L-ornithine for sleep

[alexjuice]

Took ornithine last night and I was knocked out. For the first time in a long, long time I woke up and was woozy with tired. I took it as part of a parasite protocol and was very impressed with the sleep benefits..

 

Here are a couple of links on the amino acid l'ornithine and sleep:

 

http://www.livestrong.com/article/542405-ornithine-for-sleep/

 

http://forums.prohealth.com/forums/index.php?threads/sleeping-like-a-rock-with-l-ornithine-amino-acid.97360/

 

Alex

[alex]

Alex, how much are you taking? What do you mean "knocked out? You slept through the night?? Please keep us updated.

[alexjuice]

I don't usually have trouble sleeping through the night, though lately I've been waking up a little more frequently and  having to try to fall back to sleep. Largely my problem, in the sleep area, has been not being able to fall asleep in the first place.

 

I took 1/2 of a 500mg l'ornithine or 250mg and became very drowsy and then fell asleep and slept well. When I woke up for good -- I did wake up once after 5 hours -- I was a little bit hungover and it took a bit effort to unroll from the covers which was actually itself a good feeling as I'm more often met by anxiety adn panicked waking.

[alex]

Ok, thank you Alex.

I can fall asleep, but I wake up several times through the night.

I tapered off 12.5mg Seroquel about 3 weeks ago, and even though my sleep hasn't got worse.

Still very broken, but I feel it more natural.

I don't have the anxiety or panic feeling anymore...Hoping it gets better for you in this area too.

I'm holding 0.25 Xanax and tapering very slowly.My goal is to get med. free and let the w/d to unfold in the most natural way possible.

[Altostrata]

alexejice, are you still using ornithine? Does it upset your stomach at all?

 

Rhi mentioned she's tried it and it seems to help for sleep.

[alexjuice]

Alto-

I haven't unpacked it yet so don't have any more info. I forgot about it actually, probably because I've been sleeping somewhat better. I may trial it against another amino supp which might work in a similar way...

 

When I couldn't sleep in maine it definitely helped me, the ornithine that is...

[Altostrata]

alex, how are you doing with the ornithine?

[alexjuice]

Still using it but not every night. It does help with sleep and anxiety but I sometimes feel it makes other things worse. I wouldn't be surprised if it was proviral like l'arginine -- I suppose I should google.

 

Do you get any relief w/ it?

[Nadia]

Hmm... I used to take l-arginine and it helped somewhat, but I get cold sores from it. Maybe the trick is to change it up.

[alexjuice]

Arginine is pretty infamous for flaring cold sore viral outbreaks. That's reason enough to avoid arginine. Ornithine doesn't seem to have the same reputation. For some reason though I don't test to it much -- I muscle test myself to supps. I still take it but I don't love it for whatever reason. Sure wipes me out though.

 

if you try it Nadia, post your experience. Ornithine is inexpensive and sold in health and nutrition stores and Sprouts carries it here and probably Whole Foods.

[lucidity]

Hey all, insomnia has to be one of the longest lasting and often worst symptoms (since it leads to others) I've had to deal with.  After trying dozens of supplements and vitamins, I've found these amino acids to help me most of all with sleep issues.  Each one is known alone to increase growth hormone, so together I imagine they increase it by quite a lot, which is probably why this combination works so well for sleep. 

 

My experience with each:

ornithine: This is by far the most effective one of the three for getting to sleep and staying asleep I've found.  I've played with the dosage a bit, and right now have settled for about 2g 30 min to an hour before bedtime.  Some say that when taking right at bedtime, it keeps them up for a while, hence the earlier dosing.  After waking too early (happens to me every night, unfortunately), I've found I can only take a fraction of my usual dosage (less than 500mg) or I become nauseated.  With this in my system, though, I've found it much easier to get back to sleep after awakening too early

 

lysine: I haven't seen anyone mention this for sleep, but without a doubt it has helped me.  Be sure to check into this one before using, because there are possible issues with higher doses (i.e. excess calcium retention).  Around 1g seems to be right for me.   With doses too high, something feels very wrong and can even keep me up.

 

glycine hcl: For whatever reason, I've only found success with this in pretty small doses (500mg).   Higher doses tend to have the opposite effect on me.

 

Taken together, these have allowed me to get 7 hours of sleep for a few nights the past week (that's a LOT for me, normally I get 3-4) 

 

Unfortunately, now I have a new problem to deal with -- I no longer enjoy the antidepressant effects of REM sleep deprivation.  As a result, I have severe depression after the nights I'm able to get restful sleep.  Oh well, one problem at a time I guess...

 

Anyway, I really hope this information helps someone.  I know I've been on the brink of suicide many times due to this torture!

 

 

[Altostrata]

Thanks for that information, Lucidity.

 

We don't recommend people try a handful of supplements at once, but to try them at low doses one at a time. Effects can be unpredictable.

 

Please add your comments to the existing topics for glycine and lysine as well.

[lucidity]

Yes, I would recommend that as well.  It took me a while of trying different dosages and observing the effects of each one before I became comfortable with combining them.  If I were to suggest one to try first, though, it would have to be ornithine