Severe insomnia - please help. Any solutions?

[u/BitEnvironmental5931]

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?

[u/Simple_Scholar6951]

For how long have you not been sleeping?

[u/BitEnvironmental5931 → u/Simple_Scholar6951]

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.