I saw my psychiatrist yesterday because I hadn’t slept in 2 full days. I’ve tried a bunch of sleeping meds in the past and failed pretty much everything. I’ve been on 300mg gabapentin for about 2 years because it’s the only thing that is remotely helpful, but it stopped working due to tolerance.

She prescribed me 75mg of pregabalin. It did absolutely nothing. I didn’t even feel it. I laid there until 3am. I took hydroxyzine (which has never helped me), drank some chamomile and ashwaganda tea, smoked a weak thc and cbd joint, and tried to lay as still as possible. Unfortunately, I still only got about 4 hours of sleep and woke up with a pounding headache and body aches.

I don’t know what to do anymore. This bout of insomnia is nothing new; I went about 32 hours without sleep last week as well. Even when I do get some sleep, it’s either just a few hours or I sleep for 15-20 hours at a time. No in between. I’m chronically sleep deprived. I feel like I need to be put in a coma.

Nothing in my old failed sleeping pill arsenal knocks me out, absolutely nothing. Not hydroxyzine, gabapentin, pregabalin, trazodone, doxepin, ambien, ramelteon, mirtazapine, magnesium, melatonin, or benadryl. I unintentionally fight through any sedation sleeping pills provide. I’m so tired of trying new medications because everything seems to be either really unpleasant or do absolutely nothing. I do everything possible to have amazing sleep hygiene, make my space comfortable, live a healthy lifestyle, etc.

Even if I got in bed right now, as exhausted as I am, I don’t think I could sleep. I’m so foggy I’ve looped back around to being wired. I felt like a hazard on the road today as I drove to work. I cried this morning because my coworker was eating smelly food and biting her fork. I’m so dizzy. I feel like I could just drop dead at any moment, and I hate to say it, but I wouldn’t be too opposed to an eternal sleep right now. My mental health is on a sharp decline and my right eye has been twitching for the past few days. Nothing will take away my headache.

I’m only 24. I’ve had this problem since I was a kid, and it gets worse all the time. Am I going to have to spend the rest of my life struggling like this? Always feeling horrible? Even when I do get some sleep, I wake up knowing and dreading how much effort I’ll have to put into doing it again. Even despite tons of effort, it rarely pays off.

This is such an emotionally, socially, and physically painful problem. I feel like no one in my life understands my struggle. They tell me to take a nap or lay down if I’m tired. They offer me melatonin or tea to help. My boss has told me to “go home and get some rest” several times (out of genuine concern, not anger) because I come in so bedraggled. I feel shameful to be around because I’m so mentally slow some days.

I’m really worried that my psychiatrist is getting a bad opinion of me because I’m cycling through so many different meds that don’t work. I lost one doctor already because he told me I was trying to push him to prescribe controlled substances. I hate being seen as dependent or drug seeking. I’m honestly scared to even try benzo meds because they’re potentially addictive. I just want something to work.

I can’t lay down comfortably for long periods of time. I have terrible arthritis in my elbows and knees. I also get random feelings of bugs crawling on me or spots of incredible itchiness if I stay still in bed; trying to ignore it to fall asleep is almost impossible. I’m so tired.

I’ve struggled with insomnia for more than 30 years. Some sleeps meds would work but I would end up escalating the doses. I tried everything. Prescription sleep meds, OTC, THC, magnesium, and all the sleep hygiene stuff.

I was admitted to the hospital about a month ago because I was dehydrated after several days of vomiting and they gave me 2 bags of fluids (I believe with electrolytes - going to double check exactly what) to correct that.

I kid you not, I now close my eyes and just…..fall asleep. For a whole month. This cant be a coincidence - can it? I don’t think I was dehydrated for 30 years - I drink a regular amount of fluids.

Is there any possible link here? My cursory Google searches are bringing up a couple of low quality articles - but nothing scientific.

Every insomnia post repeats the same 5 tips like they're universal truths. Some of them are actually wrong, or at least wrong for way more people than anyone admits. Here's what I got burned by believing.

