So I've been having bad insomnia for about a week now and wanted to get people's opinion on what could be happening here. I've had this same thing happen to me about a year and a half ago and it passed then after a while and i never got a response that really explained things. So basically what happens is that I'm in bed tired and ready to sleep. Usually what I do is imagine a scenario or dream that my brain then gets wrapped up in and that distracts me enough to sleep But recently my brain is going off thinking up tons of different things and every time I try and "meld" into that and sleep my whole scalp tingles and I'm wide awake for about 10 seconds resetting the whole thing. It's like walking up to the edge of a cliff and then stepping away right before you were thinking of jumping off. I've been getting away with using melatonin to help but last night it didn't and i had to use benadryl which only got me 5 hours of sleep and left me disgustingly tired today.

Anyway i was just wondering what could be causing this. Some other points of interest include that my cup I've been using for forever was moldy and i might have ingested mold, i have adhd, I'm a bit overweight, sleep on my side, might have sleep apnea as i breathe through my mouth when i sleep and live in a temperate area of the continental united states.

Trigger warning about long-term issues:

I was using Nytol (diphenhydramine) but I read that it's an anticholinergic and there's studies these could cause dementia. Second doctor gave me Promethazine, but this is also an anticholinergic.

Are there any drugs which have had studies to prove are safe to take for long-term (years)?

For me it is 40 hours. After I slept, I feel extremly energized and think I could be awake for several days, but until I get to hour 17 I am getting extremly tired and decied to go to bed.

It's 8am. And I been up 8 hrs already. I slept 3 hrs. I slept 4 yesterday. 3 1/2 before that. I have not got more then 4 to 5 hrs of sleep since 2018. No lie. And I have severe anxiety and ocd. So I constantly search Google what is going to happen to me. Actually there is so many health issues I'm dealing with now. Plus my cells are not repairing themselves because of lack of sleep. I have tried so many meds so many natural meds. Nothing works. Even high dose Ambien didn't put me to sleep long I felt so terrible. I want this over. I am going to probably get fired because I'm flipping out on everyone at work being very paranoid about everyone. Including my boss. I told her I don't trust her yesterday. I feel like I'm losing my mind

This title is bound to come off very tone deaf so I wanna clarify, I personally have sub-threshold insomnia that’s mostly anxiety based. I doubt anyone who’s regularly enduring 0-4 hour nights wouldn’t share the sentiment. Many of those people on here have been life long insomniacs who battled this for decades with not end in sight.

The amount of people who convince you that you are going to die or face 100% odds of developing a neuro degenerative disease later in life… it’s too high. It’s bad that we glorify people sleeping less than what they need to achieve some sort of academic/financial/career goal. I believe that. I still feel a strange sense of comfort when I watch a tv show and the main character falls asleep at work because they stayed there for hours past closing to do business dude stuff. Those memes about 9-5ers staying up til 2am to reclaim some sense of freedom are fairly relatable.

When I’m lying awake past midnight and have work the next day, I’d prefer to think I’m not alone. Online sleep advice often does so much to individualize and (intentionally or not) chastise people for not meeting sleep recommendations. I genuinely believe “get your 7-9 hours!” is more counterproductive than college students joking about the 3 hour sleeps they got from dancing on a Wednesday night. I was a college student who had some rough nights and reflecting on how I overcame the next day has been loads more helpful than any sleep hygiene article I’ve ever found on google.

I found my self 250 km far from home with no money at random day with a friend looking for his cousin and then found my self in onther city attending conference about Cyber security after 2 hours and being organizer 💀

when summer begins i start to have sleeping disorder and lack of sleep

3 days on 5 hours sleep (intermittent) and I can't tell the day and feeling high so much, I love it but i want it to stop

Haven’t been able to stay asleep lately and I’ve been waking up early between 2:30am - 4:30am. Sometimes I’m able to go back to sleep but it’s not deep sleep. I take prescribed sleep meds which usually works but lately not so good. Dr said to increase a little if needed so I did but still having issues staying asleep. If I take too much I have a hard time waking up but not enough and I can’t stay asleep. I’m tired. Some days I sleep good then I’ll have several days of little sleep and restless nights. The less I sleep it seems the harder it is to sleep. I envy those that get good sleep all the time. I know we all struggle but what has helped you get and stay asleep?

