“S” Sleep

Sleep — The "S" in S.H.I.N.E.

Getting a good night’s sleep requires that your sleep center (called the hypothalamus) has enough energy to function properly. This is why people often get insomnia when they are stressed or exhausted. In this setting, the natural remedies below are usually enough to get you sleeping.

When the energy crisis becomes more severe and people "blow a fuse," as occurs with CFS and fibromyalgia, people find that they are unable to get 7-8 hours of deep sleep a night without taking medications as well. In part, this occurs because hypothalamic function is critical to deep sleep. Unfortunately, many of the most common sleep medications actually aggravate the sleep problems by decreasing the amount of time spent in deep sleep. For patients to get well, it is critical that they take enough of the correct sleep medications to get 8 to 9 hours sleep at night! These medications include Ambien, Desyrel, Klonopin, Neurontin and, if you don’t have Restless Leg Syndrome, Flexeril and/or Elavil. Some patients find that over-the-counter antihistamines such as doxylamine (Unisom for sleep) or Benadryl can also help.

Natural Remedies for a Great Night’s Sleep

For regular insomnia, natural sleep remedies are usually enough to get you sleeping soundly. Other natural sleep aids include calcium (500 mg), magnesium (200 mg), Lavendar oil and melatonin (3/10-1 mg) taken at bedtime.

For those with CFS and fibromyalgia, which represents a severe sleep disorder, it is not uncommon to sometimes need to take even six to eight different natural and prescription sleep products simultaneously to get 8 hours of sleep at night. After 6-18 months of feeling well, most people can come off of most sleep (and other) medications.