Has anyone used nyquil as a temporary/long term sleep aid?

No, never. I have never taken Nyquil. One reason I haven’t is because people are so enamoured with its’ ability to induce sleep. Seemed addictive to me.

I only ever use Nyquil when I have my once yearly cold(maybe twice but no more than that). I would not advise the use of it as a sleep aid as that is not what it is made for. Not to mention it contains alcohol, so I would think that makes it more of a um ‘pass out drunk’(for lack of a better phrase) inducer.

Also, personally that stuff never effects my sleepiness. Last cold I was forced to use the nasty stuff for, back in January, I felt like it did not do too much. I still coughed myself to sleep, and felt like I slept way lighter than usual. I could never remember dreaming and I am usually one who does.

3 doses, wtf. Are you trying to overdose?

I did for a couple days when I was having trouble sleeping. I cant imagine its a good thing to use long term though

I’ve abused the hell out of Nyquil to the point where it wont affect me unless I finish the entire bottle.
And even with the entire bottle, I still don’t sleep through the night.

Basically, don’t try and rely on it.

@Afos22 In fact I have tried to overdose on it before in life, and found that I can survive more than eight doses.

Anyone have suggestions for a legit sleep aid, preferably cheap, and not addictive?

Marijuana

I only use it when I have a cold, but I need to suggest that you should see your doctor to rule out any medical issue before you self-medicate.

It’s not hard to build a tolerance for Nyquil and I’ve found that if I stay awake through the knock-out effect of the alcohol, I can’t sleep at all because the other ingredients prevent sleep.

Tylenol PM works better, but it’s basically Benedryl and it loses effect too. Melatonin might help.

Really, the best sleep aid I’ve found is an evening run or walk followed by trying to do math homework.

I’m with @uberbatman on this one. Regular exercise is very helpful too. Sleeping aides help for a while, but they do become addictive and eventually lose their effectiveness.

get yourself some melatonin. quit drinking nyquil, it doesn’t help you get restorative sleep, and the more you abuse it the harder time you’ll have sleeping without it.

@jonsblond I have been actively working out every day and it is not helping. I just lay in bed sore too.

@tedd I’m guessing stress is keeping you up at night if exercise isn’t helping. OTC pills and night time medicine will not help. You should see a doctor.

As @Blueroses mentioned, you could try Benadryl or Melatonin. If neither of those work, you should talk to a doctor about it.

In response to Jonsblond; not to mention medications actually made to be sleep aids can have undesirable side effects. Lunesta for example is always advertising risk of being active during sleep without realizing and waking in a place you do not know how you got to.

Simply Sleep or Benadryl (same active ingredient), for short-term use. Much better knock out effect than Nyquil (which actually makes me hyper, for some reason). Melatonin might help, but it doesn’t always. For anything longer than a few days, see your doctor and get one of the newer classes of sleeping pills. They are non-addictive.

I would try meditating as well. Twice have I fell asleep during meditation, and my goodness, how fantastic I felt! I should try that tonight, in fact.

Nyquil is 25% alcohol, which makes it 50 proof.

I’m with most everyone else here – don’t use Nyquil to help you fall asleep. It’s a medication for colds and flu, which means it’s got all kinds of stuff in it that your body doesn’t need unless it’s sick. Self-medication is never a good idea, in my opinion.
See your doctor and get a recommendation for an herbal remedy or a non-addictive sleeping pill.

I’m also going to agree with @ZAGWRITER. Meditation is a great way to relax and help you fall asleep. Too bad I’m no good at meditation, so there are a couple of recordings I’ve used.
I have a guided meditation by Paul Scheele called “Deep Sleep Meditation”, and it really helps me when I can’t fall asleep. I rarely make it to the end before I’m out.
I’ve also used Dr. Jeffrey Thompson’s Delta Sleep System CDs. Not a guided meditation but music which supposedly helps stimulate your brain waves in a way that promotes deep sleep. I like this one as well, but my mind tends to wander so I prefer the guided meditation approach.

@tedd do you know why you are having trouble falling asleep? Are you stressed about something and your mind won’t stop? Or, just suddenly you can’t fall asleep when you used to? Have you accounted for the recent time change? Are you actually sleeping fewer hours? Or, just going to sleep later, and then waking up later? Or, if you use an alarm are you napping in the afternoon or sleeping a lot on weekends to make up the sleep loss?

Some things I have read about falling asleep. One, it has been found that people fall asleep when their extremities, hands and feet, get slightly warmer than their core, so make sure your feet aren’t cold this time of year. Two, most people fall asleep 20 minutes earlier than they would have if they did not take a sleeping pill. Just 20 minutes, so make sure you are giving yourself a chance to relax, and also don’t go to bed unless you are tired, don’t lay there restless.

