As some of you will know I see a shrink. I have quite severe sleeping problems and associated heightened mood. I hope I haven't now painted myself out as a loon.

I'm about to start taking quetiapine again. I didn't quite give this drug a proper go, it is highly sedating. It almost feels like you're in a sort of unpleasurable high when you're on it. There is no magic pill for insomnia, however I think this will work.

I noticed though that in the short term it's possible to develop something called neurological malignant disorder. This can be fatal. It's also possible to develop something called tardive dyskinesia, which is basically an incurable twitch.

So how do you rate cannabis as a sleep aid? Cannabis hasn't killed anyone, cannabis will not lead to the development of a fatal neurological disorder.

For me, cannabis used to knock me straight out if I smoked a large amount. At this point in my life though, smoking keeps me awake for at least an hour and a half before I can even think about sleeping. None of my friends are like this though, they can sleep while high.

I would say that if cannabis can help you sleep without the dangers associated with quetiapine and other sedatives, you should use it. From the earth is always better than from a lab in my opinion.

Cannabis definitely aids my ability to get to sleep, but the problem with it is that you can become reliant on it to get you to sleep to the point that you 'forget' how to attain sleep naturally. Fine if you can guarantee you'll always have herb, but not so good if you run out (the same is true, but more so, with alcohol since large quantities of that don't so much put you to sleep as induce unconsciousness). Maybe you could try a different medication if that's the path to take, I find the carbamazepine I'm on makes it a lot easier to get to sleep most of the time. I've experienced tardive dyskinesia with some of the other antipsychotics I've been on, and in one case (depixol) I experienced tardive akathisia, internal tension to the point where I couldn't sit still, read, even watch TV cos I couldn't concentrate, that was absolutely hellish, like being tortured. I think that kind of extreme side effect is fairly rare with the newer antipsychotics though.

interesting. I think I can just see myself drinking more and more alcohol to get myself to sleep which is definately not a good idea. I used to weigh 10 stone, I now weigh almost 15 and drinking alcohol just doesn't seem to have much of an effect anymore unless I drink about 8-10pints. I've had about 5 this evening. Is such a tolerance generally the same with cannabis?

Boojoom do you like murphy's? It's only £5 for eight cans in Asda, beats that value stuff.

Be careful with that. It's one of the reasons I've ended up an alcoholic, cos I drank to get myself to sleep & just kept drinking more and more every night. Two four packs became three four packs became three bottles of wine became 4 bottles of wine became a couple of 4 packs and a bottle of vodka. Obviously there were other reasons too, but I was mostly convincing myself it was to 'help me sleep' - it's a slippery slope, and once you get too far down it there's no going back.

Sorry, don't mean to preach.

I kinda find I don't get a too much of a tolerance with herb. If I go a while without then a spliff will muller me, obviously, then when I'm toking all the time my tolerance goes back up again for a week or two, but then it levels off ata kinda plateau, this amount of herb will get me this stoned whether I've been toking a bit or caning it for weeks. My alcohol tolerance on the other hand just keeps going up, takes about 6pints for meto even feel like I'vehad a drink nowadays. I can comfortably do a bottle of vodka in a couple of hours whereas a decade ago I doubt I'd have been able to finish a bottle in an evening without throwing up.

Sleep! Those whose sleep is good and uninterrupted have no idea how valuable that is!
Hope you find a way M8. Its a bugger going without decent kip.

I rely on a good smoke to sleep but I need to take other meds as well. I had a fairly serious accident and due to pain plus psychological reasons a good nights sleep might last three hours if i was lucky. I'm now prescribed a low dose of Amilitriptyline which admittedly works very well but a tolerance to it builds quickly and the dose needs to be increased to remain effective. I'm aware of the negative side to this med so rather than increase my dose I skip a few which results in dodgy sleeping and a lot of smoking to compensate. Another member of my family has narcolepsy and what I deal with is nothing compared to their affliction. Hh.

morning !!!

my girlfriend (cleosizzles) has suffered with insomnia for around four years .tbh weed dosent really help her .but saying that she had temazipam from our gp and they didnt do much either .. personally i find weed stimulates my mind which dosent help me sleep

she does have one sleep aid that works well ... pm me for more details !!!!

peppi

Maybe some strains are better to aid sleep than others, for me a good indica will help me to get off to sleep. Physical exercise during the day also helps, if you dont want to break out in a sweat or can't exercise just getting out for a walk/sit in the fresh air can help too. My doc has been telling me for years to take up some form of exercise to help me with sleep and it releases endorphins and can lift the mood too.

Relaxation tapes or some form of meditation can be really helpful too. They have really helped me in the past.

Hope you find something to help, cos as arnie says unbroken or little sleep is pretty awful to cope with long term.

couldnt agree more EO..........................................

cleo has suffered insomnia for 4 years now .

dont know how she does it tbh i would have gone ga ga a long time ago !!!!!!

peppi

I've heard of a lot of sleeping pills though?

I was on Zolpidem for a while, then i ended up hallucinating on it. Dumped it from then.

Oh yeah, Canna definetly helps me sleep, a good strong Indica, and im out, I've had a joint and immediately gone to sleep, very blissful sleep too.

Woke up fresh the next morning. Try a strong Indica if you can.

