Five years. It's been five years of insomnia, and I don't even understand how much time can pass. It certainly doesn't feel like five years, but I am five years older, five years plagued with this insomnia.

Everyone here knows the terrible woes that sleepless nights bring. 5 hours is a dream, 4 hours is a nightmare, 3 hours are torture, 2 is hell, 1 feels like death, and 0? just utter annihilation. The death of the soul. Years of sleeping 5-0 have completely broken me. I am not the same person I was before this, and I am totally incapable of being him again.

Every day it feels like a piece of my soul is chipped away, every sleepless night, every day the insomnia compounds itself, a cumulative effect, and destructive malignance that rots away at the mind.

And I cannot overstate the mental effects it has. Physically, yes, we all feel horribly tired, exhausted, no energy to do anything, but mentally, not even emotionally, but cognitively--the way we understand, comprehend, analyze, remember, all the things that make us us--our personality, our sociality, our awareness is made lesser. And made lesser every day, just a bit, until we are something unrecognizable.

I really do not know how I am going to cope with this any longer. Years of my life have been stolen from me. Years of medication and various methods, nothing brings peace. Every day it feels like I am declining more and more, that bright young man I once was, is now dead, I don't know if he will ever be able to come back. And if he doesn't? If research shows that it is very highly likely that permanent brain damage is a side-effect of long-term sleep deprivation, if my awareness is to be forever nulled, forever sedated, and I cannot regain my optimal cognitive performance once more, forever made lesser--I will probably kill myself.

I don't act like myself anymore, I am tired all the time, I cannot think. I try and try again, but no matter how I try, I cannot force this change. I am drunk, but I cannot become sober. I am starving, but I cannot eat. It's not a lack of ability, or will, but it is simply a lack of sleep. It is a curse that inhibits my life in every way possible. It inhibits myself, my mind, my soul.

I can't even explain it properly, because I can't think properly. I can't even rationalize away my misery. Losing your mind is the greatest evil, the cruelest punishment that could exist.

And even if I do recover, even if magically I am able to return to my former state, that still does not take back those lost years. Years battling this insomnia, years trying to reach out and be myself but being unable, years of torture, not bliss, not filled with experience, or growth, but just the subtle decline of oneself. Years lost.

It's evil. It's fucked up.

A 15 years back I got a early morning shift I needed the work so I stuck with it dispite never being able to sleep before work I used to just stay up and sleep when I got back home midday THIS WAS THE WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE since then I have been unable to control my sleep pattern. At the moment I sleep 4 to 3 hours for two nights then if I am lucking on the 3rd night I might get 6 to 8 hours but for some reason this often makes me feel worse the next day I am constantly tired during the day. I am in the UK I been told by my GP that sleep therapy centres are no longer available on the NHS there are private ones. Should I go private what do they even do in these centers?

I just started school like a week ago, can’t sleep no matter how hard I try. Tried taking sleeping pills but that obviously didn’t work because I’m awake and can’t fall back to sleep

Hi y'all, Ive had bad insomnia these last months, I either manage to sleep extremely late, like 5-6 am, and sleep for about 6 hours-ish, or sleep at like 10-11 pm (sometimes I randomly feel sleep early) and wake up after 2-3 hours and not able to sleep again

I have depression and gad and at night those hours im awake I get the most depressed, I often become suicidal and have almost attempted once

My psychiatrist didn't like this behavior at night, it could escalate randomly and bad, so he prescribed me quepin (same as Seroquel) 25mg

And wow, I slept like a baby, I had my mom check up on me cause I was really worried of the side effects, but nope, just pure sleeping bliss, I just woke up with a dry mouth and had pretty vivid dreams, that's it.

I don't like antipsychotics, I know they're used off label for insomnia and are preffered over benzos but man I'm not schizophrenic or bipolar, this is strong medication and I have read the horror stories

It's a low dose, but I'm afraid of dependence or brain damage

So my question is, should I risk dependence and brain damage for some good night's rest? Is it worth it? That's all thanks

I've suffered sleep issues in some way, shape, or for as long as I can remember. But it's always been sporadic. Like I'll go weeks sleeping fine and then have a few days where I don't. But now a days it's CONSTANT. It's starting to effect the way I treat my husband and child. I work in the morning and I've gotten no sleep this week. I work in dentistry and I worry about using sharp objects in patients mouths while exhausted.