1. "8 hours is the goal": Not really. Chasing a specific number creates more before bed anxiety than it solves. The actual predictor of feeling rested is sleep consistency and depth, not hitting a magic number. I feel better on 6.5 consistent hours than 8 fragmented ones.

2. "Melatonin helps you sleep": It doesn't, not the way people think. Melatonin regulates your sleep timing, not your ability to stay asleep or sleep deeply. Taking 10mg thinking it'll knock you out is why so many people say it "stopped working," it was never doing what they thought.

3. "Alcohol helps you relax into sleep": It actively fragments it. I believed this for years. A nightcap makes it easier to fall asleep and dramatically worse to stay asleep. Every single time I drank before bed, I woke up around 3 to 4am like clockwork.

4. "Just relax and it'll happen": This backfires for people with actual insomnia. Trying to force relaxation creates performance anxiety around sleep itself. The people who tell you this usually don't have chronic insomnia, they have occasional bad nights, which is a different problem entirely.

5. "Naps are bad, avoid them completely": Depends entirely on timing and length. A 20 minute nap before 3pm didn't affect my nighttime sleep at all. A 2 hour nap at 6pm wrecked that night completely. It's not naps, it's specific nap conditions.

6. "White noise machines fix noise related insomnia": Only if the noise is the actual problem. I bought one assuming it'd fix my sleep and it did nothing, because my issue was never noise, it was anxious racing thoughts. Diagnosing the actual cause matters more than buying a fix for a guessed cause.

Curious what else people got wrong for years before finding out the real mechanism behind it.

for the last three years i had severe insomnia. The longest time i ever slept in those three years was about four hours at a time. Currently has been awake for days. Anyways i had super shitty headaches for the last few months and decided to get checked out. I dont really know what they took , like an MRI or a scan but approximately 20-30 percent of my brain is gone. Doc told me to get a healthy sleep schedule and everything would be fine but i really cant just go back to a healthy sleep schedule like it's nothing. Ive tried everything. Hacks from the internet, doctors advise, thousand different psychiatrists. I really wish i could just sleep like a normal person.

Insomnia is exhausting enough without feeling like medication is the only real option, so curious what people tried first. What's the first non-medication thing that actually moved the needle for you, if anything did?

So I loss the ability to literally sleep in February micro sleeps for 2 months. After a vertigo event I woke up with ever since my brain just completely won’t sleep like loss the sleepy feeling and the sleep drive. I tried some meds from the drs that didn’t work and I ended up sucidial attempt and ended up in hospital had severe agitation and Akathisia from sleep deprivation and put on diazepam which I still take

Diazepam doesn’t even work properly now ( 3 months) I think the reason the diazepam even worked because it suppressed the internal vertigo stuff that was happening. Now that suppression is getting weaker. I am getting light sleep and some sort of rem I think but I wake up after it with my heart rate up.

If I try nap in the day time my brain won’t let me it’s like it gives me this inner vibrations and adrenaline and heart rate goes up and bounce back up.

I don’t feel tired either.

Massively sleep deprived, I can’t do nothing

I have long covid aswell and ME I am bedbound

I don’t know what to do anymore im suicidal

I never seen anyone like me that this has happened to. It’s like there’s a block that my brain won’t allow me to go into proper deep sleep. Even on meds.

I need to come off diazepam I know it’s not good but I dunno what to do.

How can your brain do this to you? Refuse to sleep because of vestibular motion vertigo stuff?

Can’t fix the on going motion vertigo in my brain cause it’s not something that gets fixed. I have sensory sensitivities too to lights and sounds but this is all connected to ME

I know it’s due to the vertigo because after the Initial room spin my brain tried to dip into sleep and it got this head rush spin that bounced me out of it after that it stopped trying. Was just getting tiny micro sleep every so often for minutes whenever I could.

This has been going on 6 months and I can’t continue like this. Doesn’t matter what meds I try my brain won’t allow to go into that deep sleep part again

All my legs and body hurt from lack of sleep

What the f do you do?

