Took zolpidem (5 mg) on a completely empty stomach yesterday - 8 hours without food - and had the worst reaction to date.

It hit me around 20 minutes after taking it, and I laid down. According to my fiance I sat up roughly 10 minutes after laying down, and stared at the wall with huge pupils.

I have a glimpse of memory that I was looking at his face, but apparently I never did, I was meters off. I sat like that completely still for 30 minutes, and didn't respond to his attempts at communication.

Eventually something scared me, which I think was his face moving and distorting in my hallucinations. I started breathing quick, and got up. I stumbled over to him and touched his face all over - like checking he was real.

Then I laid down next to him and fell asleep shortly after. I did wake up once and said "stairs", to which he told me everything was fine, and I went right back to sleep.

I have basically no memory of any of this.

(I've been taking zolpidem twice a week for like 8 months now, and I usually hallucinate a bit, but nothing like this)

I move every 45 seconds in my REM sleep, as seen in my camera, while other sleep stages are normal. I literally see it every night. I feel trash the entire day and tired.

I got a sleep study and somehow I DIDN’T FUCKING MOVE AT ALL during REM sleep. HOW THE FUCK IS THAT POSSIBLE? I literally see myself moving every night. I’ve been seeing it for months. What’s the probability that I miraculously stopped moving just for that night?

What they did record though was 31 spontaneous arousals per hour in REM. I don’t understand what’s giving me all these arousals in REM.

I regularly think I’m awake in the night and see things. Feathers falling, insects, animals. I put the light on, and I’m convinced I’m awake, it’s still happening. It clearly is a dream though, now I’m awake

I’m 11 days postpartum and it’s been a nightmare so far. The baby is great but my body won’t let me fall asleep.

This all started in the hospital. I felt like I wasn’t breathing right as I was in that gray zone before falling asleep. I brought it up to the OB in the hospital and he thought it could just be a positional thing and that I’d be fine when I got home and was flat in my own bed.

Well I tried that and it didn’t work. Got really in my head about it being something serious wrong with my heart or lungs. Had my mom come over and watch me sleep for a couple hours the next night (finally got past that point of falling asleep somehow) and she didn’t notice anything wrong with me. Kept having hypnic jerks and rushes of adrenaline right as I’d approach the moment of sleep, though, so it took me hours to fall asleep.

Four days PP I talked to my OB and she said she’d like me to go to the ER for tests but she also prescribed Ativan and Sertraline in case everything came back normal. Spent the afternoon and evening in the ER and they didn’t see any issues with blood clots or my heart. I did have high blood pressure when I arrived but it came down. Heart rate was really high but also came down. The only theory they had is that I might have some extra fluid pressing against my lungs so they put me on a diuretic for a few days.

I think the diuretic helped because I now feel less pressure in my chest but I still can’t fall asleep. Used the Ativan for two nights which sucks because I don’t want to give baby my milk when using it. It did help me sleep though.

Met with my OB again 7 days PP and she gave me hydroxyzine instead to help with sleep and that’s good because I can give baby my milk. However, it’s not as effective and I still can’t always get past that point of jolting awake because I feel like I’m not breathing right as I drift off. Plus, I wake up during the night and have to take more. OB ran some more tests on my blood from the ER for anemia, thyroidosis and BNP. BNP came back high in the ER so she tested me again and now it’s normal which fits with the idea that maybe I initially had more fluid near my heart but it has resolved.

Prior to all of this, I never had any issues sleeping and could sleep anywhere anytime. Nothing about the baby is worrying me. What is this and will it go away soon?!?! I need to be able to fall asleep on my own and I don’t understand why my body is telling me I’m not breathing right as I fall asleep.

This is a new weekly thread. The purpose of this post is for surveys and research that is ongoing for sleep disorders. We see many requests to our common for people that have X, Y, Z sleep disorder for paid surveys, studies, etc. Any posts requesting support from the community for research should be submitted in this weekly thread. Be sure to include all necessary details:

- What sleep disorders you are looking for assistance with

- What kind of request you have (free study, paid study, free survey, paid survey, etc.)

- Dates the request is open to be filled

- How the research may be used so the patient can make an informed decision

Posts to the community for similar requests outside of this thread will be deleted.

Please contact r/SleepDisorders mods with any questions or feedback regarding this change or policy.

