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Mom Doesn't See That Essential Oils Don't Help me at All...

Lysander said:
My best recommendation is to rotate using melatonin with using diphenhydramine (the active ingredient in a standard over the counter sleep aid) and to do so very sparingly. They lose effectiveness when they are used every night and/or when you take large doses. Neither one is habit forming or otherwise damaging to your health.
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I already use melatonin, about half a milligram per night.
 
Fino said:
Melatonin supplements are enough for me. You've tried that, I assume? Sorry if I missed it somewhere.

Is medication a long-term solution for insomnia? I really don't know, sleep has never been a major issue for me.

I know all about a parent not letting you take a medication.. but you see a psychiatrist, so you do take medication. She is only against sleep medication? Sorry if I missed an explanation for that too somewhere...
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Yes, I do take melatonin, and, yes. She is against sleep medicine, and not ADHD meds.
 
i'm not a fan of kwaks and snake oil merchants

however, it is important to realise that a lot of medicines today are synthesised molecules based on what is found in nature

pharmaceutical businesses spend real money sending people into forests to find natural cures, that they can scientifically verify and then synthesise artificially

so non pharmaceutical solutions don't have to be bad per definition

when it comes to sleep, two variables are relevant:
- physical comfort
- mental wind down (definitely avoid worrying about sleep before you go to sleep...)

there are basic breathing exercises and non pharmacological things (earplugs, eye masks etc, no caffeine after 14:00, no stimuli 2 hours before i go to sleep,...) you can do to improve your sleep prep

sometimes listening to a tv show that i've seen a 100 times on in the background
distracts me enough to fall asleep

i actually fall asleep right away, but eegs have shown that my subconscious brain doesn't switch off during my sleep, so i take medication for that

good luck
 
You may find some benefit from taking a larger dose of Melatonin, although I'd recommend researching it first or getting some information from someone trained to advice about doses.

I'm currently taking 3mgs of melatonin to help with sleep, based on the recommendation of a Medical Doctor in the UK. The Doctor who recommended it to me suggested to start by taking 3mgs at night and to adjust the dose up or down according to the response as everyone seems different and for some, just 1mg is sufficient. She doesn't use more that 9mgs.

Also, when I've tried Melatonin in the past I had always taken it about 30mins-1hr before bed and I would feel extremely low mood-wise the next day. I happened to read an article which suggested taking it 3-4 hours before bed and since I have been taking it 4 hours before my bed time, I don't have any issues with it effecting my mood the next day.
 
I take .3 mg, which is approximately the amount your brain should naturally produce. It might have to be bought online because most brands only make 1mg and higher.

When it was first researched as a sleep aid, scientists only patented between 0 and 1mg, never suspecting that anyone would take more then 3-4x the natural dosage, meaning it costs more for companies to sell dosages under 1mg.

You can also get it a timed-release one, mimicking the body's natural process more closely.

Have you been diagnosed with a sleep disorder? Otherwise, I think I agree with your mom, especially at your age. What would you do, take a sleeping medication forever?

I understand 1,000% your desire to just be able to sleep without trouble, and that was often my excuse for abusing drugs, but it's better in the long-term to figure out the underlying problem.
 
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Shamar said:
A few years ago my wife was on an Essential Oils kick and I did some research. Rigorous and thorough scientific testing (done by the essential oil sellers, using test groups of as many as ten pre-selected people) proved that essential oils treated and cured every disease and condition known to medical science, including several hundred problems not yet discovered. So rest easy knowing your mother was right (according to the essential oil sellers).

Just so there is no confusion, sometimes I lay the sarcasm on so thick it is difficult to see the sarcasm.
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Thanks for the last paragraph, I was in disbelief before that lol!
 
Joshua Aaron said:
Umm, I said psychiatrist, did I not? Two completely different things, sir.
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How are they completely different?

Psychiatrists are physicians who specialize in mental health and neurological conditions.

GPs/family doctors are physicians who specialize in general practice/family medicine, other types of physicians have other specialities.

