Sleep...perchance to dream.

[goldfinch]

I generally am not afraid of experimenting even with pain killers and sleep aids as I do not seem to lean towards addictions. I suffer from sleep apnea. When I had to start using the CPAP machine I simply could not sleep with it. I tried ambien, which worked perfectly fine but made me concerned because of the risk of getting up and doing things in your sleep. I would only use it if I had a light sleeping spouse who would notice if I arose and started doing stuff.

I then went to benzodiazepines, really antianxiety drugs, specifically Atavan. As you mentioned, there is a dependency risk and you have to use care with dosing. It worked great for me. It got me through the few weeks it took to adapt to the machine. I got along with a very low dose. I had no problem whatsoever dropping the pills when I didn't need them anymore.

I know, not natural, but I wanted to give an alternative point of view. And natural isn't necessarily natural, these remedies you ingest aren't food after all. They are drugs, whether regulated or unregulated as supplements.

(As an aside, I know someone in California who has serious sleep issues due to pain and after trying various cocktails of drugs he got a prescription for marijuana and it worked great for him. I probably would be too worried about the federal crime to try it though. )

Just another point of view.