Doxylamine Succinate

Was just wondering if anyone had any info about Doxylamine Succinate. From doing a search I've found three threads where it's mentioned - one of which BigTrancer had this to say:

Originally posted by BigTrancer in this thread.
Doxylamine succinate is an antihistamine, a member of the Ethanolamine group of H1 -Blocking Agents, has a pronounced tendency to induce sedation. ie. It acts as a calmative that relaxes you and makes you drowsy.

• It's used with paracetamol and codeine in some mild OTC painkillers (ie. Dolased, Mersyndol, Chemists Own Analgesic/Calmative and other generics) at a dose of about 9mg per tablet.
• Also by itself in some sleeping formulations (ie. Restavit, Somnil) at a dose of 25mg per tablet.
• Funnily enough it also comes in Vicks Medinite cough syrup at a dose of 7.5mg per 30mL, along with 600mg paracetamol, 9mg ephedrine sulphate, and 15mg DXM in the same 30mL. (Before anyone goes rushing off thinking this shit is the shit to trip off... remember you need a good 300mg of DXM for a decent robotrip, and the paracetamol there in 600mL would make your liver curl up and die). I think it also requires a prescription as it classed S2.

Chemical name for Doxylamine Hydrogen Succinate: 2-[alpha-(2-dimethylaminoethoxy)-alpha-methylbenzyl] pyridine
BigTrancer

Click to expand...

The specifc questions I was after are:
1) The sleeping pills mentioned (Restavit, Somnil), are they over the counter or do they require a prescription? Also, if they're the sort of thing that you have to ask the pharmist for, what's the best thing to say (some of them get narky when people ask for sleeping pills)?

2) Is it a good idea to be taking these after a weekend on the meth/pills? Are there any known contradictions if I were to say take Doxylamine Succinate on the sunday night at around midnight? I currently take two mersyndol in this situation, which means I'm already taking 10mg of Doxylamine Succinate along with 19.5mg of codine and 900mg of paracetamol.

3) Does Doxylamine Succinate have any know record of being either addictive, or hard to sleep without once you get started on it?

Thanks guys - any other info would be appreciated too...

[Edit: Fixed formatting. BT]

Restavit and Unisom and some other sleeping tabs are over the counter. This doesnt mean that they will sell them to you though, as many say that you will need a prescription. The best way to ask for them is to say your doctor recommended you take them for your insomnia or because you have been travelling a lot and need them to resume normal sleeping patterns.
Some of the other sleeping tablets are in gel form and contain no dox. succ. so ask for tablets because your doctor said to try half of a tablet then if that was not enough to raise the dose. Try not to drive on these after a party because they are sleeping tablets and may cause drowsiness
Some chemists will give them some will not, but if they dont stock the dox. succ. version they will try to give you unisom liquid gels or something, so get the tablets. Restavits are made in Australia, but are 25mg.

Heh heh... I was hoping you'd reply - I was in no state to remember that when you told me at *...

damn lack of memory dox. succ. data sheet
[ 24 February 2002: Message edited by: Cowboy Mac ]

From personal experience in NSW, I have bought Restavit over the counter many times, with nary a question nor whimper from the salesperson.
I have also used them to go to sleep after a weekend, however I find that doxylamine has a long "hangover" in that it affects me well into the next day, when theoretically I had slept well the night before. And this doesn't only happen after a big weekend, it also happens when I hadn't indulged on various substances.

I agree with the previous poster. In my experience, doxylamine succinate is far worse for giving 'next day lethargy' than even the usual suspect marijuana. While I rarely experience the lethargy that many people suffer having indulged in marijuana, I notice very prolonged wake-up period the morning after doxylamine succinate. Body load, yawning, large effort to get going and general apathy on occasions are all things I have attributed directly to the doxylamine succinate.
Just quickly checking a reference, I find that the elimination half-life of doxylamine succinate is approximately 9 hours. That means that 9 hours after dosing, approximately half of the dose has been eliminated. This makes sense when most people sleep for 6-10 hours, so they would wake up still feeling groggy from the doxylamine succinate for a few hours.
BigTrancer
[ 24 February 2002: Message edited by: BigTrancer ]

I second everything BT said - I find doxylamine gives you a nasty hangover and a headache. Also the anti-cholinergic effects will give you a dry mouth (which you may have already, so multiply that) and can cause urinary retention and constipation in some people. i would rather go without sleep than use these again (or I'll use a herbal product, which isn't as strong, but doesn't have a hangover)

S2 meds are actually pharmacy only.. which means you cannot buy them in supermarkets (either exactly that, or due to quantity or treatment age like panadol products). S3 meds are pharmacist only, meaning the pharmacist is meant to have some interaction with the person trying to buy it.. pretty much all sedative type medications are either pharmacist only, or prescription. The easiest way to get pharmacist only meds such as restavit is to say that your doc recommended you to get it, however, be prepared to have the pharmacist try to sell you something else, as a lot of pharmacists i've been in contact with are quite age-ist and will not sell restavit (etc) to "young" people. I've had very heated discussions with many a pharmacist (I work as a dispensary technician) about such an attitude but to no avail...
Back on topic. As far as I know there are no interactions using something like mersyndol after a weekend on meth/pills, replacing this with the plain sleep aid shouldn't pose a problem, but be aware of the doseage in light of the hangover effect... Also I am not familiar with the way this is metabolised by the body, so it's possible you could put more strain on various organs in your body..
Doxylamine succ. is known to be habit forming, so I'd be cautious about using it often. I don't know if this is a physical dependence or other and I won't speculate. The thing about using these sedatives regularly is that it is likely they disturb normal REM sleep, as you are put into a deep sleep. That means that even tho you might sleep for 8 or more hours, you won't feel too refreshed. babydoc_vic mentioned herbal formulas. I find these to be effective even after a big weekend.. There are a lot of formulas around, which all promote the metabolic state for natural restful sleep. I would suggest you give those a go before using restavit or some other sedative. Especially in light of the fact that these are not habit forming, and you still get your REM sleep and will not experience the hangover.
[/endblurb]

