Relora

cheermomma · Wed Mar 15, 2006 12:50 pm

Has anyone tried this? It is a herbal blend that not only is supposed to improve your sleep, but also stabilizes levels of stress hormone (cortisol), and helps in weight loss. My 16 yr. old DD has terrible sleep habits (sleeps during class and not at night), is moody (the age!) and feels stressed all the time. She also wants to lose 10 lbs. Relora seems like it might have been invented for her. Being herbal, it should be OK. Does anyone have any ideas on this?

colliegirl · Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:48 pm

I don't know anything about the product, but don't assume it is safe just because it is herbal. There are many herbs available OTC that can cause severe side effects, especially if combined with medications.

MathChick · Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:01 pm

The couple things you point out (moodiness, weight gain, sleeping during the day) can all be traced back to not sleeping properly at night. WHY is she not sleeping? Does she suffer from insomnia? Does she procrastinate on homework all afternoon and stay up late to get it done?

I think suppliments and medications are a Godsend for a lot of people with serious issues. But I think too many people turn to them before they examine how they might be contributing to the problem. Teenagers have poor sleep habits. Some of them are suffering from problems such as insomnia, but some are just leading unhealthy lives. Using uppers (caffeine), downers (sleep aids), and herbal suppliments aren't the answer. They will just set her on an unhealthy path for the future.

If she has a serious sleep problem bring her to the doctor and have him/her recommend a course of action.

luvs_torun · Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:17 pm

I also don't know anything about this product. But I DO know about 16 year old daughters! :D I have twins that are 16. (I also have an almost 20 yr. old). Teens are under a lot of stress, much more I believe than we ever were at that age. With classes, activities, college prep, driving, social lives and just plain growing up.
With our girls physical activity alleviates almost all of the problems you mention. Sleep comes easier at night (they've always had a structured bedtime however so have developed good sleeping habits), being physically active also helps with the moodiness and the feelings of stress.

IMO, if you teach your daughter that taking a "herb" or some form of medication will help her cope with stress, moodiness and aid in weight loss, you are not teaching her how to handle these situations herself and to work through them on her own. She may feel in the future that she may need some type of "crutch" to get her through certain situations rather than relying on her own inner-strength.

She sounds very normal to me. :D and I am not trying to tell you what to do. However, if you decide to try the Relora for her I would certainly check with her pediatrician first.
:D

cheermomma · Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:02 am

MathChick,

I'm not sure why she has sleep problems....she's been like that since she was a child. She had night terrors when she was a toddler. She claims that she can't sleep, but I'm sure if she would lay down in her darkened room, she would be able to. She insists on staying up to 11 or 12 and is supposed to get up at 5:45 for school. Of course, part of her problem is that she is worn out, she even got mono in 9th grade. She's not doing homework...at night or at all. She claims she doesn't have any. (She's in 11th grade) Her grades prove otherwise.

I looked into relora because of the 3 things combined, all of them pertain to her:
weight loss, stress reduction and help sleeping. She has been taking it for about 10 days and says she feels better. There's no dramatic change, but a couple of nights I checked on her and she was asleep by 10:15.

I have taken her to 2 doctors, and they both want to put her on either Zoloft or sleep aids. I declined, because a large part of her problems is being 16, just normal teen stuff, and she will grow out of it. It's the sleep problem I worry about, since it's been going on so long.

And, thanks for the suggestions, luvs_torun. She is pretty active, she was a cheerleader for 2 1/2 years with 3 hours practice every day, including summers. There wasn't much difference. Now she works 16 hours a week and goes to the gym every day, which includes swimming and aerobics. I've tried many times to help her decide on a plan of action, but she doesn't listen to me. A couple of her friends have pointed things out to her and that works for about a week, then she's back to her old self. I know they are under a lot of stress (ACT and SATs this month alone!), and her school is overcrowded this year, and I'm sure that doesn't help. I'm considering taking her to a sleep specialist, because I believe you aren't at your best without a good night's sleep. If anyone else has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!

