Kalms Sleep Tablets

Sleep is of the utmost importance to me. I'm very precious about it and up until recently I was sleeping for about 13 hours a night. People used to be jealous of how much sleep I could get but then suddenly it was brought to a sudden halt and my slumber was completely disturbed.

First up was about 13 men renting out the house next door. Foreign workers coming and going and all working different shifts so there was a constant flow of traffic at all time of the day.... and night. Singing in the bathroom all night as they took showers, midweek parties with er ladies of the night arriving they were a nightmare and thought nothing of singing up at my bedroom window drinking at 4am and piddling up cars in the street of which police were constantly called by the neighbours. The parties were bad enough and my parents (who I live with) kicked off but the rest of the time I was in a living hell all by myself.

Their conservatory was on the back of their house and my bedroom is beside it. I have got double glazing etc but they'd be out there all day and night and using it as a smoking room and I could never sleep and even when I could I'd just be about to drop off... bang you'd hear laughing and shouting and stuff and in the end I just never really slept unless exhausted cos my nerves were shot to pieces. Even when they tried to be quiet cos landlord had requested it after complaints from my parents they just spoke so loud all the time.

Because of all that going on I then got very paranoid of noise. I could hear a noise coming into my bedroom from the other side, a guy living on his own. Playing a computer till 5am (after all day on weekends and from 5pm rest of the week) I could hear a sort of electrical noise brrrring. It never stopped and weekends were the worst for me cos all week as I knew that it was coming up, it got so bad and I got so paranoid that I could no longer watch tv and with the noise from the other side I just felt like ending it all I couldn't think anymore and was dead confused all the time. I could never work out what the noise was in the way of the brring noise until one night I went downstairs at about 3am and could hear voices and when I listened I could tell he was online gaming with an xbox or something and the vibration I could feel in my room was his keypad. My step dad went round and complained and the loud talking stopped but of course the vibration didn't.

So in the end my bedroom had to be rearranged to get my bed off that wall. The neighbours the other side actually got evicted after trashing their house and so I was left to deal with all the after effects. Like I say my nerves had really gone and I nearly had a breakdown after months of about 2-3 hours sleep a night and that was stressed out sleep but finally all the noise had gone.

I went to my Dr's who prescribed me antidepressants cos through all of it no doubt I was depressed and I had lost alot of weight and was visibly exhausted. All I wanted was some sleeping pills to give me some good sleep for a few days so I could relax but he reckoned that wouldn't work for me long term cos of said stress. Makes sense but it was hard to swallow at the time and when he said try warm milk and lavender oil and stuff I wanted to slap him senseless. However I took the antidepressants and chilled out somewhat and set about ways that I could help the sleeping process further.

I wondered what I could take with my prescription (I asked my Doctor so do take advise on this) and he suggested these to me so off I went to Sainsbury's.

The Packaging....

Purple box which clearly states what these are and who they are by and the back tells me what they do. I don't have the box so I cant tell you exactly the information on the box but basically the same information is on the bottle and that's why I binned the box and the leaflet that came with the pills.

The bottle is brown glass with a purple label around it's middle. On this label, on the front I'm told they are Kalms Sleep and that they promote refreshing natural sleep and there are 50 tablets in my bottle. Then around the back I'm given directions for taking them, warnings, and then the list of ingredients and the expiry date is stated and contact details for G R Lane Health Products Plc (the manufacturers of Kalms). To open there is a white twist on/off cap and first time you want to take them you break the seal.

Directions For Use....

Adults....

The elderly and children over 12 years of age: three or four tablets to be swallowed whole (do not chew) one hour before bedtime.

Warnings....

Do not take the tablets on empty on an empty stomach.
Not recommended for children under 12 years old
Do not take if you are pregnant or breast-feeding
Do not take if allergic to any of the ingredients
Do not take more than the stated dose. If you do discontinue use and seek medical advice, If symptoms persist, talk to your doctor
May cause drowsiness, If affected, do not drive or operate machinery
Keep out of sight and reach of children
Do not use after expiry date show on the packaging
Do not store above 25C
Keep the container tightly closed. Keep the container in the outer carton (I keep mine in a drawer)
Do not use if cap seal is broken.

Ingredients....

Each coated tablet contains .... (Active Ingredients)

Valerian Powdered Extract 4:1 45mg
(equivelent to 180mg Valerian Root)
Passifiora Powdered Extract 5 35:1 16.82mg
(equivelent to 90g Passifioria Herb)
Wild Lettuce Powdered Extract 4:1 22.5mg (equivalent to 90g Wild Lettuce)
Vervvain Powder 60mg
Powdered Hop Strobile 30mg
Other ingredients.... Also contains sucrose

Taking Them....

Well you take 3 or 4 with a glass of water (which is recommended but I take with any liquid) about an hour before bed. They are an small and round and a kind of dirty lilac colour and they look shiny similar to smarties hence keeping them out of children's way! When you sniff them in the jar they smell to me like aftershave! When they hit the tongue if you haven't swigged enough drink they have and odd taste about them not unlike aftershave and are very sweet so the drinking of something is important though the taste isn't vile they can give you heartburn of they get lodged and cos there's 3 or 4 of them that's quite a lot of them and they do feel heavy if not washed down properly. So take my word for it and wash them down for heavens sake!

Now I personally take 4 and I take them as often as I want to (every night if need be). I don't take 3 as because they are herbal and none addictive I don't see the problem taking the largest dose available to me to give myself the best chance of sleep.

They do not make you want to go to sleep. These are best taken when you are really tired and you can sleep. For me the fact I have taken something already relaxes me and chills me out somewhat. I take them an hour before I turn into my pit and I make sure my bed is really comfortable, lavender oil is sprinkled on my pillow if I have any and I'm comfortable and warm enough. I don't drink caffeine or eat before turning in and I make sure I've done my bit to welcome sleep.

Now these are funny. If I was to take these and see a film on the tv that I'd like to watch then I'm not knocked out or controlled by the tablets and I can work against them and it's not hard work or a struggle and I don't feel drowsy at all and I can stay up and watch the film but if I get comfy and I'm tired already then I'm out within an hour or two. If you start thinking or messing about then the pills don't work believe me. You can't start cleaning and think well these will work in an hour and I'll wait to feel tired and then turn in, they won't work you have to go to bed and chill out lol!

I'm not entirely convinced these are a wonder drug. I like the fact they are herbal and that I can take them forever if I wish though phychologically if nothing else you could possibly get addicted to them i.e you believe you need them!
and quiet
I have taken mine one or two nights a week for the past 6 months since the racket stopped from either side of my house but if you think these could knock you out for a good few hours well no they wont make you sleep if noise upsets you, you still need peace.

Overall...

I do like them. Taking them with a glass of milk makes me prepare for a good nights sleep and I do get one but that's because I put the effort into it. I like the way I feel all warm and cosy after taking them and love the way that I do seem to sleep sounder and wake up alot more refreshed than I do without them. After taking these not once have I woke up with a foggy head or a headache. Neither do I feel drowsy or anything. If I set my alarm clock as I have to get up, again it's fine and I'm not drowsy even if I've only had about 4 hours on these. I get no sick tired feeling when waking up or anything either.

Quite simply taken sensibly and reading through the warnings if you are willing to put the effort into getting a good nights sleep and not just a taking a sleeping pill and thinking it will do all the work for you, you should like these.

They certainly stopped me from getting panicky at night (as I say when all the noise finally went from my life!) and helped me take some control of the situation. Recommended from me highly as they got me through a terrible time!

Can be found in most good supermarkets and chemists at about £2.99 per 50 tablet jar.

This review is also posted on Dooyoo under this same username.