# Lucid Dreaming > Attaining Lucidity > Lucid Aids >  >  Advil PM & Melatonin Question?

## whispers

Basically, i was just wondering what would happen if i took both of these things together.
Advil PM from what i experienced causes me to either have violent dreams or no dreams at all (or i guess i do have dreams but don't remember them).
And i heard that Melatonin will give you very amazing vivid or lucid dreams.

What i'm hoping for is that i take Advil PM for the strong drowsy effect and then take Melatonin for the (hopefully) lucid effect.

So, if i take these together would i have BOTH lucid and violent dreams? Or would Melatonin cancel-out the effects from Advil PM or vice-versa?

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## ThreeCat

Melatonin does not give one lucid dreams.  It does, however, lower the barrier between you and REM, making things like WILD and lucidity overall easier to attain.

I can't see a benefit to taking them together; I imagine it will make it more difficult to wake up for a WBTB, as you are loading yourself down with sleeping meds.  Also, this will lower your overall awareness of the dream state.

EDIT:  I believe the ingredient in Anvil PM (not sure but taking a leap) is a REM suppressant.   The REM rebound you experience later in the morning would account for the nightmares.  I think adding these things would just suppress more REM,  possibly creating a stronger effect in the morning.  I would still suggest taking two melatonin over mixing the two.

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## whispers

> Melatonin does not give one lucid dreams.  It does, however, lower the barrier between you and REM, making things like WILD and lucidity overall easier to attain.
> 
> I can't see a benefit to taking them together; I imagine it will make it more difficult to wake up for a WBTB, as you are loading yourself down with sleeping meds.  Also, this will lower your overall awareness of the dream state.
> 
> EDIT:  I believe the ingredient in Anvil PM (not sure but taking a leap) is a REM suppressant.   The REM rebound you experience later in the morning would account for the nightmares.  I think adding these things would just suppress more REM,  possibly creating a stronger effect in the morning.  I would still suggest taking two melatonin over mixing the two.



Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my question.  :smiley: 
I don't think i can really do the WBTB method, i tried it twice and when i go back to lay down i just can't go back to sleep.
FILD, MILD & DEILD are what i'm focusing on at the moment.  ::D: 
Somewhere i heard that Melatonin will cause you in your dream to randomly realize that your dreaming, like a DILD. Is that true?
Or is it only helpful for WBTB and WILD?

If so, will 10mg of Melatonin be strong enough to make me mentally and physically exhausted & help me to achieve lucidity?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm new to using aids.  ::chuckle::

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## ThreeCat

That's cool.  Melatonin promotes a gentle REM rebound in the early morning hours, but this will not necessarily result in lucidity.  For your WBTB, you don't need to turn on lights or necessarily engage in any activities.  You don't even need to get out if bed, if you don't want.  It also doesn't need to last long.  I feel that WBTB (coupled with induction) is the most effective technique for producing lucidity; if you can find a way to work it into your practice, I think you will realize the benefits.

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## whispers

> That's cool.  Melatonin promotes a gentle REM rebound in the early morning hours, but this will not necessarily result in lucidity.  For your WBTB, you don't need to turn on lights or necessarily engage in any activities.  You don't even need to get out if bed, if you don't want.  It also doesn't need to last long.  I feel that WBTB (coupled with induction) is the most effective technique for producing lucidity; if you can find a way to work it into your practice, I think you will realize the benefits.



Okay, i'm going to try WBTB again tomorrow.
Thank you for your advice.  ::D:

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## snoop

Advil PM has diphenhydramine in it, the active ingredient in benadryl. The anticholinergic properties of the drug are what cause the strange, vivid, and often terrifying dreams. It also is why you can't seem to remember any of your dreams either, it makes you unable to concentrate and have zero short-term memory. Doxylamine, chlorpheniramine, promethazine (among many others) are also anticholinergic anti-histamines, like diphenhydramine, and cause similarly odd, possibly terrifying, and even violent dreams. It will also destroy your dream recall. If you take large doses of them they lead to a dysphoric delirium in which you believe you are in different places at different times, talking to various people that aren't there. You think you are doing things when you're not, you see, quite commonly, bugs and spiders pour out of the walls and generally the experience is extremely terrifying to everyone that experiences it. It does not feel good, it is highly uncomfortable, and it also causes your muscles to twitch, make you very sluggish and heavy (lots of ataxia), and often unable to comprehend what's going on. That's of course if you don't black out altogether.

If your goal is to LD you should avoid anticholinergics like benadryl (the Advil PM you're taking), NyQuil,  cough syrups in general, allergy medications, or over the counter sleep aids that are not considered an extract of something or a supplement. To give you some insight, galantamine + choline has a lot of success because it _causes_ cholinergic activity, rather than preventing it. So, try and avoid this at any costs if you value dream recall or being able to actually realize that you are indeed dreaming or slipping into a non-lucid nearly as quickly as you gain lucidity.

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