Customer Reviews

Alteril Sleep Aid, 60-Count Box

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

I was a little hesitant about buying this...I half expected this to be another scam product that was featured on TV. But, I was tired (no pun intended) of tossing and turning, and didn't want to use prescription pills to get to sleep. This stuff actually works! It says to take 2 pills before you want to sleep, but I usually take 1. I only take it when I can't sleep, so I'm already in bed, but it works pretty quick. I not only fall asleep quickly, but do not wake up during the night. When I wake up, I don't feel groggy or hungover, like I thought I would. By the way, I rarely write reviews, but I saw a few negative reviews on amazon and thought I'd share mine. I don't know if it works for everyone, but it's pretty cheap here so it's worth a shot.

I started having to take sleeping pills 5 months ago - my boyfriend starting working very long hours, and would come home and snore. I needed to get to sleep and STAY asleep! I started off with regular ole cheap sleeping pills (Unisom/Nytol) but became worried after reading about the side effects of the chemicals in these pills, so went looking for a natural solution.

My first find was SleepMD. Melatonin and valerian are the main ingredients. I had too many strange dreams from the melatonin, and was also still a little tired the next day. It was better than nothing, but was not worth the cost. I don't recommend melatonin for most people. I actually did a research paper on it in college and the horrid nightmares that some people get will counteract restful sleep you may get. Also, this is a little expensive at around 70 cents a pill/dose.

I then encountered Alteril at Wal-Mart and grabbed it. L-tryptophan was listed as a main ingredient, and I KNOW this works on me (hello Thanksgiving turkey!). There is a miniscule amount of melatonin in this product, which made me very happy. The dosage for this product is actually 2 pills, BUT that dosage was actually TOO strong for me... I had too much trouble getting up in the morning, so have since dropped it to 1 pill and it's PERFECT. This brings this down to only 41 cents a pill/dose, much cheaper than SleepMD!

I have also recently tried Dream Water (you can buy from their website) - this does NOT work very well and is very expensive at $3.25 per little shot. It's very weak and not worth the money. It also took a long time to work...

Main Points about Alteril:
* This product is stronger than others I've tried... I only need to take 1 pill instead of the recommended 2 pills
* This products WORKS, and works in the time it says it will work (1 hour)!!! The most restful sleep I've ever gotten, and I don't wake up! No bad dreams since the melatonin level is so low. It's the L-tryptophan that makes this product shine
* With 2 pills, was very hard for me to get up out of bed in the mornings. With 1 pill, I'm groggy for maybe 10 minutes after I get up, but then FULL of energy for the remainder of the day
* I love that this is an all-natural sleep aide - no fear of becoming addicted or chemical side effects like non-natural sleeping pills are associated with
* I have SOO much more energy and zest each day now... getting better/deeper sleep has changed my entire world, even moreso than eating correctly and exercising have done. I rarely need to drink coffee anymore to wake up in the mornings either!!

This is a wonderful product! I love trying out new consumer products constantly, UNTIL I've found one that works well (which is rare), but I love Alteril and will continue purchasing and recommending it.

Sleep is VERY important, I'd start here first and then move to exercising, it's a simple painless change you can make that will change your life!! From SELF magazine 04/22/2010: "Getting up multiple times during the night is annoying, no doubt, but it might also harm your health. Rising many times before the morning appears to alter the body's natural pain-control mechanisms, contributing to backaches, headaches and muscle soreness, a study in Sleep notes"

On another site, the reviews were similar to here. Everyone was saying something different! There were very outrageous claims on the other site--here they are a little more balanced.

For me, this product has been a dream (HA!). I used to not be able to get to sleep before 5:30 AM sometimes, and had to take odd naps at strange hours, and woke up off and on. I began to feel very unbalanced. I bought this product and now sleep very peacefully ALL NIGHT and wake up totally fine! I embrace the day, the exact opposite of before. I go to sleep at roughly 1 AM now.

I do recommend this--however, as we see, it seems to vary from person to person. It is best to do some balanced research first.

I checked this item out with my doctor and got positive results. I used this product and it does help me relax into sleep and I have no lingering after effects on waking. I like this product.

I have 2 chronic pain disorders and take 10 prescription medications. One would think that the medications would knock me out at night. Well, they didn't and I was having insomnia. I had a hard time falling asleep. I was waking 2 - 3 times during the night for 1/2 hour periods, and woke feeling exhausted. I didn't want another prescription medication. But I remembered an infomercial I had seen months earlier about a new all natural sleep aid called Alteril that had no side effects.

