possible help for sleep issues
 

We suffer horribly from lousy, crappy sleep every night, no more than 2-3 hours at a time. I was just reading about how our modern day diets have changed from the past, notably with regard to the parts of animals no longer eaten routinely (liver, gizzard, etc.), and relevant here, broths made from their bones.

Bones have all kinds of good things for us, importantly, glycine. I had never really studied glycine before, but it turns out, it's very involved in our sleep cycle. Here's a 2008 article discussing glycine and it's role in REM sleep disorder (how is it that no doc has ever mentioned this but has willingly offered free Ambien samples?):

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0327172155.htm

Some folks take gelatin but I was never a jello fan and dont' think we could stomach adding the plain Knox gelatin to our smoothies or yogurt...so we're going to go the bone broth route. Interestingly, bone broth is something that Dr. Wahls, the doctor who recovered from MS, eats daily, as discussed in her book "Minding My Mitochondria", we've talked about it here a couple of times.

I get Dr. David Williams' newsletter and this is a subject of his September issue. He says he personally now takes about two tablespoons of gelatin a day and has noticed a "very significant" improvement in his sleep quality, waking up refreshed (can it be? we haven't had this in years....). Glycine has been studied and reported to have a quieting effect throughout the entire nervous system, help with epileptic seizures, and alleviate muscle spasms associated with MS.

Has anyone tried glycine? The nice thing about the bone broth is that you can use it to make rice, lentils, probably even pasta, as well as a base for a soup. It's also cheap :)

Whoa, just read another article on this from July, 2012...turns out, you need both glycine AND GABA together:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0711131030.htm

No wonder the GABA didn't work that well for us earlier, we didn't take it with glycine. Planning to start taking both at bedtime and will report back. Note that the articles mention REM sleep disorder is an early indicator of PD, wow.

LFAC

I am a little confused. REM sleep disorder is not the same as PD insomnia, or am I wrong? If anything, most PWP are likely to be more paralytic over night while in REM SD it is the opposite. The brain thinks you are awake when dreaming and sends messages to muscles to get moving. This results in people with the disorder being potentially harmful to themselves and others as they remain fast asleep yet hit, kick or push at full strength. Is this what you have happening?

If you are having more typical PD insomnia just waking up a lot, there are brain entrainmeent recordings which help regulate the amount of time you spend in the stages of sleep. A lot of these can be purchased as MP3 downloads on the Internet.

As for supplements, I think Mrs. D recommended the Serotonin precursor Tryptophan and L-Theanine in a thread we had on the role of Seratonin in sleep. I think it was 500 mg of Tryptophan.

Hope this helps.

For what it's worth, I have the REM SD and take .5mg of Clonazapam each night, which both allows me to sleep soundly and saves my husband from repeated beatings (sounds funny, but it wasn't at all).

Could you give me some more information on the brain entrainment recordings? I'm getting a little desperate for sleep these days and I think I've tried everything else.

probably both
 

Thanks, although, I think we might be dealing with both. And unfortunately, we have tried a LOT of supplements for sleep issues, including the ones you mentioned....we've even done the sublingual melatonin, subligual 5-HTP, and liposomal GABA. This just reinforces to me again how different we really are, but at the same time, how we all desperately need decent sleep. One thing works for one person, not for another, or in a different way.

I was surprised to see that Whole Foods did not carry glycine, although the clerk had heard of it. I had to go to a compounding pharmacy to find it, and the clerk there told me they currently sell it to a family with a child with MS and another with epilepsy. So we'll see, I'm hoping we see some improvement.

Try the plain knox gelatin or a kosher gelatin from the health food store..it has glycine

Brain entrainment sources
 

Hi Wendy,

Sorry so late to respond. Honestly, I have only seen commercial sites for the most part but some do offer free MP3 downloads. They might be worth a try. Have found a few lead that may be helpful:

http://www.project-meditation.org/co...arch-brainwave entrainment.html

Google search results: Binaural Beats free insomnia

Disclaimer: This stuff is potent and there is evidence that magnetic resonance and electroconvulsive therapies work on PWP. Check with your doctors and I would steer clear if you have DBS.