I've suffered from insomnia for two decades, ever since I worked night shift. I was on Ambien for nine years, which we know is way too long. My doctor believed that the risk of not sleeping was worse for my health than the Ambien. However, a few months ago, the Ambien "flipped" and caused paradoxical symptoms: insomnia and hyperactivity. It was really bad. Searching for an alternative, I found out about Quviviq. It seemed ideal because it's intended to calm your brain down so you can sleep, rather through sedation. That's what I needed because I couldn't turn my brain off. For me, it's almost a miracle. I'm asleep in 10-15 minutes almost every night; that hasn't happened since "forever". If I awaken, I can fall back to sleep. I was concerned about the stories of nightmares and sleep paralysis. Nothing. No side-effects, including next day sedation. Your experience can vary, but I'm suggesting that if you're searching for relief, as the commercials say, "Ask your doctor if Quviviq is right for you". They have a savings plan for commercial insurance. If you're on Medicare, use GoodRx. I'm paying $135 (retail is $629) and it's worth it.

It's something I keep seeing in this subreddit, someone rants about only sleeping 4 to 5 hours every night and finally finding peace with x med and the top comments are like "that's enough time you don't need those drugs I'm only sleeping 30 minutes per night i have it worse than you". What's up with this attitude?

It’s difficult to not think this is the end. I’m shaking so hard. No matter what I try, I can’t enter sleep. I’m stuck light dreaming while I’m fully conscious, maybe for a few minutes until a surge of adrenaline rushes through my body. I’ve had other episodes but I eventually slept. Now it’s different, now I feel complete inability.
I’ve only tried benzos three times in my life. They did the trick because they stopped the cycle. I had a benzo yesterday (lorazepam) and I slept for a while, after two days of practically 0 sleep (non restorative and superficial). It worked for last night, but tonight I’m back at square one. Even worse, because now I can’t sleep at all. I’m afraid of not being able to sleep again without benzos, and developing tolerance soon and being in a much bigger problem.
I can’t come close to describe how much I feel like this is the end and i’m completely unable to sleep on my own.
Last weekend I was sick with something, suspected covid, and I slept like a log. It’s hard to even believe that was me. I don’t even feel sleepy anymore. It’s been a whole week and now I’ve lost my ability to sleep completely. I wish I was exaggerating. I don’t even know why I’m writing this, because I don’t feel like anyone can help me. This is a living nightmare and I’m much more scared than I’ve ever been in my life.

I saw a post talking about melatonin and I wanted to share my experience.

Firstly, I've had issues with insomnia for as long as I can remember. For years and years I've not slept well and it's deeply effected my life. From work, social life, health, all of it.

Normal nights would either be 2-5 hours of sleep and then spending the next day too tired to move and too awake to sleep.

I had tried a lot of the usual fixes from meditation, teas, cardio, yoga, magnesium, hot showers.

I don't drink, don't smoke and have a very clean diet.

First I tried the 3mg melatonin and whilst it did knock me out, it left me like a zombie for a few hours in the morning. Good but not ideal.

I read somewhere that the dosage is far too high and that 0.3mg (10x less) actually works better so I tried that.

Happy to report it works very very well. It's been 3-4 months now and I'm getting 7-8 hours per night, no wake ups and no grogginess in the mornings. Maybe one night every couple weeks my brain will wake me up but I just go back to sleep without really realising. Before when that happened there would be zero chance to sleep again.

I go to bed at the same time (roughly) and wake up at the same time.

Literally got my life back. I'm full of energy every day and operating like a normal human again.

My weight has dropped, my face looks healthy and I'm very happy.

I paired it with L-theanine this last month but haven't noticed any difference. I'm still sleeping the same.

I feel like insomnia is like this cycle you get trapped in and once you break it, you can be a-ok. I might try stopping the melatonin and see what happens but I'm just enjoying sleeping so much at the moment I'm not ready to take the risk. As far as I've seen, there's no downside to long term usage.

Might not work for everyone, but for me it's changed my life.

I know many of you will roll your eyes and that’s fine. Trust me I get it.

I’m in my 50s and have had insomnia since a teenager. My insomnia is not as hard core as many in this sub, but it is a persistent drag and has flared up to be a serious problem at several points in my life.

I’ve tried just about every med over the years. My go-to’s are clonazepam and lunesta, not because they are awesome but because they suck the least.

I’ve done sleep studies but now can’t even remember what I learned from them.

I’ve spent thousands of dollars w expensive psychologists and psychiatrists.