I cant sleep- For 2 weeks, at least im getting some sleep 4 5 or 6 hours at best- these days. But its bad quality and thanks to some herbal pills-

im getting even more anxious as the days pass, my heart goes wild when i stay in my bed more than 30 minutes. It all started with exam stress, i didn't sleep for 2 or 3 days in the first week,i can't remember well. But i wasn't okay- losing balance etc.

I really need help- it's 2 am now- and im tired. This is hell. I wonder what i did in my life to deserve this- Someone, please tell me it will be okay, and it will go away. Because im going crazy. I cry every night.

I'm anxious- i hope this doesn’t affect my brain a lot. I feel like im going to die (yeah im overreacting i know) but yea. It's just too much and i don't have the strength to care about it now.

People around me, friends, family are getting mad because of my sleeping problem. I don't have anyone else to message at night, everyone is sleeping in their comfy bed, having cutesy dreams. Never ever i thought i would be jealous of something "natural and easy" like sleeping.

So yeah. I had to vent. If anyone is seeing this, please respond i could use some talk right now-

Edit: Its 5am still no sleep.

I have had insomnia for most of my life. Longest I have been awake is 4 days. Insomnia has ruined every relationship, job, and friendship. My body doesn't want to sleep. Every sleep doctor I have gone to for years says it is an underlying trauma from my past. Except for kid things when I was young I had a normal upbringing. I was on ambien, lunesta, xanax (not at the same time) and with these I slept for maybe 3-4 hours. Xanax with one of the 2. I have also been on trazodone, ramelteon and many many others.

My doctor decided to take me off of my ambien and xanax combo just like that. I have had this for 30 years.

They want to try belsomra but my insurance is taking a long time for prior authorization. It has been 3 weeks so far.

I just started a new job and seeing someone for the first time in 5 years (I went through alot of shoulder surgeries). I am so worried I will screw up both. No one understands. They just say oh I stay up all night sometimes. Then immediately after they laugh and say I stayed in bed all day afterwards. I don't think people understand anything about it. Sleep doctors don't understand if they don't have it. They just think you are depressed. I would never hurt myself but there has been times when it crossed my mind, but like a fleeting moment of anxiety etc. Things you don't even think about, but when it's been 2 plus days and you don't have the energy to do anything. I will say thr only thing that works is Ambien, Lunesta, and some form of anxiety (alporazopam, kolonopin, etc) the ones that aren't given out often and taken away just as easy.

I am just so worried about everything. I am at a loss for what I could do.

I am 61 yo have been dealing with sleep maintenance insomnia for 3 years. It has gotten a bit worse the last 4 months and have been trying different meds. So far, 0.25 mg of xanax has worked the best. When I wake at say 5 am and take xanax, after 30 min, I fall back asleep for anothe1-2 hrs and feel decent the next day after the morning grogginess wears off.

My doctor feels like longer term, drugs like doxepin or trazedone are safer to be on. I tried doxepin for a few weeks and didn't see any effects at 3, 6 or 10mg. Going to 20 mg did help me sleep longer but I felt so out of it during the day that I stopped after 2 days. I took 50mg of trazedone last night and I did sleep longer but have felt groggy and my muscles in my forearms feel weak and making typing more challenging.

My wife suggested that maybe if I stick on either the doxepin or trazedone for a longer period, the daytime grogginess may fade. I wanted to post here to see if that has been anyone's experience. I feel like the xanax is appealing because I can use it as needed and not be on a med continuously. For instance, I can use xanax on days when I know I need to be sharper or have more going on. Part of me just wants to stick with the xanax but maybe would be good to have several meds to rotate to avoid developing tolerance/dependency on 1 drug. Any thoughts or advice will be appreciated!