Which herbal sleeping aids would you knowledgeable people recommend?
Besides mari-juana that is.

besides marijuana
none!
SirLSD
ps its 5mg not 9 in the origional post
[ 25 February 2002: Message edited by: SirLSD ]

Valerian Forte and Kava Kava Complex.
Highly recommend.
Also on another note, what dangers are posed when taking Myersyndol as a sleeping agent? Besides the high paracetemol intake does constant use of the mixture of chemicals pose any problems for the body? I imagine a tollerance is also built up.

ruski: taking mersyndol as a sleeping agent wouldn't be a problem unless you do it regularly. The paracetamol content isn't a problem unless you take it excessively, the doseage when taking the maximum dose of mersyndol is less than the 2 tabs of panadol. Codeine is however habit forming, but again, the content is not anything to be worried about. Mersyndol is just like taking panadeine and adding the doxylamine succ. If only taken at night, neither the paracetamol nor the codeine content should pose a problem.
Herbal formulas: as ruski said, Valerian Forte (or anything with 2000mg of valerian) this is the Blackmores brand. Kava kava is meant to be very good also, tho I haven't personally tried it. There is a Natural Nutrition formula which has quite a few different herbs in it which is very good, but I can't remember the name of it. Basically anything with valerian, and keep in mind that some formulas may contain things like St John's Wort (hypericum) which are not desireable if you happen to dabble with certain drugs like mdxx. But there are heaps of formulas around, just ask for some help in a health food shop or pharmacy. On a side note, don't be alarmed if your sleep formula has a B vitamin (can't remember specific B) because one of them is particularly relaxing and without the peppy effect you tend to get from B complexes.

Fresh Kava Kava root anaesthetises to body and soul to a surreal place! Pitty you have to go to places like Vanuatu to get the real stuff....

I use a combo that contains kava kava 1000mg, passion flower 550mg + lemon balm 500mg. I prefer this to valerian. Although note that there have been recent concerns in Europe that kava kava may be associated with liver damage (the thread on this is somewhere in the bowels of the Health archive).

Everyone always gives alot of thought to how their synapses will repair after a hard weekend. When trying to ease the comedown pain there is lots of talk about what to take when and how etc etc... sometimes we neglect the liver.
Whilst I agree that herbal remedies are the best way to go in terms of doing the body as little damage as possible... however Pleo didn't ask about these - obvously for a reason (who are we kidding?? herbal remedies don't reeeeaally work when it comes to serious sleep issues).
I guess all I'm saying is.. we've all gone without sleep before - is recovering well really THAT essential? Spare a little thought for Mr Liver before you go indulging in any more pharmies at the tail end of a biggun.
All that said - 5htp works perfectly for sending one to sleep if taken in the right dosages

Hey all,

I have some OTC sleeping pills that I was given by someone due to my problems with insomnia. I don't use them because they leave me so drowsy the next day that I'm better off tossing and turning all night. I tried rxlist.com but it didn't have anything, so I'm looking for some info on them...

I was wondering if they would be good to use to get to sleep after coming down from pills? They contain 25mg each of doxylamine succinate and are called 'Restavit'. Will these work in getting me to sleep, and are they safe to mix with MDMA and speed? I figured just being antihistamines they would be okay, but better safe than sorry.

If they are safe and effective I can see them becoming a must have for afterwards, nothing gets rid of scatteredness like a good sleep.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Doxylamine Succinate is my total saviour. Restavit is my preferred brand as it comes in tablets and not capsules which you can't cut.

One and a half restavits (37.5mg) knocks me out good. I prefer this to the benzos because it is OTC and if you wake in the middle of the night after taking bezos, good luck getting back to sleep. DS is a lot longer acting and I'd take any drowsiness (I actually don't notice much) in the morning over painless attempts to get to sleep which will sometimes fail altogether.

A piece of trivia which would never have got found it if this thread got closed:

DS will dissolve any varnish and possibly paint better then your paint stripper. Before I got onto Resatvit I used Dozile which comes in capsules which dissolved in your stomach. One time I wanted to take one and half doses so i attempted to saw through the hard capsule with a knife. What do you know, the smelly, stick oil was pouring out everywhere. Been late at night, I thought I'd clean it up in the morning. Next morning, the places where the oil has landed were competelly stripped of varnish when wiped. Was there something else in the capsule that did this or was it DS?

I find restavit knock the fuck out of me more then scattering does. My favourtie is Stilnox (Zolpidem). I find after a big night I can take one of these and it knocks me out quite abruptly. Out of interest, is this dangerous? From what the doctor told me, its safer then Restavit, but I'm not sure exactly.

Even better for me is a bump of Ketamine on the way home so I can sleep. Probably more dangerous though.

Threads merged.

BT

doxylamine succinate

well, as you already know its available over the counter under variuos alias`s. (restavit and dozile are two common relaxants where Doxylamine Succinate are used) . I use restavit all the time to help me sleep (a problem of mine I owe to way too much over indulging in attitude adjustments and party drugs, be ware of long term side affects, those naughty chemicals catch up sooner or later!!!!!). After a nite on I`ll at least double my dosage of Restavite to chill me rite out. Cannabis and/or alcohol mix wickedly. When you first use a Doxylamine Succinate try a small dosage cos it affects different people differently. Restavite is best cos its tablets that can be broken up for smaller dosages. happy dozing