Over the Counter Natural Cures (13 page)

 

Withdrawal from sleep meds like Lunesta is primarily anxiety (like a panic attack) and resulting insomnia. As you try to stop taking the drug, your original insomnia is reinforced by withdrawal from the treatment. So you need to take more to relieve the anxiety and insomnia. As this cycle winds up, you begin having memory problems and feel depressed, more anxious, and a bit ill. Now you have to stop the meds as you are feeling really
sick, not just anxious and unable to sleep. Now you really get walloped by withdrawal.… It's a vicious cycle. I'd rather be an insomniac. Now I'm an addicted insomniac.

 

These commonly reported rebound insomnia-type withdrawal symptoms can cause prescription sleep-aid users to hold up the white flag and go right back to taking the drug.

OVER-THE-COUNTER SLEEP AIDS

So what about nonprescription sleep aids, the antihistamines you can buy off store shelves? Many falsely believe these are safe alternatives. They are not safer than the prescription versions. Consider the common warnings posted on the websites of leading products in the category listing side effects users may experience—blurred vision, constipation, urinary retention, dizziness, forgetfulness, lack of coordination, and continual dry throat and mouth. All these ailments and more can be yours when you reach for over-the-counter (OTC) antihistamine sleep aids.

A closer look at many popular brands reveals that these are just a few of the scary side. Other concerns about using OTC medications include rebound insomnia, dependency, drug tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and negative interactions with other drugs or chemicals in your system.

WHAT THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW: SECRET TYLENOL FACTS

The main active ingredient of Tylenol PM is diphenhydramine, an ethanolamine-derivative antihistamine. Originally designed to block histamine from attaching to the receptor sites, diphenhydramine decreases symptoms of an allergic reaction. But like many “accidental” drug discoveries, it was found that antihistamines had a bonus side effect of sedation.

Pharmaceutical concoctions like Tylenol PM work against the central nervous system's chemical histamine to achieve sedation. Shut down histamine action in the brain, and you become sedated. But sedation isn't the same as good sleep. The brain has many other pathways and actions—like serotonin, adenosine, and melatonin—that need to be synchronized to activate restful sleep. Ignoring these leaves a person partly asleep. “The sleep quality that results from taking antihistamines may be poor,” comments Karl Doghramji, MD, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Thomas Jefferson University.
⁷⁴

Just as a heads-up, other brands that contain the antihistamine diphenhydramine include Sominex, Nytol, and Benadryl. Its chemical relative, doxylamine, is a similar sedating antihistamine found in brand names such as Nitetime Sleep Aid, Unisom SleepTabs, and NyQuil. Many of the above meds, as well as dozens of other OTC products, contain acetaminophen, which leads me to something you really need to take notes on.

“LIVER DIE”

In the United States, drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is now the leading cause of
acute
liver failure (ALF), exceeding all other causes combined, according to the Acute Liver Failure Study Group.
⁷⁵
OTC sleep aids are among the biggest culprits.

The biggest danger from over-the-counter sleep aids is that they're often combined with acetaminophen (one of the ingredients in Tylenol PM). People may unwittingly take too much in a single day, which can lead to liver damage. Acetaminophen is also in prescription pain medications such as Vicodin and Lortab (both acetaminophen and hydrocodone), Darvocet (propoxyphene and acetaminophen), and Percocet (oxycodone and acetaminophen), to name a few. Accidentally doubling
or tripling your dose—or taking acetaminophen-laden OTCs in addition to pain meds—can lead to the need for a new liver (courtesy of a fresh-dead donor) or could even be fatal.

THREE STEPS TO SLEEPING LIKE A DRUNKEN BUM NATURALLY

Anyone suffering from lack of sleep can tell you that nothing can ruin a day like poor sleep the night before. Sure, there are prescription and synthetic over-the-counter solutions, which, as we've already seen, are less than ideal. This is where a couple of lifestyle habits and nature's knockout sleep pill can offer relief without disabling side effects.

Each of us spends fully one-third of our lives lying unconscious on a mattress. To make the waking two-thirds of our lives a healthy, pleasant, and productive experience,
we absolutely must have quality sleep
. If you're a waking addict, you need my three-step intervention.

