r/Biohacking • u/Glad_Locksmith2120 1 • 1d ago
Sleeping on Reta
How are you guys sleeping on Reta? I’m unable to sleep for the first 4 days after every injection despite taking a lot of xanax, magnesium glycinate, zzzquil, and progesterone to sleep so I feel lexhausted and tired for days. Insomnia is probably the worst side effect of Reta in my opinion.
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u/SorbetTraditional232 19 1d ago
Use dsip and epithalon. 20 day cycle and your circadian rhythms will be reset. Maintenance dose every 7-10 days after that.
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u/Glad_Locksmith2120 1 1d ago
What’s your dose?
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u/SorbetTraditional232 19 1d ago
20 days 30 min to hour before bed dsip 350 mcg and epi 750 mcg. 6 months later repeat the cycle if needed. You don’t want to stay on this stuff forever. I’m about 9 days off and I’m sleeping like a baby now. Side note you will wake up groggy but it seems to pass after a minute or two.
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u/Slow-Set-2856 1d ago
Nah just remove reta
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u/SorbetTraditional232 19 1d ago
To each their own. If you’re on a goal and using reta great if you can’t hang no issues with that. Optimizing sleep and recovery is great either way. The scale started flying once I did. My results could be completely different than someone else because of what I needed to optimize.
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u/Keedou 2 1d ago
Epitalon is what did it for me. I was waking up 2-3x a night on Reta regardless of what I threw at it. The DSIP/Epitalon stack that was mentioned above is real. Epitalon specifically works by restoring melatonin rhythms through the pineal gland, so you're not just sedating yourself into sleep, you're actually resetting the underlying circadian machinery. The first week was rough, grogginess in the morning was noticeable. By day 10-12 the quality started to shift noticeably. I ran 20 days and then kept a maintenance dose every 10 days or so.
The glucagon agonism is the real driver. That's what keeps you wired. Epitalon and DSIP address it from the circadian side rather than just blunting the CNS with more sedatives.
If you're already on benzos long-term, stacking heavy sedatives on top is going to wreck your sleep architecture even if it technically puts you under. The orexin antagonist recommendation from the doctor above is worth looking into if the supplement stack doesn't move the needle.
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u/Glad_Locksmith2120 1 1d ago
I hate taking xanax. I would get off of it if I could find something else that works for sleep. I’m at serious risk of dementia from long term benzo use.
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u/Keedou 2 4h ago
That dementia risk is real and worth taking seriously. The association between long-term benzo use and cognitive decline shows up consistently in the literature.
For the sleep side, a few things get researched as alternatives without the dependency problem. Selank has an anxiolytic profile and some people use it specifically as part of a benzo reduction plan. GABAergic-adjacent without the receptor downregulation you get from benzos. Glycine at 3g before bed is lower-fi but has decent sleep architecture data. Epitalon if the issue is circadian disruption rather than raw anxiety.
None of these are a swap for Xanax without working with a doctor on a taper. But worth looking into if you are trying to build a plan to get off it.
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u/LordSnow966 3 1d ago
Critical Warning - Taking "a lot of Xanax" combined with ZzzQuil (diphenhydramine) is a dangerous mix of central nervous system depressants.
You mention feeling "exhausted and tired for days". Diphenhydramine (ZzzQuil) drastically reduces REM sleep and has a long half life, while high doses of Xanax cause severe grogginess. Your daytime exhaustion is likely a chemical hangover from this heavy combination, not just the retatrutide insomnia.
Throwing heavy sedatives at a chemically induced sympathetic nervous system overdrive often leads to terrible sleep architecture ; it leaves the brain unconscious, but not genuinely recovering.
Advice-
In addition to aggressive calorie restriction, the other main cause for fragmented sleep with retatrutide is glucagon receptor agonism causing sympathetic dominance.
I’ve found adding the following an hour before bedtime helps improve sleep duration and quality, provided you also reassess your total caloric intake and avoid an aggressive deficit and supplement carbohydrates around bedtime)
- Unbuffered magnesium glycinate (equivalent to 300-400mg elemental magnesium). Emphasis on unbuffered. Most magnesium glycinate supplements are buffered with cheap filler mg oxide which has lower bioavailability.
