Nevertheless

Try Melatonin. It works for me. It is a natural hormone, that only kicks in in darkness. It is available in the vitamin section of any pharmacy. They come in 3 MG pills. A guy your size should probably start out with 3. Take that along with vit B-6 (no more nightmares) and you should be all set.
Fred

wanttolive

Like tjp said tylenol pm is juest benadryl with acetaminophin in it which is hard on your liver. You can get the benadryl part on its own in pill or liquid form. It's called diphenhydramine and comes in cheaper generic form. There is another out there with doxicylamine (sp?) that is a sleep aid as well. Melatonin as has been suggested works for some people too. While these are not supposed to be habit forming some people may be different. I know without them my first weeks would have been a nightmare (no pun intended)

Disclaimer:

For the record I did check with my dr. and you should too before taking anything. I do understand the insurance part too.

Tazman53

Steve I was REALLY lucky, insomnia is rarely a problem for me, I had no issues with it in EARLY sobriety probably because I was medically detoxed and they had me on BP meds, anxiety meds & anti-siezure meds.

Now for me a turkey sandwich knocks me out, there is some type of stuff in turkey that relaxes people.

In regards to the Tylenol PM, well I am not sure what shape your liver is in right now, but tylenol aka acetametaphine is not good with a bad liver liver, I would think some of the teas suggested or TURKEY sandwiches would be better.

Believe808

There was an incident with me being rushed to the hospital while I was using and I kept blacking out (go figure) anyway the first thing they asked me in ER was Did I take any Tylenol. They said it is very bad for the liver, causes alot of problems. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

smacked

I 'suffered' thru weeks of insomnia issues when I got sober, I took Sleep MD (all natural) for a few days and it worked great but then I decided the entire point of me getting sober was to no longer be dependent on anything, so I just stopped it all together. I always sleep a lot better after a vigorous workout.. but really, it'll just take some time. You'll get some sleep eventually, I do promise that!

And ditto on the info that tylenol is bad for your liver.. if you're going to medicate yourself to sleep, definitely talk to your doc about what's safer.

Rowan

I occasionally suffer from insomnia and I've tried all of the above, except for the turkey sandwich. Somehow, I never seem to have turkey (unless it's October). Melatonin helps sometimes, as does sleepy time tea. But with the tea, I might fall asleep but I keep waking up to use the bathroom. Like Stone and McGowdog, what works best for me is trying to stay awake.

Rather than lie in the dark tossing and turning and gnashing my teeth, I turn on the light, fire up the laptop, and read here, or watch tv online, or play a game of cards on one of my gaming sites. I keep at it until I'm tired, and then I'm able to fall asleep.

Rad44

Using sleep meds to get to sleep is Ok but don't use Tylenol PM unless you've got a headache as well. The Acetaminophen in Tylenol is very hard on your Liver which has probably already been abused from Alcohol. Tylenol PM just has Acetaminophen + an over-the-counter Sleep Aid which you can purchase separately and cheaper.

If over-the-counter Sleep meds don't work then you should see your Doctor about getting something stronger. If you say you can't afford to go to the Doctor, let me ask how much per week you were spending on Alcohol?

AmbienCR works the fastest in my experience but you dont want to stay on it for more than 30 days (can be addictive). Rosarum is all Natural and non-addictive but takes a few days to before it starts being effective and needs to be taken every night for best results.