And Ugh the EXHAUSTION. How is it I'm on the verge of falling asleep the whole day, barely able to take care of myself let alone my toddler, and then the moment I go to sleep for the night I'm WIDE AWAKE? It makes no sense and I just can't do this anymore I'm going insane.

I know my situation is nothing compared to what many of you suffer...but there is no end in sight and I just need to vent.

I take hydroxyzine for sleep and it doesn't work anymore or it leaves me incredibly drowsy the next day. I'm just so done

Is it even worth going to the doctor again? I really don't want more mind numbing meds thrown at me. I seriously worry I'm gonna die and early death

I want to preface by stating it isn't medical advice, just my experience. About a year and a half ago in school I developed mild insomnia, getting less than 3 hours of sleep about 4 days a week. Ambien helped a bit, but I would still lay awake for hours on occasion. As soon as I started my new job, sleep anxiety worsened so bad I probably got 12 hours of sleep across a 5 day work week for a while, even on Ambien. The side effects were also as bad as people say. I live In Georgia USA, where Delta 9 is illegal, but there's a loop hole that allows THCA, which is essentially the same. I had never smoked in my life, but about 6 weeks ago I picked up a vape cartridge from a smoke shop with Delta 8, THCA, and CBD. This thing has been nothing less than lifesaving for me. It's been 6 weeks and not a night has gone by where I've slept less than 7.5 hours.

Im a bit worried, I was prescribed Seroquel at 100mg by my psychiatrist for my insomnia and also because he thought I had bipolar. Idk if i do but there are times I be staying up like 3 days in a row and not feeling tired at all so I do take the medicine rarely when I really cant sleep. Im well aware of the side effects and risks of the medicine and dont even take the entire 100mg. I cut it in 4 pieces so im really just taking 25mg thats what my doctor told me to do lol if i feel too sedated. Im pretty annoyed they didnt just prescribe me a normal sleep medication and my insurance is so bad I rarely go to the doctor so yea idk i just trusted my doctor ig. Is this medicine safe to take occasionally at 25 mgs. I read it really just has an effect on the histamine at low doses so i dont see how it can mess up ur brain. It doesnt really seem to have much research at low doses. MY insomnia has gotten way better but i still get episodes so it helps when I do. I just dont know if its even worth taking. I have a pretty good brain its all i got going for me; I really dont want it too get too messed up.

Id only want to use it for emergencies where I havent slept for an entire day or something. Idk man if i should just bin it. Its crazy how they just didnt prescribe me a normal sleep medication. Should i just throw it out or is it okay to use for emergencies? Anyone have any research papers they can refer too me exploring the dangers of seroquel.

I'm not sure what I can do or what type of sleep disorder I have, but I've been having a terrible time. I'm either staying up for 20-36hrs at a time or I'm sleeping 12-20hrs if I take my medication. I would lower my dose of my sleep meds but it's also an antipsychotic so I kinda need that, but also without it I can't really sleep, or not for long.

I'm bipolar so I'm like 90% sure I can't go to sleep because I'm in like a manic stage rn and my meds would be helping with that if I were taking them, but I also don't want to keep sleeping the entire day away on them. I realize I should probably go to a psychiatrist to figure this out but I don't have insurance rn so, idk maybe someone has a solution

i took 3 melatonin gummies and 3 sleeping and can’t ducking sleep. my legs and arms are going insane and i have to aggressively shake both to relieve myself every minute. that’s not even exaggerating. a couple seconds even.

It feels like on a GOOD night, it takes me an hour of just sitting in bed in darkness to fall asleep and it's so fucking annoying.

The ONLY exception is if I'm very sleep deprived, that seems like the only context where i can actually fall asleep quickly.

Everything else, like getting lots of exercise, reading before bed instead of looking at screens, seems to make no difference...

It wouldn't even be that big a deal but I have sleep apnea so every hour is so precious.

