<p>Did it help you sleep?</p>
<p>How did you feel the next day?</p>
<p>Did you have any unexpected side effects?</p>
<p>I didn’t think Advil PM helped me sleep at night - but I did have a hard time waking up in the morning.</p>
<p>We have taken Advil PM here w/ no bad side effects. DH feels muzzy the day after so only uses it on weekends. A doc friend pointed out that basically these drugs are a compilation of the basic pain reliever plus some benedryl. Like a fourth of a benedryl dose.</p>
<p>I use Advil PM…especially on those nights that I really want a great night’s sleep, or if I’ve had a hard workout/day of gardening. I only take one before bed. I’ve found that if I take 2 I’m really groggy the next morning.</p>
<p>Huh! Just looked up the active ingredients in Advil-PM and the sleep part is indeed diphenhydramine. Looks like the dosage is equivalent to two Benadryl. Maybe I should just try that? And Hugcheck–by muzzy do you mean just a little befuddled or sleepy? (I know I’m sounding a little absurd. This is all about a big–actually, really big–party I’m hosting on Saturday. I’ve not been sleeping well and would like to enjoy the big day when it comes. I don’t think I’d take anything Friday night, but thought maybe to try something Thursday night. Still final errands/set-up to do Friday, which I could stumble through muzzy but would like to not be feeling sleepy.)</p>
<p>I’ve found the same - it’s just Benadryl (and actually about the same dosage as a normal Benadryl one) from what I’ve seen. I take Tylenol PM if I actually need the Tylenol (ie something hurts) and am afraid it will keep me from sleeping well. I’ve never found it to actually help me fall asleep, nor does it make me groggy the next day. At best it helps me sleep through the night.</p>
<p>I have found Unisom (can’t remember the ingredient, but the one with doxyl-something succinnate) to be much more powerful. It will definitely cause me to fall asleep, sleep through the night, and still be groggy the next morning. So if it’s been a rough week and I want to sleep well Friday night and sleep in the next morning, I can take one and fall asleep by 11 and sleep until 9am! But it’s definitely not the best choice (for me) if it’s midnight and I need to be up by 6.</p>
<p>Really you need to see how your body reacts to any of these so try one at first (usually half the recommended dosage) and preferably on a night when you can be groggy the next morning. I use Ambien for the times when I really “have” to fall asleep, but have found that it won’t give me more than 5-6 hours of sleep and then I’m wide awake - so it does work well for me for those “can’t sleep at midnight and I know I need to be up at 6am and alert” times. But I know other people who have taken it and say they’re tired the whole next morning.</p>
<p>diphenhydramine is the ingredient for Benadryl, while Doxylamine is in Nyquil. You need to try both and see which works. Benadryl makes me hyper and keeps me awake while Nyquil helps me fall asleep pretty fast, but the effect is short term. Regardless of which you take, people have told me that the body adapts quickly to either and the drugs will no longer work as well, so use them only judiciously. </p>
<p>I am ready to try Ambien next. Supposedly it does not make me groggy. Doxylamine sometimes makes my heart race the next day if I take it too often. I also cut the 25mg pill in 1/2 or 1/3 since I am pretty lightweight.</p>
<p>Don’t take acetaminophen (tylenol) or ibuprofen (advil) for sleep because both have side effects if taken too much. Too much of the former can destroy your live. The latter can cause intestinal problems, including actual ulcers. It also constricts blood vessels and that can be very bad if you have asthma. If you need to sleep, try some wine instead of a pill. Even warm milk helps, though warm milk with a shot of whiskey will do more.</p>
<p>benadryl gives me a hangover feeling the next day. So I don’t like that. </p>
<p>Have you tried any of the natural sleep aids? Melatonin, or even a mixture of calcium, zinc, and magnesium? My son swears by Melatonin, and I take the cal/zinc/mag mixture.</p>
<p>It takes two cups of coffee to get me going in the morning, whether I take a PM or not. So for me it’s a choice of “a bit groggy due to the PM” or “a bit groggy due to lack of sleep.” I do sleep a little better with the PM. Also, I found that one PM and one 3mg Melatonin work better than two PMs. That’s just me. As others have noted, you’ll probably need to experiment a bit to find out what products and dosages work best for you.</p>
<p>Add to my notes above: I don’t mean to say take Benadryl or Nyquil, just buy the sleep aids in pharmacy containing the corresponding ingredients. I belong to a book club full of pre-, post- and current menopausal women, so all sleep aids, including natural ones like Melatonin, have been discussed. There is no one single magic pill, you just need to try. Or wait till you outgrow your menopause then you can sleep again!</p>
<p>The biggest thing you can do to help you sleep is to completely cut out caffeine. All of it. And cut down on sugar. </p>
<p>People that take sleep products because they can’t sleep and then drink 2 cups of coffee to wake up and then repeat the cycle are their own worst enemies. It’s like taking uppers when you have no energy and then downers to relax. You are chasing your own tail and are addicted to multiple substances. </p>
<ul>
<li>NO caffeine in 4+ years.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you have no pain issues, just take the straight benadryl (or generic equivalent). That chemical is also sold as an over the counter sleep aid (sorry, can’t recall the brand name) if you prefer that the reads “sleep” rather than “allergy”.</p>
<p>Thanks to all of you–very helpful comments! The warm milk and whiskey is appealing (;)), although now that I think about it, DH does have some melatonin. I should probably give that a try.</p>
<p>Muzzy to me means a combination of fuzzy and sleepy. Maybe I should change the word to feepy! Have a wonderful party!!!</p>
<p>You get used to melatonin very quickly. First few uses and then much less effect.</p>
<p>Ask you doc about Ambien. I’ve had off and on sleeping problems for a few years and tried both the PMs you mention. I always felt sluggish the next morning lasting into the afternoon. My doc prescribed Ambien which works fine, leaves me refreshed with zero sluggishness the next morning.</p>
<p>I’m going to try melatonin tonight and see what happens. zzzzzzz. . . .</p>
<p>Tylenol PM and Advil PM used to make me very drowsy the next day, until my body became acclimated to them. Most days I take just a half, unless I am in a different time zone or strange hotel bed. </p>
<p>I like to mix it up, never taking the same thing two nights in a row. So i have an entire arsenal of melatonin, advil PM, tylenol PM, benadryl, the non PM sleep meds. I just dont have any prescription meds at this time, although ambien is what I prefer when I fly long distances, etc. However, there were times ambien made me sick to my stomach.</p>
<p>I never have because the only time I took Benedryl I felt like I was on speed. It was horrible.</p>