I have been on clonazepam (benzodiazepine) for 3 years now,at first it would make me very sleepy,but due to how long I have been on it I developed extreme tolerance,clonazepam doesn’t make me sleepy at all. Is it safe to add a second benzodiazepine or a non benzodiazapine such as zolpidem (Ambien in US)?

I have had insomnia for most of my life. Longest I have been awake is 4 days. Insomnia has ruined every relationship, job, and friendship. My body doesn't want to sleep. Every sleep doctor I have gone to for years says it is an underlying trauma from my past. Except for kid things when I was young I had a normal upbringing. I was on ambien, lunesta, xanax (not at the same time) and with these I slept for maybe 3-4 hours. Xanax with one of the 2. I have also been on trazodone, ramelteon and many many others.

My doctor decided to take me off of my ambien and xanax combo just like that. I have had this for 30 years.

They want to try belsomra but my insurance is taking a long time for prior authorization. It has been 3 weeks so far.

I just started a new job and seeing someone for the first time in 5 years (I went through alot of shoulder surgeries). I am so worried I will screw up both. No one understands. They just say oh I stay up all night sometimes. Then immediately after they laugh and say I stayed in bed all day afterwards. I don't think people understand anything about it. Sleep doctors don't understand if they don't have it. They just think you are depressed. I would never hurt myself but there has been times when it crossed my mind, but like a fleeting moment of anxiety etc. Things you don't even think about, but when it's been 2 plus days and you don't have the energy to do anything. I will say thr only thing that works is Ambien, Lunesta, and some form of anxiety (alporazopam, kolonopin, etc) the ones that aren't given out often and taken away just as easy.

I am just so worried about everything. I am at a loss for what I could do.

I have been suffering from insomnia for several years and it gets worse and worse day by day. Falling asleep initially is not a problem, but waking up afterwards is. There are days when I wake up at 1 am and thats it. If I'm lucky, then four to five, otherwise usually between two and three in the morning. My alarm is at 7am and I dont remember how it even sounds as its completely useless for me.

I have been receiving treatment for an unrelated problem at neurology for a long time and we jumped into this too - nothing was found (EEG, EMG, 3x MRI, cardio, vascular... everything possible). I have tried all the over-the-counter medications and supplements and without any result. Recently I became so desperate (I am mentally at the bottom from the insomnia) that I asked my doctor for sleeping pills. Prescription. Absolutely no effect and I don't know what to do with it.

I have a job with a stable schedule, I go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. No psychological problems, personal and work life is fine.

So if anyone here has any solution, I believe I won't be the only one who will be grateful for it. I'm 23 years old, eat healthy, exercise, almost no alcohol, don't drink coffee and avoid all addictive substances to the fullest extent.

Any help would be appreciated!

It's 8am. And I been up 8 hrs already. I slept 3 hrs. I slept 4 yesterday. 3 1/2 before that. I have not got more then 4 to 5 hrs of sleep since 2018. No lie. And I have severe anxiety and ocd. So I constantly search Google what is going to happen to me. Actually there is so many health issues I'm dealing with now. Plus my cells are not repairing themselves because of lack of sleep. I have tried so many meds so many natural meds. Nothing works. Even high dose Ambien didn't put me to sleep long I felt so terrible. I want this over. I am going to probably get fired because I'm flipping out on everyone at work being very paranoid about everyone. Including my boss. I told her I don't trust her yesterday

After going thru Tylenol PM, Benadryl, and Melatonin (separately over a few weeks) and those not working, I did some digging here on Reddit and came across Unisom. I had heard of it before but completely forgot about it. I quickly placed an order on Amazon and tonight is day 3 of me taking.

I’ve nearly fallen asleep within 30 mins. I’ve slept all night (for me, all night is midnight-6am because I refuse to go to bed early… bad, I know), I’ve also remained in my bed most of the night as opposed to going to the couch to toss and turn so I don’t wake my husband.