If you are serious about being sore, you need to stretch after exercise.

@JLeslie I’m not going to get into the reasons I can’t sleep, if you feel the need you’re welcome to read my past posts. I’m dealing with said reasons but in the mean time I find myself unable to sleep, which in turn leads to me being tired all day, which just makes things worse.

Hey ted. Smoke a little cannabis. A lot of people seem to agree with @uberbatman on that one. It Will help

If you need a sleep aid, you should take one… not something like NyQuil that pairs the sleep-aid drug with a bunch of other things you don’t need, and which can be dangerous in large/repetitve doses. Tylenol/acetaminophen on its own is bad enough, but mixed with alcohol it can seriously damage your liver after just one high dose. Most (or all?) NyQuil has acetaminophen in it, and of course Tylenol PM does, too.

For OTC sleep meds, you could try taking a Benedryl-like medicine. The active ingredient, Diphenhydramine HCl is the exact same drug as many sleep aids, just rebranded, so you’re only taking one drug which has the effect you’re looking for. Don’t take a lot… just one or two.

If you can, I really think you should see a doctor and try to get a prescription sleep aid or something.

Try Benadryl. You could use Tylenol PM, but there is no need to add the acetaminophen unless you need it as well.

@tedd Iwas not asking you tell us why you might be stressed otu, which is what I am assuming is wrong, from what you wrote. If I am right, I think you should go to therapy so you can talk through some of your stress, rather than stew about it at night. I also think if you feel anxious, you should take a benzo like Xanax, rather than a sleep aide like Ambien. If my assumption are wrong about your situation then ignore my answer. Hope you find a solution that works for you. Not being able to sleep is horribly frustrating.

I advise anyone reading these answers to be very careful when someone advises you to use an illegal substance. Maybe they have been lucky so far, but you might not be. The penalties are severe.

I’ve been using it like mad on sunday nights due to recent work changes…the new boss is forcing everybody to show up at 8 a.m. sharp. I’m more used to getting to the office by 10 a.m. for the past several years to it’s a shock to my system and more out of habit, very hard to maintain. The biggest problem is that I lapse on Friday and Saturdays (usually sleeping 12 hrs straight during one of those evenings) and then being unable to sleep on Sunday.

The easiest solution is not to get into the habit of oversleeping in the first place…anyhow, nyquil seems to work wonders for insomnia but I can’t imagine that it can be any good in the long run (which brought me here).

I’ve heard about melatonin but not tried any of those pills yet.

As for yarnlady..that’s all well and good, but the TC is asking about nyquil and many of the options mentioned in this thread are completely legal.

@kentuckyfried I tried and have been using the melatonin. It doesn’t have the same “knock you the crap out” effect, but it does work. The biggest downside I’ve had is that it makes you dream more, and I have dreams I wish I didn’t… but it sounds like that wouldn’t be an issue for you.

Nyquil does make one drowsy, but I wouldn’t use it as a sleep aid in the long term. It contains a good dose of acetominophen, the stuff in Tylenol, and overusing can possibly hurt your liver. It’s better to use a natural sleep aid, like Calm Forte.

I use Nyquil as a sleep aid every night and have used it for about 5 years. It has lost it’s potency over the years and now I take about ¼ of the bottle each night and have done so for 2 years (which is about 9 big gulps right out of the bottle).

I buy the generic brand of Nyquil (I call it Ghettoquil) and it works the same and tastes WAYYY better than nyquil! (cherry flavor.. always cherry) because it’s costs so much less.

I go to the doctor every 3 months because I have ADHD, and everything is fine. They take my blood once a year and those tests are all fine…

The reason I take Nyquil is because it’s fast acting (knocked out in 30 mins) and I don’t feel groggy and hung over in the morning like sleep aid pills (which sometimes aren’t strong enough even) make me feel. Especially tylenol PM.

When I first started taking Nyquil to go to sleep I took about 3–4 big gulps out of the bottle, then lay in bed and wait reading. I have no idea how many doses that is, probably 10.

You can overdose on nyquil, that’s why they can only sell the stuff in those twin packs.. if you take more than that in 24 hours you’ll probably die… so I wouldn’t take more than 2 bottles. (The amount I drink each night makes me shutter so I can’t imagine ANYONE being able to accidentally drink too much of it)

Well, That is my experience. I hope it’s helpful.

Our bodies are made up of naturally healers. Some of which come from chemicals found it the brain. The way to release these chemicals is by having sex. Combined with the physical work out( of good sex) and emotional connection with partner causes are bodies to be at its peak. You should get some uses out of this chemical by allowing it to relax you entirely and allowing for a good nights sleep.