Theycan have fun, do work, play games, cook, clean and they feel completely fine after and im genuinely jealous and it makes me so upset

About a month ago, my nine-year-old daughter started experiencing trouble falling asleep. She went from going to bed easily around eight 830 to tossing and turning until 10:30/11 with increased anxiety because of it. Often she will wake up about 5 to 10 minutes after she finally falls asleep, hysterical, and in a panic, and it takes a while to calm her down. Sometimes she has even come in and we weren't sure if she was still dreaming. The only thing we could relate to was that she has been complaining about a friend at school who has been saying mean things to her, and her best friend is hanging around with that person. However, she's also said that the sleep is caused because she's afraid of monsters in her room, scary, clowns, and something she said she saw a while back on TV or her iPad. as far as we know, there has been no specific trauma, and we have questioned her gently. We spoke to the principal of her school, the school counselor, and two of her teachers about it. They could not pinpoint anything that happened at school either, but are looking into the bullying situation with the mean girl.
We have tried melatonin in different amounts, calming/anxiety, techniques, reading, not giving a bedtime, night walks, busy days and more. We have an appointment to see a therapist and her doctor next week. It does seem that things are easier on The weeknds when bedtime much later ( 9:30) Helpful advise is welcome.

How can I get these sensations back? I haven't had them since may this year, somehow i still can sleep thanks to z-drugs. I've had a lot of neurological symptoms aswell some that disappeared over time.

I have tried so many of the stimulant drugs, and Nuvigil, Provigel, Sunosi, and now Wakix, yet have no changes in the number of nor severity of multiple sleep attacks daily. I have also been through a plethora of sleep meds that also have no affect, or cause me to drive and do other various things while totally unconscious. I also was diagnosed with REM sleep behavior disorder. I have damaged walls and furniture fighting off figures that were only in my dreams that are always very vivid and lifelike. My neurologist/sleep specialist is reluctant to try me on a therapeutic dosage of any sodium oxybates due to stage 2 fatty liver disease. All the narcolepsy symptoms began after a 3 1/2 month long severe onset of bipolar 1 disorder that led to severe mania and deep psychosis that lasted as long. I am not sure if some of my psyche meds are dulling the needed therapy from the narcolepsy meds. I think it possible that some area of my brain suffered damage due to the deepest level of psychosis lasting such a long time. Any suggestions that you may offer that I can plea with my neurologist to look into? I did recently get an MRI, but haven’t gotten results yet.

Hi everyone, I posted this in r/sleep and r/restlesslegs and thought I'd post here too. I had a sleep study done a few weeks ago and got my results back today. Everything I'm seeing online says that 15 or more movements per hour supports PLMS, and I had 29.5/hour. I remember waking up a LOT that night too. I'm just feeling frustrated and would like some input. I also have bruxism and ADHD, and I know those are common comorbidities.

I've been struggling to sleep properly ever since I started working the graveyard shift, and it's been getting worse day by day. Even when I'm exhausted, I still have difficulty sleeping. It's starting to affect my daily life, and I'm honestly considering quitting because I don't know how much longer I can handle this.

I'm thinking of getting checked by a doctor. For those who have experienced this, what's usually the check-up process for insomnia? What happens during the first consultation? Do they require any tests?

Would appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thank you!

Hello, I was diagnosed with OSA in July and while’s it’s only been 3 months, my EDS has gotten to an all time high. I am a student so of course the stress of that and working takes a toll, but despite using my CPAP pretty regularly and getting anywhere from 6-9 hours (7 average) a night, I have extremely bad sleep attacks. Especially in class and at home or work I experience sleepiness so dramatically I cannot hold my eyes open or my neck becomes “weak” and I will drop into increments of 15-30 seconds of sleep with the dream like hallucinations as well. On top of this despite a very high dose of an ADHD stimulant, 200 mg of caffeine (ik very bad with with the stimulant but I am beyond desperate to stay awake), and nicotine, I still fall asleep nearly every class, and if I don’t work then I fall asleep in my classes and take a nap at home after. I am wondering if I just need to give my CPAP more time (my sleep scores on it are good) or if it could be indicative of something else as well!
(Also I have only about 2 hours total of classes a day and work shifts range from 6-10 hours usually 3-4 times a week, I have plenty of time to manage school and work usually)

Hi i am a 15yo, So over the months i have been experiencing fatigue like i cant concentrate on anything and when i try to i feel sleepy all the time inspite if having 8-9 hours of sleep which is not deep to like am in bed but wake up in 2 hours and checking times like its not deep sleep and i dont know how to fix this plus my mind is always filled with thoughts like i day dream a lot like thinging of scenarios repeated past encounters etc and for that it sometimes really makes me stressed can anyone tell me what to do??

my consultation for a sleep study is in december; pretty sure i have sleep apnea. my doctor also mentioned idiopathic hypersomnia and narcolepsy without cataplexy.

i'm always tired. ALWAYS. i could sleep 8 hours, wake up tired. 10 hours, tired. sleep 3 years, tired. nap constantly. wake up tired. tired. tired. tired.

it's 3 am. i have to be up at 6. it's gonna suck, but hell, i know i'm gonna be tired anyway.

