the myth of the 8-hour sleep

Ooh, I need to read that article about GABA, because as Pix said:

That describes ALL of the depression, anxiety, and insomnia issues I have struggled with since I was a child.

Nowadays I get okay sleep thanks to Ambien and Xanax, but I'm not thrilled with that being the solution, y'know?

Nowadays I get okay sleep thanks to Ambien and Xanax, but I'm not thrilled with that being the solution, y'know?

Ambien and Xanax and similar drugs *do* have properties that enhance GABA, or maybe help in the production/release of it (I can't remember), but only to a small extent, so that's more of a gift-with-purchase than actually being the purpose of the drug.

So they *are* GABA-ergic (which is a real word), but they don't specifically target GABA. Drugs that specifically target GABA would (I assume) lead to higher levels in the brain without (or with fewer) side effects of drugs like Ambien and Xanax (and, incidentally, GHB).

I wouldn't be able to get out of bed to be productive in the middle of the night because the bed's against the wall and Hubby's on the outside. Apparently he must sleep between me and any door. Sweet, but inconvenient.

I'm going to email my awesome doctor and ask her if GABA would be okay to add to my bedtime routine. I bet she'd rather I took that instead of half a Xanax almost every night.

In other news, I woke to gutters running with rainwater from overnight and brilliant sun. In an hour, the sky was solid grey and in another hour it was raining, then sleeting, then snowing. It quit, and the sun came out all innocent as the day. I looked up a few minutes ago and big fat snowflakes were pelting down. It's still snowing, but now the sun's come out as well. All I need to make my weather experience for today complete, is thunder.

Or a rain of toads.

I'm going to email my awesome doctor and ask her if GABA would be okay to add to my bedtime routine. I bet she'd rather I took that instead of half a Xanax almost every night.

Do you take melatonin? I take 5 mg every night, about 1-2 hours before bed, and it helps a great deal. I still need 1/2 an Ambien once or twice a week, but that's way less than in the past.

Plus, I've read a lot about melatonin helping the immune system, and -- while I know I'm anecdata -- I haven't gotten any kind of cold/respiratory infection since August, when I started taking it every night. *Me,* who gets EVERYTHING. When Tim got horribly sick at Thanksgiving, I didn't get it. My office has been passing around the flu for 3 weeks now, and I've dodged it. I consider that nothing short of a miracle.

It could be something else, of course. But the temporal relationship is interesting, to say the least.

Melatonin gives me even more vivid dreams than I have normally, so it doesn't work well for me. If a GABA supplement would do the same, it probably won't help me. Alas.

Melatonin has never done anything I've ever noticed to help my sleep, and sometimes the Ambien doesn't even work. My brain will just keep chattering away to itself.