I’m assuming it is tea spoon? (1/4t) and do you take it with water, or something else (e.i.milk?)
We go down to one of the hundreds of weed stores here and buy Redecan Reign Drops 30:0 - 30% THC, 0% CBD. $37 Cdn a bottle and one bottle lasts 2 of us just over a month.
Smoking anything is not the best thing for our lungs so we stopped that 3 years ago. But we did take 20 years off when the kids were little, stopped drinking then as well.
Used to grow weed on the farm 50 years ago 
When our kids found out we were not new to this, I let them know I’ve spilt more than they had smoked, at least to that point LoL!
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I don’t know why people take GABA. The molecule is too big to cross the Blood-Brain-Barrier. Only a few molecules allow access: phenibut (phenyl group+GABA); picamilon (niacin+GABA). These two cross the BBB easily, but are EXTREMELY addictive. There are only 3 reasons GABA might do something orally: leaky BBB (which is a big problem); theory that GABA works on the vagus nerve which then transmits signals to brain; GABA effects on the gut (but this is minor). Taking glutamine so your brain can make its own GABA might be a better strategy…
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Beth, good information. Do you find that trazadone results in an hour or two of moderate grogginess that next morning?
Thanks so much, Ludovic, after your post I decided to give this a try. Just now I managed to cut a tiny bit off a ~3.5mg quarter (of my 15 mg tablet). I have no clue how much it is admittedly, but I want to see if a much smaller dose will do the trick without oversleeping. Hope this works as after the previous 3.5mg doses felt like I would wake up from a coma after 12+ hours of sleep.
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Has anyone found that low dose lithium is beneficial for sleep? The research suggests it would.
Also, MCT oil - does anyone have experience of using it to prevent night wakings?
With mirtazapine (and many other antidepressants), it’s good to remember that its effects are usually better at low doses. This way, it promotes sleepiness but doesn’t yet overly affect the fact that mirtazapine increases noradrenergic neurotransmission, which leads to an increase in sympathetic tone.
For me, at least, this is undesirable, as my rMSSD decreases and resting heart rate rises. I’d rather activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Some antidepressants (eg. doxepin) also lower acetylcholine, which leads to the same outcome through a different mechanism—an increase in sympathetic tone.
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How close to bedtime do you take the pregabalin?
Hi Gary,
Yes, I am tired the next day which is the only reason I save it for when I’m in serious need.
I had a serious insomnia issue a few years ago, but with a combination of approaches including large amounts of melatonin I can now (with some complex an subtle exceptions) manage a good enough night’s sleep so that I am not tired all day.
I think if I went tea total that I would be able to improve on sleep, but I quite like getting drunk and as I am able to manage to go through the day without any real issues I still binge drink at least one night a week (currently probably 5/7).
Thanks, Beth. That has become my approach also. I started at 25mg and felt absolutely nothing. Need at least 50mg to have any effect.
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Besides the obvious melatonin supplementation and cutting back on caffeine has anyone tried increasing tryptophan intake? It is the substrate of melatonin and a number of other molecules in the body.
I’m going to give it a go.
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Some odd things about L-tryptophan. Yes, it is quite helpful in reducing sleep onset time, but its relatively short half-life does little for sleep extension. It might be helpful in getting you back to sleep if you wake up in the middle of the night.
Oral tryptophan supplementation does not have a clearly defined half-life. Besides being dose dependent, there are other physiological factors.
“Dose-Dependent Half-Life: Studies show that increasing the L-tryptophan dose can actually shorten its plasma half-life and decrease its volume of distribution and rate of clearance. This is a bit counterintuitive, as some substances show longer half-lives with higher doses due to saturation of elimination pathways.”
“Increasing the tryptophan dose shortened the plasma half-life and decreased the volume of distribution and the rate of clearance.”
5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan), which is sometimes taken as an alternative supplement to L-tryptophan, has a more clearly defined half-life of approximately four hours.
For some reason, I don’t find that 5-HTP has the same sedative effect as L-tryptophan.
My own experience is that tryptophan is effective in reducing sleep onset time but has little effect on sleep duration.
“Metabolism of an oral tryptophan load. I: Effects of dose and pretreatment with tryptophan - PMC
The Effects of Acute Tryptophan Depletion on Reactive Aggression in Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Healthy Controls - PMC”
I had a really good sleep last night. I did a big dose of melatonin powder around 7pm, and took 7.5mg of extended release melatonin. Then around 10-11pm I took another big dose of melatonin powder.
Wow! How did you do it? And also, what is usually your baseline for hours asleep, restorative sleep, etc?
Obviously that wasn’t a normal night — my average is typically 7.5-8 hours. I was feeling kind of sick with a headache so I went to bed very early, as early as my baby, and just slept and slept. Had crazy dreams back to back (I mean 3 hours of REM!).
But if I go to bed in time I usually sleep just fine.
Magnesium gummies before bed seem to help make the sleep of a better quality, I’ve noticed.
Used to be a poster child of insomnia — never a problem staying asleep but my mind racing at night and not letting me fall asleep for hours. What changed? Nothing biohacking can fix — I moved out of the city, I quit a stressful job, I learned to stop worrying so much about everything as it does no good and my doom porn scenarios never play out in real life.
Oh but I have to have blackout blinds or all bets are off. Light still gets in through small cracks so I’ve invested in high end sleep masks — not the cheapy ones they hand out on the plane but spongy padded ones with ergonomically shaped eye hollows. Any tiny light throws me off at night so the sleep mask is a must. I don’t do stupid things like play with my phone in bed, ever! The thermostat is set for 68 degrees Fahrenheit. And I’ve got a nice weighted blanket. If I have to be in front of the screen before bed (that includes watching something with my husband on our bigass TV screen), I try to remember to put my blue blocking shades on. This always helps and makes me nice and sleepy toward the end.
Now sleep isn’t a problem at all. The only way I could make it better is by dragging my ass to bed a bit earlier. The hard ceiling to my sleep is wake-up time. My baby wakes me up even if I set no alarm. So I’d probably get an extra hour if I just went to bed an hour earlier.