Who has taken Unisom?

kmc217

I have battled with insomnia for about 18 months. I fall asleep fine but if any little thing wakes me up, I cannot fall back to sleep and will be up for good without ever falling back to sleep. I used to take Xanax when this happened and since it has a super short half life, I could take it at 2 or 3am and be fine to get up at 6 or 7 for work or with my kids. Obviously can't take that now and the only sleep aid my midwives approve of is Unisom which I have never taken. I'm wondering how it works and if it's something you can take in the middle of the night or if you need to take it at bedtime? Last night my 4 year old woke me at 2 and I basically have been up since then and it is killing me. TIA.

kaylakim

I suffer from terrible insomnia during pregnancy and have found that Tylenol PM usually works ok for me. Has your midwife ok'd Melatonin? I've taken that before and thought it was safe for pregnancy. I would definitely ask. Insomnia sucks big time, I'm so sorry you're dealing with this!

UA81112

If you're allowed Tylenol PM there's another product I like called "simply sleep" its "by the makers of Tylenol PM" so its just the PM, no acetomenifin

Kristintrevathan

The active ingredient in Unisom is diphenhydramine, aka Benadryl. Benadryl is also what the PM part of tylenol pm is. The Unisom is 50mg of diphenhydramine so if you're worried about taking that and being knocked out for too long and when you do wake up you feel like a zombie.. Just take the regular pink Benadryl tablets. Those are 25mg each and you can start off by breaking it in half and going from there. Too many years of working in a pharmacy gives me all the good tricks! Good luck!

luvmyducks

I've been taking it for about a week to see if it helped my ms. I also wake up a lot while pg. I noticed it didn't really help me fall asleep but did help me stay asleep. I've been getting 8hrs of sleep and I wake up fine.

kmc217

That's what I get for not reading the bottle on Unisom! I thought it was something different -- I know that diphenhydramine is the PM part of most meds but didn't realize it was also the same for Unisom. I would have spent the money on it and have a ton of Benedryl at home. I have to check with my midwife though because they do not permit Benadryl until 2nd tri. I will also check Melatonin with them. My DH has taken that before with effect. Thanks all.

thismplsgirl

I am taking a half of a blue unisom tablet each night for nausea and it definitely knocks me out. I think midnight would be the cut off of when I would take it since I feel groggy for a while after taking it.... you need 5ish hours to sleep I would say.

JNB109

I've been taking Unisom every night (more for nausea than sleep), and I feel like it doesn't take me nearly as long to fall asleep as is normal.  I used to take melatonin or Benedryl when needed for sleep, and this seems to help like those did.  Not sure what the half life is.

It's actually doxylamine, not diphenhydramine.  It may affect you differently if you're used to taking Xanax though.