Comment by Tylenol
4 years ago
When I can't sleep because my mind is racing, or I am anxious about something, I take 1000mg of acetaminophen, the stress is relieved, and within an hour I am asleep.
When bad things happen to me, or I'm anxious about something, I take 1000mg of acetaminophen and the stress is quickly blunted.
Acetaminophen is a miracle drug for psychological pain, and it is very safe if used occasionally in small doses (as described above).
I use weed for both these cases—shutting my mind up so I can sleep and/or dulling physical pain in case of illness so I can sleep, if it doesn't rise to the level of needing/being-able-to-get serious painkillers, plus (at lower doses, and far less often) for reducing anxiety during waking hours.
Works great, wish I'd started years ago. Leaves me much better-rested in the morning than other prescription sleep aids I've tried. On nights when I know I'll have a nice 9ish hours uninterrupted, I pair it with a little melatonin to keep me from waking up completely if I stir a little after the weed's worn off, and it's the best damn sleep of my life.
A+++++ would recommend. Screw you for lying to me, William S. Sessions.
When it became legal here several years ago, I tried it out a bunch. Turns out I'm the kind of person that cannabis generally makes anxious/paranoid. Probably for the best, but I'm kind of bummed it isn't as fun as people always made it out to be.
I don't think 1000mg is a small dose, I'm not a doctor but that seems like an extra-strength portion to me
The standard size of a Paracetamol (as it is known in the UK[0]) tablet in the UK is 500mg.
The normal dose is 2 tablets (i.e. 1000mg in total).
Wait at least 4 hours between doses.
Don't have more than 4 doses in a 24-hour period.
Paracetamol is one of the most commonly used medicines in the UK.
[0] - https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/paracetamol-for-adults/
Seems the UK has higher dosages. The UK recommended limit is 4000mg in 24 hours.
Tylenol Extra Strength (acetaminophen, aka paracetamol) is also 500mg, but the recommended limit is 6 tablets (3000mg) in 24 hours.
Acetaminophen has an active dose very close to the lethal dose, and is the leading cause of acute liver failure in the United States. While the daily limit is 4000mg, 1000mg is not un-common in formulations like extra-strength Tylenol.
The "standard dosage unit" in Canada is 325 mg (for adults), with extra-strength pills containing 500 or 650 mg.
1000 mg is pushing the daily limit (4000 mg, but it's got a halflife of ~6 hrs, so...)
1,000 milligrams is not "pushing the daily limit". That is a normal adult dose and by a wide margin within what is considered safe for even chronic daily use.
Like many people, when I have a headache or a sore muscle I take the dose recommended on the Tylenol bottle: 1,000 milligrams. It is not even remotely dangerous.
Furthermore, if the original commenter is using acetaminophen to reduce rare psychological pain the margin of safety is even larger because she's using it only rarely.
2 replies →
> it is very safe if used occasionally in small doses (as described above).
Define occasionally, and small doses. Paracetamol/acetaminophen is widely considered to be dangerous for a few reasons - sustained use of "safe" dosages has been shown to have a huge effect on liver failure [0] - it's regularly found in other painkiller, cold & flu, decongestant, and antihistamines. - It's surprisingly ineffective for a large number of people for lots of different kinds of pain - The dosage that can cause critical liver damage is _dangerously_ close to the therapeutic dose.
[0] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40264-012-0013-7
Commenter was explicit about dosage and pretty clear about frequency. A single dose of 1,000 milligrams in a 24 hour period is indeed small and universally considered to be safe for people with a normal liver.
Another drug you might want to consider is Cebocap[1]. It has a very safe side-effect profile, it's safe for pregnant and nursing women, and it has been clinically proven to effectively treat a wide variety of ailments.
[1] https://www.drugs.com/imprints/forest-707-17216.html
Trazodone is a much safer prescription sleep aid. For non-prescription rhodiola or ashgawandha maybe, but if you're anxious about something it's much better to get rid of the source of the anxiety.
I take an anti-histamine. They don’t usually make me drowsy, but if I am wake at 3AM and feel too awake, the anti-histamine is usually enough to push me back to sleep (although it isn’t immediate).
Antihistamines like Benadryl are anticholinergics. They are harmful to the brain and everyone should avoid them. In contrast acetaminophen is universally considered to be safe for people with a normal liver.
I believe it is a personal responsibility to judge the costs and benefits of any medication (prescription or not). Absolutely, take care with Benadryl/Diphenhydramine (more commonly a cough&cold medicine), paracetamol, or any other antihistamines you may use.
Have you tried guided meditation videos for sleeping?