Cyproheptadine For Insomnia

[metabolizm]

I've been sleeping terribly for the past few weeks, and someone suggested I try cyproheptadine. Is that likely to help with sleep? What dosage would be appropriate, and when would be best to take it?

 

[alephx]

Hello, I'm not personally acquainted with cyproheptadine but I've used doxylamine succinate (also a first gen anti-histamine) and seen very positive results. Just would recommend that you use it at a much lower dosage than usual (the pack says to take 2 pill I believe) I take 1 quarter, maybe half. It does cause some dizzyness next morning but I have found even for my skin it does wonders. I'm very fair skinned and my nose was chronically red from sun and PUFAS almost since teenage years. Upon taking the doxylamine I have restored a lot of its natural condition, my skin there had become waxy and prone to inflammation but now it seems to have recovered its health. Only concern I have is this kind of drug is hard on the liver.

Before trying it out, I would also suggest trying magnesium (I take chloride; take in morning before food) and gelatine (5 min before going to sleep in juice or eat something with some sugar). This two can be very powerful in recovering your metabolism and natural sleep, plus being very relaxing.

Edit: quick hack if you are still awake, have warm milk with some sugar and a sprinkle of salt. However the milk due to its protein type can have an opposite effect to that of gelatin and make things a bit worse.

 

[metabolizm]

@alephx Thank you for your advice. I've never had these problems before, so it's a bit of a shock, and nothing seems to be working.

 

[Ableton]

I did have insomnia as well and cypro helped in the beginning, because it basically „crashed“ me.
Then after a while the insomnia returned.
When I added aspirine (with dinner) and lowered my cypro dose to 0,5 mg (evening) is when I started sleeping really well.
Try aspirine first imo
Avoid screens before bed

 

[metabolizm]

@Ableton aspirin at what time and at what dose worked for you? Dissolved or just swallowed?

 

[yoshiesque]

Cypro never worked for my severe insomnia. Tried 1mg up to 4mg. Think I tried 8mg and shat myself. I dunno why seems to. Do nothing to. Mr

 

[metabolizm]

Cypro never worked for my severe insomnia. Tried 1mg up to 4mg. Think I tried 8mg and shat myself. I dunno why seems to. Do nothing to. Mr

What did work?

 

[jyb]

I've been sleeping terribly for the past few weeks, and someone suggested I try cyproheptadine. Is that likely to help with sleep? What dosage would be appropriate, and when would be best to take it?

cyproheptadine can be helpful for a sleep reset. It is not always practical to take because it can make you drowsy and low energy/mood the next day, but it can be an emergency solution when nothing else works. Starting dose 0.5mg is better to reduce the next day side effects. Side effects reduce in severity over time.

 

[Arnold Grape]

This is prob all n=1, but I would start with .5 Cyproheptadine at dinner or mid-afternoon, when you can eat at least 1-2 meals or snacks before bed. (As someone suggested otc doxylamine will have a similar effect in small doses.) When I have taken Cyproheptadine without food it did seem to mess me up the next day., where I felt short of breath on occasion. The sleep riddle remains unsolved by me, but it sounds like you might be stressed with what’s up in the world right now? Aim for good food and try to get sunlight in the day.

 

[Risingfire]

Do you have adrenaline issues?

 

[methylenewhite]

Use only if you're ok with getting fat.

 

[mrchibbs]

Aspirin may be a better choice than cypro for your purposes. Dissolved in water with baking soda and adding glycine too, makes it a very relaxing drink.
Also, try increasing your sugar during the day/evening , and maybe taking casein before bed to give your body a nice supply of amino acids throughout the night.

Use only if you're ok with getting fat.

Not true. It increases your appetite, not water retention.
I have not gained any weight while I was on it (several months)

If your metabolism is good, and you are intelligent with its use then it will cause no issues.

The problem with cypro (and it's a good problem I guess) is that its really effective at abolishing stress hormones (histamine, cortisol etc.)
but within a few days it's not going to ''knock you out'' as much but you'll probably still wake up feeling absolutely lethargic (because your morning cortisol will be non-existent).

Cypro is not a miracle cure, and for most people it should be seen as a short term therapy to help with recovery.
If you have nothing to do and you can afford to do nothing all day, and you are stressed and want to recover, then cypro is a good choice.

Otherwise, aspirin is the best choice, for daily use.

 

[Arnold Grape]

If you have nothing to do and you can afford to do nothing all day, and you are stressed and want to recover, then cypro is a good choice.

Lol — this: work productively went to approximately zero.

 

[Ableton]

@Ableton aspirin at what time and at what dose worked for you? Dissolved or just swallowed?

325 mg with dinner like 1 h before sleep

 

[redsun]

Not true. It increases your appetite, not water retention.
I have not gained any weight while I was on it (several months)

If your metabolism is good, and you are intelligent with itsthen it will cause no issues.

It increases the appetite by dysregulating appetite control in the brain. Consequently, if you answer this appetite you are not answering true caloric needs but eating beyond what you need. Lot of people on here getting fat from cypro because of this so it needs to be stated that yes you will get fat from it if caloric intake exceeds requirements (applies always regardless) because of the appetite for food is increased. Maybe you are an exception to this, but you know what they say about exceptions...

Not saying you will automatically get fat from it but if you follow the increased appetite you will eventually start packing on pounds. If you keep calories controlled you won't. But good luck with that as most people don't have that kind of willpower.

 

[mrchibbs]

Lol — this: work productively went to approximately zero.

Hahaha for me too, I could not believe how dumb and lethargic I became.

 

[mrchibbs]

It increases the appetite by dysregulating appetite control in the brain. Consequently, if you answer this appetite you are not answering true caloric needs but eating beyond what you need. Lot of people on here getting fat from cypro because of this so it needs to be stated that yes you will get fat from it if caloric intake exceeds requirements (applies always regardless) because of the appetite for food is increased. Maybe you are an exception to this, but you know what they say about exceptions...

Not saying you will automatically get fat from it but if you follow the increased appetite you will eventually start packing on pounds. If you keep calories controlled you won't. But good luck with that as most people don't have that kind of willpower.

I think we're basically saying the same things, to me it's clear that it's not a forgone conclusion that it makes you fatter. I ate more (maybe?) but didn't gain any weight on cypro. Many others have attested to this. I was a bit farther in my recovery than others potentially, and made sure not to eat too much fat during the day.

Context matters it, cypro does not systemically result in weight gain, far from it. Plus, I'd bet that cypro, by lowering stress hormones, is revealing the true caloric requirement of the stressed individual.

 

[jyb]

Context matters it, cypro does not systemically result in weight gain, far from it.

Funny I never noticed appetite or weight increase using 30+mg/day. Mirtazapine has similar use as sleep aid and is also said to cause weight gain.

 

[mrchibbs]

Funny I never noticed appetite or weight increase using 30+mg/day. Mirtazapine has similar use as sleep aid and is also said to cause weight gain.

Wow...30mg a day! That sounds dangerous to be frank. The highest dosage I've seen in the literature was 16mg a day. And that was a paper from the early 80s. I think the marginal benefits of increasing the dose past that point would me small indeed.

Anyway your anecdote shows how the concerns of weight gain are overblown. As I stated above, I think all that is happening is that cypro lowers the stress hormones so much that your parasympathetic takes over and you want to eat more, which is a good thing, if you do it intelligently and your metabolism is not too low.

 

[Summer]

Does cyproheptadine negatively affect memory in the way that OTCs like Benadryl have been proven to do?