Maybe I have a much milder issue with insomnia than others, but here are my experiences...

I've taken Ambien before, but wasn't a fan of it as it left me with a foggy head the next day.

Now I take Kalms which is an herbal sleep tablet. I have a friend who swears by valerian, but I've never taken just valerian.

For 'bad' nights, I have taken diphenhydramine (benadryl) before for sleep. I never needed the full 50mg dose tho, I only took 25mg.


I wonder how much the effectiveness of different sleep remedies is affected by the type of insomnia we have? e.g. I often can't sleep b/c I just don't feel sleepy and get restless. My husband has troubles sleeping when he is ruminating over something. (incidentally he is on nortryptalene for this)

@medkev13 - what kind of side effects develop after taking benadryl?