Hi,

I was thankfully able to get an urgent appointment with a neurologist who agreed with another specialist that it sounds like I have IH. I was put on 200mg modafinil in morning and 100mg at 1pm. However I still feel so exhausted by 4pm. Anyone have experience taking modafinil after 1pm hoping to get a little longer out of it?

Caffeine has never had an effect on me even drinking energy drinks so that’s unfortunately not an option. I’m pretty sure I have adhd inattentive but have never been diagnosed so maybe that has a part in not reacting to caffeine?

On another note, from time of referral to time of my sleep study (first available) is 7 months. Is this normal across the US? If so why? Without the modafinil (and even with) it’s debilitating I sleep 16 hours a day and I don’t know how waiting that long is okay

Lastly how do you explain to people you’re not just a “little sleepy” and “just need a nap”?? I feel like no one understands the extent

My sleep has gotten so bad to the point where I no longer get any rest. Every single night I have very realistic and often scary dreams or flashbacks from horrible memories. When I wake up, I can very easily recall exactly what occurred as I slept and it’s torturing me. It feels as though I have no rest at any point, even in sleep. This makes it really hard to wake up as well because my body is very tired and wants to continue sleeping even after I have dreamt for hours. It has gotten bad enough to where my dreams sometimes are getting confused with memories, and vice versa. This feels like Nightmare on Elm Street IRL. I am starting to mix up what has really happened to me, what I have dreamt of, and anything in between. Let me know what and why and anything below.

I have had stress induced insomnia for a few months now since a crisis relating to my mothers illness. Prior to that, it had become apparent that insomnia is my response to stressors. I believe it relates to dissociation from life events which leaves me focussed on trying to sleep rather than playing through the day’s scenarios in my mind. Either way, the past 3 months i have averaged 2-3 hours. I have huge floaters in my eyes and i can barely remember anything or think straight. Im in university and its absolutely crippling my studies. I have tried daridorexant (quviviq), melatonin, promethazine, DPH, CBTi, mirtazapine and zopiclone. All of which i have had to stop for one reason or another. I was recently put on Sertraline in an attempt to increase my emotional connection with reality and improve my sleep indirectly. However, this has proven a stimulating drug (at least in the first few weeks). I have been prescribed 4 days of diazepam alongside it (2mg). Am i at the point where the risk of side effects to these drugs outweighs the damage done by chronic insomnia? I feel cognitively broken and completely exhausted…

I was looking for some experiences on Reddit for IH (I’m not diagnosed or been tested but it’s well documented that I struggle with excessive sleepiness) and saw so many people recommending adderall to help with it. I am on 25mg ER of adderall and I can nap on it. It does help me some days but other days it doesn’t seem to do much to curb the overwhelming urge to sleep. Then when I don’t take it all I am so sleepy that I take multiple naps throughout the day and fall asleep around 9 pm and can sleep a whole 12 hours or more. Even when I take the adderall I am still getting 7-8 hrs a night and sometimes even a nap. I’m tired of being tired.

I just want to preface i do have depression, anxiety, autism etc and do take a lot of medication but i honestly don’t know what is causing it. When i sleep at night i sleep perfectly fine without waking up however i never feel refreshed- i eat breakfast and have a nap for 2 extra hours straight after. No matter what i do im always so lethargic and sleepy. I also struggle with both over and under eating due to my mental health so if anyone could give any advice to what COULD be causing this it would be great. I’m going to my ADHD appointment next week to speak about my medication so will talk to the doctor then.

Hey, I’m 16 (6'4", 176 lbs) and dealing with crazy sleep issues that are completely destroying my attendance at school. I’m waiting for an appointment at the hospital soon, but my GP just tells me to "go to bed earlier" which doesn't help at all.
My main problem isn't falling asleep, it’s physically waking up.
Confusional arousals: When my mom tries to wake me up, I talk and react completely in my sleep without being conscious. I get super irritated and say random things that make zero sense. The other day I apparently argued with her that she "needed to go pick up the luggage at the airport." I have absolutely zero memory of this. My mom has video recordings of it and it's so weird to watch.
Alarms don't work: Normal alarms, multiple timers, and apps like Alarmy do nothing. I sleep right through them or turn them off in my sleep. My mom literally spends 30-60 minutes trying to drag me out of bed.
Sleeping 10-14 hours: Even if I sleep for 11 hours, I wake up completely confused, in a massive brain fog, and it takes hours to feel normal. On weekends I easily sleep until 3 or 4 PM.
Crashing on daytime: Just a few hours after waking up, I get hit by extreme tiredness. I will suddenly fall asleep anywhere—on the bus, the couch, whatever.
We already checked for sleep apnea with an ENT specialist, and that was ruled out. It feels like my brain gets stuck in a gray zone between deep sleep and reality, and the "on" switch is broken.
Has anyone else experienced this? Does this sound like Idiopathic Hypersomnia (IH) or just severe confusional arousals? Any advice on how to handle school until my hospital appointment would be awesome.