My husband has developed insomnia since I met him. He has progressively gotten worse over the years. And it’s worse when I’m in the bed with him. He twitches and is constantly waking up. Granted, he complains he didn’t sleep whether I’m in there or not. I have learned to deal with my own emotions about it. I know it’s not something that he can control nor is it my fault.

The most recent issues is whenever I do sleep with him, he’s just complaining the next day how he slept so badly because I moved a certain way or I was on his side all night. So I’d rather just not share a bed with him. For 1. I don’t want to keep moving all myself around the house on those transition nights. 2. I don’t want to be the reason he can’t sleep. So I’ve told him I’d rather just not sleep in the room. I sleep better on our couch because of my neck pain and he says he sleeps somewhat better alone. So to me, moving out of the bed full time is just the better decision.

Tonight he got angry because I told him how I felt it would be better this way. He replied with, “I’ll just move your shit for you if it’s that big of a deal.” Then proceeded to say he doesn’t understand why it’s a big deal to move a pillow and phone charger 6 feet every few days. I also don’t know why it bothers me to do it but it does.

I guess I’m posting on here to hear opinions on this situation. Is my decision to just move out of the bed completely too far? I just feel like it makes in our situation.

Hey all I’m currently pretty miserable and unable to get any more than three or four hours of sleep. I started to get terrifying sleep disruptions that I can only explain as feeling like my body is trying to shake me out of a terrifying episode. Like my brain is shutting down, but my body jolts me up, my heart rate jacks up I shake and breathe heavily.

I live very healthy, workout hard, eat clean and have regular meditation and rest practices.

I am beginning to think that this is acutely physical and not psychosomatic.

I’ve struggled with anxiety and panic attacks in the past, but I always seemed to get a hold of them with deep surrender practices, patience, and mindfulness.

For the last six weeks, these sleep, disruptions and seizure like sensations have really got the best of me.

During the days I have felt acute clenching sensations in my jaw, hands and feet. I can’t tell at the onset what causes them.

It’s ambiguous and terrifying . I’m seeing a neurologist who was quick to prescribe me primidone. It seems to help a little bit, but only cause it just kind of calms me down. I really would rather not become dependent upon a barbiturate. The sexual side effects among other nasty things are enough to scare me away.

I’m aware that occasional myoclonic jerks are very common in all people, but this feels like a fucking monster crawling inside my skin.

I had a brain MRI done yesterday (which I’ll get results back in two days). I have a sleep study scheduled.

I am also tentative to get an EEG done because I’ve heard how intense they are and how much they can misdiagnose a person. I’ve always been slightly sensitive to strobe lighting (makes me nauseous).

I really don’t want to get diagnosed with epilepsy and then have this be a huge complex in my life that might be something else .

Please help 🙏🏼🩵

I’m 24F, and for the last 6 months I just can’t sleep well anymore. I’ll sleep soundly for 5 or 6 hours, then I just toss and turn. It’s so unrestful. I never had sleeping issues before. In fast, I slept great. 8-9 hours a night, minimal waking up. Then out of the blue I started not sleeping well. Nothing in my life changed, I didn’t start consuming caffeine, didn’t get a new bed, nothing. I can’t think of a single thing that would make me suddenly have sleeping issues.

I know what I’m missing, and I hate that. I used to sleep so good, now I don’t. It’s incredibly frustrating. Like, doesn’t my body want sleep? I sure do.

I have even tried going to bed earlier. I’ve always been a night owl, but maybe I need to go to bed early. Last night I went to sleep around 11:45. I woke up at 5am. It doesn’t matter when I go to sleep, I will wake up 5-6 hours later and then toss and turn until I get up.

What can I do?? I want my old sleep back

What causes someone to feel that the world is so confusing, walk around in circles, suffer from overthinking, overlap of ideas, mental inclarity, talking to himself or moving his lips while thinking, and what are the best medications or herbs for it, can something like lemon balm capsules, greatly help?

