r/insomnia

Hi fellow insomniacs!

I have had a progressive worsening insomnia for 4 years now. In the beginning I managed with a simple antihistaminer but then as it have progressed nothing helps me get a restful sleep. I am getting 3-4 hours unrested sleep every Other night with 1.5x Max dose lunesta. This has forced me to pause med school and be on sick leave which is real life purgatory when you cant sleep. I have tried every sleep med and CBT-i except benzos as far as I know and nothing has helped. Even Olanzapine, yeah I hate that drug.

I am desperate since it feels like my whole life collapsed in front of me due to insomnia. There seems to be no solution and a life like this with no sleep and subsequent cognitive decline is not worth it.

Even the sleep study done led to the diagnose insomnia which was the worst outcome of all due to the diagnosis vague nature and unknown mechanisms.

Therefore I am asking you guys have anyone here been able to use benzodiazepines for sleep long term lets say the rest or there life ?

Or does anyone have tips regarding as to what can have happened to my brain in order for me to never feel sleepy and never be able to sleep?

Does anyone have a success story with similarities to my situation? How did you fix it?

Best regards
Youre fellow insomniac

If you aren't having a great day, if you think you are not enough or just want someone to listen to you and hear you as you speak your heart anonymous. Feel free to chat and be yourself 🐥⭐

What was your sleep study experience, and what were the results? I feel like everyone gets dx w/ apnea. Like the easy way out for doctors, or something.

Yesterday i took mirtazepine 15mg. Since then i have slept for 15 hours 54 mins. I can sleep more. Cant do anything. Too much fatigued, cant function.

Most people with insomnia are taking benzos.

They go to docs and all they know is to give benzos like they are candies.

We live In 2026. Knowledge is free and anyone can have access to it.

Benzos are destroying the brain and body chemistry and they are super addictive especialy to most insomniacs because most of the times they are suffering from anxiety so they have an addictive personality.

Taking benzos is like playing with fire.

Bet careful and do your home work.

There are so many herbs and supps out there.

A lot less side effects and not addictive.

Try them all before going to benzos.

Benzos should be your last resort

I’ve been using 10 mg zolpidem everyday for a week straight for my insomnia, and it really has been helping me. I used to only use it occasionally before, but then I saw no problem with daily use when it comes to tolerance buildup.

Unfortunately I did run out of my script and had to try to sleep without it. I’ve been experiencing a pretty odd symptom that might be related to rebound insomnia due to discontinuation.

Anytime my body winds down and us and just about to enter sleep, my mind suddenly wakes me up and sort of ”reminds me” that I should be awake. There’s kind of a brief fear response sent that spikes my heart rate for a few seconds, almost like I would die if I would fall asleep?

Has this symptom ever happened to you guys? Or is it a common symptom of zolpidem discontinuation?

I've been dealing with insomnia for a long time now, I can remember it since I was 11-12, my parents would punish me for not sleeping at a certain time or not being able to wakeup in the morning for school. I obviously didn't know what the problem was, I would tell them I just can't sleep but they blamed it on video games and screens. This went on for years and years, constantly being blamed for something I couldn't control yet I didn't know what it was nor could I express it. This was early on.

Fast forward to when I was 18, since working and being in education full time and having other autoimmune conditions and not being able to sleep at all, too tired for anything, falling asleep outside or on public transport I decided to contact my GP regarding it. I vaguely knew what insomnia was but never considered it at the time.

The UK is known for being very bad in dealing with insomnia. If you browse online, millions of real people dealing with insomnia are turned away and left without medications. My grades were slipping, I was too tired to socialise, depression and anxiety worsened which at the time I didn't realise this is what could be causing it, life just felt dull and boring and I dreaded any little task or responsibility, coupled with being severely ill my mental health was in the gutter.

I was referred to a specialist right after at 18, for a year and a half no response, no updates, no medications.

A friend then offered some weed and of course I didn't hesitate to try it, I can vividly remember sleeping like a baby that night. I can honestly say that was probably the best sleep of my life, it may sound weird to remember such a mundane thing but it worked so well.

At 19 and a half after getting no help from the NHS I went to medical cannabis. Since then my life has flipped upside down. Anxiety? I don't have it anymore. Depression? I don't have it anymore. I'm 20 now and feel much more alive, my grades are back, I can work, I can go out more and socialise, I don't avoid things. It turns out, the source of all my problems was just not being able to sleep which honestly makes sense now that I look back at it.

Some people have judged me for it which I don't really care about, it's a medication that gets prescribed for me. I wouldn't even class myself as a stoner, I mainly smoke or take an edible at night and that's all. I treat it like a medicine.

I know it's not ideal, I'm aware it can have some side effects and that it doesn't put me into a deep sleep but I prefer 5-8 hours of consistent daily light sleeping instead of 1-2 days of no sleep and waking up multiple times throughout a 3 hour sleep and dealing with the myriad of other issues insomnia comes with

i think it’s just my body. it felt terrible, my heart was racing, i was thinking about so much all at once, my body was stiff. i could not sleep because i was too scared to. it felt more like a stimulant, even worse than Adderall (which i stopped taking regularly because it was causing heart palpitations)

i woke up this morning just feeling achy and my chest hurts so bad and i’m having heart palpitations again after not having them for some time. i have to work so i just have to get over it but i am in so much pain.

i guess i’ll just stick to Ambien but this sucks, i was really hoping it would work for me :(

I keep hearing people talk about CBN + CBD lately and I'm really curious to try it for sleep. Right now I regularly take low dose THC + CBD through 1906 chill, and I just want to hear other people's experiences first before trying CBN to see if it's a big improvement and actually worth it.

What I'm taking now is alright, but I've read some stuff about THC affecting REM sleep, so I've been thinking about giving CBN a shot instead.