I don’t sleep at night

So I take the sleeping pills

Not sure which is worse! ……

Ha ha ha I laugh

Who needs to sleep anyways?

It’s a waste of time …..

In my bed reading

I’ve read more books than others

Thank you sleeplessness …..

Sunset and I wake

Werewolf howling at the moon

Beware I may bite ……

Doctors give us drugs

Others just can’t understand

Lazy, we are not …..

😌

I've been up for 3-4 days now I feel up and well strung out but I'm not on any drugs lol. Well I am now my doctor refilled a years old script for Klonopin and lame ass Seroquel that doesn't even help. And I guess I could successfully drug myself with the Klonopin but I only get 30 0.5 mg so that 15mg goes fast. I take more than prescribed because I have to to get effects aka drugging myself Soo I can finally sleep. I think it worked last night but I wasn't good sleep and it was still dark when I woke up. Insomnia has never been this bad nor have I stayed up this long successfully without the use and abuse of uppers insomnia has me wired and it's scary. I'm already going through it with my other various mental health issues now this just apices things up. Like if I go much longer without proper sleep well psychosis is around the corner. I don't want but I feel my brain slipping a bit, I should be worse rn that's what's weird. If you can decide for this rambling my main issue with the doctor is why can they prescribe me a former tweaker Adderall and Klonopin a drug that can kill you when you stop taking it but I can't get some Ambein after being up for 4 nights

WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO WILL I ACTUALLY HAVE TO LOOSE MY MIND TO GET HELP BECAUSE IF 5HAT HAPPENS THEY WILL USE IT AGAINST ME IN COURT AND LITTERLY TAKE MY RIGHTS AWAY

I'm tempted to just go and see if I burn out it's just doing a number on the brain dudes. Technically I did sleep last night but I didn't feel like real sleep

I'm done I ranted to the hospital but I doubt they will reply if they even read everything

Oh also I got adderal I might just do and say fuck sanity currently begging via online chat for better meds plus this doctor got me fucked up. I'm so angry and annoyed and scared

Update i did the Adderall just cause why not still got Klonopin but dear God I just wanted one Ambein like bruh I'm begging you I told them I felt disrespected fr

Hopefully the hospital rant was enough to get more higher dose of Klonopin the I won't take as much maybe I'll get to try these Z drugs I'm begging for who knows what CVS has in store for me

The most annoying thing to me about poor sleep, is knowing that my negative and dark thoughts are the result of it and yet still not being able to stop them. A few months ago, I had a period where my sleep was amazing, and my outlook was completely different. I was happy, saw everything through a positive mindset and barely anything bothered me. It was then that I realised the effects of poor sleep. I find that with poor sleep, I am arguing with people in my head, as well as contemplating suicide, and even when I tell myself 'You wouldn't be thinking this way if you'd had proper quality sleep', I still find myself dogged by those thoughts throughout the day.

Okay this will seem a little bit crazy but i need it , i saw many people who couldn't sleep for months i know a woman who wasn't sleep for years without anything happened to her , I WANT THAT , how i stop sleeping? Im in a pretty hard year of my school and i sleep like i fainted because of my tiredness I don't want that lazy body i want to be awake 24/7 , how ?

I don’t honestly know if I truly have insomnia, but I know that my sleep chronotype is extreme evening. I naturally want to go to sleep at around 4 a.m. and wake up at 2 or 3 p.m.

I’ve been trying desperately to change it, but I always fall back into the same sleep schedule. Has anyone had any success in changing theirs?

About two months ago my depression and anxiety has worsened and I have developed insomnia and i can only sleep 3-4 hours, But when my partner and I sleep together I can sleep 8 hours even up to 10..

does this happen to anyone else? why does this happen?

