I too deal with sleeplessness very often. I have used Equate, and it worked well. I sleep HARD when I use it, so I am careful not to take it very late in the evening, or I'll have trouble waking up at the right time the next morning.
Equate is the brand name for Walmart's house generics, I believe. There is Equate ibuprofen, Equate allergy medicine, Equate cold medicine, and so on. The active ingredient in Equate's Sleep Aid tablets is different from other sleep aids. Many other sleep aids, including Tylenol PM, Sominex, and Unisom use the active ingredient of diphenhydramine HCl as the main sleep inducer. Equate uses Doxylamine Succinate. Both have an antihistimine sedative effect, but they are different meds. So that might explain the different "hangover" reaction your friend has to the other meds.
Here's a great page I found that talks about sleep aids, whether they are over-the-counter, prescription or natural.
What's my surest way to sleep? This is weird, I know, but it's to leave the bedroom (where it's quiet) and take a pillow and blanket out to the couch, where I lie down and turn on the television to a monotonal station -- CSPAN, the Weather Channel, the Golf Channel, QVC -- anything where people talk in level tones and the commercials don't blast you away. I turn it low and it seems like within 15 minutes I'll be asleep.
When I can't sleep, much of what keeps me awake is the chatter in my own brain. When I have the television on low, my own brain doesn't seem to be so loud or attention-getting. It just fades into the background with the rest, and I fall asleep.
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Hey, Michelle!
I too deal with sleeplessness very often. I have used Equate, and it worked well. I sleep HARD when I use it, so I am careful not to take it very late in the evening, or I'll have trouble waking up at the right time the next morning.
Equate is the brand name for Walmart's house generics, I believe. There is Equate ibuprofen, Equate allergy medicine, Equate cold medicine, and so on. The active ingredient in Equate's Sleep Aid tablets is different from other sleep aids. Many other sleep aids, including Tylenol PM, Sominex, and Unisom use the active ingredient of diphenhydramine HCl as the main sleep inducer. Equate uses Doxylamine Succinate. Both have an antihistimine sedative effect, but they are different meds. So that might explain the different "hangover" reaction your friend has to the other meds.
Here's a great page I found that talks about sleep aids, whether they are over-the-counter, prescription or natural.
What's my surest way to sleep? This is weird, I know, but it's to leave the bedroom (where it's quiet) and take a pillow and blanket out to the couch, where I lie down and turn on the television to a monotonal station -- CSPAN, the Weather Channel, the Golf Channel, QVC -- anything where people talk in level tones and the commercials don't blast you away. I turn it low and it seems like within 15 minutes I'll be asleep.
When I can't sleep, much of what keeps me awake is the chatter in my own brain. When I have the television on low, my own brain doesn't seem to be so loud or attention-getting. It just fades into the background with the rest, and I fall asleep.
What do you do?
June 13, 2009 - 8:24amThis Comment
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