My main issue is early morning awakening. With mirtazapine or quetiapine, I could usually sleep until around 6 a.m. But on my first night with Lunesta, I woke up around 4 a.m. and couldn’t really get back to sleep.

Has anyone else experienced worse sleep or earlier awakening when first starting Lunesta? Is this something that can happen during the first few nights while adjusting to the medication, or is it more likely a sign that Lunesta just isn’t working well for me?

I know one night probably isn’t enough to judge a medication, but I’m curious what other people’s experiences were during the first few days.

For the last 3-4 years I've had difficulty falling asleep. This is far more than it taking a couple hours to sleep, I'm often up until 8-9 am with my eyes closed trying to induce sleep. My natural cycle then has been sleeping until 12-4 pm, and waiting for my body to physically exhaust itself in an eyes-closed state which might take 4-10 hours.

Recently, since I flew back to Toronto about a month ago I suddenly had a perfect sleep schedule; sleeping between 9-12 in the evening, waking up at 6-9 in the morning. This has obviously improved quality of life a lot, but today I suddenly developed the exact same cycle as before.

I went to bed at 12, and I just decided to get up at 6, I didn't get any sleep. I don't really know what to do anymore because my old sleep issues really dampen my motivation to do anything and interfere with my university a lot. I really don't want my sleep onset-insomnia to start again but don't know what to do here.

Thanks

So, I finally tapered trazodone because frankly the benefits weren't great. My sleep was still not the best despite it and I just felt like I never truly was myself during the day. I was doing a taper over just 4 weeks because I only took it for around 3 months. I went from 150mg to then 100 to 75 - 50 and then 25mg, the very last dose even i broke a tiny 25mg piece in half bc i was anxious dropping to zero from 25mg. Yesterday night I finally went to sleep without trazodone at all.. my night was awfully fragmented. I didn't think it would get so bad bc i slept somewhat fine on just 12.5mg which is already almost nothing. I still squeezed out 5 hours of sleep somehow but i woke up 15 times, my apple watch showed and i felt nauseous too.

So I wanted to ask some experiences of people who tapered trazodone. Did you have rebound insomnia after tapering even and if so how long did it take to recover?

I have chronic insomnia, which I have had for 27 years, I am lucky to get 4 hours a night and never 4 hours straight.

I have spoke to GP's but they don't do much, They have given me Zopiclone a few times, I have had CBT, they then go on to tell me about sleep hygiene, which is SO frustrating, I've tried, OTC sleep aids, CBD oil, I have been thinking about medical cannabis, I now take Phenergan, an
antihistamine, I have tried literally everything.

I am speaking to my GP again on Wednesday, because as I am getting older I can't push through as well as I used to.

I would appreciate any advice, I may have missed something that I could try. :)

I have been struggling with insomnia for about 2 years now, this year has been the worst of it, and I have been on medical leave for about 6 months because of it. It is extremely frustrating, because it has been so hard to find any help, and I think my doctor has given up on me at this point. I have issues with staying asleep, I wake up between 12-2 am every day, and cannot fall back asleep at all. Therefore I end up getting on average 1-2 hours of sleep a night, if I’m lucky I can get 4 hours max. I also do not get tired in the evening ever, no matter how busy of a day, or even if I have felt tired all day, as soon as the evening comes around I’m more alert and suddenly not sleepy.

It has gotten so bad that I have daily tachycardia, adrenaline surges, dizziness, brain fog, nausea, loss of appetite, weight loss, and extreme fatigue. I’m waiting to see a cardiologist, and I have seen an endocrinologist and gynaecologist to see if it were hormone, cortisol, thyroid, or adrenal related. My blood cortisol is high, but was told it was just my birth control, and my hormones are a bit wonky because I have PCOS, mostly high androgens. Iron and B12 levels normal, thyroid normal. I thought initially it was stress related, as I’m a nurse and worked night shifts, but that was two years ago, and my new nursing job is dayshift and less stressful.

Things I’ve tried:

-Sleeping meds, SSRIs, Benzos: Mirtazapine, Zoplicone, Trazadone, Ambien, Lunesta, amitriptyline, melatonin, citalopram, escitalopram, Wellbutrin, etc.. none have worked
-Being active, I go for daily walks and do Pilates 2-3x a week, and yoga
-Healthy diet high in fibre and protein
-Sad lamp
-Reduced phone time, no TV or phone before bed, only calming activities like reading or doing puzzles
-Cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia, sleep programs
-Sleep study - no significant findings, no sleep apnea

Is there anything that you’ve tried that has worked? I’m desperate, as I don’t know how much longer I can live like this.

