StroppyChops wrote:Thanks SQUF, but not my thing. If I ever get glaucoma (or a hint of pink eye) you'll be the man!

Thanks potty, we use that pharmacy on Sihanouk so I'll ask about it next time i'm there. Never thought to haggle with them, though.

That's cool, respect. Let us all know if you do end up picking up some melatonin ( spelling?) for sleep. I want to know how it works.

Will do.

I note that no-one has suggested taking Rohypnol [ Flunitrazepam ]. Commonly known as a date rape drug. Perhaps everyone is scared of being raped by one of those sexy air hostesses in the toilets on board the plane.

Don't quote me, not sure you can buy that over the counter Duncan.

Rain Dog wrote:Melatonin will do in a pinch but it is basically a hormone that smooths out your circadian rhythms. Great for insomnia due to jet leg or irregular sleep patterns. May not work as well for other sleep issues. I personally found it effective for inducing sleep but never found I got great quality sleep using it.

I personally prefer herbal remedies where possible although they may not always be strong enough if you have hard core insomnia issues.

At the mildest chamomile, lavender extract, and lemon balm all have sleeping benefits.

My choice is Valerian root. One or two 500mg capsules about an hour before sleeping always works for me. Readily available and not that expensive. The only Caveat is that it has very mild psychoactive properties which can make your dreams much more vivid. I like the effect, but if you are prone to nightmares or night terrors it might be better avoided.

Will add more to pharmacuetical angle later as that is my current interest as drugs have immediate strong effect, unlike herbs which tend to work as a nudge and long-term.

In my experience melatonin does help but has a strange side effect on me. And for a buddy's sister, so it's not just me. Loss of short term memory.

As regards herbal remedies, I find two things useful - kava (piper methysticum) and scullcap (scutileria lateriflora). *

In fact, I am drinking my last bit of Samoan kava right now (picked up at a kava hut run by a Fijian devotee of Sathya Sai Baba in Honolulu). Usually I drink Fijian because it's cheaper, and Vanuatu is primo. Make sure you get lateral root. Illegal in some countries. I rarely get stoned. But it is a plant not a chemical so potency cannot easily be measured or controlled, so once I did get the numb face, blurry vision and stumbled. Once in four years. Typically I just relax. Fall asleep easier.

Don't bother even trying to source in Cambodia. Not only is it part of the South Seas traditions (a men's thing, by custom no women were allowed to drink it - it's for peacemaking and negotiations) it would cost something like a hundred dollars a pound here. In California it can be had for $25 a pound. Forget isolated kavalactones or other variations. Buy the real thing. Start with a teaspoon. Over time, move up to two tablespoons or even three if it agrees with you. Soak it in water. Squeeze in a cheesecloth. Drink. Only downside I notice is that it raises my blood pressure. Not to be mixed with alcohol or psychiatric drugs, especially IMO inhibitors or whatever that class of anti-depressives is called.

Show it respect.

What I like about it is that unlike with alcohol I don't say or do foolish things while using it. No hangover. Well not exactly, I do feel a little odd the next morning compared to simple sleep hygiene routine. Scientific research is mixed on its liver toxicity. That's a whole subject in itself.

But what I like better is Scullcap. Left my tincture in Malaysia. At the risk of sounding New Agey - it resonates with me. And it helps me fall asleep. With no altered state of consciousness. Kava does affect the mind, albeit much less than alcohol and cannabis. It is supposed to be an anaphrodisiac, however I find it has the same effect as a quarter glass of wine. Hey, it *relaxes*. Too much counter-productive. But its use is intended for when you are alone or with other men socially.

BTW, kava is being encouraged by Christian missionaries because when drunk, even over-used, its users don't get violent. It's a peace drug of a very mild kind. Booze and beer don't help my insomnia - alcohol just makes me a drunk insomniac. Plus, as a middle-age man I can't seem to metabolize it anymore. One drink and I feel less vital. It's not a discipline, alcohol just doesn't agree with me anymore.

I tried home-made tinctures of three other herbs, including lemon balm, passion flower and valerian. Valerian somehow disturbs me. Firstly, I have a strongly negative emotional olfactory memory of the stuff - think rotten dog shit corpse garbage. Or Phsar Domgkor. Handling the tincture you wear a CDC Ebola suit. And the time I added some valerian to my moustache and a cockroach woke me from a creepy dream. It's like, what, herbal witchcraft. Aghora medicine if native American Indians had left-hand tantric herbalists. Nasty, nasty, stuff. Makes resiny patcholi seem sweet and innocent.