MathChick · Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:48 pm

Your daugher's sleep sounds like my sister. I say a sleep clinic is a good idea. But the best thing you can do is educate yourself. Insomnia runs in my family and my sister got it the worst of any of us. When she was a baby she wouldn't/couldn't sleep for more than 45 minutes straight before she was awake. The problem wasn't being tired, but her natural sleep patterns. The problem was expanded by her allergies which made it hard for her to sleep sometimes.

Like I said, a LOT of things branch of from not getting good sleep. When I was 16 my school started at 7 am. It was not uncommon for me to spend four hours in a darkened room with no hope of sleep evident. I didn't realize until I hit college and had more control over my schedule how much sleep affected my life. I was constantly sick in high school, missing an average of 1 day per week of school. I had one cold my entire fresman year of college. My high strung nature that I thought was just me mellowed into a much more easygoing attitude. My tendency to forget that I was talking, sometimes midsentence (not forget what I was saying, for get that I was even talking) went away, as did the bizzarre, sometimes scary, thoughts that would just pop into my head ("If cornchips could talk, what would they say?"). I was finally able to concentrate and listen for more than 15 seconds at a time. I was also much more able to handle stress.

When parents tell me now about their teenagers getting sick and having trouble concentrating I always ask about their sleep habits and usually hear how AWFUL they are, for whatever reason. I think parents don't put enough emphasis on sleeping. They think it is natural for teenagers to stay up late and get up early and since they are young it isn't as big of a deal. I didn't realize how big of an idea it WAS until I finally started getting sleep and no longer looking at life through a haze.

It sounds like your daughter needs help with her sleeping. My overwhelming point was that her other problems might be stemming from that, that they are all inter-related and coming from her poor sleeping. I agree that sleep aids aren't the answer yet. That is an extreme solution. There are a lot of smaller fixes that can be tried first. For example I don't exercise after 7pm. I don't have anything with caffeine after 6pm. I don't eat, read, write, or watch TV in bed, or even in my bedroom. Pets are forbidden to sleep on the bed with us. And I have mental exercises I do after I get into bed in order to wind my mind down into a state of sleep.

The fact of the matter is that she has to take control of it. This suppliment might be a good temporary fix, but many times one of two things happen, you grow dependent on it (either psychologically or physically), or you grow resistant to it. She needs to find what works for her, and pills aren't usually a good long term solution.

Does it matter to her as much as it does to you? Being chronically low on sleep was a miserable existance. Like I said I didn't even realize how miserable until I actually HAD sleep. You mentioned that she has tried things that worked, but she didn't stick with them. I understand you worry about her, but just like with weight loss, no one can make you change your habits. You have to decide the action is worth it to you.

cheermomma · Sat Apr 08, 2006 9:36 pm

MathChick,

What you describe you went thru is exactly what's happening with my daughter. She, too, would only sleep for short periods at a time, until it caught up with her in a couple of weeks, and she would sleep for half a day. And it's true that you have to take control yourself. I just wish I could get that thru her head! The mind exercises sound interesting....do you mind if I ask what kind? I've always told her to think of the good or happy things that happened to her that day, and she would be able to fall asleep. I don't know if she's still doing that.

MathChick · Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:41 pm

cheermomma wrote: MathChick,

What you describe you went thru is exactly what's happening with my daughter. She, too, would only sleep for short periods at a time, until it caught up with her in a couple of weeks, and she would sleep for half a day. And it's true that you have to take control yourself. I just wish I could get that thru her head! The mind exercises sound interesting....do you mind if I ask what kind? I've always told her to think of the good or happy things that happened to her that day, and she would be able to fall asleep. I don't know if she's still doing that.

Sorry it took so long for me to get back here! I don't mind you asking about my methods at all.

I found I needed to think things that would take a little bit of thought so that I could block out the background noise, but not so much that it would keep me up. In high school I would latch onto movies and change characters around a little bit. The point is that I already know what is going to happen, so I don't have to think so hard to create an entire story, but I might add a character so that I would have to think about how the person would change the dynamic. If I am super stressed I will also start things with emotionally neutral, yet calming scenes, a ballerina under a spotlight on an empty stage, or an angel flying through clouds.

The trick is to put emotions out of my head. I try to make it like watching a movie I have never seen. I am interested in what happens yet, but I don't have to go through any effort to make it happen.