I clearly noticed a side affect or two. One, I’m still tired during the day but I know this is because I need to go to bed earlier and I plan on forcing myself to soon, and the next and more concerning side affect are the vivid and wild dreams. I don’t know if I can take these dreams! 3 nights in a row of these has me on edge.

Does anyone have success with taking half of pill instead of a whole one? Does it help With the side effects?

• I've only had 1 day this week that I've slept well. Getting really tired of being too wired to sleep. All of a sudden, i'm dropping my supplements 1 by 1 as I realize that's the problem. I found iodine in Vitamin D so ordered a new D/K with less D. So the next night I was calm. Then it came back after the new Vitamin D make me jittery. Then when I still didn't sleep the next night, I quit the Mg glycinate and electrolytes which also make me jittery. I had been taking B complex and now I'm assuming it's why I slept from 10p to 11:30 and that's it for me as far as supplements go. I really feel mentally dull. Wired but tired is a whole new hell as I can't read but just lay here with TV and computer games. I usually have good sleep habits but now there's no chance of sleep so I just go with what takes my mind off of being awake. I wake up when I try to sleep in dark without sound or light. Then feel really tired when i'm up and playing computer card games.

I have been using Zopiclone whilst I taper off Mirtazapine. I'm two weeks off Mirt now but still getting withdrawal symptoms. I can go a few days with getting 4-5 hours of sleep but then it builds up and I end up taking the Z.

So my strategy is to just take half a pill 3.75mg at weekends on a Sat and Sun night. Rat if the week I would abstain. Has anyone else tried this and did it help you avoid the dreaded dependency?

I once took it for a week straight and think I developed inter-dose withdrawals (although it could have been the Mirtazapine).

I took .5mg at night for 18 days then .25mg at night for 13 nights. So total 31 days. Would it be advisable to just totally stop from here? My doctor just told me to stop when i feel i’m ready since i was taking it to help me sleep and for anxiety while i was waiting for medical results, which as of today is no longer is giving me much anxiety. But i feel my doctor has a very relaxed view of my taking clonazepam so i want to get your opinions on my tapering. Thank you.

hello! for the past probably 2 months, i've been staying up till like 3-4am for about 5-6 days straight and then sometimes napping during the day but when i finally do sleep, i experience very vivid and even scary dreams. does anyone have any recommendations or tips on how to make them stop because now i'm too scared to go to sleep but the more i don't sleep, the more dreams i have. thanks!

I don't mind seeing him. I just wish he wouldn't hang out in the very corner of my vision. Ive been awake since about 5am yesterday. Adderall is keeping me awake (I took one around 1130pm so I could overnight with some homework). I feel like the Hat Man is my friend unless he decides he's not. It's the Wall People I have to look out for. What about yall? Tell me your experiences with the Hat Man and Wall People? Is there a secret 3rd group? How many hours do I need to stay up to see them? Im sick of learning about anatomy. I can name every major artery and vein in the human body right now. Can I spell my full first name? No. I go by a nickname and haven't spelt my first name full out in like... 6 months

I’ve lived in this complex almost two years and never had an issue until the last couple months. I’ve “fixed” my sleep schedule to be better for the past month or so but these neighbors are making it extremely difficult.

One unit in particular loves to go out to the apartment complex right outside my window every weekend and drink outside for hours past midnight and blast their music from their car. Last weekend I had to call the non-emergency line and i’m not even sure if anybody came out but they eventually fucked off; that clearly didn’t last long though. Tonight they’re right back out there, just no music, but they legitimately are yelling talking as if it’s mid-day. These dudes drink all day every day it looks like. Also, when I called the line, they told me somebody else already called about it too because it was that bad.

Another unit keeps their two large dogs outside on their balcony for more than half the day unsupervised too, I knew what unit it was so I called our landlords and told them, hopefully they talked to them about it but i’m tired of having to act like i’m the complex police. I feel like i’m losing my mind because I can’t sleep due to these losers not caring about other people. I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m starting to fear nights specifically because of these people.

