Thanks. Yeah, I'm looking more for OTC. I guess it will be benadryl or similar for now.

Ok, so my version of OTC Ambien for now will be a product called "Sleep-eze". I have a 20 tablet box of 25 mg regular strength C17H21NO tablets.

Was going to post about an old tried and true, legal, Dr. dispensed pharma... but decided to delete my original comment.

What's stopping you? :)
I'm always looking for a good remedy!

OK... the finest light to heavy, depending on dose, sleep aid, especially for long haul flights... is obtaining, legally, through your Doc... Diazapam, otherwise known as Valium. My Doc has known me for years, I'm not a pharma abuser at all, or any kind of abuser! I have usually gotten a script for 10mg Valium and to take the edge off and relax, get a little drowsy to close my eyes... 2.5mg, one quarter of the tablet, and twenty to thirty minutes later, my eyes close and I'm lightly dozing off. For deeper sleeps, 5mg does wonders. I'm healthy, a life long athlete, resting heart rate 51. I drink water to hydrate and know the pharma well, only take once or twice a month. That's it. YMMV. This is just a suggestion... I've never had any issues, problems, side effects. Do not mix with alcohol or drive! Consult YOUR personal Doc. One caveat... Docs and the medical establishment are down on benzodiazapines. Might be difficult to get. Talk to your Doc and let us know. As far as I'm concerned, Valium is an excellent pharma when used properly. Good luck!

Lol, thanks. Yeah, I'm aware of Diazepam. Others in my circle have taken it for sleep as well. Never thought of trying it myself though... but for now, I am reporting that the Sleep-Eze product I tried recently worked quite well and knocked me out for 12 hours. :)

Sleep Eze is just another form of Benadryl. If it works for you - great.

The other OTC option is melatonin

Yeah melatonin didn't do much for me. :(

Yeah... I was going to also say this. I find that tings like "Sleep-eze" are priced higher when, in reality, all they are is Benedryl. Read the ingredients. If it says the active ingredient is Diphenhydramine, that's benedryl. Just buy the equivalent dose of generic diphenhydramine.

For example, just quickly looking at the app for my pharmacy:
Unisom (common sleep aid) using 50mg diphenhydramine: $15.49 for 60 softgels or $0.26 per softgel.
The store brand equivalent: $12.49 for 60 softgels, or $0.21 per softgel.
Generic diphenhydramine from the allergy aisle: I found one bottle that is $19.99 for 365 capsules of 25mg diphenhydramine (so you'd need 2 for hte equiavalent 50mg dose of my other examples), whcih works out to $0.05 per capsule, or $0.10 for the 50mg dose used above.

So I'd suggest going to the pharmacy, looking at the sleep aids you are interested in, and if the active ingredient is diphenhydramine, go to the allergy aisle and look at the pricing for the generic or store brand diphenhydramine in the same dosage and compare the prices. The active ingredient is what you're interested in, that's what makes you sleepy. The rest is filler, buffer, and so forth and not really necessary. Often, slapping "Sleep Aid" on the box lets them jack the price up 2-3x the cost of the allergy version, just because people will assume there's some magical difference between the two. There is not, it's all the same chemistry. (note, that may not apply to combination things like ones with diphenhydramine and melatonin

Also, yes, I realize that the prices for all of these are relatively the same, I just personally have a hard time paying a premium simply because someone used a different box, or wrote "Sleep Aid" instead of "Generic Allergy Pill" on it.

All good advice! Thanks!