@Mr.:
@cystic:
if you like, i could tell you why drinking alcohol before you go to bed is counterproductive (this is the kind of thing i tell my patients, anyway). 8)
please do…i don’t know what you mean by “counterproductive”
it’s all about GABA receptors.
When you first drink, yes, the alcohol relaxes you. This is because of its effects on GABA receptors. These receptors are responsible for excitation. If you block them off (with drugs like Ativan/Valium/Imovane, and alcohol) then you decrease the stimulation you’d otherwise be bombarded with and fall asleep more easily. The kicker is early in the morning when the drug gets excreted from the body. All of these receptors that were previously tied up are now suddenly open for business. This is why you are wide awake too early in the morning, this is why people require a “hair o’ the dog” in the morning, and this is why we give Valium to people who come into the ER with delerium tremens secondary to alcohol poisoning.
was this more than you wanted to know?