Edit: Nevermind. The music is back.

ok so i have insomnia which is why im here lol. my doctor has tried trazodone, ambien, lunesta, klonopin, and ativan on me over the course of a year but none of them make me sleep. im also autistic and have adhd. i dont take any stimulants for the adhd, so i know thats not hindering me from sleeping at night. the insomnia is made worse by the fact that i have hot flashes. i usually sleep with just a fitted sheet and a cooling blanket with a fan running for this reason.

i know everyone has asked this here at some point, but i just need direct advice on something that might make me sleepy. i try reading, rocking myself, listening to soft music, going for a short drive to relax my brain, all sorts of stuff. ive even tried the method you use for kids by drinking warm milk.

at this point i would be happy if i could get like at least 2 consecutive hours of sleep. i know nothing guarantees that but i just wonder if anyone has any methods.

i will say that the only thing that seems to make me sleep every time i take it is w/////d ///dibles. but i cant eat them anymore bc my doctor said it would mess with my medications.

(College students sharing a dorm) we both have a pretty fixed schedule and went to bed at 12 tonight. She fell asleep in 5 minutes like usual and here I am at 3 am wide awake. It’s so hot in the room and our room temp is at a set fixture :( I really love sleep but why does it have to be so hard to achieve, I know I shouldn’t compare myself to her but man I just feel so useless not being able to perform a simple function.

So I’ve dealt with insomnia pop ups throughout life but overall was able to sleep fairly well. When times of stress come in it gets a little tough to sleep but I manage. Recently it’s been bad. And I’ve had no real stress I feel. I’m a relatively healthy person. Eat right. I’m young male 25. So nothing really bad. I go to bed just fine. It’s when I wake up in the middle of the night is what’s weird. Usually it’s for no reason. But I wake up and that’s it I’m up. Even though I’m exhausted. I don’t get it, how can my body be exhausted and just be up like that? My mind is usually very pacy too (however you spell it). I wake up and there’s usually a song or 12 playing in my head and it just feels like endless noise. I’ve noticed I’ve become more anxious these past 2 months. Nothing to be anxious about. Just sit there and my heart beats a little faster then it calms down. I’ve looked at everything, cortisol spikes, mouth taping, nose breathing. Nothing seems to work. It’s just my mind is insanely fast. Idk maybe I’m not giving enough power to actually trying these things, maybe I’m spending too much time on the phone. I’m all over the place. People say I have adhd, anxiety. I don’t wanna go on pills for the rest of my life. Maybe I should have a better sleep routine or schedule. But I don’t wanna have a sleep schedule that says in bed by 10 cause I wanna go out with friends and do other things you know. This is just word vomit I’m throwing whatever I can think of down. I’ve tried the thinking of animals and naming as many as I can and going off of the last letter and all the tricks like that. Another reason I don’t think I have adhd is cause when I’m at work I can concentrate. I mean sometimes I find it hard and I wanna scroll and stuff, but for the most part I’m good. My mind does wonder sometimes. I scroll a lot it might be affecting me. Maybe I need to really cut back. But then I look at a computer all day. And again I have no problem going to bed it’s staying asleep and falling back when I wake up. Recently no matter what time I go to bed 5am I wake up. No reason. Right now it’s 2. I got 1 hour. Sorry this is all over the place. Anyone else can relate? Feel free to ask questions. I usually respond quick. Let’s have a conversation get to know each other!

So I've generally always slept really well, usually 11-7, however over the last 3 nights it's taken me ages to get to sleep to the point where now it's 5am and I feel I haven't got a cat in hells chance of getting any sleep tonight it's like my brain won't let me sleep. At this point I don't know what to do, I've felt bad the last 2 days and I suspect today I'll feel like death.

I just don't know why this has happened to me, I had a disturbed night the other night which I think is what's triggered it but I''d have thought my sleeping would have just returned to normal afterwards and and it's just gotten worse.