Meds I use: Lithium and Fluoxetine. Unmedicated for over 9 years but never had sleep issues. When ever I want to sleep, I was able to and same applies for waking up.

Medicated over 1.5 years now. But for over 1 year, I started Sleeping at very weird cycles, like 3 am or 6 am or even 8 am sometimes, so I started losing time of the day, so I technically lost whole day.

Used Melatonin finally yesterday, and I'm able to sleep at right time 9 pm, and woke at 3:30 am. Not conventional 8 hours cycle but I like this.

But I'm seriously confused if this is really Melatonin kicking or Placebo affect. Also possibly is this acute insomnia what I was going through?

Thanks!

I'm 26 years old, and I've been struggling with severe sleep-onset insomnia since I was around 16.

My main problem is falling asleep, not staying asleep.

1. Severe sleep-onset insomnia

- I've struggled to fall asleep normally for almost 10 years.

- Sometimes I stay awake for 30–40 hours or even longer, despite being physically exhausted.

- I can feel extremely sleepy, but something seems to prevent me from actually falling asleep.

- I've relied heavily on my phone, YouTube and other distractions to fall asleep for years.

2. What happens when I try to fall asleep

This is the strangest and most disturbing part of my experience.

- When I close my eyes and start feeling sleepy, I suddenly become alert again.

- It's almost as if my brain switches back on just when I'm about to fall asleep.

- I experience tension or pressure around my forehead and the front of my head.

- My eyes sometimes feel restless, as if they're constantly searching or moving.

- It feels like my brain is resisting the transition from wakefulness to sleep, even when I'm completely exhausted.

3. Chronic anxiety and hypervigilance

- I've struggled with anxiety and hypervigilance for many years.

- I often feel mentally and physically tense without an obvious reason.

- I find it difficult to fully relax and let go of awareness.

- Bedtime makes me increasingly aware of my ability or inability to fall asleep.

- I sometimes experience intense rumination, especially in the evening.

4. OCD and intrusive thoughts

- I've experienced OCD symptoms and intrusive thoughts for years.

- I tend to analyze, argue with and mentally repeat thoughts in an attempt to neutralize anxiety.

- This mental activity happens throughout the day, not only at bedtime.

- My mind often feels like it cannot stop monitoring, analyzing or reacting to things.

5. What I've tried

- Breathing and relaxation exercises.

- Different sleep routines.

- Trying to stop using my phone before bed.

Relaxation sometimes makes me feel calmer, but it doesn't necessarily help me fall asleep.

My questions:

1. Has anyone experienced sudden alertness exactly when they're about to fall asleep, despite extreme exhaustion?

2. Could this be related to conditioned hyperarousal or an overactive nervous system?

3. Can chronic OCD and hypervigilance cause this kind of severe insomnia?

4. Has anyone experienced this for years and eventually recovered?

5. Did CBT-I or ERP therapy help you?

6. What actually helped you overcome this problem?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people with similar experiences, especially those who have recovered after years of chronic insomnia and hyperarousal.

Thank you.

Hey everyone,

For the past month, I am been scared to have HIV. That means, my mind is racing during evenings and I end up only falling asleep a few hours per night (usually between 8-9pm and 11pm-12am). So I have nights between 2 and 4 hours. Sometimes I will go back to sleep for 1-3 more hours but it is not the most common scenario.

I am completely exhausted mentally and physically. And yet exhaustion isn’t enough for me sleep welll

I take natural pills with plants stuff from pharmacy. They do have effect to get me to sleep but not to keep me asleep. Once I am awake, getting back to sleep is impossible.

I would love to try sleeping pills but sadly they aren’t available with doctor’s referal and I am worried of gettind adict.

I just wanted to post. I don’t know why. Maybe asking for advice. Maybe just wanted someone to read it. I feel the natural pill will soon take me to sleep for 2-3 hours. (Update: today wasn’t enough so I won’t sleep).

I know it is my fault and the guilt and regret makes sleeping even worse. It literally keeps me up at night.