I was just thinking this morning at 3:00am when I was awake that if only they made a time release melatonin.... Well apparently they do and I didn't know about it. I will definetly llok for it. The problem with melatonin for me is that it only lasts 4 hours and it loses its affect after abit. I will give it a try though. Thanks.

I thought of you yesterday as well. I was doing some reading/research about L-tryptophan, and came across this...
emphasis mine

See also: Effect of orally administered L-tryptophan on serotonin, melatonin, and the innate immune response in the rat

And FWIW... the reason I thought of you was the melatonin/sleep thing—not the rats.

Doc

Hi Dr. Smith,

Did your wife try the tryptophan? If so how did it work for her?
Hopeful

Yes, and thanks for the thought. She started on a minimal dose (500 mg x 2/day) and it worked some. That's why I was doing the reading/research—to find out what the safe range was. She upped it to 1000 mg x 2/day this week and so far it's working much better. There's still a bit of wiggle room, but we're trying to keep it as low as possible.

I also learned it has some promise for pain—both acute & chronic.
L-Tryptophan
(Scroll down)

Doc

Not sure how old you are but a few years ago I was waking up every single night at around 2-3 AM then every hour after that, it was awful, I prayed for sleep! It also felt as though my body was "shaking" my nerves felt on edge, sometimes would have to jump out of bed.

Did some research and I am sure magnesium has helped me, I take the powdered form in the AM and again in the PM and started sleeping well again, might be worth you trying it.

Also taking epsom salt baths helps me.

Exactly how I am feeling! I been taking magnesium for 6 months now, It was defineitly helping but started hurting me. I started getting alot of missed heart beats and tachycadria. I tapered back to a dose that doesn't do anything fo rmy nerves and now I am back to feeling pretty bad again. I was taking 4 of the mag 64 a day. Not sure on the mg in each, around 135mg I think. I am 36 going on 85 by the way. I will look into the powdered form. Never heard of that.

Also I didn't start getting the heart issues until I switched over to slo mag and now mag 64, could be something else in the supplement I suppose.

Tried the magnesium again last night. Made my heart race. Took 2 ma 64. Really hard to go to sleep with blood pressure 115/64 BPM 80.

Maybe related to why I wake up every day at 3 is that on the other end, at around 3-4pm every single day my heart skips a beat. WHY?

My heart beat and blood pressure increases in the evening around 6pm. I think it might have something to do with the cycle of Adrenaline during the day.

Hi Lewie,
I'm not certain why you are concerned about you b/p and heart rate? A normal heart rate is 60-100. You are right in the middle. Your b/p is actually good.
Do you exercise? Your b/p is what most healthy people strive for. The normal rate use to be 120/80 ( that is still good) now doctors are shooting for 110/70.

Also, if it was to low for you it would have the opposite effect. It would make you feel sleepy.

How many skipped beats are you experiencing. You said your heart skips a beat.

Hopeful

It is a prescription medication, and it can be filled at a compound pharmacy. The Meletonin is much better en the store bought stuff. I am using a 10mg sustained released capsule. I get it at the Medquest pharmacy mail order from Utah.