Posted by margi on November 10, 1998 at 12:12:42:
In Reply to: What's the lowdown on Gravol? posted by John Olinyk on November 10, 1998 at 11:12:45:
Hi - Gravol is an over-the-counter motion sickness aid that causes sleep as a side effect. It prevents the patient from going in the REM phase of sleep somehow (which is why medical doctors don't want patients on it for to long as it could lead to sleep deprivation). From what we have seen, it is the coming out of the REM phase when most CHers experience an attack. Therefore, if we can avoid that phase - can we avoid the ensuing attack? It has worked for my husband for the last five days (with the exception of a short attack this morning) - he has not had any middle of the night attacks and no wake-up calls first thing in the morning.
We are in Canada, so I don't know if it is sold universally as Gravol but it might be worth checking into with Dramamine as well.
As far as the sleep deprivation thing goes, my husband feels he has had better sleeps in the last week than he has had in months - i.e. he has not yet felt the lack of the REM sleep. I think with CHers - any continuous sleep is a good thing. He has been sleeping STRAIGHT THROUGH for 6 and 7 hours, which is a miracle for him.
Good luck - hope it works for you.
We'd love to hear some feedback if it is working for others out there.
Margi