1. DITCH THE TOXINS

Rid your diet of insomnia-inducing toxins. When I first heard Mark's story, I suspected that his insomnia had something to do with his diet. Lack of sleep and most any ill health has more to do with what we are doing to ourselves than what we aren't doing—or taking. This is in stark contrast to the prescribing habits of doctors who insist we need drugs, drugs, and more drugs.

Mark was still in the throes of his Ambien addiction when he contacted me, desperately looking for help. The first thing I had him do was to make a list of the foods he was eating and detail his lifestyle regimen. None of the physicians who treated him had asked anything about what he was shoving into his mouth.

I wasn't surprised to find that Mark was a fan of diet colas. A bit round
in the middle, he was thirty-five pounds overweight and exhibiting the onset of type 2 diabetes. His doctor switched him to diet soda to replace coke in an attempt to control blood sugar. Relieved that his all-knowing white coat was “green-lighting” Diet Coke, Mark was sucking down two liters a day, which meant he was eating massive amounts of aspartame.

Aspartame is a drug masquerading as an additive. It's known technically as an excitotoxin. Mark's insomnia was related to brain damage commonly caused by this family of molecules. When exposed to them, brain cells are literally excited to death. John Olney, MD, neuropathologist and world expert on excitotoxicity comments: “Aspartame can cause neurons to become extremely ‘excited' and, if given in large enough doses, can cause the cells to degenerate and die.”

Once damaged, brain cells lack the ability to take part in and respond to the chemical cascade responsible for sleep. This is a complex pool of assorted chemical reactions involving gamma-amino butyric acid, adenosine, melatonin, serotonin, dopamine, and more. All work to shut the human body down while allowing for the production of cellular repair and antiaging hormones. Mark wasn't getting the benefits of this sleep system, thanks to gobbling down his diet soda.

Once he stopped drinking the “toxicola,” Mark showed improvement within days. His anxiety smoothed out, his fear evaporated, and he began feeling like a normal human being for the first time in many years. He was closer to getting some relaxing sleep.

2. GET THE RIGHT EXERCISE

Get some vigorous exercise. This may be common sense, but most people, including Mark, miss this vital sleep link. Exercise is required for the production of key sleep activators known as cytokines. Once produced in response to exercise, these molecules trigger the
simultaneous production of deep sleep and antiaging hormones like hGH as night falls.

A wimpy stroll in the park doesn't count as exercise. When I say “vigorous,” I mean relative to your capability. Don't kill yourself, but get your heart pumping for awhile. This may mean fast walking or jogging a few miles or a trip to the gym. Physical tiredness is absolutely essential to elicit the biological production of cytokines and the subsequent production of healthy hormones, courtesy of your body's own pharmacy. Think “what doesn't kill you makes you stronger” here. By the way, don't exercise close to bedtime. It can be stimulating and keep you awake. More exercise tips can be found in chapter 11.

3. USE VALERIAN

Finally, use the natural knockout pill valerian. This single plant carries a mouthful of sedative compounds like valeric acid, valepotriates, acevaltrate, isovaltrate, and valtrate and the smelly, volatile oil containing valerenic acid. In addition to helping us sleep like drunken bums naturally, it has proven to be nontoxic, with absolutely zero addictive properties.
⁷⁶

Valerian treads close to pharmaceutical turf. It's not only wildly effective and nontoxic, but it's also extremely inexpensive. Therefore, many valerian studies shrug off its effectiveness. Most are nothing more than an arsenal of jargon to throw dust in the eyes of the populace. Don't be fooled. Using valerian as I directed, Mark was able to slowly wean himself off Ambien. Most anyone could do the same. The
American Journal of
Medicine
published the results of a large-scale review of all clinical trials
done on valerian and sleep to date. Combining all the data led to this conclusion: “The available evidence suggests that valerian might improve sleep quality without producing side effects.”
⁷⁷

Once swallowed, valerian releases its sleepy molecules into the
bloodstream where they are carried past the blood-brain barrier. Once in the brain, they enhance our natural ability to sleep without giving us a mental vasectomy. They simply enhance, rather than mimic, the molecules our body uses to induce sleep. When valerian is combined with exercise and the sunset, all those previously mentioned pathways and actions required for restful sleep are employed.