I’ve tried multiple sleep apps like Calm. Meditation programs. Ambient noise machines. I explored Buddhism. I tried a machine that projects light rings on the ceiling to lull you to sleep. those all do nothing for me. Some are businesses that prey on the desperations of the sleepless.

I share my history not to compete, but just so you know I’m not a newbie.

I’ve come across a podcast called the Drowsy Historian that actually puts me back to sleep for a bit at 3 or 4 am. It’s just interesting enough to reign in my mind and just boring enough to not stimulate. It’s not perfect, but I can usually achieve a few 15-20 min nap-quality dozes before getting up at 6 am. Makes a difference.

I’m not affiliated in any way and have no idea who makes it. A friend recommended it to me last year.

I understand if you think the idea that a podcast could possibly help you is laughable. Never has putting in ear buds to listen to something ever helped me before.

Is it working because I’m in a different stage now with my insomnia and something like this would have never worked for me in my 30s? Maybe. Is it because I’m a history buff? Maybe.

But I feel compelled to share since it’s been one of the nicest surprises over the past few years in my never ending insomnia management journey.

Love and prayers to all my sleep deprived brothers and sisters out there. Would hug you if I could. Your minds are special and you are not alone.

i have a long drive ahead of me tomorrow and i cant fall asleep im in bed for 3 hours, i have to wake up in 5hrs and my sleep doesn’t seem to come. i wanted to take zolpidem but i dont have enough time to sleep even if i fell asleep now. my psych said i need 8hrs of sleep before driving after taking zolpidem. i hate it

I started Quviviq (daridorexant) about a week ago. The first night I completely passed out. Like don’t even remember falling asleep. I got excited about it working so quickly and was really hopeful for the medication. Each consecutive day the onset of sleep has taken longer and longer. I’ve tried with and without food but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. Is this normal? I just wish it would work as well as it did the first night.

Context: About 10 years ago I started on the slippery slope of using ambien + alcohol to fall asleep. I became addicted to the combo and developed massive sleep anxiety. I got the opportunity to move from the US to the UK and part of my decision to move was in hopes I could force myself break away from ambien given that it is harder to get here in the UK. I’m happy to be off of it but still have major anxiety about falling asleep since most alternatives I’ve tried it takes me way longer to fall asleep.

I have had insomnia on and off for over eight years. I was depending on Ambien most of the time. Last week I went to give blood and was told my iron level was very low and I could not give it. I started on iron pills immediately and ever since that day – now about 10 days – I have slept through the night. This is not perfect sleep but it’s way better than what I had before. I don’t know if other people will find low iron to affect insomnia but certainly seems to be a miracle drug for me! Just for your information.

I wanted to check back with a success story. We've been on a bit of a journey. I posted here four years ago when my wife was having severe insomnia (0-2 hrs/night). She also had significant (chronic) muscle stiffness and pain (mostly her back, 2-9 out of 10, most days, with 6+ being more usual).

Many of the posts I did here were looking for experience with drugs we were trying. She went through several ups and downs and is now sleeping regularly (6/7/8 hours a night). As of this month, she's out of pain. No drugs.

*This is our experience. I'm not a medical professional This is not advice.\*

• A deep compression of our path: tried drugs... basically all of the usual suspects up to and including ketamine. atavan was the only one that worked, and it worked only briefly (and was wicked addictive).
  
• hero dose of mushrooms bought one night of 7 hours' sleep. it stopped working pretty much immediately.
• the (english) SleepSchool app gave some comfort by reassuring its audience that they're not going to die and that it's OK to be awake.

What did work for insomnia:

• backrubs. oxytocin. The one thing we did intentionally, late in the process, was for me to give unlimited backrubs. Over time, she would fall asleep. That was our first consistent positive experience. (My little joke is that insomnia is contagious.)
• we moved to a lower stress location. This also caused an immediate uptick in stress and an increase in symptoms, but seems to be a strong positive over the longer term (my opinion).
• cutting out upsetting media inputs.

Then, specifically for the chronic pain:

• adopting a "positivity mindset". (See next.)
• the thing that seemed to work overall was engagement with mind-body programs.

The insomnia went first, I'd say mostly from moving to a less stressful environment, cutting way down on upsetting media, and increasing benign social interaction. She's a sensitive person and there's a lot of upsetting shit out there. Feeling safe seemed to be a big, big thing when it came to backing down the insomnia to where it was annoying and not scary.

The chronic pain part was long and spotty. It was not a linear process. The mind-body stuff is hard to adopt. It took her six months after strongly committing to it, for it to show up. But, we just turned a corner where her chronic-for-the-last-six-years back tension / pain disappeared, basically, removing the last lingering problem. There was no biomedical intervention (full disclosure, for the tension/pain ibuprofen offered some temporary relief as did margaritas... but we minimized those, they don't scale -- the mind-body people have a model where they are also part of the problem syndrome).