But i guess it differs from person to person, just becareful not to use it everytime you need to sleep.

Snake, is Zolpidem the same as zoplicone (I think) back in the day jumped out me bed room window, at me mam's house aprently

i've used cannabis all my (long) life to get to sleep. first when i was working a very anti social shift system, then later to replace the booze that i was coming to rely on, now just because i do.
like was sez tho you've got to have a constant supply and an indica that has been left out to degrade from THC to CBN would be more soporific. maybe only smoke that variey at night and find something lighter for your smoking pleasure.
sorry you're unwell, hope this helps.

I often have alot of trouble sleeping due to psychological factors. There will be weeks where I just stare at the ceiling until its time to shower for school. I'm lucky if I manage a couple of hours every other day.

Cannabis has helped alot, but I found it even more effective when combined with a few over the counter sleep aids. I like the recommended doses of Melatonin and Valerian Root (I'm not usually a fan of the herbal aisle at the store, but Valerian Root actually seems to work). They kick in after a half hour and seem best when timed with the beginning of the "come-down" phase of a cannabis high. They aren't by any means immobilizing, but they make sleep an option for me and keep me in a deep sleep for at least 5-6 hours.

The "hangover" effects of his combination can be counteracted by taking a multi-vitamin and some green tea before bed (I take all the pills simultaneously and wash them down with the tea). Green tea has a little caffeine, but far less than black tea or coffee. The B-vitamins in the multi can also give a little unwanted energy, but again this is minor and does not seem to compete at all with the sedative effects of everything else.

I usually wake up refreshed with this combo although I now get VERY intense dreams almost every night. Usually they're unpleasant, but I think this negativity is due to my own depression rather than a result of what I'm using. A week ago a dream ended with someone pulling the pin on a hand grenade. I now have a nasty bruise from when I actually jumped out of bed to escape before it went off. I was actually glad to be sleeping alone that morning. A small wake'n'bake bowl straightened everything out and let me get a good laugh out of the "grenade."

cannabis is the only thing that will get me to sleep, but I don't smoke as much in the daytime as I used to because I have so little herb. If you smoke a lot in the daytime you'll need a lot to get you to sleep and then more and more- just like boojum said. So it works for me but if you smoke more than I do, it may not.

btw boojum that is some tolerance for alcohol!

Second post, just reading up on the medi uses for herb. I've noticed that it definitely helps with my sleep since I have problems with that myself. For instance right now it is 3:20 in the morning and I am not sleeping. I just don't have the urge and as soon as I hit they pillow I might drift off. Know that I have just had maybe four pints and a couple of "actual" cocktails.

I'm interested in seeing if I can do something with smoking before I go to bed and doing a sort of experiment in which I would end up being able to go to sleep without it.

Building a dependency on it would only infer that weed has a bad characteristic to it and want to disprove that notion if only for the sake of others here on the site along with me and my close ones.

as enigmatic one says...if it's possible then get out for exercise(a walk or cycle) or best of all ' swimming can help you get to sleep and give your brain a release of endorphins which makes you feel better about yourself! (also balances out the unhealthy smoking we all do ).
i started smoking it years ago after an accident and it helped me sleep but after years of it i find gettin to sleep without it hard so best not to start using it all the time for sleeping.

Hot milk before bedtime perhaps? Exercise in the afternoon to tire ya out. And dont eat meals late at night.

Cannabis as a sleep aid, maybe but its subjective. I found that a good mazar joint knocked me out easy. I also find that the soporific effects of cannabis are amplified when it is taken internally (ie brownies) instead of smoking.

Good luck getting some shuteye.

i think shiva is a good strain to help ya sleep

have you tried eating it soto ? personally i find it works much better for pain relief and as a sleep aid than smoking it.

Smoke sum strong indica like black domina!I've been smokin weed for at least 10 yrs off and on and constantly for the last 7yrs and its the only thing that gives me a proper kip.Tried sleeping tabs but your tolerence just builds and builds!I'm on strong pain killers for scoliosis of the spine and whish i never took em at all! with which im dependant on them and when not taken it affects my ability to get stoned and sleep!but when taken i feel "normal"and get the right effect from the weed which helps alot and with the right smoke u will enjoy a good nights sleep too!Its crap not sleeping proper i feel for yer man!.LGI

i started smoking because of my insomnia, it gets so bad now that if i dont get enough sleep i start loosing the plot in a big way, feeling like my brain has been sandblasted, seeing and hearing things etc. im keeping my consumption to a minimum [or failing to, theres nothing better than a good relaxing bong after a ten+ mile walk] and i've been sleeping well. i feel tons better because of it but im finding that as my tolerance to the weed has grown the waking up problem [i wake up a lot during sleep] is starting to return. im having to smoke larger ammounts to get the desired effect but im not worried about it, i enjoy the process of self medication. it beats the crappy pills the doctor gave me [diazepam or temazepam, i cant recall as it was a while ago] which didnt help me sleep and made me feel fucking awfull at the time, even worse the next day.

it's totally wrong that i am now a criminal for growing a simple plant for myself [with no intention of dealing] that is helping me get some much needed sleep and alowing me to stay [moderatley] sane.

i've only grown lowryder 2 so far, its meant to be weak, shitty weed with a poor yield per plant but i've found it to be just the thing.