I ordered Alteril from Amazon and paid for expedited delivery as I just couldn't wait to get a good night's sleep. I started taking the recommended dosage of 2 tablets at night and by the 3rd night, I was sleeping through the night and having colorful, happy dreams. I woke feeling refreshed, I could concentrate better, and I felt less pain just by my having good, solid, productive sleep. I experienced no side effects and no interactions with my prescribed medications.

If you are having sleep problems, see your doctor. If your problem is not due to sleep apnea or some other medical condition, I heartily recommend that you talk to him/her about Alteril. It is a safe, non-addictive, all natural remedy that allows your body to get the type of sleep it needs to function properly.

I was reluctant to try this out but it was recommended to me by a friend who is in the Air Force and I know he has trouble sleeping so on a whim, I decided to try it out. I am amazed because this stuff actually works and I feel refreshed in the morning without all of the side effects.

I've tried Simply Sleep, Tylenol PM, Lunesta (LOVE it! but can't afford it!) and Ambien (hallucinogenic wrecked havoc on my body! and left me with that 'hangover' feeling the next morning).

This is gentle, and all natural. Best of all, I don't find it to be addicting and it works!!! I tried it in August and I only use it as needed or if I'm feeling tired and run down. I am a full time college student and do shift work at night so this is perfect on the nights when I need help to relax and sleep. Seriously, try it! I've been using it as needed for two months and it works great!

If you take any kind of selective reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) DO NOT TAKE THIS PRODUCT.
It is loaded with Tryptophan which causes an bad reaction to those taking SSRIs, your anxiety will spike and general un-ease sets in more many hours.
Avoid it at all costs.
They need to put a warning label on this if you take SSRI medication to avoid it.

I saw the advertisement for Alteril on TV. While shopping at a local drugstore I found the product on the shelf. I bought it as I have been working the night shift and want to return to a normal schedule as my night gig job is over. I have tried Melatonin, and other over the counter sleep aids, none worked. Sadly, neither did this. It does not help me sleep at all.
With 666 mg of L-Tryptophan, which I believe is what makes people drowsy after a big turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, I had higher hopes.
Even with Valerian root, GABA, Melatonin, Passion Flower Herb, Hops, Skullcap, Chamomile and glycine I am not sleeping any better, longer or sooner.

Does not work for me.

Aside from the grammatical hilarity of that statement, it's not really true. On the insomia front, the Alteril works, I have to give it that. When I take it I fall asleep within 30 minutes and I'm out for most of the night. I never wake up groggy.

The problem for me, and possibly for others, is side effects. I read over the ingredients list on this and thought I was safe because I was familiar with most of the items on the list and had never before reacted to the ones I recognized. I should have read closer. I had heard of skullcap before, but had never taken it. I already have trouble with a slight arrhythmia, so, now that I know the most common side effects of skullcap, I'm not really surprised that this product exacerbated that problem.

Caveat Emptor with this product. Some people will react to it and others won't have any problem whatsoever. Look over the list of ingredients and research them all. Most of the herbs in this ingredient list are in too high doses in this particular product to leave to chance, so look them all up and research side effects before purchasing. It's always a good policy to research before buying any herbal product, and I wish I'd remembered to do that before plunking down the cash on this.

I've been buying Alteril from my local CVS for the last few months- and it works great. So I'm shopping online to find a better price and found this version from Amazon.

A bit of advice for successful Alteril usage: It acts quickly within the first 30 minutes but if you are engaged in something exciting (like video games, for example) and fight through the initial drowsiness, it will not keep making you drowsy so you've just 'wasted' a pill. Wait until you are actually ready to go to sleep before taking it to get the maximum benefit.

UPDATE: The rest of the review discusses a version of Alteril that is no longer offered by CVS so is not really relevant anymore. My conclusion is that the CVS version was more effective. This is not what I expected since Tryptophan is double for the Amazon dosage. This leads me to believe that Glycine is the most active ingredient.

------ Original Review -------
However, the CVS product dosage is only one tablet, while the one from Amazon recommends one to two tablets. The one from CVS has a green oval label on the bottom right with the verbiage "Packaged for 1-tablet Dose," and sells for a few dollars less but with only 30 tablets per package instead of 60. The Supplement Facts for the CVS product show the following for one (1) tablet:
L-Tryptophan - 350mg
Glycine - 25mg
Proprietary Blend - 310mg

This one from Amazon for two (2) tablets is:
L-Tryptophan - 666mg
Glycine - 50mg
Proprietary Blend - 264mg (added remaining ingredients)

So it seems the one from Amazon is a better deal, except the Proprietary Blend can't be compared directly without more information. There's also a third product called Alteril Plus with a different ratio of ingredients from either of the above. Will update this review in a few weeks after trying the ones from Amazon to let you know how they compare.