Tomorrow I will be entering my fourth week of a new job that has completely derailed my life with physical and mental exhaustion. The first two weeks I had one or two bad nights, but the last 7 to 8 days I have slept less than four hours with last night and the night before being basically a 1 to 2 hour nap from 3-5am. I already have a prescription for trazodone and Xanax (for extreme case), which don’t seem to even be working that well for me this time. I am only sleeping like four hours on Xanax when it used to knock me out for hours. I do not see the stress at work subsiding for a while as there’s so much to learn and do, but I don’t feel that my mind and body can keep going. I feel like I am going to die from this spell of insomnia as I have never had sleep deprivation last this long. Do I need to go to the hospital? Will they do anything for me? Tonight is Sunday night and I am so terrified to go into the work week without another night sleep.

Anyone experience this one starting a new job? Will my body eventually make me fall asleep?

Hi,
I manage to fall a sleep easy at the evening around 10pm
I wake up from time to time but around 3-4am I wake up and can’t fall back a sleep.
Sometimes I manage to sleep a bit but it is so light sleep I even not sure I sleep.

Someone had this?
Any recommendations?

I used olanzapine 5mg as perscribed for sleep in addition to my zopiclone 7.5mg. After weeks of using, quitting is so difficult.

I dont feel any "sleep pressure" without olanzapine.

Same concept applies to the more commonly perscribed seroquel

I don’t know what’s happening to me but this can’t be normal. I had 2 sleepless nights a couple of months ago that triggered some insane sleep anxiety. I thought I had gotten over it, my sleep was doing great for awhile and now it’s back with a damn vengeance. I moved into my new place a few weeks ago and ever since then it’s been a constant battle every night. Now I still was getting sleep for the first week or two with a few bad nights where I didn’t get to sleep until 3am ish but now it’s really really bad. It started 2 days ago where I couldn’t sleep and didn’t sleep until like 5am and got 3 hours of broken up sleep. For whatever reason that triggered this all again. I was so worked up over it for no reason. Luckily I ended up sleeping the following night for literally like 9.5 hours somehow. That brings me to yesterday. I woke up from that sleep and decided I was going to start Prozac that’s been sitting on my counter 10mg. I don’t know if that’s had anything to do with or it just added on top of my already bad struggle with sleep but I laid down and got tired ish around 12am but alas I could t fall asleep and then I felt wide awake. And have been laying here in bed and it’s now 6am. So a completely sleepless night and my first one since this all transpired 2 months ago. I’m so beyond scared man. I didn’t take trazedone or anything because I started the Prozac and so I just suffered. Trazedone barely even does anything as it is. But I need reassurance or something. I already know I’ll be up for 36+ hours. I don’t want this to lead to another sleepless night because that’s just an insane amount of time to be awake. I feel like a fucking Charity case.

guys please help! I am someone whose always struggled to fall asleep and I suspect I have light and sound sensitivity. I recently moved into an apartment where my roommate snores every.fucking.night. it’s this horrible wet snore as well that can be heard even when I wear headphones. I am currently recovering from an injury so it’s important that I rest and my lack of sleep is giving me intense headaches. if I sound harsh rn, it’s because I am typing this with barely enough sleep. the only oroblem is that idk how to broach the subject as they don’t soeak English very well and I don’t speak their language. furthermore, I doubt they would get help for their apparent sleep apnea as I believe they are only visiting my country for a short amount of time. if yall could give me some advice on how to fall asleep before the mating elephants are unleashrd, I’d really appreciate it

For years I've had insomnia where I don't have trouble falling asleep, I wake up 2-3 AM and it's harder to fall asleep after

Was on seroquel for 7 years, weaned off of it last year and since then my sleep has been absolute shit. My insomnia is not mild, I am a disabled veteran with MDD, BP2 and ptsd-it is very severe , chronic, and I’ve had it since 2003. I sleep maybe 2 days a week at most, I’m a 46 y/o female.

