Do any of you have any experience with taking Valerian for insomnia?

I went through a period of time where I was an emotional wreck to the 10th degree and I took Valerian root extract to calm my nerves and also to finally get some sleep after 4 days of no sleep. It was very effective for both calming my nerves and assisting in getting some sleep. That was many years back.

A few years back I stopped drinking and took Valerian capsules to help fall asleep and fortunately after 2 weeks I did not need to take the herb anymore.

If you do take it…be prepared to be introduced to a very vile tasting icky smelling herb. The extract though incredibly vile to take had a very immediate effect which back then I needed. The capsules allow you to take the herb without having to taste it in your mouth.

I did find a link with a list of potential side effects and another link that has some excellent suggestions for other sleep aid remedies.

Do you drink a lot of water even before bed? If I drink something before bed I will need to urinate in the middle of the night. However my body will fight the urge to get up and out of bed and I will not sleep soundly until I do it.
In general I do not eat anything 3 hours before bed time and don’t drink anything within 2 hours. Before I get into bed I take a quick warm shower where I also pee and brush my teeth. I hit the sheets all clean and fresh.

By the way, there is a 100% correlation between me having a bad dream/nightmare and eating cheddar cheese before bed. Have you noticed any similar correlations?

I have very good luck with an herbal combination product that includes valerian along with several other things all of which were fine to take. It is Calms Forte.

I don’t know much about the drug you asked about, but I agree with @LuckyGuy don’t drink before bed. Also, if you have cut down on salt, the liquids are more likely to go right through you.

Also, get your thyroid checked next time your at the doctor if it hasn’t been checked. I read that 25% of women have thyroid problems after age 45. I don’t think that’s your problem, but I think it’s worth checking since it’s so common and linked to sleep. I think it should be standard for menopausal women to check it at least every three years when they do a Pap smear. I think pap smears should be every year, but they have changed some parameters I think.

Make sure your feet and hands are warm enough. It’s been studied that people fall asleep once their feet and hands reach core body temp. Often, our extremities are colder, especially women.

Do you have trouble falling asleep? Or, staying asleep?

By the way, when I suggested not drinking, I meant not drinking anything – even water. On average, the typical human produces urine at the rate of 1 ml /kg / hr. Your micturation point can be anywhere from 200ml to 750ml. If you drink a big glass of water before bed, in 3 hours your bladder can start sending you messages to get up and void. Most people don’t sleep well under those conditions. Why risk it? Eat dinner at 5–6 pm and go to bed at 9–10 like your parents told you.

And “no” you may not have a glass of water.

I personally just need to stop drinking about 1.5 hours before and make sure I go to the bathroom before bed. Another trick with that is make sure you drink enough liquid early in the evening so your body won’t need more.

Great reminder from @LuckyGuy. I usually stop drinking about three hours before bed, except for an occasional sip if I’m thirsty. I also make sure I go to the bathroom one extra time before bed, to make sure the bladder is totally as empty as possible.

Thanks everybody. Yes @LuckyGuy , I drink lots of water, including at night. I guess I shall stop drinking water 3 hours or so before bedtime for now and see how that goes, because I usually do have to get up.

I do get nightmares, when I’ve eaten spicy food right before I go to bed. Oddly enough, I used to get nightmares all the time, for about 4 years straight. I chalk that up to the peri-menopause kicking in too, before that, I didn’t have them, although the nightmares seem to have almost stopped now. I’ve never had happy dreams, in my whole life, just weird, or boring stuff. Nothing that I would place any meaning on.

So I’ll just say no to food and water, after say 7 pm. We’ll see how that goes.

@JLeslie I was diagnosed about 6 years ago with low thyroid, for which I’ve taken medication since then. I get my blood tested fairly regularly, but the doctor has never had any kind of a discussion with me about it. He just sends me to get tested and that’s it. The meds and the dosage have stayed the same.

My doctor just left the clinic, to go work for the urgent care facility. I will be getting (choosing) a new doctor soon. Hopefully this new one will be more interested in talking with me.

@marinelife and @Cruiser Thanks, I think I shall give the valerian a try.

@Kardamom I would try the no drinking liquids late at night first.

You might be slightly over medicated and it wakes you up. Do you watch your thyroid numbers to see if your TSH is very low, or trended down over time? You would want to see if your T4 and T3 are trending up too. If you aren’t very low or high in the right places you might have to look way back at test results for when the sleeping problem started. Or, if you are simply at the edges of normal you could try taking only a half a pill on Sunday to slow your body down a smidge. That’s assuming you take the same dose every day. Only do it with your doctor of course. Next time you get a blood test you could discuss it.

Do you have any of your old lab work? Do you have any other signs of being over medicated? Thinning or dry hair, dry eyes, low blood pressure (might just be lowish for you) pounding heart or high pulse rate, hungry all the time, just to name a few.

Edit: If your dose for thyroid is more than 75 mcg daily of Synthroid (or equivalent) splitting a pill one day is not a good solution, it’s better to be prescribed the next lower dose once a week.

Mathematically think mcg per week. If you take 100 daily, half a pill is 50 mcg less per week or about 7 mcg per day. That can move your number significantly, possibly too much.

Whatever you do, if the doctor agrees to change your dose a little, make sure you get a blood test no later than 8 weeks after changing to see where you are at. I think it’s better to do it at 4 weeks to have the opportunity to adjust if necessary, and then again at 8 weeks to see how you stabilize.

Extra information: the half life of Synthroid is 6–7 days so calculating per week is logical, while for other drugs it would be different.