A year or two ago there was a user (forgot the name) who posted a lot about insomnia. The posts got increasingly desperate and then suddenly stopped.
I’ve had sporadic insomnia all my life which I’ve managed with pills, but now it’s really bad and the pills don’t work (doctors have prescribed so many I lost track). None of the natural remedies do a damn thing (melatonin, valerian, exercise, fresh air, and my favourite: “happy thoughts”, it’s all bullshit).
Wondering if anyone out there knows what I’m talking about, or if the user I mentioned rings a bell. I won’t ask how to cope because there is no coping once the pills stop working. Mainly I’m wondering how long before it’s so bad I kill myself.
23 comments
What if you made yourself tired? I find the days I work harder I’m more likely to fall asleep. I find some nights I can’t sleep at all and other days I just crash.
Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way for me. My guess is it’s a chemical or neurological condition that prevents sleep. I’m exhausted 24 hours a day, ironically from no sleep, but I can’t lose consciousness without pills.
What about weed? I find that makes me sleepy sometimes
Weed is the 1 thing I haven’t tried, mainly because it’s not legal in my state and I’m too sheltered to go out and find a dealer who can get me some. But that’s a good suggestion.
have you tried ordering it online?
Hopedreamlove is spot on, if you can obtain it try weed, I guarantee you it will work. The pills not working sounds to me like you have developed a tolerance, take a break, lower your tolerance and they will work again. I take Ambien, it does the trick, perhaps seek out a different sleeping pill, Xanax whilst not a sleeping pill after about an hour you will be chilled enough to sleep but it does not provide the sedation effect of Ambien. I can not offer natural remedies as I have yet to find any that work. This is a problem i know only too well so I wish you luck.
I think you’re right about the pills, it’s a tolerance thing. When I was taking just 1 pill (benadryl) regularly at night it worked, but lately I’ve been so stressed I had to raise the dose, and now I’m up to 4-6 pills per night, not working at all. You’re right I need to get off the pills completely for a week or two, then start slowly at 1 pill again.
I’ve tried Xanax with hardly any result. Then I tried Ambien and it knocked me out HARD but the problem is I started having the infamous Ambien blackouts where I would literally do things, even drive places, without remembering a thing. I remember reading in the news that someone committed mass murder while on ambien, so I decided to get off that stuff.
Thanks for the suggestions and the well wishes. Insomnia is hell.
That sounds like a level of insomnia that merits some kind of clinical observation – of the sort that takes place in sleep trials. The body should effectively enforce sleep if you go long enough without – for me the longest I’ve ever gone is 48 hours straight, by which time I was falling asleep on the bus to work despite desperately trying to remain awake. If it doesn’t happen at that point of exhaustion and you just get ever more tired then something is medically wrong. If your doctor is totally out of ideas then you could try other kinds of drugs as suggested above.
But I would suggest giving yourself every chance to sleep first – removing everything that might be an obstacle, and giving the pills a rest. If you could take some time off work or study that might help as well. If you go long enough without any sleep (a week say) then your thinking is likely to become increasingly erratic, and you might well do something irrational. But the body should effectively override the mind and force sleep before that happens, if nothing is stopping it.
Good suggestions, and now that you mention it I do live in a loud part of the city which contributes to my sleeplessness. Unfortunately things like earplugs are just too uncomfortable, and I don’t have the $$ to move out. I would love to get away though. When I go on vacation (its been years) I sleep like a baby.
what about a white noise app on your phone or any electronic really? and if that doesnt work what about just background noise? i fall asleep to the tv or radio all the time. or a peaceful tv show like bob ross the joy of painting. you can find his episodes on youtube.
Ha Bob Ross is a great suggestion and I’ll probably try it tonight. I’ve been putting on mindless movies, but those end up keeping me awake because I get wrapped up in the story. But a good monotone lecture or tutorial might at least numb my thoughts.
That sucks. I’ve had some success using white noise before – it’s quite peaceful. And I used to fall asleep to audio books a fair bit. Or there are special kinds of sleep meditations you can find on spotify that are relaxing. Or you could try ASMR. Anything bland and comforting might help keep you chilled while you wait to drop off.
My best advice would be to just fcking close your eyEs and it doesn’t matter what goes on from there you could make up equations or tell yourself you hate yourself 9,000 times in a row before you just think this is fcked up and fall asleep. Make sure room is very dark and there’s nothing you are afraid of hanging around to make you stay awake. Usually humans wake or can’t sleep if there is danger lurking near
Ambien fcked up my sleep real bad I would take my dose fall asleep and then wake up thirty minutes later then fall asleep and wake up and fall asleep then wake up. I wouldn’t advise anyone to ever take because I dunno if my sleep ever got back to normal, I now have creepy fcking nightmares regularly. Just last night I dreamt a lady was having me lick her vagina and kissing me. Ya the dreams are bad. Think it was one of the psych medications. It wasn’t just that sexual bullshit it’s just it was almost lucid. Usually I pray to not dream but am plagued by them usually.
Your ambien experience sounds a lot like mine. That stuff is bad news for me. Like I said above, I’ve read bunches of news stories of people committing crimes, even murder, under the influence of ambien and not realizing or remembering it. The nightmares and reality start to blend and you don’t know what’s what. I once blacked out and drove to a friends house who luckily got me back home safe, but I could’ve easily hit a truck head on (by accident or on purpose).
I agree I have to get out of this apartment because it has too many traumatic memories, but that’s not easy. I keep hoping I’ll find a pill that just knocks me out safely so I can sleep like a normal person but it sounds like you know that pill doesn’t exist.
I smoke weed but I guess kratom which is a ‘legal’ opiate knocked me out ok
CODS when you stopped taking Ambien did the nightmares stop? I ask because I get nightmares regularly and don’t know if it’s me, Ambien or Lexapro which is the culprit.
No they never ever stopped. Sad part is I never had a psychiatric disorder I was just a homosexual youth with abusive relatives.
Maybe the most important thing is just to get some rest? Just like down, close your eyes, even if you don’t sleep, at least you’ll have spent the night not doing anything. That must count for something, surely?
Yes, I think it counts for something, at least it gives my limbs a chance to relax. But my mind gets no rest because it’s like being forced to sit in silence, wide awake for 8 hours every night. I get really irritable with ridiculous things, and lately I’ve been getting outright paranoid like wondering if the government is shooting microwaves at me… completely psycho stuff, but in the middle of the night anything goes. My head’s really messed up and I can see this easily leading to complete irrational thoughts, suicide being a big danger there.
Everyone thinks that shit probably because they read about it before. Ya I’ve been forced to sit in complete silence for that long before. Uh, at least it was better when they started trying to speak.
AXYZ, I am so sorry for you. Natural remedies did wonders for me.
Anyway, I strongly think that drugs and pills do SERIOUSLY damage the brain. Perhaps, it would have been much better for you not to experience with Xanax or others pills.
I really hope you do not experience a psychotic breakdown due to lack of sleep because it’s terrible what docotors can put you through. Do you live in a great city? Full of noise?
If you, it’s better for you if you can that you sell everything and move to a small city and healthy city where you can find some support group or religious group. You need good friends. There are lots of supportive and helpful people in there groups. It doesn’t even matter if you don’t believe in God. You need to try this one.
Do you live in USA?
And remember we are all unique. You need to find what natural treatment suits you best. You should also consider a change in your diet. Or a change in your sleep scheldue.
I suffer from insomnia. Nothing works. I like weed, but it keeps me up. Ambien didn’t help. Trazadone doesn’t work either. I think I will probably die from lack of sleep eventually.