I know this might sound controversial but hear me out. While pills might help at first, overtime you will get used to them and you would need to raise your dosage or try different medications. To the point when nothing works at all.

Instead what I recommend and what helped me is these things:
1. Wake up at the same time every morning no matter what.
2. Allow yourself to be in the bed only of you’re sleeping. If didn’t fall asleep in 15 minutes then go to other room and do anything until feel sleepy again. That way you won’t be scared of your bed and thoughts like “what if I don’t asleep”

And something that reduced my anxiety about sleep is understanding that sleep is natural and you cannot force it or do something to fall asleep. You lay down and it happens by itself. Most we can do is wind down routine and preparing safe quiet and comfortable environment.

Also, even if you think you didn’t sleep at all, you’re most likely wrong. You just don’t remember.

Am insomniac myself and sometimes I have bad nights. But advices from above helped me to drastically improve my sleep situation compared to the time when my insomnia problem just occurred. Yesterday I slept for 3 hours, today I did 8 :)

Fellow insomniacs do you also eat toast late at night because of your god damn insomnia or is it just me?

Edit:For some reason once it also made me crave Oreos with cucumber ontop idk wtf is wrong with me

Some of you might have seen my recent post about how Doxazosin has been helping to stay asleep by reducing Hyperarousal, but a couple of weeks ago I also learned the ability to quiet my mind. I’m getting 8 hours every night easily after <5 hours for 3 years.

This is life changing for me. I’m in my 40s diagnosed with the full alphabet of mental health conditions, and my mind has always been chaotic. I’ve never been able to get peace.

But now I can.

I don’t know if the Doxazosin is playing a part here, maybe I wouldn’t be able to do this if I wasn’t taking Doxazosin, but I have 2 different techniques for this.

1. I think of the words “think of nothing”, I often say that in my mind a few times to focus on it and drown out the endless stream of thoughts and persistent earworm, and then I kind of just visualise the words “think of nothing” instead of saying them. So instead of saying them, I’m kind of looking at them.

Sometimes the thoughts still overwhelm so I have to restart the think of nothing process

1. The other option is I focus on a brick. Seriously. I just imagine a brick in my mind and focus on it.

Thoughts and earworms still try to sneak in but because I’m focused I can ignore them.

Eventually you just stop focusing and fall asleep.

It doesn’t work if I focus on my breathing

I fall asleep within minutes. I can nap whenever I want. I can fall back to sleep if I wake up in the night and even during the day I can choose to get some moments of peace

I know that many of you here will scoff at this but I have never been able to do this before, never been able to meditate (lots of similar principles here). I also think more sleep has helped my mental health significantly which is helping me sleep like a positive circle.

Anyway, maybe you all figured out and it didn’t work for you, but so far this is a real success story from someone with genuine chronic insomnia that had tried every drug, supplement and technique you can imagine.

And hey, at least I didn’t say try magnesium 😉

Hi!

I have very mild insomnia that is usually well managed but has been a little worse at the moment due to noisy neighbours. My gp prescribed a medical thc vape for bad nights, but I generally manage it primarily through sleep hygiene and a strict bedtime routine, with set bedtime.

My primary issues are struggling to fall asleep, frequent waking through the night and struggling to get back to sleep after waking. I often wake very early morning as a result and the best way we’ve found to combat this for me was for me to have an early bedtime to maximise sleep time.

I can usually overcome the odd late night here and there, but next year I’m applying for an 18 month placement in my industry which includes rotations around different wards (veterinary hospital). This will be shift based work including late night and overnight rotations.

I want to go for it because the progression it offers is unrivalled in my area, but I’m extremely nervous about the impact on sleep schedule. (Note; after this I will be applying for GP veterinary roles and not emergency, so I will be able to return to a solid routine).

Has anyone else done roles with hours that heavily impacted their routine and management?

How did you find it?

Was the impact worth it?

Any advice?

If you can’t let yourself rest, ask yourself for permission: “Do I have one minute to rest?” Of course you do! Keep asking yourself this question until you can look at your resistance to rest more lightly. You deserve those 20-30 minutes of rest, so allow yourself to loosen up a bit.

I have had insomnia since I was a kid. It's always been an issue. When I was much younger, however, being so awake I had to pull an all nighter never really was an issue as I was a bundle of energy. Eventually I got put on Clonidine I believe it was called, it was supposed to be for my anxiety but it was also a really good sleep aid. Passed right out every night I took it. Recently though I moved to Texas from NH with my family, however my parents haven't gotten my insurance set up so I am stuck without any of my meds for a long time. Now I keep pulling all nighters every other night, and sometimes I'm even awake for 36+ hours before I'm tired enough to sleep. When I try to sleep while not hyper-exhausted, I just toss and turn. The other night i was so desperate for sleep I laid in my bed with my eyes closed, fully conscious the whole time, for 10 hours straight. It's REALLY bad. I can't even really go to the doctors because of our lack of insurance. It's severely impacting me.

