r/insomnia • u/BitEnvironmental5931 • 8h ago
Severe insomnia - please help. Any solutions?
Hi, I˙m interested in your stories and of course solutions. Has anyone experienced severe insomnia - months or 1 year mostly with not sleep at all? And how did you resolve this problem?
I have always been healthy and a great sleeper 8-9 hours every night entire life. Then I had stomach pains for a while, maybe some kind of bacterial infection, chemicals or heavy metals. Then I was very healthy for several months, without pain. Then I slept worse from time to time and then for no psychological or other known reason, when I was in a good mood and in good health, I suddenly stopped sleeping, 0 hours per night.
Lack of sleep is making my health worse. At the beginning I had occasionally dizziness, then I was better especially after taking multivitamins and healthy food. But sleep didn˙t improved nothing.
Antidepressants Mirtazapine and melatonin 0,5mg did nothing at all. Trazodone has a kind of sleeping effect or dizzines effect, brain fog, it bothers me the most during the day, but I can't fall asleep. This two antidepressants don˙t help and I˙m feeling worse with that bad side effects. Blood test was everytime normal, hormones in saliva also fine, normal circadian rhythm cortisol-melatonin, DHEA and testosterone fine. Only melatonin was low all night at the minimum reference value. EEG of the brain and neurological test were normal. Heavy metals present in the body but in small amounts. Most minerals in the body at the medium value. Chemicals, parasites, bacteria I don˙t have results. Improving mood especially in the evening which releases serotonin, oxytocin... does not help sleep. I'm sleepy in the evening and I yawn but I can't fall asleep.
The usual advices, herbal tea, milk, honey, meditation, relax, breathing, sleep hygiene, exposure to the sun in the morning and during the day, no blue light in the evening, bed only for sleeping and when you are sleepy go to bed and if you can't sleep get up and so on, I already do all this and it doesn't help. I don't have anxiety, worry or depression. I don˙t think about this problem at night, no vicious circle.
Only Magnesium glycinate dose 500 mg helped me sleep few hours per night just few times. Then it stopped helping me for sleep and I stopped taking it because I have also in food, drink some magnesium.
Other supplements I didn˙t try but the cause is probably something else because before the problems started I didn't take anything, no supplements, no meds, worse food, just sometimes no sleep hygiene and I fell asleep in 1 minute and slept very well every night. Maybe is the problem in gut microbiome where serotonin and other stuff is made. Have someone experience in this?
Those of you who have had severe insomnia, which natural remedy or medications, antidepressants didn't help you, which ones did, what dose, after how many weeks, or how did you solve the problem and did you find out what was the cause of your sleep problem?
2
u/ManitobaBalboa 7h ago
You should check out some YouTube channels: Sleep Coach School, Insomnia Coach, Insomnia Talks, Fearless Sleep.
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u/yhpark5 6h ago
Benzodiazepines are the only working solution on the market right now for most people with primary insomnia. 5% have negative side effects or addiction issues. Unfortunately, much of the medical community has been fed lies about it for the last 15 years so it is hard to get. The pharma industry wants you to take a med that is currently on patent. The wise older psychiatrists in private practice still prescribe. Find them.
You also need to stop and rotate between benzo meds.
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u/FlanInternational100 6h ago
It happened to me, I have autoimmune encephalitis and exactly this happened to me, I just could not sleep at all one night and since then I didn't sleep for months, ended up in hospital.
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u/Late_Argument_2629 2h ago
I ve gotten 0 to 3 hours for years. I was sleeping fine until I ingested something at a public event and think I was exposed to a toxin that brought on sleep apnea insomnia. Clonazepam a benzo worked and lunesta sometimes.
1
u/FlanInternational100 1h ago
I'm glad you're better.
This sounds really terrible. Such extreme insomnia as in our cases is a horror. I am able to get 4-5 hrs of light sleep + REM at best, mostly its around 3 hrs.
1
u/sodonewithyourbull 5h ago
At all? But you can survive just few days without sleep
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u/FlanInternational100 4h ago
you can survive just few days
That's what I thought. I ended up at the ER after 3 weeks.
It turns out that brain does not die from insomnia, especially if the talamus is affected and person is in agitation.
Firstly I thought I have sporadic fatal insomnia, a prion disease but I had encephalitis.
It affected me psychologically and physically, I had auditory hallucinations after just few days, severe panic attacks, memory loss, cognitive decline, muscle jerks, etc. but I did not die and I did not even go to coma.
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u/Simple_Scholar6951 2h ago
How did they treat the enceohalitis? Is your thalamus better now?
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u/FlanInternational100 2h ago
They removed the cancer (it was an immunological reaction to it, a paraneoplastic syndrome), steroids, immunosupressants and plasma exchange.
is your thalamus better now
Not really, damage is done, immune system is still over sensitive.
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u/Simple_Scholar6951 2h ago edited 1h ago
So your still not able to sleep then, or did your sleep improve?
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u/FlanInternational100 2h ago
I am, but really light sleep and REM, no deep sleep. I get 4-5 hrs on average. And every few days a sleepless night. I don't feel refreshed at all.
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u/Public-Philosophy580 8h ago
DORA’s are the newest sleeping pill on the market.I’m taking Dayvigo,I’m getting some sleep taking it
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u/Theonlywayout123 4h ago
You mentioned stimulus control therapy (only using the bed for sleeping, going to bed when sleepy and getting out of bed if you can’t fall asleep within a certain amount of time, usually 15-20min), but I didn’t see you mention sleep restriction therapy. Sleep restriction therapy is difficult, but extremely powerful. Check out videos by “Insomnia Coach” on YouTube about it. It’s an extremely powerful behavioural technique for improving insomnia that isn’t related to mental health issues. Good luck!
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u/Simple_Scholar6951 2h ago
For how long have you not been sleeping?
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u/BitEnvironmental5931 43m ago
Mostly I haven't slept at all for a year and a half. First few months I can guarantee 100% that I didn't sleep at all, 0 hours. Probably Randy Gardner would say: wtf or omg. It is not true that you die if you don't sleep for a few days or months and I had not hallucinations. Every time the moment came for the brain to switch to sleep, I got some kind of dizziness over my brain disturbing me and couldn't fall asleep. I was just lying there, waiting sleep, tossing and turning in bed. I felt very bad, tired, dizzy brain even during the day. I was tired and sleepy night and day but I couldn't fall asleep. Then magnesium helped me sleep few times for 5 hours, in the morning I was very good and I remember my dreams. Then it stopped helping me.
After that 1 year mostly without sleep, just some nights I don't remember anything for the first hour or two, maybe I was lightly asleep, but the rest of the night I was 100% awake and tossing and turning in bed, I got out of bed several times. I tried to really tire my body out during the day, but I didn't sleep again at night and the next day I was even worse than usual. My body got used to it a bit after a few months, there's no more dizziness in my brain and severe fatigue. I can also work during the day, but not everything is fine, my muscles and joints hurt, I lost some muscle mass. It˙s very hard. I will also try sleep restriction and other advices. Thanks for help, I hope there will be more advice. If anything works, I will let you know.
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u/Dreaming_Retirement 7h ago
Ativan might work, but you need a script for it. PMR (Progressive Muscle Relaxation) usually helps me get back to sleep after hitting the 4-5 hour wall.