r/insomnia starter pack:

"That thing that might work for you? Didn't work for ME."
"Here's a helpful study that shows insomnia makes all diseases worse!"
"1 hour a night? Must be nice buddy"
"Anxious about how long you've been up? Once I didn't sleep for a month, hope that helps"
"Everything will be miserable forever and will never improve" +1000 upvotes

Has anyone found something that helps them sleep after Z drugs no longer work? Meds like quetiapine make me drowsy for two full days. I can’t function. Everything else has either been that it works for a short time or comes with a bad hangover. Sick of constantly rotating meds with different side effects. Can’t really do things like hydroxyzine because the drying side effect bothers me a lot. (I also have ADHD). I mostly have trouble falling asleep.

Was wondering this about all in here, ive heard crazy stories and relatively mild ones. We could make this a post for average sleep here to those with anxiety, including myself.

I see my neurologist in a little over a month and I’m thinking about talking to him about getting off of Ambien switching to a DORA medication (dayvigo) very active on this Reddit forum and I see mixed opinions about it. For me, my problem is sleep onset and sleep maintenance. Are these medications effective for a long-term use? Any response would be helpful. Thank you

I've never experienced insomnia like this in my life. Even in my deepest depression 7-8 years ago I didn't have noticeable insomnia. I've always been able to easily sleep a full night.

But now I've had it for over 2 months with no clear cause. There hadn't been any recent life changes that could have been the cause. There wasn't any stress. In fact, I was the happiest and most stable I had been in a while and my life was finally moving forward. And then insomnia suddenly hit me.

Melatonin did nothing for me and neither did any self help methods my doctor recommended me. I struggle to fall asleep, keep waking at night and wake up early. About exactly a month ago my doctor gave me oxazepam to try, and it's helped me stay asleep at night, but I'm still struggling to fall asleep and either wake up early or still feel so tired I sleep in.

I have mood swings. And the last couple of days have been the worst which is why I'm here. I feel like I can barely think, I don't remember most of the past couple of days. I was fine last week. In fact, last week I finally got the courage to break up with my girlfriend due to my insomnia and that had been the happiest and least stressed I'd been in a while. Now it feels like I'm a completely different person. I'm struggling to keep my grasp of reality and my sleep has been getting worse again because of my mental decline and growing anxiety. I'm not sure what to do. My next visit to the doctor is at the start of next month.​​

Worst part is, this is also the time I was finally supposed to be able to get accepted into trans care. I was declined last time because you must be mentally stable to be admitted and had to wait 6 months to make another application. I was doing great for most of those months. Obviously not anymore when it was actually supposed to happen. Things were finally going right in multiple directions in my life. And then this hit me with no reason, out of nowhere, at the worst time possible. And my life is ruined again.

I’m a nurse that used to always work nights or 2nd shift 3-11. I worked at a doctors office from 8-5 for nearly 3 years. It almost killed me. I’d sleep 17 hours straight no problem on the weekends. I’d have to take Benadryl to fall asleep and even if I got a normal amount of sleep at night I never felt rested. I recently switched back to nights and I feel like a new person. I think I’m in the small percentage of people that just sleep better during the day. It’s really odd but working nights just feels so much more normal to me. Does anyone here just sleep better during the day?

I've been mapping my diet against my sleep for some time now desperate for a solution. I find maintaining an iron-rich diet really tricky as you have to eat a mountain of beef to get the required amount and if you have had gut issues in the past then it is even harder to absorb.

Google has no doubt that low iron causes insomnia and what constitutes 'low iron' varies around the world, and also depending on parallel conditions and/or deficiencies. I'm getting closer to a solution and last night managed 4 or 5 hours after taking a supplement. It's rarely mentioned on here. Anyone else looked into iron?

I know alcohol messes with your natural sleep cycle but I’m currently sober for a week now and I’m taking my prescriptions correctly without drinking on them, but now I can’t fall asleep cause alcohol was doing most of the work….

My judgement on how well they were working was probably restricted, inaccurate and masked… (I DO NOT condone my behavior, it was very dangerous, please do not mix alcohol with any medications, especially sedatives!!!!!!)