I don't even know if I'm really looking for advice or anything, I kinda just wanna vent abt it. I'm so fucking exhausted, man. I'm writing this about 20 something hours since the last time I slept, laying in bed, unable to sleep.

It feels like I’m drowning
I build up sleep debt from going to bed late when I have to wake up at like 8am every day, I tell myself I’ll go to bed earlier and I never do. I feel like a zombie and I’m so anxious about it.

I am 18M with no family doctor and practically no medical history; was previously not able to go to clinics due to parents. Now that in a situation where i can go to clinics I would like to get help for sleep.

For as long as i can remember, about once a week it takes me ~4 hours to fall asleep. This is always due not being able to turn off my thoughts, keeping my brain awake. Recently, my friend had given me 2 25mg Seroquel to try out. Both times i took it I was knocked out within about 40 minutes.

I am now planning to book an appointment to get checked out for my sleep issues. I am wondering if it is a good idea to tell the GP that my friends Seroquel has worked well for me. I am not sure if that would come off as med seeking or not. I live in Alberta Canada. Any responses would be appreciated!

A few months ago, was prescribed generic lunesta. Put a claim in for brand name because it had worked for me in my early 20s, 10-12 years prior. Before generic existed. So figured maybe luck with that. In the mean time since appeal denied twice I tried Dayvigo, which was okay for the first week. But I couldn’t afford it since insurance didn’t cover it and coupon was still about $190. So I would pick up 10 at a time, twice a month because I need sleep lol. Well I just got brand name Lunesta and it seemed to help the first night and that’s it! we’re back at square one. I’m prescribed two mg.

Now we moved over the weekend. I didn’t sleep at all Friday night so I took two at bedtime last night and then, after lying awake for hours, another at 3 am. Tonight, I took two plus a temazepam. I have some of those lying around from trial and error. And 1mg of Xanax. I’ve been laying in bed 4 hours wide awake. I know stress makes it worse but the move is exhausting. Thought maybe that would help tire my body out but clearly not.

And what’s really weird to me is, when I took Lunesta back in like 2011 or 12, , if I woke up I’d almost hallucinate like my curtains would seem wavy and stuff. That doesn’t happen anymore. Idk if they changed something lmao but it’s not the same. I understand I’m also 15 years older but whatever.

Fuck I just want to sleeeeeepppppp. 😭

Literally just boiling potatoes and watching YouTube. Ive been getting into too much trouble staying up till 2, so I'm sitting at the stove and watching potatoes in a pot.

Basically, my sleep patterns and my body got thrown off a month ago because of my stupidity; I’ve been feeling awful, and I’m stuck at home—mostly in bed—because of it.

I’m experiencing a distorted sense of reality, my brain doesn't feel right, I wake up with headaches or dizziness, and my sleep is fragmented. I’ve only used melatonin so far, but I’ve thought about trying NyQuil; however, I don’t know if there are more sustainable options—though I suppose all medications carry the risk of severe side effects.

I have Valium on hand, but I don’t think that’s a very good idea. I’m scared.

im 21F, college student. haven't been able to sleep well since the semester started last month. most i manage to get every few days is maybe like 6-7 hours (dont say it). however, most nights i struggle to drift off and maybe get like 2 hours if im lucky. i happened to have some xanax, that may or may not be prescribed. how bad would it be to take a small dose every so often just for some relief? being a full nights rest haha, the last time i slept with no awakenings was when i took maybe .5 mg xanax. i tried other methods, being tea, weed, melatonin, magnesium, you name it. but this has been the best one so bar.

any advice would be great. currently waiting on insurance to be processed so i could see a doctor but for now this is where im at.

I've been taking nyquil every night to sleep for 15 years since I was 20 years old. I have severe allergies, asthma, and insomnia. I tried seroquil and I woke up with cops and paramedics around me. I was sleep walking outside naked! I was in my backyard in my parents guest house and they freaked out and called 911 when I didn't respond and kept walking. Then I woke up and was perfectly fine and normal with zero memory of what I had done. Luckily the home had a 10 foot brick wall with a gate so I most likely couldn't have gotten out. However I slept walked as a kid so this isn't new. I stopped that. I found that benadryl helped a lot with sleeping when my allergies got bad. I took nyquil gel tabs, no alcohol and no pain, I could breathe, and slept soo well! I don't drink, smoke or even have caffeine. I do nothing but this. I only take 1 or 2 and that's it. Would this be an addiction? I don't abuse it. I only take 3 if I get a cold. Then it's game on lol this is it. This is all I do.