They all have the same authority to prescribe medications, although I doubt any competent doctor would prescribe medications for a condition which was outside their area of expertise or even just outside their area of practice.
 
the_tortoise said:
How are they completely different?

Psychiatrists are physicians who specialize in mental health and neurological conditions.

GPs/family doctors are physicians who specialize in general practice/family medicine, other types of physicians have other specialities.

They all have the same authority to prescribe medications, although I doubt any competent doctor would prescribe medications for a condition which was outside their area of expertise or even just outside their area of practice.
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My psychiatrist usually specializes in anxiety, depression (and I don't have depression, BTW), Autism spectrum, and sleep difficulties, if that becomes a problem, which it clearly has been a problem all my life.
 
I'm sorry, but your mom is right at least in the sense that you need to figure out sensory stims that help soothe you to sleep. I can speak from experience when I say the prescription sleep aids aren't all they're cracked up to be. None of them put me to sleep, except for certain antipsychotics, and those mess up my ability to think and feel, along with causing severe physical side effects. What I have found does work is - total dark, totally quiet, weighted blanket, cold room, a meditation exercise via Youper or new age music, avoiding electronics before bed, and OTC supplements (melatonin, 5htp, l-theanine, valerian root, l-tryptophan, kava, etc.).

Additionally, prescription sleep meds are all controlled substances and EXTREMELY difficult to get prescribed. Usually they will prescribe Trazodone, which is an old-school antidepressant that takes about 2 hours to work, and usually only works for a limited amount of time before it stops working to put you to sleep entirely. In which case, the dosage needs to be constantly raised, but the same thing will continue to happen.

Your best bet prescription wise will probably be Seroquel, which is an anti-psychotic. At a low dose, it knocks you out, but isn't so bad on side effects, except it will make you gain weight quickly. It also slowly destroys your liver and kidneys over time, shortening your life span. Also leads to diabetes.

Do you want to go through all of that to get some sleep, when it may be accomplished with other things that don't do any of that?

Just try different things out until you find the right combination of stims, and possibly supplements, to help you get to sleep.

As far as aromatherapy goes, it's different for everyone. You may just have not found the scent that works for you. Or they may not work for you at all.

Bottom line. Everyone is different. Everyone requires different things to help them get to sleep. Just because something doesn't work for you, doesn't mean it's just a load of crap. I find cedar helps me a lot both with sleep and with calming down anxiety and making me feel grounded again when I feel like I'm up in the sky somewhere or bewildered and overwhelmed. But spearmint - which is also supposed to help calm and relax - makes me hyper. Lavender puts me in a pleasant mood but doesn't help with sleep or anxiety at all.

Be careful with prescriptions, because you have autism and we often react differently to prescription medications than the average population does... and it can be challenging to convince your doctor that a prescription is doing something to you that it doesn't do to any of their other patients. That's seriously a rabbit hole you don't want to go down.

Getting a copy of your DNA and uploading it to Promethease may help you identify potential genetic chemical defenses that you can try remedying with supplements. I take 5htp and the L's because I found out I'm naturally deficient in serotonin and dopamine, which are both required to produce melatonin for sleep. Not a single prescription drug in the world can fix that, which would explain why I'm resistant to sleeping medications. It's common for autistics because many of us have the MTHFR genetic abnormalities that cause our bodies to have issues metabolizing certain things, as well as having trouble with detox (that detox issue is also a strong reason to avoid the anti-psychotic meds).

Please try to find what works for you before running to the doctor for a prescription. Prescription drugs are not instant cures for whatever ails you, and should not be treated as such. They are last resorts.
 
In many places, 14 is the age of medical consent.

It doesn't solve everything, but I often meditate myself to sleep. Granted, sometimes it's just me meditating the whole night instead of sleeping.
 
MonolithImmortal said:
Are you somewhere where medical cannabis is legal? Lots of people have success in using cannabis to help with insomnia.
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Medical marijuana is not legal in South Carolina yet. Even if it was, I still wouldn't use it.