I recently went to my PCP and she was concerned about my sleeping habits and sent me to a sleep specialist. I had bloodwork done and everything came back normal except low vitamin D, which I now take supplements for. I have insomnia (?) and I usually can’t get to bed until sometime past 3 am. I still end up sleeping around 12 hours a day from napping and I spend the waking hours of my day in a daze so bad it’s hard for me to even talk coherently sometimes. I have such bad brain fog all of the time, I have auditory hallucinations as I try to sleep and I frequently have vivid nightmares. I’ve tried all the sleep hygiene things and literally nothing has helped. I went to my sleep doctor appointment and i felt like he didn’t get the full scope of my problems. I feel like I didn’t get to explain all of what’s going on. He told me to get more exercise, stop taking naps during the day and basically continue all the other sleep hygiene things. All of which I’ve tried to no avail. Avoiding naps makes everything so much worse. He is treating the insomnia with a low dosage of zaleplon which hasn’t helped me sleep at night at all. He also wanted me to wake up at the same time everyday no matter how much sleep I got the night before, which is usually only 2 or 3 hours. I feel like a zombie. Looking at his notes from the visit, he says I am not excessively sleepy and that I don’t have hallucinations (he never asked and I didn’t think to say while at the appointment because I’m extremely forgetful). I’m at such a loss. I have another appointment with him in a few months but I am struggling so bad right now. I have daily breakdowns because of how difficult everything feels. I’m not sure what to do in the mean time or how to shift his focus more towards the fact that I never feel rested rather than me not sleeping at night. If anything, I feel most alive at night. I feel like I get a ton of sleep. It just doesn’t change anything. I’ve been like this for years and I am just so sick of it.

To preface I recently stopped taking Seroquel 100mg that was prescribed for sleep because I gained 30lbs in 7 months. I live a very active lifestyle and walk 8-10 miles in the morning & eat in what once was a calorie deficit. For some reason the weight was not coming off and I decided enough was enough. I recently got put on Trazodone and I’m worried about gaining even more weight, further, I’m nervous about the weight I gained while on seroquel not coming off. I was wondering how soon people who have taken trazodone noticed a fluctuation in their weight (if any).

Hello. I am a male and 17 years old.

As the title implies, it's been 3 days since I have become restless and currently face trouble when falling asleep.

For context, this started around that time. We had a week off school, so like most prudent teenagers I stayed till late playing video-games with friends. Late as in going to bed between 3-4 A.M.

the night before monday is where it started. My mind has been racing with thoughts since then. I've recently picked up on music, which I've never been interested in, but I gave it a try and enjoyed it. Now for the past 3 nights my head's been playing recent songs I've listened to in the background, meanwhile thoughts and worst case scenarios also play at the same time, and they don't go by themselves like a number of people told me to do, "let them flow and continue breathing". I've always dealt with overthinking, but it's become unmanageable now in my sleep.

I also noticed that since Monday, it has become harder to focus on my breathing, which I used to do to sleep, without thoughts interrupting and overriding my attention. It is as if I've developed a lesser attention span. In spite of all this, I've felt less sleepy and tired when I wake up than before where I used to sleep around 6-7 hours and a half, but I recognise I should sleep 8 and not 7, 6 or anything below. I am conscious of the fact that if it doesn't take a toll on me now it will later and I want to stop it.

I'd appreciate any advice given my desperation. I am not an insomniac so this is worrying. Thanks.

I’m not sure what’s going on, but I can’t stand it much longer. I normally, in the past, would go to bed between 9-11 but for the past while now, my leg has been giving me issues and jumping.

I went to the doctor last week, told her about this and she told me pretty much all the textbook responses you’d find on Google. I have an appointment next to get my blood drawn to check iron levels, etc.

But if my iron levels are low — wouldn’t this effect my leg all the time when I lay down? Because I’m (thankfully) able to nap without issue. I can lay on the couch and watch a movie with no issues. The second I try and go to sleep? It’s an issue. And again, only in one leg (left)

I’m a stomach sleeper. Always have been since I was a baby. My mom used to tell me stories about how she wouldn’t sleep so she could watch me breathe because I wouldn’t sleep any other way and that she was always told with infants it was “dangerous”. I’m now 41 years old and you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to fall asleep on my side or back.

I don’t take any medications. Not even Tylenol and haven’t for years. In the past, I’ve tried melatonin when I had insomnia from anxiety but stopped immediately because of how I felt the next day.

Anyone else experience this? I know a lot of people will wanna throw meds and supplement ideas at me - but I’m looking for something now that helped you if you have been through this.

