Posted , 2 users are following.
Sleep deprivation.
Usually I am good after 2 days/nights without sleep.
On the third day/night my sentences come out wrong, uncoordinated, and memory issues.
I will at that point take diphenhydramine (Benadryl) which is the same medication that is in over the counter sleep aids yet a heck of a lot cheaper.
It works for me.
1 like, 1 reply
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lily65668 buffy939393
Posted
Sounds like a sensible approach.
I was always a poor sleeper, even in childhood, but my sleep pattern was permanently shot in my mid-20s, when for a year or so I worked an impossible experimental shift system as a nurse in a Casualty (ER) department. I never got back to normal sleeping for the remaining 40-odd years of my working life.
Knowing too much about the dangers of prescription sleep meds, I too relied on OTC antihistamines. My preference was for promethazine (brand name Phenergan in Europe) which is in the same class of drugs as diphenhydramine.
Like you, I was always careful not to take it every night, knowing that one can develop tolerance to antihistamines, just like prescription sleeping drugs. I never took it more than maximum three consecutive nights, and often just one night was enough to restore my confidence in my ability to sleep. I'd then sleep reasonably well for the next few nights without medication, after which I'd start having problems again. I'd then tough it out for at least another week before taking Phenergan for another night or two, thus re-starting the cycle.
I never suffered unduly from my poor sleep, though - like you - tiredness would take its toll after a couple of really bad nights. And I never developed tolerance to the Phenergan either. I only rarely have to take it these days, having for the most part slept like a baby ever since I retired from paid employment eight years ago. (Let's hear it for retirement!
) However, I still very occasionally take a dose on "nervous" nights - e.g. the night before a journey or having to make a presentation in my voluntary job - and it still works like a dream. I still only take the tiny 5mg dose (suitable for a five-year-old child) that I started taking 50 years ago.
The one thing I'd suggest to any new posters who want to try antihistamines is to take the dose an hour or so before going to bed. If I took my very small dose on going to bed, I'd find it took so long to work, as it's such a mild sedative, I'd still be awake two hours later, wondering why I wasn't asleep yet, by which time the effect would have worn off! And it's best not to take a second dose if you wake during the night, as that can make you feel groggy next morning.
I hope you have the same lifelong success I had in taking an antihistamine to overcome sleep anxiety. As long as you continue to only take it on an occasional basis, there's no reason why you'd develop tolerance to it and have to up the dose. And yes, you're right - it is a heck of a lot cheaper than over-marketed sleep medications.