fluffyflea

Valarian root or Valarian Tea can help you.

bbthumper

A slippery slope indeed. I know I personally could not successfully use Nyquil.

I struggled a lot with insomnia towards the end of my drinking. I was waking up an hour after passing out and would be awake the remainder of the night. After getting sober I just plain could not sleep at all. Best medicine I found for me was working the steps of AA. I realized after my 5th step that my brain started to shut up when I laid down to go to sleep. Its not a promise in the Big Book, but I have no doubt that my ability to rest peacefully came as a result of working the program. GOing to bed with a clean conscience really helped me.
A regular exercise routine has also improved my rest in the past couple of years.

Best wishes to you. Hang in there and if you believe in any Higher Power, pray on this.

Threshold

I've abused all sorts of stuff (basically myself) all for the cause of chasing a good nights sleep. It was all part of the same issue.

After i'd gotten sober, I still would take the occasional shot "to help me sleep" thinking that it was justified. It just got me back to drinking "medicinally"..boy oh boy, I sure needed a LOT of medicine.

No more Nyquil for me. I even found myself abusing benedryl and dramamine...so I could sleep. Then I realized that antihistamines were giving me night mares.

not sleeping sucks. I've tried, with varying amounts of success all or the above options. They do help.

honestly what helps me the most is to go to bed on time, and do a mental gratitude list.

onlythetruth

By the way, this is not true. Nyquil is 20 proof, approximately the same as a fortified wine such as sherry. A couple of shots of Nyquil is NOT like a sip of beer or a tiny sip of liquor, it is like drinking a snifter of sherry.

EternalQ

Personally no I would NOT do it.

I abused Nyquil when I was a drinker and ran out of alcohol and could not sleep.

As a non drinker now, I won't use that, or alcohol mouthwash either, even for their intended purposes. For me, it could trigger cravings.

2granddaughters

Early in sobriety I found the best sleep aid in the world ... The Big Book.

I would be tossing & turning, mind going 100 miles an hour, and after reading The Big Book for about 20 mins I drop right off.

Not sure if it gives me peace and serenity or just bores me to death but it works for me.

All the best.

Bob R

EternalQ

However, I did suffer from insomnia for a couple months when quitting. At first every night, then sporadically. But it gets better.
This past week I dropped off at ten! I could never sleep before midnight before, even when i drank!

MycoolFitz

Well I think it is just not the drinking. I have suffered much of my life and so have half of my family. So things can not be summed up around drinkiing always.

BigBluef250

Call me a black sheep....

My problem was with drinking beer and hard booze. I will still take NyQuil or ZzzQuil, I know the contain a little booze, but like I said...I never went out craving NyQuil.

Use the medication as it is intended to be used and continue to work on your program. I have also found that Melatonin works for me, but you have to be ready for sleep.

BB

Db1105

To answer your question, NO.

shaun00

If you are concerned enough to post it here, is that not a good indication you are doing something risky ?...your mind knows it ?

FFW and only my opinion .........dump it .

cfm

Nyquil is 40% booze, you know what to do

Justfor1

Lack of sleep can be a trigger for me to relapse on alcohol. So for me, I take addictive benzo type drugs on occasion. It is the only thing that helps. Although I'm always on my Dr. about raising my dose although she says that she can't.

DoubleBarrel

Your question is, as an alcoholic, would you take a shot to combat insomnia.

Would you take an 80 proof shot of whiskey, add a shot of water, and drink that?

SAME THING.

Spirit08

see a psychiatrist. i take trazadne to help me sleep and it helps with my PTSD nightmares

BigBluef250

Maybe you must have some NyQuil from long ago. Current NyQuil or a Generic equivalent only contains about 10% alcohol.

BB

onlythetruth

Yep. So it's the equivalent of drinking sherry wine instead of whiskey.

My feeling is, if you wouldn't drink it in a beverage, you shouldn't drink it in a medicine.

bloss

No, I think it would trigger an urge to drink and then I'd be back to square one.

bbthumper

Should a recovered cocaine addict sniff just 10% of a line of coke if he needs to wake up a bit? I dont see a difference. Why mess around with something that is poison to you?