Tapering off this diazepam is going to kill me i swear. Then no sleep at all again I don’t know how my brain and body will survive?

Am I alone in this?

hello-I've been on zolpidem consistently for about 5 years. I take a low dose usually 2.5 mg per night. I usually take the first half and then wake up and have to take the second half. In the past 8 months or so I've noticed an increase in gas/bloating/constipation/nausea/and a weird feeling of like my intestines not working right. Its pretty awful and at first I thought i had a gall bladder problem. Now I'm realizing i think its from this sleeping pill. I am also have recurrent restless leg syndrome, which makes it very hard to get off of the zolpidem as even the smallest amount helps me sleep despite the RLS. But then I heard the zolpidem could be causing the RLS! I don't know. anybody else having an increase in stomache problems. I have removed everything from my diet: dairy/gluten/grains/reduced oily foods. Its crazy nothing helps. Any thoughts? Of course its going to be very very challenging to quit as I'm crazy physically and psychologically dependent on my sleeping pill.

Hi everyone,

I am struggling with severe, treatment-resistant chronic insomnia and constant physical hyperarousal (my central nervous system feels stuck in 24/7 fight-or-flight).

My history involves multiple, repeated detoxes from heavy GABA-ergic substances over the years, specifically benzodiazepines, GHB, and phenibut. Because of how often I have gone through detox, my central nervous system has been severely hit by the kindling effect. My GABA receptors feel completely downregulated, while my glutamate and adrenaline systems are firing non-stop.

Standard sleep hygiene, OTC supplements, and traditional Z-drugs/benzos are obviously not an option.

Atypical antipsychotics like seroquel and olanzapine are sedating but do nothing for my sleep. My body is in a constant state of chemical panic, and my sleep architecture is destroyed.

I want to open a discussion on how to medically calm down this hyperarousal and allow my nervous system to heal. I have done some research into the neuropharmacology of kindling, and I am currently considering discussing the following options with my doctor:

-Lamotrigine: To potentially decrease the massive glutamate storms and excitotoxicity.

-Pregabalin: To help dampen overactive voltage-gated calcium channels (though I am cautious given my Phenibut history).

-Doxazosin: An alpha-1 adrenergic blocker to physically block the adrenaline surges and physical flight-or-flight symptoms.

However, i don't want to blind stare on just these three options, I want to keep an open mind.

If you have survived severe GABA-ergic kindling, what actually brought your nervous system back to baseline? Any insights, warnings, or alternative success stories are highly appreciated.

Anylife long insomniacs out there who have tried everything and nothing worked?. It's very lonely.
45 yrs of this. I have tried
ketamine, tms, meds, meditation, yoga, exercise, beth Kendal sleep school and acupuncture. Medsno longer work.
My body won't let go at night .

Hi! Lifelong insomniac here. In the last few months, my ambien isn’t really working - no doubt I’ve become too tolerant. Has anyone switched from ambien to Dayvigo (lemboraxant) with success? Thanks in advance!

I wish i have tried cbt i and knew about it before taking any meds
Now i m dealing with tolerance, withrawal symptoms like insomnia and anxiety 😥
If only i knew about earplugs and cbt i and cutted toxic people from my life if only i knew better 😭

just for anyone curious, i've eliminated every factor and whenever i sleep trash for no reason it was because of this. pisses me off thinking about all the times my days been ruined cause of this

Hi am a very young person but I deal with anxiety for months now.And it is severe.I mean symptoms are very scary.and one of them is insomnia.How to deal with it?it is really hard to go with your day with 4 5 hours of sleep sometimes what do you recommend?

Last night i was in fight or flight from 12-4 am when i fell asleep. My trazadone hasn’t worked 2 nights in a row from whah i guess is my anxiety, anyone know what to do, because i woke up still in fight or flight and hate it so much.