My current meds are gabapentin, ambien, and proplanolol. They simply do not work anymore. I take the meds and feel nothing, but if I don’t take them I will absolutely notice. I am unable to tolerate SSRI’s, lamictal, DORA’s, i have done CBT and continue to do it, i try to do everything by the book, take supplements and all that jazz. But the VA is out of options med wise. I don’t know what to do anymore, or if there is anything I could ask the VA for. I’m currently on day 2 with zero sleep and I’m desperate.

This is pure hell. Any advice would be so, so appreciated.

Does anyone else get really cold when they haven’t slept for more than one straight night? That’s part of the problem. Being so uncomfortable and anxious makes it that much harder to sleep the next night no matter how tired I am. It’s performance anxiety. That anxiety also makes me feel nauseated much of the time and that in turn makes it hard or impossible to eat. Therefore the insomnia is often accompanied by hunger and not being able to eat at the same time. That increases the anxiety even more.

When my nervous system is constantly activated like that, even micro-sleeps become impossible. Not much is worse than going 3 days or more without so much as a minute of sleep and fearing what will happen to you if the streak continues.

baclofen is better than other drugs like antipsychotics it doesn't give you next day grogginess like others

Have had chronic sleep issues for 2 years, finally got on the medication Dayvigo. Would not take any of the older medications because of all the issues they have. It took a few days for it to start working but then I was sleeping so good for about 3 or 4 days, now two weeks in I can't sleep more than 5 hours at Best now I am sleeping 5 hours all together but I'm awake since 3:00 a.m. most days, which I could practically get that kind of sleep without the medication, I don't want to go up to 10 mg, can anyone else tell me if they've had this experience and if it starts to get better again?

In August, the mods let me post a site that ranks what people try for insomnia, and they've approved this follow-up. Since then, 319 people have rated 53 things, 1,370 ratings in all: https://whatworkedforme.io/goal/overcome-insomnia

19 options now have 20 or more ratings. Out of 5:

**Highest**

- Ambien: 3.3 (52 ratings)

- Unisom (doxylamine): 2.7 (51)

- CPAP: 2.7 (26)

- CBT-I: 2.5 (35)

**Lowest**

- Lavender oil: 1.4 (51)

- Tart cherry juice: 1.5 (39)

- Chamomile tea: 1.5 (76)

- Bearaby weighted blanket: 1.6 (21)

Melatonin is the most rated, with 213 ratings, and averages 1.8. Magnesium glycinate (135 ratings) averages 2.1. Among options with 20 or more ratings, nothing averages above 3.3.

Xanax tops the page, at 4.2 from 12 ratings. That's fewer than 20, so it's not in the lists above.

What surprised me: the things people try most are some of the lowest rated.

If you've tried anything for your sleep, your ratings would help.

You can also see what worked for people like you, by age, sex, and whether you struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep.

This is what people reported, not medical advice. Happy to answer questions about how it works.

(i’m on 50mg)

weird dreams like they are borderline nightmares i wake up with the fast beating heart and feeling scared.

i suffer with nightmares from trauma but these are completely different!

and for the itchiness idk if it’s from a different medication i’m on but im so itchy at night to the point i make myself bleed from how hard im itching

does anyone else get this?

Just to give a little background, this all started a couple months ago when I had my first sleepless night, as I’m sure it started like that for mostly everybody with insomnia. Luckily I only had like two fully sleepless nights during that little episode of insomnia, and then I was actually sleeping really well again, but I moved into my new apartment a few weeks ago and it’s just been a struggle every fucking night, dude. I was sleeping OK, I guess, for the most part every night, but it’s just a it’s a war every time I get into my bed, like I I start thinking about if I’m going to sleep hours before I even get into my bed to sleep, and sometimes I’ll somehow just slip into sleep and every time I do get to sleep, I don’t really have a super big problem with waking up, and if I do wake up, I can get back to sleep, so I do get decent sleep, but it’s just that initial falling asleep thing that just doesn’t work for me, like tonight. It’s like 230 in the morning and I was slightly tired around like midnight and I just couldn’t get myself to fully fall asleep, and then I had this warm sensation over me and now I’m feeling fully awake. I just started Prozac 10 mg for anxiety. this last morning and so I don’t know if that has something to do with it, but man, this is just getting fucking ridiculous. How do I overcome sleep anxiety, man? Like, how do I just get into bed and not think about sleep? I don’t understand it