* Note about scullcap: For those interested in trying scullcap as a sleep aid or whatever, I may return with my own artisinal (i.e. home-made) scullcap stash. I made about 2 liters of the stuff - tincture. Double tincture in fact. You can't buy this stuff. And if you did it would cost thousands. You make a tincture by soaking the plant material in vodka (or in my case high proof rum), then after a round of two months, you toss the plant material and voila you have the tincture. But mad scientist that I am, I added more plant material to the tincture, using the tincture instead of alcohol for a doubly potent tincture. Making your own tinctures takes months but it is a lot cheaper than buying and you know exactly what went into the product. I used organic scullcap arial parts from a reputable supplier in Oregon, USA. Also, in my case I have an emotional attachment and appreciation - hey, nature and me made this medicine!

^ interesting post Georgina.

Stroppy,

Suggestions are fine for your dilemma. There are too many synthesized drugs out there.

If I could give you my best advice ... I would have to give you this. Pay attention and read thoroughly and carefully.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-cond ... n-20024293

They only very occasionally take you on if you are severe, but you take experimental shit that I would not take unless you discomfort is beyond what you can bear.

Best

Duncan wrote:I note that no-one has suggested taking Rohypnol [ Flunitrazepam ]. Commonly known as a date rape drug. Perhaps everyone is scared of being raped by one of those sexy air hostesses in the toilets on board the plane.

Planned on giving my list of impressions, but since you mentioned it...

I suspect that the 'date rape' reputation is fiction from yellow journalists. I used it for about a year (two?) and I no one could have sexually assaulted me while I slept. Makes no sense to me except in the sense of 'I didn't know it was rape until the cheque bounced'.

I had anxiety-induced insomnia in the 1980s and 1990s probably aggravated by a brain trauma and restless-leg syndrome. While living in the pharmacological candy store of Phnom Penh in the early to mid 90s it was not difficult to get Rohypnol. I found it very effective for allowing me to fall asleep. However, I was as dull as molasses waking up. Took me about an hour to feel fully conscious. Now I have tinnitus, which I suspect may be the result of this drug (oxotoxicity), although combined with aging and aggravated by an audio trauma. So, I can't blame my excursions into medical and recreational drug use as the entire cause.

Some years ago, probably due to bad press, it was no longer available in PNH and I moved onto its inheritor of the mantle of sleeping like concrete - Rivotril (Clonazepam).

Last time I tried Rivotril was in a liquid version sold by a pharmacy in Kompang Cham in 2010. Same effects as the pill. I slept through my apartment being robbed using this drug. Then some emergency stash of the European pills that bought here in 2013 which I used peiodically. I tossed the strip not wanting to cross a border with it without a prescription.

But after several weeks here now of staying up til dawn, then sleeping most of the day, i.e. being totally non-productive, I am thinking to get some again (I have virtually no kava left, my mainstay).

However, I was shocked at the current price. $1.70->$2 a pill for 2 mg! Indonesian generics no longer available. The original used to be available much cheaper. As I recall .50 mg was enough until tolerance builds up. Dividing a pill into four will not be efficient. No 1 mg available. Was there ever? And many shops don't carry it, looking at me like I am a big pharma inspector or journalist.

What else have I tried that works?

Oxycodone: Yummy opiod, but the devil's handmaiden. Had family access for several years. Makes Tylenol-3 seem like baby stuff. I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT. Sleep is not real sleep. Kills pain, physical and emotional. Better to deal with it. But I didn't, and instead used it at length. But it seems I never became addicted. Don't know if it is just me or the fact that i used it not every night and in small doses. A friend in the RP was addicted to this stuff (he powdered it so it became non time release, i.e. oxycontin) and it was horribly difficult getting off. Hillbilly heroin indeed. My mother was addicted to this and after two decades on prescription opiods it took 2-3 weeks of watching her jump and scream and go crazy she got clean. Was it a factor in her becoming demented, or did *stopping* it cold turkey after some tapering, do it? I was lucky. Use it regularly and you risk becoming a junkie. A buddy of mine died in BEAUTY HOTEL on Sihanouk from an overdose of methadone to control his heroin habit, so while I haven't been precisely on the inside opiods have effected my life. I would reserve opiods for serious situations like broken bones, not heart break.

Ativan: Used once or twice. Effective.

Halcion: Scary stuff. Short term memory loss one, like that part of my life (three hours) never happened.

Codeine: Not your digestive system's friend. Dangerous constapation. Nice opiod 'high' though.

^ another considerable contribution Georgina - thanks.

i like the way opium is described as dangerous here along with all these other benign and harmless pharma products.
more addictive than heroin?
wow, glad i learned that expert knowledge.

and yes, a reliable and discrete source would be welcome.