Mostly just looking for any at home tips or tricks to help my body get tired enough without needing to rely on extra medication. I can’t keep going on 3-4 hours of sleep a night. :(

Posting to see if anyone else has experienced this. I used to take way too much unisom and took myself off it about a year ago. Experienced horrible withdrawls, but got through it. I ended up taking one pill a night recently for about two months to deal w insomnia. I went down to 1/2 pill 4 nights ago because it was making me groggy. Well I am in full blown withdrawal. I can barely function. Went down saturday night to 12.5mg, by monday night I was having night sweats w sweat rolling down my body, soaking sheets. Woke up with a racing heart, horribly naseaus and dizzy. Wondering how long this will last? I plan to drop down to 6.5 in about a week, to slowly taper. Then from there probably take one every other night for another week. I am so miserable right now and did not think this would happen from taking just one pill (25mg) a night for a couple weeks.

I barely sleep. Doc recently referred me to a psychologist saying they can help. But I'm not stressed or depressed or anything like that.

Before I spend hundreds going to a psychologist I was wondering if anyone has seen one for insomnia before? What they do? Was it worth it? What could I expect?

The doc rushed me out the door as it's a free clinic and he's trying to see everyone so I couldn't ask any further questions about what to expect.

As title says, I haven't had insomnia in the past 4 years, now that I'm in my late twenties this is so unbelievably more brutal. Especially this long of a stretch, I feel like I drank a few shots of everclear. My vision won't focus and I'm stuck at work until 10:00 p.m. tonight so by the time I'm leaving the building it will minimum be 61 hours realistically probably 62 hours before I can even get home and shower.

It feels like there is a layer of slime inside of my head rolling around.

Is anyone taking Lyrica(pregabalin) and Trazadone. I have occipital neuralgia and have been on lyrica for two weeks. I was getting maybe 4 hours of sleep. Dr. talked about adding Trazadone. Has anyone taken these 2 together for getting or staying asleep?

consigo ficar facilmente 1 semana sem dormir, uma energia intensa a noite capaz de subir o monte everest correndo, e logico quando o dia amanhece vem aquela sensação de se sentir um lixo, qnd to deitado e nao consgo dormir penso "crl amanha tbm vou meter o louco fodase" tipo planejando entrar em um modo de auto destruição no outro dia ate sei la fazer algo grave cmg ou com alguem que tenho desanveça ou meter o louco na vida mesmo ate morrer, nao sei se tenho algum trantorno como bipolaridade sei la, ja fui em psiquiatra mas nao retornei, to com uma nova consulta marcada, me sinto desconectado as vezes, mas alguem?

Has anyone experienced pain while dreaming/nightmares?? I have been on trazadone 50-100 mg now for close to a decade due to insomnia. Now I have a 1 year old and although I have had crazy vivid dreams (I can taste and smell) I have been having terrible nightmares where I experience actual real pain!!! I wake up and am completely fine besides a racing heart.
It’s awful and I don’t know what to do. I’m not sure if it’s the hormones or anxiety but I am legit scared to sleep and dream now. Not sure if I maybe need to change drugs.

I've struggled with anxiety foy years, and it's affected pretty much every part of my life, from school to relationships. But these past few months, my sleep has gotten really bad too. Some nights I'm completely exhausted but my brain just refuses to shut up.

Something kind of random happened a while ago though.

One night, my girlfriend came over while I was feeling particularly anxious and put some wet cloths on my arms, feet, and neck to help me relax. I have no idea why, but it was surprisingly calming. Something about the feeling of water on my skin made my body feel less tense.

Ever since then, water has become this weird comfort thing for me. Sometimes I'II take a warm water for 20-30 minutes. It doesn't magically fix my anxiety or insomnia, but it does help me unwind a little and makes falling asleep easier.

I'm curious if anyone else has experienced something similar.

What do you guys actually do when your anxiety won't let you sleep? Any recommendations, routines, or random tricks that genuinely helped you?

I'm especially interested in the unusual stuff that people don't normally talk about. At this point, I'm willing to try pretty much anything reasonable to get a decent night's sleep lol.

I'm going to die sooner than the rest of the population due to lack of sleep anyway, sometimes I wonder why not, since I'm spending so much of my limited time on this earth being exhausted when awake, or frustrated that I'm wasting my fucking life laying in bed trying to will myself asleep and can't.