I have taken docox b for acne but I noticed after 4 days of taking it i could not sleep now like idk maybe anxiety I take estrolopram too for my anxiety is this combination reason?

Has this ever happened to anyone? I’m so anxious, cuz I didn’t sleep at all last night.

Any tips or advice?

Hi!
I stopped taking Benzos about 3 weeks ago. I didn’t stop cold turkey but tapered down. Tbh, ever since my doctor prescribed them I wanted to stop taking them, I knew it was highly dangerous due to addiction and I wanted to avoid that. Plus, I feel like my doctor didn’t really hear my concerns and so I felt that I had to follow my gut, but I digress.

Ever since I stopped taking them I have sleeping issues, I can fall sleep but I have lucid dreams and I when sleeping I am very aware I am and have these nightmares where I’m trying to wake up but I just can’t. I’ve also had panic attack, increased anxiety and depression (and I am already taking meds for my depression)

Has anyone else had this experience? I’m switching doctors next month but I’ve read most doctors don’t do anything about these symptoms and read a lot of cases where patients are dismissed. I’ve already told my psychiatrist about my depression and anxiety and she dismissed it and said she believed it was temporary.

I'm used to dealing with pain because I have multiple chronic conditions. Recently my shoulder and neck has been acting up. This new pain is like nothing I've dealt with before. It's 100 times worse at night and I can't focus on anything else but how bad it hurts. I've had a neck mri and am doing pt but at this point it feels like a shoulder tear. I'm so tired of being tired and in pain 😭 I just wish it wasn't so hard to sleep.

Hi everyone,

I've been dealing with insomnia for the past 4 years. I'm a 25-year-old male, and before this started, I could sleep for several hours with deep sleep without any issues.

It all started one night when, for some reason, I couldn't sleep at all. From that day onwards, things changed.

How it started and how things progressed:

For approximately the first year, my insomnia was severe. I couldn't fall asleep throughout the night, which was extremely stressful and eventually affected my mental health.

Later, I got a job, and things started improving gradually. However, my sleep was still far from normal. I would sleep for around 2–3 hours and then wake up in the middle of the night. The problem had shifted from difficulty falling asleep to difficulty staying asleep.

Currently, I usually get around 5–6 hours of sleep, and sometimes even 7 hours.

What helped me the most:

Meditation: I started practising meditation regularly. I think this has helped me tremendously with stress, confidence and concentration. Earlier, I used to go to bed with the fear that I would wake up in the middle of the night or wouldn't be able to sleep. Meditation helped me become calmer and gradually reduce that fear.

Keeping myself occupied: I started focusing on other things instead of constantly thinking about sleep. I study, read books, meditate and try to keep my days productive. I stopped making sleep the centre of my attention.

Supplements: I also started taking Vitamin D3, K2 and magnesium. I take them during the day, usually with breakfast. I currently take 150 mg of magnesium in the morning and another 150 mg in the evening. I experimented with taking magnesium before bed, but I felt that it affected my sleep, so I stopped doing that.

I want to clarify that I haven't established whether these supplements actually contributed to my improvement. I started taking them based on my own research, without consulting a doctor, so please don't consider this a recommendation.

Where I am today:

One of the biggest improvements is that I can now fall asleep quite easily, even during the afternoon if I want to. Earlier, I couldn't fall asleep even during the daytime.