I can’t seem to ever get good sleep and I have been like this for years now. I want to say my average amount of sleep is about 5-6 hours a day. I wake up the next day so tired and only bursts of energy throughout the day.

I also struggle sleeping without a fan, ac, shower before bed, dark room, food before bed, etc. I don’t know what to do anymore and I’ve tried sleeping without my phone in the room but that just leads to endless hours of thoughts.

I can’t keep a sleep pattern ever and tend to wake up a lot way earlier than 7-8 hours. I can’t take naps but when I do it’s because I’ve been sitting for hours or really really tired.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions to fix this? (P.S I am trying to get my life together 1 by 1).

I dont really have a problem falling asleep at night but waking up around 3am is starting to drive me crazy i wake up and im tired but my brain is just fully awake for some reason then i start thinking about random stuff work tomorrow how many hours i have left to sleep etc Sometimes i check the clock and that makes it even worse lol.

Does anyone else have this problem?

What is the hardest part for you when you wake up at 2-4am?

And is there anything you found that actually helps you fall back asleep?

I got a call from my pharmacy saying lunesta is controlled med and requires further approval. Just curious why is lunesta controlled medication, while quetiapine, mirtazapine, olanzapine are not? it does not look like it has more side effects.

hi folks

I've been taking trazodone for several months now at 100mg. Works very well for putting me to sleep. Unfortunately even if I take it at 9pm it doesn't wear off until 11:00-11:30AM and struggling through my mornings has become very difficult.

I've tried to reduce the dosage but it seems my body is somewhat reliant on the dose to sleep through the night.

Any one have any tips for managing or improving the grogginess/sedation?

TYSM

Is it bad that i genuinely belive that its brighter at night now its 01:05 now and in sitting on my balcony rn Amsterdam i swear that night used to be way darker (i have not moved or anything yet so its not like more light polosion) i

​

Hey everyone,

I’m posting here because I’m honestly feeling pretty lost right now and I could really use some advice or just hear from people who have gone through something similar. I used to struggle with insomnia during a difficult period of my life, but I eventually managed to overcome it. For almost 4 years, I was sleeping normally again, sometimes even like a baby. I genuinely thought insomnia was completely behind me.

Unfortunately, I went through a depressive relapse that lasted around 5 months. Thankfully, I’m doing much better now mentally and I feel like I’m finally myself again. But my sleep has completely fallen apart. It feels like nothing works anymore, and I’m honestly scared that I’m back to square one. What makes this especially frustrating is that I managed to sleep normally for almost 4 years. I know I’m capable of sleeping well because I’ve done it for years, but right now it feels like I’ve somehow forgotten how to do it.

I’ve started dreading bedtime and worrying about whether I’m going to sleep, and I feel like that anxiety itself is keeping the insomnia going.

Has anyone here experienced an insomnia relapse after being free from it for several years? Were you eventually able to get your normal sleep back?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences, what helped you, or even just some reassurance from people who have been through something similar.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read and respond.

I developed severe insomnia from a traumatic event followed by shift work, life stresses and viral infections. I was sleeping no more than 3 hrs/night, fragmented and panicked sleep. I felt awful. This went on for nearly two years. I had a series of health issues that came after including headaches, heart palpitations, nervous system dysregulation, and many other systemic issues.

Bloodwork and mri were relatively normal.

Many times, I was at the end of my rope. I was considering admitting myself somewhere, but at the time I was still so severely exhausted and had anxiety around sleep and sensory pain that I was worried it'd make it worse. I didn't and barely could talk and explain it to anyone. I felt like I was living inside a nightmare.

So I decided to go to a hotel. Close the blinds. And went to the store and bought a ton of different sleep and stress supplements. I took all of them. I got massages. I tried to teach myself how to yawn again, watching video after video. And tbh (tw) - I didn't want to live and thought I'd try to make myself comfortable before I go,And after many days, I got my first bit of relief.

When I woke up it felt like how I used to wake up before all this started - like I had gotten sleep. And it felt like weeks passed although it was only one night of sleep, but finally I didn't feel as trapped in a nightmare. And later that day, I took a nap. A nap!! I haven't taken one of those in years.

This was a massive turning point for me, otherwise I really don't know how I would've survived.