You see, I like guns and would like to purchase one basically the day I turn 18 (I am going to be 16 in a couple months, just 2 years and two months left, yay!). However, being in the possession of marijuana, even for medical purposes, means that you can not legally purchase any type of firearm inside states that DO allow the possession of weed for that purpose. Even then, I am still skeptical of the "proof" that weed can be used for medical purposes. Still just seems like something made up by stoners so that they can get high legally.

Whenever I analyze what kinds of things I should do/take, I always ask myself "Does this drug directly interfere with what I want to do in the future?" If the answer is no, I am willing to try it out. If the answer is yes, then I just won't take it.

Sorry, but if any type of medication basically makes it illegal for me to get into a hobby that I am interested in, I just won't take it.
 
It's not really up for debate whether or not marijuana has medicinal purposes.

I do agree that' typically not what it's used for and even when it is there are often better choices. In my personal experience, people use it to cover up a problem, not treat one. The difference, in my opinion, is their resulting functioning level and happiness.
 
CBD is a cannabis product that is non-psychoactive and has a myriad of well documented medicinal functions.

If you buy a product like Charlotte's Web, which is avalible online, it's a CBD supplement that contains no THC, thus will not make you "high". If you have anxiety it can help calm your anxiety, and if you have any chronic pain, it can help reduce pain. It also helps your body to relax, which many people find helpful for falling asleep and staying asleep better.

Plus, CBD products are not illegal, and will not interfere with any ability to purchase a firearm.
 
MonolithImmortal said:
CBD is a cannabis product that is non-psychoactive and has a myriad of well documented medicinal functions.

If you buy a product like Charlotte's Web, which is avalible online, it's a CBD supplement that contains no THC, thus will not make you "high". If you have anxiety it can help calm your anxiety, and if you have any chronic pain, it can help reduce pain. It also helps your body to relax, which many people find helpful for falling asleep and staying asleep better.

Plus, CBD products are not illegal, and will not interfere with any ability to purchase a firearm.
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Okay, good. Maybe I'll try that now. My parents told me about it a month ago, and I originally refused because the placebo effects from the essential oils were still there by the time they told me about them (that was jinxed, I stopped having the placebo effects a week later) because I thought the actually non-existent effects of the essential oils on me were still there.

AND I still get to buy a weapon! ;)
 
Joshua Aaron said:
AND I still get to buy a weapon! ;)
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Maybe- maybe not. :confused:

Under the circumstances you should do a great deal of research on this before attempting to purchase a firearm. To my knowledge in order for Joshua's parents to purchase CBD oil requires them to obtain an MMJ (medical marijuana) card in accordance with South Carolina law.

However having such a card in your name may prevent you from even possessing a firearm under federal law based on the outcome of a decision appealed in Nevada (Wilson v. Lynch) and upheld up by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals:

"The case was filed by a woman denied a firearms purchase because the firearms dealer knew that she held a medical marijuana card.

https://www.cannalawblog.com/wilson...-guns-and-medical-marijuana-dont-legally-mix/

The 9th Circuit is notoriously unfriendly to gun rights, so it is not surprising that they issued the opinion they did, but coupled with the Drug Enforcement Administration's refusal last month to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, it is a devastating blow to Second Amendment rights and marijuana activists regardless."

"If you think that you can purchase firearms and then get an MMJ card and be in the clear, I wouldn't be so sure. The ATF is not known to err on the side of the individual in gray areas, and it has made it very clear in the above "Open Letter" that possession of both firearms and MMJ cards is going to be a problem.

All the ATF has to do is feed the list of MMJ cardholders into the NICS background check database, and the result will be a denial. "

9th Circuit Affirms Catch-22 for Gun Owners, MMJ Users

In the meantime there is legislation pending in the House of Representatives through the office of Rep. Thomas Massie (KY) to delete the question of marijuana use from the ATF form 4473 altogether. Of course like all pending legislation, there's no guarantee it will pass to the Senate or be signed into law by the president.

Lawmaker drafting bill to remove marijuana question from ATF gun form
 
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