When you describe brain fog and say you slept 8 hours and it didn’t feel restful, it makes me think you have sleep apnea. There are two forms of sleep apnea, one is obstructive (throat issue) and the other is central (brain issue). You should ask your doctor for a sleep study.
What you’re describing to me sounds like classical melatonin brain-fog, unrestful sleep, headache the day after.
Always start with the smallest dose that’ll put you under. DO NOT take a second (or more) dose if you wake up, or if you miss that chance to sleep, eg, by trying to stay up past when it hits. Else what happens after is exactly what you describe.
Think of a starter’s gun in a race. He shoots it to start the race, and that’s it. He doesn’t keep shooting, reloading, and shooting some more, once everyone’s running on the track, let alone after everyone crosses the finish-line.
That’s all you need, to get to sleep. It resets your body’s clock to say, “Okay, sleep now”, and that’s it. One and done. Hit it and quit it.
That’s why I said melatonin puts you under, and NicOH (or NicNH2, etc.) keeps you under. Melatonin is not a sleeping pill. It’s only that starter’s gun that indicates, “Ready… set… sleep!”.
Frankly, I think it’s misusing or at least misunderstanding melatonin that gives it a bad rep. “Doesn’t work for me”, “Gives me a headache the day after”, etc. And that “time-released melatonin” should be outright banned, ’cause that’s not what it’s for.
Oh yeh, I was gonna add… look into “non-24”. If your “24hr cycle”, well, isn’t, then you might naturally want or need, say, a 31hr cycle. So you can’t fall asleep early enough, force yourself to wake up “early”, then almost collapse from lack of sleep at inopportune times, etc.
Regular melatonin makes me sleep for just a short while, then I wake up.
Time-released melatonin works great for me. 
No eerie effects the day after?? Wow…
Not for me. 
That’s almost exactly what I told my doctor when he recommended a sleep study. I said I have had sleeping issues my whole life, from back when I was a kid and long before my weight was not ideal. I knew my weight issues was because of the sleep issue… A poor night’s sleep just makes me less active and need to snack more.
Statistically, 1 in 4 people have sleep apnea. It’s more common that I ever realized.
I used to have sleep apnea.
I don't anymore according to my latest sleep study (probably because I lost some weight), but I do sleep quite well with a CPAP machine.
...
I have a doctor's appointment in a couple of months.
I'm going to ask if any of my meds make me sleep excessively.
I think my psych meds might be the culprit.
Whatever melatonin is supposed to do, it has zero effect on me. No sleepiness, no side-effects, nothing the next day. I’ve tried it many, many times, using different dosages and taking it at different times. The only thing it might do, is give me a slight headache if I take 10mg of it.
All that stuff tastes bad.
Just roll it up in some cheese and stick it in your mouth. That’s what I used to do with my dog. :laughing:
btw, that too is classic sleep apnea. The sweating is a hint to the suffocation that woke you up, but you won’t recall it. The dreams are your body attempting process the experience in a way that keeps you asleep, but it ultimately fails and you wake up sweating.
Ah, yes, a pulse oximeter with logging is a good budget way to do a DIY sleep study. I have this one from 2018.
I do understand wanting to experiment on your own… One more thing you might try is a bottle of generic Flonase from Walmart. Take a few hits an hour before bed, and if you wake up more refreshed than usual, great. If not, it was cheap.
I take generic Flonase and generic Allegra.
I think the most you are supposed to take of Flonase is two spays per nostril per 24 hours.
I’ve never heard of xylometazoline until now. Side effects include trouble sleeping, headache, etc. Probably not a good diagnostic tool since the side effects are similar to the issues you are trying to reduce. It’s also not recommended for more than 7 days use.
I think they would help you breath through your nose.
(I take Flonase and Allegra because I have allergies.)
There’s multiple ways it might help. #1, maybe you are mildly alergic to the dust or mold in your pillow, and that is affecting you. #2, maybe you are mildly alergic to the detergent or fabric softener in the sheets. #3, maybe you do have sleep apnea, and the situation snow-balls into more and more inflammation in your sinuses/throat later in the night.
It doesn’t hurt to try it as far as I know. But I’m not a doctor.
Cheese…
About 7 hours.
I’m just saying I thought the same. If I had all the info years sooner, I would not have ruled it out so fast.
Please report back after you get to the bottom of your issues.