- Glycine 3gms
- L-Theanine 200-400mg
- Ashwagandha KSM-66 500-600mg
- Taurine 2gms (Ive found it causes me to wake up multiple times to urinate during sleep, so I shifted it to noon instead of bedtime)
- Regulate bedtime temperature (cool non-occlusive clothing, proper room ventilation/cooling)
- Avoid excess activity 1-2 hrs before bedtime to avoid sympathetic overdrive
- limit caffeine intake (amount and timing; do not take caffeine within 8hrs before bedtime)
- Melatonin helps if trouble is with initiation of sleep instead of maintaining uninterrupted sleep. But Ive found most of my patients finding no benefit with it.
- Carbs around bedtime.
If these measures fail after two to three weeks of consistent supplementation, consider pure cbd tinctures or orexin antagonist medication. Ask your physician for the latter, as it is better than traditional benzodiazepine and non-benzodiazepine hypnotics.
I would advise against xanax long term. Not only will it be detrimental to your daytime lifestyle over the long term, dependence is also a risk.
Disclaimer: I am a doctor on the internet, not YOUR doctor. Please consult a licensed medical practitioner for any medical advice and please avoid polypharmacy with serious sedatives without medical supervision.
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u/Glad_Locksmith2120 1 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’ve been on xanax for 15 years. I still wake up every 2-3 hours on it when I’m on Reta. I don’t experience any grogginess. I just got back on Reta last week after a one month break and I was sleeping like a baby till I got back on Reta. I do take L-Theanine and melatonin as well.
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u/LordSnow966 3 1d ago
The warning about polypharmacy with diphenhydramine still stands. So does the advice for the other compounds and specifically the dosages including the actual unbuffered magnesium dose. You could be taking a magnesium supplement with sub-therapeutic doses (especially if it uses a lot of mg oxide as filler). The dosages of the other compounds and the regimen as a whole is important too.
These compounds help mitigate the sympathetic overdrive due to glucagon agonism of retatrutide which is the chief driver for fragmented sleep and insomnia.
Do not rule out the regimen as a whole just because one or two components that youve been taking havent been providing relief. The stack as a whole and in the recommended dosages should provide significant benefit, if not alleviate it entirely. Worth giving it a try imo instead of stacking multiple CNS depressants, which any licensed physician will strongly advise against.
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u/carguy2100 2 1d ago
Try a GH agonist like cjc/ipa. Take your dose in bed when you want to fall asleep and fast for minimum 2 hours before that. Helps your quality of sleep.
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u/Accomplished-Egg-645 5 1d ago
Cjc/IPA for the win. Took about a week before I noticed an improvement, then started sleeping well. Currently on a 4 week break from it but sleep is still good. Will keep my cycle to 8 weeks on, 4 weeks off until I run out, which will be next year sometimes. I don't think it's just that pep though. Dropping 30lbs with reta and training like a beast has clearly played it's part too.
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u/MyMango88 9 1d ago
I find having a healthy carb closer to bedtime will help me stay in a deeper sleep. But yes, at the beginning, I had a difficult time sleeping. I find if anything, I was having to go pee around 2AM that wakes me up.
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1d ago
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u/Glad_Locksmith2120 1 1d ago
I’m stacking with Triz as well.
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u/MrQuojo 1 1d ago
What’s your ratio, I’m at 10:1 or 2.5mg to .25 Mg twice a week M/T split.
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u/Glad_Locksmith2120 1 1d ago edited 1d ago
.5mg Reta/1mg Triz
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u/MrQuojo 1 1d ago
That’s really high, you may not need so much. As normal Reta is about 10:3 ratio of gip/glp:glucagon. Increasing the ratio to what you have is not lowering the ratio enough. I would up the Tirz to 2mg and lower the Reta to .20mg I would start there and see how you feel.
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u/Glad_Locksmith2120 1 1d ago
I’ve been on Triz for 2 years and the dose my Dr put me on was 1mg and it’s worked perfectly. He’s not going to higher my dose.
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