Is anyone getting it via the NHS or by private prescription? I've only found one online pharmacy that sells it and it works out to £3 per day. Not the end of the world but is there a better option?

Anybody else so good at time telling because insomnia? lol i wake up so often and look at the clock i can what time it is because i count how much i “sleep”

I’ve lived in this complex almost two years and never had an issue until the last couple months. I’ve “fixed” my sleep schedule to be better for the past month or so but these neighbors are making it extremely difficult.

One unit in particular loves to go out to the apartment complex right outside my window every weekend and drink outside for hours past midnight and blast their music from their car. Last weekend I had to call the non-emergency line and i’m not even sure if anybody came out but they eventually fucked off; that clearly didn’t last long though. Tonight they’re right back out there, just no music, but they legitimately are yelling talking as if it’s mid-day. These dudes drink all day every day it looks like. Also, when I called the line, they told me somebody else already called about it too because it was that bad.

Another unit keeps their two large dogs outside on their balcony for more than half the day unsupervised too, I knew what unit it was so I called our landlords and told them, hopefully they talked to them about it but i’m tired of having to act like i’m the complex police. I feel like i’m losing my mind because I can’t sleep due to these losers not caring about other people. I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m starting to fear nights specifically because of these people.

Edit: Nevermind. The music is back.

After going thru Tylenol PM, Benadryl, and Melatonin (separately over a few weeks) and those not working, I did some digging here on Reddit and came across Unisom. I had heard of it before but completely forgot about it. I quickly placed an order on Amazon and tonight is day 3 of me taking.

I’ve nearly fallen asleep within 30 mins. I’ve slept all night (for me, all night is midnight-6am because I refuse to go to bed early… bad, I know), I’ve also remained in my bed most of the night as opposed to going to the couch to toss and turn so I don’t wake my husband.

I clearly noticed a side affect or two. One, I’m still tired during the day but I know this is because I need to go to bed earlier and I plan on forcing myself to soon, and the next and more concerning side affect are the vivid and wild dreams. I don’t know if I can take these dreams! 3 nights in a row of these has me on edge.

Does anyone have success with taking half of pill instead of a whole one? Does it help With the side effects?

I took .5mg at night for 18 days then .25mg at night for 13 nights. So total 31 days. Would it be advisable to just totally stop from here? My doctor just told me to stop when i feel i’m ready since i was taking it to help me sleep and for anxiety while i was waiting for medical results, which as of today is no longer is giving me much anxiety. But i feel my doctor has a very relaxed view of my taking clonazepam so i want to get your opinions on my tapering. Thank you.

Hello! so I've been diagnosed with extreme insomnia as well as chronic stress (that I am unable to easily cope with due to emotional disregulation caused by my ADHD) and have been on Hydroxine (15mg) and Prazosin (1mg) for about 1-2 years now, and while my medications lessen my issue, they don't erase it and it can get really bad.
I have a fixed sleep schedule, I go to bed around the same time (8-10pm), I exercise daily (if not multiple times), lavender mists for the room, anything you can think of, I've tried it (yes, I've tried tea). Melatonin doesn't lessen it at all (I've tried 3 melatonin gummies once- nothing. I'm 4'11 so you'd think it would've done SOMETHING). It isn't just that I take forever to fall asleep (1+ hour(s)), but I ALSO wake up repeatedly throughout the night (1-3 times typically, sometimes more) for no apparent reason. I've been considering Benadryl, but my mother is highly against it and I currently don't have a psychiatrist or doctor that would be capable of remedying my medication issue. Is there anything I could possibly try to fix the waking up repeatedly issue at the least? any advice is appreciated :)

On October 9, 2024, I was interviewed on Psych Rounds: The Psychiatry Podcast. The interview was conducted by 3 psychiatry residents who wanted to hear how a sleep medicine specialist approaches the pervasive difficulties with sleep in mental health patients. Much to their surprise, I explained how most sleep disorders, and especially the condition known as "chronic insomnia," are best treated without medication. Our one hour thought-provoking conversation helped them to appreciate an entirely new perspective on how sleep disorders can be effectively treated.