How to stop overthinking at night and sleep
Recently i have been experiencing this problem,before i used to sleep for 10-13 hours straight
But now i am barely able to sleep for 5-6 hours

Hi 👋
So i m planning to practice cbt i but the problem is that i ve been taking medications for anxiety and insomnia laroxyl and serroquel for a long time and it stoped working effectively so we increased the doses and now i m in the roof for my age and i m scared cause i don t want to take more meds and more doses also i don t want to take meds for my whole life
Please if anyone tried cbt i while he is taking meds please help me figure it out as well
My goal is to be able to sleep naturally without meds

so 7 days ago out of nowhere literally i had complete loss of appetite and instant onset insomnia with no obvious trigger or changes. and every time i try to sleep day, night, anxious, or completely calm i try to go to sleep ill get to the very edge of light sleep (eyes closed starting to imagine my dream) then out of nowhere i get a twitch sometimes physical others just a mental "twitch" completely wakes me up and i do this upwards of 20-30x a night for the entire night. i've tried everything, i left my bed went and watched a movie with my grandpa and tried to lay in bed with him because it usually helps having someone around but the same thing happened so eventually i went down stairs to the couch watched 3 movies back to back still same twitch on the verge of sleep. ive been to the er/urgent care 3x and my PMC doctor he wants to try anxiety meds before any sleeping pills but im in urgent need of sleep. ive slept 3 hours a night at most for 6 days straight and now day 7 i got up at 10am yesterday morning it's now 7:12 the following day so ive been up for 39 hours straight now. ive had anxiety all my life s d never had issues sleeping no matter the circumstances so for all this to happen randomly im starting to assume the worst like my brain is permanently broken.

I’ve been struggling with insomnia for about 7 months now. I’ve tried melatonin, chamomile tea, Benadryl, Trazodone, Temazepam, Seroquel, Zyprexa (which is an antipsychotic but used for sleep too), Mirtazapine, Exercising, getting in bed at the same time. Nothing fucking works. I did just have a sleep study a couple days ago, so maybe that will help a little, at least in getting diagnosed for insomnia. Im up pretty much all night and never feel sleepy? Is anyone else struggling with this, lack of feeling sleepy/tired despite being awake all night? It’s truly exhausting. I wish my body would just let me sleep.

I'm unsure if anyone will have an advice on this situation. I know I might have to just deal with it.

My husband is a night owl. Its very difficult to sleep until he decides to go to bed. Him moving wakes me up. No matter how much he tries to not. It takes me about an hour to fall asleep. I wake up about every 3-4hrs. If something doesn't wake me up. Rare occasions I do manage to sleep through the night.

I've been diagnosed with Insomnia since at least 2018. But Ive had issues sleeping since as long as I could remember. I have tried multiple medications to help sleep. None have worked, so doctor does want a sleep study. But just not something I can afford as I'm having to prioritize different health issues.

I've tried practicing good sleep practice. (Not using screens close to bed, cutting out caffeine, etc.)

With my current job. It doesn't have a set scheduled. So getting on a routine before bed is difficult. (I can work anywhere between 6am and 11pm.) Believe me I am trying to find something else.

It's not a noise thing. But I can not use ear plugs. I have a problem with my ears. So if I used them regularly it would cause issues.

Im not sure if its linked, but I have to go pee everytime I wake up. I don't wake up having to go pee. But like my brain won't let me go back to sleep unless I do. As I will likely feel like I need to within about 5 minutes. So its not like I wake up and can just go right back to sleep.

The one thing that used to kinda help me sleep was my cat cuddling up to me. Unfortunately she passed in Jan. While didn't resolve it. Made falling asleep easier. I've attempted to get my dog to cuddle at night. But my husband can't sleep if he is stretched out between us.(You know for a 35 pound dog, he takes up so much room. So he sleeps at my feet.)

Getting a bigger bed is not possible right now. Sleep separate is not possible either.

I understand if there is no advice anyone has. But I'm just desperate.

Why do we need autopsy to diagnose FFI? Can't we tell if a patient suffers from it by just the symtoms and the presence of prions? It has very specific symtoms

I'm in a cycle. I take a sleeping pill (zopiclone + melatonin), and sleep great (as much as 8 hours). But then the next night I'm not tired enough to sleep, and I usually end up getting no sleep at all. Then I'm exhausted the next day. The next night I get my usual 3 hours sleep, and same for the night after that. But by then I'm just no longer functioning, so I take a sleeping pill again. Repeat.

I know I'm never going to get a great sleep without sleeping pills, but I'd like to at least get 3 hours the night following taking one. I can get that other nights, so it seems to just be a case of not being tired enough. I've tried taking melatonin the next night, but that never helps.

Any life hacks?

My boyfriend has insomnia and it absolutely kills me to watch him struggle. He’s been sleeping pretty good recently, except last night he didn’t sleep and i’m so scared an episode is going to return. Whenever he can’t sleep, everything about him changes and it breaks my heart. I understand that everyone’s insomnia is different and, thus, affects them differently, but could someone please tell me anything their partner does to help them? Is there anything you would recommend i read? Anything is appreciated

I used to take 36 hour train rides (this in Russia), where there were 2 nights. It seemed that the gentle rocking and repetitive cha-cha--cha-cha--cha-cha of the bogies going over the rail-line joints made me sleep like a baby (with my regular set of sleep herbs, amitriptyline & zolpidem).

I have had severe insomnia for 2 1/2 months can’t hardly sleep at all but I’ve been on benzos. I get 2 to 4 hours of sleep every once in a while, but I have severe heart palpitations, wondering what the best medication is for this?

How did you manage to get over it? I understand my anxiety is playing with me and ruining me sleep, but I can’t get over it, have been struggling for a week