I have also come to believe in naps if you use them correctly. When I was a junior in high school I would get home at 2:15 and sleep until my mom got home around 5. The trick of a good nap is to keep it to approximately 90 minute incriments. That is the length of a full sleep cycle. A 10-15 minute nap is fine as a refresher, but if you are only getting 5 hours of sleep in a night, you have 3 or 4 hours to make up. Keeping it to 90 minute incriments helps with not being as groggy when you wake up and ruining your evening. I also think you need to take them early enough so that your evening can be almost like another day. There should be 4-5 hours at least between when you wake up and when you go to bed.

Another "duh" issue that everyone has to learn for themselves is to try to not sleep 5 hours during the week and 14 on the weekends. If that is all you can do I think it is better than forcing yourself to have short nights on the weekends, but that throws your system off kilter. I run into that now, oversleeping on teh weekends and Sunday night winds up being very short, throwing my Monday off.

blo · Sun Apr 23, 2006 11:07 am

Cheermomma, sorry to hear about DD not being able to sleep at night. I got a hold of Dr. Don Colbert's "Less Stress" book and read it. (It's very good. Talks about why people are overweight, how the elevated cortisol levels can be traced to a stressful life. He talks about what the body needs in the way of food, exercise, nutrients & vitamins & then he tells you why.) He is a famous Christian doctor, (he's been on a couple nationally known tv broadcasts & written a number of good books), who went through a lot of physcial ailments himself because of too much work & too much stress. He does not recommend herbal drugs as a major way of coping & especially without a doctor's approval. Too many side effects & drug interactions; some which turn deadly. So I agree with other posters on that one. According to him, we don't get enough sleep. We really need about 8 hours to function properly. Most do not get the deeper level of sleep that refreshes us. (I, myself am one, which is why I am reading the book.) However, he does suggest several things: make it a regular habit to go to bed at the same time every night with room darkened. Our bodies were designed to go to sleep when it gets dark & wake up when it's light. Hence the reasoning for a darkened room. (Most teens take their cellphones to bed with them. :wink: Others watch tv in their rooms, & others play on the computers in their room. Hence, no sleep. I, too, have a 17 DD.) Another thing is that he highly recommends cutting out all caffeine, such as coffee, tea, & soda. As a matter of fact, caffeine helps with putting out & elevating the cortisol levels. Eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch, & pauper at dinner. A heavy dinner will also tax the body & make it harder to fall asleep. Body needs sleep time to rebuild their cells & muscles & to clean out waste. Plus any type of sugars in any types of foods or desserts before going to bed. He says that it stimulates the body too much. No strenous exercise 3 hours before bed. Play some soft music, (not the hard stuff), or get one of those waterfall things to help lull to sleep. He does say that everytime we heard bad news, watch movies that excite us, have difficulties at school or work which are not resolved then our bodies are continually putting out adenaline, (cortisol) and eventually our bodies would develop a lot of problems due to the overload of the cortisol. It wrecks the immune system not to mention problems with sleep. Hope this helps & gives you some ideas. But if you really want to know more about how the body works, the book is good. blo

jeninva · Fri May 19, 2006 4:04 pm

hi, i took relora.(also know as cortislim) they talk about it like it actually stops the fat from going to your belly, not true. it basically reduces stress which is supposed to stop you from stress eatting which is usually things that are bad, which end up on your belly. i do think it made me more calmer but so will eatting properly and getting enough exercise. don't ever assume that just because it is herbal that it is safe. i am ashamed of myself for falling for it. it is all about healthy eating and exercise. hope this helped.

jennifer

idnarb · Wed May 24, 2006 8:52 pm

jeninva wrote: hi, i took relora.(also know as cortislim) they talk about it like it actually stops the fat from going to your belly, not true. it basically reduces stress which is supposed to stop you from stress eatting which is usually things that are bad, which end up on your belly. i do think it made me more calmer but so will eatting properly and getting enough exercise. don't ever assume that just because it is herbal that it is safe. i am ashamed of myself for falling for it. it is all about healthy eating and exercise. hope this helped.

jennifer

Smoke a "j" instead and keep South Beach friendly snacks around for the munchies...that will keep the stress at bay.

I also was a news program where they debunked the whole cortisol/stress/weight loss connection..if I can find a link Ill post it.


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