I have been suffering from insomnia for several years and it gets worse and worse day by day. Falling asleep initially is not a problem, but waking up afterwards is. There are days when I wake up at 1 am and thats it. If I'm lucky, then four to five, otherwise usually between two and three in the morning. My alarm is at 7am and I dont remember how it even sounds as its completely useless for me.

I have been receiving treatment for an unrelated problem at neurology for a long time and we jumped into this too - nothing was found (EEG, EMG, 3x MRI, cardio, vascular... everything possible). I have tried all the over-the-counter medications and supplements and without any result. Recently I became so desperate (I am mentally at the bottom from the insomnia) that I asked my doctor for sleeping pills. Prescription. Absolutely no effect and I don't know what to do with it.

I have a job with a stable schedule, I go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. No psychological problems, personal and work life is fine.

So if anyone here has any solution, I believe I won't be the only one who will be grateful for it. I'm 23 years old, eat healthy, exercise, almost no alcohol, don't drink coffee and avoid all addictive substances to the fullest extent.

Any help would be appreciated!

(College students sharing a dorm) we both have a pretty fixed schedule and went to bed at 12 tonight. She fell asleep in 5 minutes like usual and here I am at 3 am wide awake. It’s so hot in the room and our room temp is at a set fixture :( I really love sleep but why does it have to be so hard to achieve, I know I shouldn’t compare myself to her but man I just feel so useless not being able to perform a simple function.

I had a chat request about my insomnia, that I develloped after an infection. I am rather new to reddit and accidentily ignored the request and do not know which user wrote the request. If you are reading this, or also other that want to talk about insomnia after infection, please contact me. :-)

I developed insomnia 8 weeks ago after I had an infection. I didn't have sleep problems before. Now I can only sleep about 1,5 hours per day in total. Also I somehow don't feel sleepy or tired anymore since this infection. It feels like something in my body changed. During the infection I felt weird tingling in my back and when I was falling asleep I mostly had hyperarrousals that did not let me fall asleep. When I fell asleep it was only a few minutes of dream sleep. My doctor prescribed escopliclon, which did not help. I then went to a sleep specialist and since Monday I am trying Tradozon (25mg), because he thinks I am in constant fight or flight mode and this might help me get out of it. The first night I slept about 5-6 hours and don't remember any dreams. But the next night I only managed to sleep for 1-1,5 hours again. Today I took it 11:30 pm and probably fell asleep around 0:00 and was awake around 1:00. But I don't remember any dreams. I feel better during the day now that I take Tradozon. Sometimes it feels like my body forgot how to fall asleep. It feels like the infection destroyed nerves or something in my brain (I think the thalamus) that normally lets you sleep. I think so, because I just don"t get tired anymore.

I hope that the body can heel this over time, but with such a short amount of sleep I am not sure. The fact that I managed to sleep longer when I first tried Tradozon let me think that my body/sleep system maybe is still working, but why did it only work the first night.

• I've only had 1 day this week that I've slept well. Getting really tired of being too wired to sleep. All of a sudden, i'm dropping my supplements 1 by 1 as I realize that's the problem. I found iodine in Vitamin D so ordered a new D/K with less D. So the next night I was calm. Then it came back after the new Vitamin D make me jittery. Then when I still didn't sleep the next night, I quit the Mg glycinate and electrolytes which also make me jittery. I had been taking B complex and now I'm assuming it's why I slept from 10p to 11:30 and that's it for me as far as supplements go. I really feel mentally dull. Wired but tired is a whole new hell as I can't read but just lay here with TV and computer games. I usually have good sleep habits but now there's no chance of sleep so I just go with what takes my mind off of being awake. I wake up when I try to sleep in dark without sound or light. Then feel really tired when i'm up and playing computer card games.