The scary thing is that I've had a week off work this week, I return to work tomorrow and if this continues I dont know how I'll be able to work 🙃 I just don't know what to do.

I was scrolling on instagram and this companies ad keeps popping up of basically a sleep tab that dissolves on your tounge. Anyone tried this or knows if its just a total scam or not? I just don't really trust instagram ads without other peoples opinions on it.

Anybody else so good at time telling because insomnia? lol i wake up so often and look at the clock i can what time it is because i count how much i “sleep”

I had a chat request about my insomnia, that I develloped after an infection. I am rather new to reddit and accidentily ignored the request and do not know which user wrote the request. If you are reading this, or also other that want to talk about insomnia after infection, please contact me. :-)

I developed insomnia 8 weeks ago after I had an infection. I didn't have sleep problems before. Now I can only sleep about 1,5 hours per day in total. Also I somehow don't feel sleepy or tired anymore since this infection. It feels like something in my body changed. During the infection I felt weird tingling in my back and when I was falling asleep I mostly had hyperarrousals that did not let me fall asleep. When I fell asleep it was only a few minutes of dream sleep. My doctor prescribed escopliclon, which did not help. I then went to a sleep specialist and since Monday I am trying Tradozon (25mg), because he thinks I am in constant fight or flight mode and this might help me get out of it. The first night I slept about 5-6 hours and don't remember any dreams. But the next night I only managed to sleep for 1-1,5 hours again. Today I took it 11:30 pm and probably fell asleep around 0:00 and was awake around 1:00. But I don't remember any dreams. I feel better during the day now that I take Tradozon. Sometimes it feels like my body forgot how to fall asleep. It feels like the infection destroyed nerves or something in my brain (I think the thalamus) that normally lets you sleep. I think so, because I just don"t get tired anymore.

I hope that the body can heel this over time, but with such a short amount of sleep I am not sure. The fact that I managed to sleep longer when I first tried Tradozon let me think that my body/sleep system maybe is still working, but why did it only work the first night.

Hello! so I've been diagnosed with extreme insomnia as well as chronic stress (that I am unable to easily cope with due to emotional disregulation caused by my ADHD) and have been on Hydroxine (15mg) and Prazosin (1mg) for about 1-2 years now, and while my medications lessen my issue, they don't erase it and it can get really bad.
I have a fixed sleep schedule, I go to bed around the same time (8-10pm), I exercise daily (if not multiple times), lavender mists for the room, anything you can think of, I've tried it (yes, I've tried tea). Melatonin doesn't lessen it at all (I've tried 3 melatonin gummies once- nothing. I'm 4'11 so you'd think it would've done SOMETHING). It isn't just that I take forever to fall asleep (1+ hour(s)), but I ALSO wake up repeatedly throughout the night (1-3 times typically, sometimes more) for no apparent reason. I've been considering Benadryl, but my mother is highly against it and I currently don't have a psychiatrist or doctor that would be capable of remedying my medication issue. Is there anything I could possibly try to fix the waking up repeatedly issue at the least? any advice is appreciated :)

i’ve been battling flu for 10 days and i have hardly slept. my breathing and coughing is so bad it makes me feel like i’m choking. i got new meds today and the choking is a bit better but now i’m not tired. my HR is over 100 just standing in the bathroom. i can’t take anything because everything interacts with a med. i’m absolutely miserable right now. i don’t even know where to turn for help. my anxiety is thru the roof.

This is more lifestyle advice than anything, so please do not take this as medical advice. That being said please let me present a suggestion you guys may want to try, based on anecdotal evidence.

Melatonin, the hormone associated with sleep, is made from tryptophan. The best way to incorporate tryptophan into the brain is in the presence of higher insulin levels. Now, sugar probably isn't going to cut it, because it doesn't have any amino acids. But, before you go to sleep, try eating some starchy carbohydrates; I find some rice works best. Don't go to bed hungry or glycogen depleted.