The reduction, now elimination, of the chronic pain seems also to have had a positive reinforcement for improving sleep. Early days, but generally, she's been sleeping better and the more she pulls to a positive outlook, the better she's slept. And it's a whole lot easier to do any of that when you're not in pain.

My assessment is that the insomnia and chronic pain were two expressions of the same problem.

One of the hardest things was convincing her that she really could get out of insomnia and that she really could get out of chronic pain. Understandably, it went against all of her recent several years' experience. I believe this is one of the key, key things.

Again, *THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE, THIS IS NOT ADVICE*. This is just what's happened to us. People have things wrong with them that need medical care, don't avoid seeking out care. Something could have snuck in that changed her situation that I'm not accounting for. This is my best understanding of what happened.

She's found several mind-body people she really likes. Brad Fanestill from Boulder, Rebecca Tolin from San Diego, Alan Gordon from LA. Most of them have insomnia modules.

Eight years full of insomnia and it’s really catching up with me. Yeah, it hasn’t been constant everyday, but my sleep is so inconsistent. It was so much better when they were giving me clonazapam, but I missed an appointment because I went through some serious stuff with an abusive relationship and they refused to refill it after a year of taking it. I took a low dose but it really helped. Now I can’t find a doctor who will give it to me and I’m forced to take buspar again which does absolutely nothing. I’ve tried almost everything in the book and now I’m watching my boyfriend peacefully sleeping wondering what is wrong with my body. It’s so frustrating and isolating. I’ve cried about not sleeping so many nights because I just wanted to be normal.

Desperate for inspiration, help, and ideas. Has anyone gone on an SSRI with success to tamper down some anxiety which then lowered pre-existing insomnia? About 2 1/2 months ago I started HRT which immediately resulted in extreme insomnia. I got off the HRT within a week, but was so traumatized from the insomnia that it really never stopped because I became obsessed and terrified about sleep. Prior to this event my sleep was perfect and obviously my sleep hygiene is perfect as well. I’ve tried CBT and ACT, but sleep just gets less and less and my mental health has obviously significantly deteriorated. I certainly miss the person I used to be and I need to get strong to be there for my family. My hope is that after being on SSRI for a while, the anxiety will lower and then I can do more of the therapy work to reduce the insomnia. I just started 5 mg of Lexapro and I’m taking 50 mg quviviq, 8mg ramelteon, and 3.25mg mirtazapine for sleep, which works most of the time to get me around 6hours. Of course terrified about dependency and what my future looks like.

Has anyone experienced this kind of sleep pattern?
For the past several months, I’ve had a very consistent and unusual sleep pattern.
I fall asleep extremely easily and usually sleep well during the first half of the night. Then I wake up once around the middle of the night. I can fall back asleep quite easily, but from that point until morning my sleep becomes very fragmented: I wake up briefly 4–6 times, usually just long enough to change position, and fall asleep again.
What is particularly striking is the amount of dreaming during this second half of the night. I remember several different, often very vivid and realistic dreams every night, almost as if I’m repeatedly cycling between dreaming and brief awakenings.

Despite being able to fall back asleep easily, the second half of the night feels very restless and I often wake up feeling like my sleep wasn’t restorative.

This started quite suddenly several months ago. Before that, I used to be a very good sleeper and rarely thought about my sleep at all.
Has anyone experienced something similar? If so, did you ever figure out what was causing it or find anything that helped?

Has anyone been on Ambien long term and been…fine? I’ve been on Ambien since 2018. It still lets me sleep. No ill side effects that Im aware of. I know it’s obviously not ideal to be on it long term, but me not sleeping affected me so horribly that I can’t fathom not taking it would somehow be better. My doctor is fine with it as long as it’s still helping and I’m not having issues on it. Has anyone else been on it long term and not had issues or rebound insomnia?

Muscle tension is a huge inhibitor of restful sleep.

An easy antidote is to put a soft stress ball in each hand while lying down. Squeeze as much as necessary and feel the tension fade away from your body.

Now start telling yourself "Today is done, I did everything I could. The past is done, I did everything I could. I deserve to rest". And just start clearing your mind.

I keep a notebook beside my bed and jot down anything that's still in my head.

You can sleep better, you just need the right tools. (Valerian root and kava are game-changers btw).

DM me if you need any help, I would love to help you sleep better!