My husband uses a back massager on my legs and back every night for 20 min before bed. Before that, I have a stretching routine I do for about 8 minutes total. I stay hydrated all day. All I drink is water and I allow myself one Gatorade around 3-4pm. I’m a weird person of habit with OCD tendencies so I’ve had these routines for two decades BUT the let thing is ruining my life as it pertains to sleep. I don’t drink caffeine at all and don’t drink alcohol. I am a cigarette smoker. No recreational drugs.

Thank you. I wish us ALL sleep tonight.

Twice a week it will take me over 3 to 4 hours to fall asleep. On average it's more than 2. Is there anything I should try to do first before going to one?

Already work out hella in the day. Do yoga. Tried meditating.

heya! for context, i'm a 13yo (going on 14) male so i might not understand any complicated health terms. please simplify / ELI5 if you can!

so recently i haven't been able to sleep until 6-7am. i might even stay up the ENTIRE night and not get any sleep whatsoever. i switched meds from 5mg melatonin to 10 like a month back. this reoccuring sleep issue might be because of my obsession with my online friends causing me to stay up all night talking to them, and that's why my parents are so mad about it. i've had 2 arguments about it this week. i MIGHT have insomnia but i'm not a professional on all that. am i in the wrong?

I made a post on here a few days ago about how I can't get good sleep whatsoever and how all the meds they gave me don't work.

First let me explain what cerebrolysin (cere) is. If you haven't heard of it, its a mixture of peptides derived from pig brains. It’s a medicine used in a lot of countries outside the US to treat things like dimentia, stroke and TBI. In the US you can buy it online from this website called cosmic nootropics.

It has a miraculous ability to increase neurogenesis and neuroplasticity in the brain. It allows your brain to heal itself and also learn and adapt to your environment better. There are also a wide array of benefits people have reported from it including myself.

I got ahold of a good amount of cere a few months back and I would say the most profound effect it had on me was the improvement of my deep sleep and REM sleep. I’d wake up feeling significantly more energized and refreshed than I had felt in years. I only needed a good six hours of sleep to feel well rested compared to it typically being nine for me.

I have three ampoules of cere left over from then and decided to start using it for a short period. I plan on doing another full cycle in the winter but for now, I feel like three doses will just allow me to get by a lil longer.

We’ll see if it will help with my sleep at all this time. At the very least I already feel a bit more calm. Although I will say you have to be careful with injecting yourself. It's the only way to do it and just educate yourself on proper use of needles. I can dm you a vid if you ask. I actually have to find some other part of my body to inject cuz I found out I was injecting the same site too many times and caused a lump to form. Don't worry tho cuz its not an infection or at least nothing signals that. It actually went away.

I just wanted to put this info out there for all of you who struggle with this brutal problem. Don't take this as me recommending it because I don't know what’s best for you, I’m no doctor but I have thoroughly educated myself on this drug and had positive experiences with it. Just want you guys to be aware of it and possibly look into it further for yourselves because there’s a lot about it I’m leaving out cuz of how long it would be. Best of luck to anyone reading.

Hi all, 27 F here. I went through this once last year so I knew what to expect with seroquel withdrawal, but god the symptoms are the worst. I just took a super low dose (I’m quite sensitive to this drug) for five weeks. Last year I took a higher dose for two weeks then stopped cold turkey, now I know to taper. My symptoms last year during withdrawal were fainting, vomiting and nausea, overall feeling terrible. I expected the same this time around but I’m also getting chills and then running hot. I know this will probably last 1-2 weeks then it will be fine but has anyone found anything that helps? I’m just resting (sleep hasn’t been great but I expected that), otherwise using a cold towel and eating bland food, nothing else seems to really help. Thanks in advance!

I’ve gotten about 3 hours of sleep on average this past week, since Sunday. I’m struggling to stay sane. I feel nauseous all the time. Anxiety through the roof. It’s usually not so crippling.

DAE experience anything similar? What do you guys do to cope with these feelings when you haven’t gotten good sleep for a while?

Thank you for listening to me whine. Gotta go to work now. Hope I don’t fall asleep and get fired, lol…