Additionally, carbs also help lower cortisol levels, which can help reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.

Just a word of warning, sometimes this can work a bit too well, or inconveniently. One time I ate over a 1000 calories of rice and sugar combined in the evening and I wanted to do nothing but sleep (and ended up neglecting some errands I needed to run).

So find the right balance.

So trazodone and melatonin have been hit or miss. Some nights they don't work at all. Other nights they make me sleep for too long. Last night I took them both along with magnesium, and I slept after 3 hours for a total of 21 hours. I woke up a few times for less than half an hour to eat and then went back to sleep.

I don't know why do they work some nights and don't work at all some other nights. My caffeine and sugar consumption is the same.

I wished for a magic drug for so many years only to find one that works (trazodone) but makes me sleep for 21 hours. It's not the first time either. Melatonin alone doesn't work, but I take just to make sure I've done everything that I can.

How should I approach this? I refuse to give up. When I pray to God to heal me from this sleep disorder, my auditory hallucinations tell me that it's difficult (I'm bipolar). But I won't believe them. I've been praying for 3 years straight, and I believe God will help me find a cure. He'll guide my way. I don't expect sudden remission, all I'm asking for is an appropriate long term medication.

I don't take trazodone every night because it affects my metabolism. The nights I take it I don't lose weight at all and sometimes gain weight without dietary changes. In my experience, I'm positive that it affects my metabolism. Do you think I should just ride it out and take it everyday? Maybe once my body gets used to it I won't sleep for 21 hours (and won't affect my metabolism as badly). What has been your experience?

Hey, its been 3 months since my severe insomnia started and its really starting to wear me out. I try to fight everyday but that drowsy but not sleepy feeling every night is killing me.

I take melatonin every night, i manage to get to sleep easy but im waking up 1000 times every night seeing vivid dreams, it doesn't feel like sleep at all. I tried psychotherapy but it isn't working fast and i need a solution now. I get anxious often, dizziness comes and goes and the thought that my life will be like this from now on is the worst. I really don't know what to do. I sometimes think i may have something serious but other times i dont. I just need to be like before, feeling sleepy, can sleep without supplements also sleep on noon and be my happy self again. If anyone has advice I'll appreciate it very much

I've never been able to sleep with blackout curtains, but I've noticed that during periods when my insomnia is worse I actually sleep better during the day or with the lights on. Sometimes I need them in order to be able to fall asleep at all, but even when I don't I often fall asleep with the light pointed in my face. On nights where I end up awake the whole time, I'm most likely to grab a couple hours of rest once it finally starts getting bright outside.

This goes against everything anyone has ever recommended to me. Phone and computer also act as sleep aids sometimes, but that's mostly to help distract me. That said, I frequently fall asleep using them.

I developed insomnia in February, due to a "relationship event". Effectively a situation has been on my mind non-stop since then. I've never experienced insomnia before.

I've had a weird sleeping pattern for years. I go to sleep about 5/6 am and then wake up early afternoon. My body was completely fine with this until the aforementioned event happened.

When I try to sleep, I don't feel anxious, my heart rate is normal, but I just can't turn my brain "off" and I just lay awake. I'm not sure if I drift in/out. I do have dreams but I'm sure I'm still awake whilst having them. I sometimes notice it's hard for my eyes to relax whilst closed. They keep moving around, which keeps me awake. I mentioned it to my eye consultant but he said it's not Nystagmus.

I'm not a massive fan of taking medicine. I was taking Nytol (regular), it seemed to work and then I read it's linked to dementia- great! I came off Nytol and now I cannot sleep.

Things like CBT will probably take months to work.

I don't really know what to do? I'm going to try and see a sleep neurologist soon.

EDIT recent bloods are all fine, normal glucose. B12, Thyroid etc.

Any suggestions for medicine which is safe long-term would be appreciated. I'm considering melatonin.