You could think of valerian as a natural sleep amplifier to our knockout switches (known technically as adenosine and GABA). When triggered, they “coach” our nervous system to begin the chemical cascade responsible for natural sleep. Unlike prescription drugs, valerian simply leverages our natural ability to fall asleep, rather than cutting off the supply to our own sleep molecules.

The proper way to take valerian as a sleep pill is to swallow it about an hour before your planned bedtime. You'll want to take valerian root as a whole herb supplement product to get the entire array of naturally occurring compounds. For extreme problems with sleep, one 500-milligram capsule per 40 pounds of body weight will prove beneficial. (You'll know if you're taking too much if you don't want to crawl out of bed.) As a regular supplement, one 500-milligram capsule per 100 pounds of body weight will help increase deep, REM sleep and the health benefits that come with it. More isn't better here! If you take more than that, it will just get metabolized faster and leave you groggier in the morning.

After nearly a decade of sheer hell in dealing with aspartame poisoning, mental vasectomy, and insomnia, Mark is now sleeping normally and is well on his way to vibrant health. These three steps can help you do the same. Not only will you sleep like a drunken bum naturally, but you'll also delay your expiration date.

 

OTHER USES FOR VALERIAN

• MUSCLE RELAXER
  —Calms muscle tension and muscle twitches.
  
• TREATMENT FOR RESTLESS LEG SYNDROME
  —May benefit
  persons with RLS, according to a 2007 study by the RLS Foundation.
  ⁷⁸
  This is likely due to its circulation-improving and muscle-relaxing properties. Take with tonic water to further relax muscles.
  
• IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
  —Soothes the digestive system and
  may prevent cramping caused by irritable bowel syndrome.
  
• ANTICONVULSANT
  —Yields isovaleric acid, a substance analogous
  to valproic acid that is reported to possess anticonvulsant properties.
  
• WITHDRAWAL FROM PRESCRIPTION AND OTC SLEEP AIDS
  —Can be
  helpful in weaning patients with insomnia from benzodiazepines and other addictive drugs like Ambien and Lunesta.
  

THE OVER-THE-COUNTER NATURAL CURE TO POOR SLEEP

The Spring Valley Natural Valerian Root sold by Wal-Mart is my recommendation for a product that can effectively take you to the Land of Nod. I use it almost nightly, and it never ceases to make my head light and my eyes heavy. It costs as little as $5.00 per month. Spring Valley uses the roots and underground stems to formulate the active constituents into a potent, fast-dissolving gelatin capsule. They do not add any gluten, preservatives, or artificial colors or flavors to their product. My independent lab analysis showed it to be free of adulterants and excess fillers. Verification with the certificate of analysis can be found at my website www.overthecounternaturalcures.com.

THE NEW ANTIAGING ANTIDOTE

I don't have the testosterone of a thirteen-year-old girl anymore. My libido is rockin' and my health trajectory is even better. I've slowed the aging process. That's because I get more sleep and I'm not suffering from hormonal ignorance. Today, I don't let anything get in the way of obtaining adequate sleep, which is nine hours or more, thanks to the use of valerian. And if I can sneak a nap in, I do. This has become habitual for me.

Your biological clock, or circadian cycle, controls the rise and fall of antiaging hormones that influence whether you feel awake or sleepy. Most people's daily cycle has two dips of alertness, one after lunch and one after dinner. If your situation permits, listen to your body and sleep! You'll have fewer waking hours of activity but lots more productivity. Not only will you wake up with more energy and mental clarity for the rest of the day, you'll also be taking advantage of the best antiaging antidotes known to man, while avoiding excess stress and anxiety.

RELIEVE STRESS OF ANXIETY, BATTLE, AND MORE

Chuck got the call that no parent should have to endure. Standing in a Cape Coral, Florida, bookstore, he heard his cell phone ring. It was his daughter-in-law. “Chuck!” she screamed, “Charles is dead!”

“What the hell do you mean dead?” he yelled into his dangling earbud.

“He's dead.” She cried hysterically.

Charles, Chuck's son, had a three-year-old daughter and was pursuing his pilot's license. But, twenty-four hours after Charles swallowed his prescribed dose of Vicodin and Xanax, his heart and breathing rate slowed. Soon thereafter, they came to a screeching halt. His wife and daughter found him lying on their couch, cold, stiff, nose bleeding, and mouth full of foam. That's when Chuck received the frantic call.