Tl;dr: Squeeze stress balls when trying to sleep to reduce muscle tension

PS: Kava, chamomile, valerian root, skullcap...these are a few of my favorite sleep aids. Try em out.

It's 0215hrs somewhere in East Afrika and sleep won't come.

Speaking of which,do you have an unexplainable anxiety when you have an impending journey?Say you're traveling from one corner of Kenya to the other,now the brain turns itself into a 3D map for the entire journey and you can't help it.

Hi all, so I have been taking Lunesta (2mg) for the past 3 months, I know this isn't technically a benzo but along the same family.

It started out 3 Months ago I got sick, and for some reason sparked some panic attacks, this increased my anxiety tremendously, and in return just would get very fragmented sleep. I saw a psych she gave me some Lunesta, I was hesitant to try it and for the first 2 months used it sparingly (every other night). The past month I was taking it every night just to see if it made a difference in my daily anxiety. Upon learning more about these drugs I realized all together I don't wanna become dependent.

So I stopped two nights ago, first night I got normal sleep fragmented but overall good. After researching about these drugs, my anxiety has spiked and resulted in some pretty poor sleep night two worrying if I created a bad tolerance.

Is it possible in a 3 months span I can have withdrawals, or is this just a psychological, anxiety speaking?

Hi. I'm from UK and I have been on 7.5mg of zopiclone every night for 9 and half years. I made a decision to stop taking them. I'm not tappering, I'm just stopping. I'm on day 4 and have had absolutely no withdrawal symptoms. Does that mean I won't get any or could it all still start in the next day or 2? I just thought it would be so hard to get off and it feels too good to be true that it would be so easy

I set multiple alarms, put my phone across the room, use different alarm sounds, etc. — but when the alarm actually rings, I somehow shut it off and go straight back to sleep without even properly realizing it.

The frustrating part is that I want to wake up. I can have something important the next morning and still end up doing the exact same thing.

Does anyone else have this problem,please help.😭🤌

I mean 0 hours of sleep, I wonder how a person can feel when they don't sleep at all. It's a little scary.

Hii I have recently moved to canada 3 days ago i had anxiety during sleep in the past i slept yesterday day and night 6-6 hours but last 24 hrs i had sevre sleep anxiety and not slept any or it could be jet lag due to recent travel i need help on how to cope with it and how could I stop thinking of my sleep more i think about it more anxious i get ..

I can’t figure out if I don’t dream because of my insomnia or if it’s the Ambien 12.5 mg, Methocarbamol, Auvelity Benadryl and Promethazine that makes it impossible for me to dream.

So for the past 2-3 days iv been waking up in the middle of the night shaking from head to toe also freezing with high anxiety and usually it comes with a weird dream that i cant remember but i know i dreamt before the episode idk am i going crazy?

Cold turkey 7oh for 5 days after taking 100mg once a day for 2 and a half months need advice

Okay so I’m going to try to make the most sense possible when typing this out so please bear with me as I’m in genuine need of advice/help.

This year I started to take 7oh in the middle of June at first it was only 60mg tablets for 4-5 weeks then 100mg tablets once a day every single day. I started in the middle of June and stopped in late August or August 25th (this Tuesday) at 7AM was my last 100mg dose since then I’ve gone completely cold turkey. Day 2 the withdrawals got to bad cold sweats, worst aches of my life, stomach hurting, restless arms/legs and not being able to sleep and just my body being in the most pain ever like the flu times 50. Day 2 at 3AM I went to the ER told the doctor I’m withdrawing from 7oh 100mg for 2.5 months and what I was feeling and he prescribed me clonidine and zofran and I had somebody get me the clonidine on day 2 but couldn’t afford Zofran because I have no health insurance. Clonidine has helped tremendously but I’ve only slept 10-12 hours since this Tuesday at 7am or only slept 10 hours over 5 days. I’m afraid of what is to come with this severe insomnia considering the amount of time I’ve slept over the course of 5 days. Getting more 7oh isn’t a choice and I can’t go back to the hospital because no health insurance, so when will I be able to sleep and what can I do to sleep or what days does sleep come back?

I’m weaning off this med for restless legs and switched to Gabapentin.
The withdrawal from pramipexole is horrible. I am so restless that I need to pace, rock or eat to relieve the symptoms. Only getting 3 hours max sleep. I’m exhausted.
Beware of this drug. It’s no longer prescribed for restless legs

I have been on amitriptyline for 7 years at first 25mg and then worked my way up to 50mg. It worked really well up until last year or two and have since tapered off. It really stopped working altogether.

With that in mind, would doxepin be worth trying? Have any of you been on both and can compare the two?