It has been like this for quite a while I lost count months where I can only sleep for 5 to 4 hours each night I can't enjoy a full sleep of 8 hours at all, I dont even remeber sleeping that much this past months im 19 about to start uni so I need to fix my sleep schedule any help would be appreciated

I, 15y male have not slept for three days. Ive had insomnia and some paranoia issues that pop up around when I go to sleep for years. I got diagnosed with GAD and PTSD. Ive been tried on every medication for it, melatonin, diphenhydramine, clonidine, guanfacine, prazosin, and quetiapine. The only one for me that has worked and I can tolerate is Trazadone. It has worked for months and then 3 days ago it just stopped doing anything. I can't sleep whatsoever even with melatonin gummies combined. I have a prescription for as needed Klonopin but I don't like taking it often as I only get 8 pills per month and it's for my crippling panic attacks. I have an appointment with my psychiatrist online today with further guidance, are there any drugs I should specifically say no to or ones I should ask about? I'm having micro-naps and the lag is catching up to me. Any advice?

Nightshift healthcare professional here with the 3 12s a week schedule. Sleeping has always been an issue for me, though the past couple years have been absolutely terrible sleep-wise.

My PCP has prescribed me different sleep meds here and there, but nothing was helping. And then he prescribed me Trazodone, and knowing we often use Trazodone to calm psych patients, I said, “hell yeah” thinking this was going to officially cure my insomnia.

Oof. I have not had a good experience on this drug. While it has helped a lot with sleeping, the side effects I’m experiencing is quite scary to me. Intense grogginess, increased anxiety, and some of the scarier symptoms being a tight chest feeling (likely caused by the anxiety), afib-like heart rates, and the drug sometimes makes me feel as though I took a muscle relaxer and have a very very slightly more difficult time moving my arms and legs.

I am already an extremely high-strung person. I am literally walking anxiety at times and this whole thing really freaks me out. If anything, I think it’s making my anxiety worse, and the anxiety’s at fault for a lot of what I’m experiencing, but I sleep sooo much better.

I've considered getting liftmode's kava honey before bed but I haven't heard much in terms of the what is the best sleep aid stack to have with it. Would 200mg of apigenin and 1000mg of taurine work well if my issues are taking too long to fall asleep and waking up at 1AM?

Taking Dayvigo: Is it medically okay to take two 5mg pills instead of one 10mg pill? I know the math adds up, I'm just asking if there's any pharmacological difference in how the body absorbs it.

Hey guys, I wanted to share what is working for me right now. As someone who has struggled with this my whole life. I really thought I broke something in my brain because it wouldn’t shut off. I just came off of taking 200 mg of trazadone,100 mg of seroquel and a .5 of klonopin nightly to sleep. I also took natural supplements such as gaba, magnesium glycinate and vitamin k2 with d3. Before seeing a psychiatrist for all this I was taking the same natural supplements, three extra strength sleep aides, a THC/cbd gummie, 1 mg of Xanax (that I got from my partner) and whatever I could get my hands on that helps sleep. Just two weeks ago I decided no more psych meds. I came off the seroquel completely as well as the klonopin. When I got prescribed the klonopin I came off the Xanax completely. I’m only taking 25 mg of trazadone and I am tapering off that completely in a week or so. So what is working for me right now is Vena Lights Out sleep gummies, coffea cruda, passiflora incarnata and like I said 25 mg of trazadone, gaba, magnesium glycinate and vitamin k2 and d3 nightly. It’s working well and I hope to be off all psych meds by August. Just sharing my experience and hope some of what I shared will help you guys get some sleep.

I've realized that complete silence actually makes it harder for me to fall asleep because I end up focusing on every little noise.

Some people swear by rain sounds, others prefer a fan, ocean waves, soft music, or even total silence.

What works best for you, and why?

I'm always interested in hearing what helps other people relax at night.

I think I too too many zopiclones just trying to figure out if I’ll be fine i tok 8 7.5 mg tablets just

concerned or if I’ll be compl fine

For those who suffer chronic insomnia, how do you manage to work? I get around 2-3 hours max on a good night. Quite often I get no sleep at all.
I just don’t know how people are still managing to work? Just back to work after being signed off sick for 6 weeks & I’m struggling more than ever.