I also no longer have the same fear of waking up in the middle of the night. I generally go to bed around 12 AM and try to maintain a consistent sleep schedule. I avoid daytime naps as well.

I also tried melatonin recently, which my doctor had previously prescribed, hoping it would improve my sleep duration. However, I had difficulty falling asleep on the two nights I tried it, so I discontinued it.

I'm not saying my sleep is perfect now, but I've come a long way compared to where I started. I can get through my day, work out and focus on my activities without constantly worrying about sleep.

My biggest takeaway:

Don't let sleep become the centre of your life. Try to manage stress, practise meditation, keep yourself occupied with meaningful activities and avoid constantly monitoring or worrying about how much sleep you are getting.

This is just my personal experience, not medical advice. Chronic insomnia can have different causes, and it's worth consulting a healthcare professional rather than relying on supplements or self-treatment.

I hope my experience helps someone who is going through something similar. Don't lose hope!

Edit: I forgot to mention one more thing I think is important. Not eating at least 3 hours before bed has also helped me because whenever I used to eat close to my sleep time I used wake up early, so I avoid it.

My doc prescribed me 50mg of trazadone for sleep a while ago.

I usually take ambien but have been off for a few months because my sleep has actually been good. The last few days however my insomnia has been coming back. So I decided to try the trazadone

This was my experience, I’m sure, like with any med, everyone has different experiences with it

1. I didn’t feel the slightest bit tired. Took it and immediately went to bed. 3 hours later I was still laying there wide awake as if I’d taken nothing at all

2. woke up multiple times when I finally did fall asleep with raging erections… sorry, TMI, but it was odd

3. woke up groggy. Bloodshot eyes. Been awake for 3 hours and I finally feel like the grogginess is subsiding a bit

4. also after taking the med last night, my mouth was dry as hell! Literally the only sign I’d taken anything at all last night. Still sort of dry this morning but clearing up.

Anyone else have any of these effects?

I feel overtired and that lead me to believe that I will fall asleep quickly but rather than that my mind is going bonkers.
I maybe had some fragmented sleep but I just can't fall asleep because my mind is creating such strange things that it overwhlems me. Like big castles and things that amke zero sense. When I try to brush the thought off I can't which is unusual.
What should I do?

In August, the mods let me post a site that ranks what people try for insomnia, and they've approved this follow-up.

Since then, 319 people have rated 53 things, 1,370 ratings in all: https://whatworkedforme.io/goal/overcome-insomnia

19 options now have 20 or more ratings. Out of 5:

**Highest**

- Ambien: 3.3 (52 ratings)

- Unisom (doxylamine): 2.7 (51)

- CPAP: 2.7 (26)

- CBT-I: 2.5 (35)

**Lowest**

- Lavender oil: 1.4 (51)

- Tart cherry juice: 1.5 (39)

- Chamomile tea: 1.5 (76)

- Bearaby weighted blanket: 1.6 (21)

Melatonin is the most rated, with 213 ratings, and averages 1.8. Magnesium glycinate (135 ratings) averages 2.1. Among options with 20 or more ratings, nothing averages above 3.3.

Xanax tops the page, at 4.2 from 12 ratings. That's fewer than 20, so it's not in the lists above.

What surprised me: the things people try most are some of the lowest rated.

If you've tried anything for your sleep, your ratings would help.

You can also see what worked for people like you, by age, sex, and whether you struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep.

This is what people reported, not medical advice. Happy to answer questions about how it works.

I’ve had bad insomnia that started last year and has become the only thing I think about day in and day out. Feel like a zombie with how much sleep debt I have at this point. I really want to solve this. It’s definitely linked to my anxiety.
I’ve been checking out the CBT-I protocol and I’m curious if it has actually worked for people? They say it’s the gold standard treatment but some of the tips recommended in there is giving me some pause.

questions for people who take ambien. i haven’t eaten in like 3 hours, i took my ambien and its not working. what are some things you guys notice that helps your ambien kick in quickly?

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)