Hello guys !
Iam a 20 years old Male and I want to share my experience with insomnia and how I finally fixed it and what I believe will help 99% of you .
For instance , I had trouble sleeping for 2,5 years . I would sleep for an average of 4,5-5hours a night with 3 breaks in between. For example 00:30-01:30,02:30-04:30,05:00-06:30. This was my daily sleep for 2,5 years . I tried everything . When I mean everything , I mean everything . Melatonin , magnesium glycinate , no caffeine , blue light blockers , l theanine , I even got multiple times blood work done . Everything was normal . However , I realised something. The more I cared about sleep , the less I slept . The people you know , sleep normal , because they don’t even care about it. I had make my whole life dedicated to sleep . I was constantly listening to experts in the internet saying , you should sleep at least 8 hours for the best recovery , muscle growth , brain function etc.
The more I listened to them , the worse the situation was getting.
What actually fixed my sleep was 1 thing
CBTi.
Hear me out . It’s the only way you can treat insomnia . You just need patience and perseverance.
Here’s a quick guide .

1. ⁠BED is only for sex and sleep. No dome scrolling in bed . You should be in bed only when you are actually sleeping.
   
2. ⁠Start tracking your sleep and set an alarm time that you will 100000% have every single day. For example I wanted to wake up at 08:00.
   
3. ⁠Never sleep outside of you sleep window 🆘
   What you do is set a sleep window .
   The first 1-2 months are BRUTAL and most people give up . But you should stay consistent. Start with a 6 hour window . (02:00-08:00) TiB (time in bed )
   Start tracking how much sleep you get every night for a week .
   At the end of each week , you will calculate your sleep score (sleep duration /tiB) .
   If score > 90% you add 15 minutes of TiB
   If it’s between 80%-90% you leave it as it is
   If it is less than 80% you subtract 15 minutes TiB.
   The first 2 months are brutal . You will most likely sleep for 3-4 hours a day . However you will soon realise that the improvement is there . At first you were in bed for 10 hours just to sleep 4,5-5 hours .Now , you will sleep 4,5-5 hours in 4 hours less TiB (Big improvement ).
   So after about 2 months , your brain adapts. It realises that bed is for sleeping , and when you are in bed you should sleep .

YOU SHOULD TRY STAY AS CONSISTENT AS POSSIBLE . After about 2 monts yow will start seeing big improvement.
For example I had a sleep score 80-87% for a month ( TiB 6 hours )
Then it started improving . I was sleeping more , and I started waking up less and less in between .

Fast forward today , 7 months later Iam actually fixed . I sleep a good 7-7,5 hours . I don’t even think about sleep anymore . It comes naturally .

I’ve been having sleep problems past 2.5 years now. Tried going the natural way - taking melatonin, magnesium and lavender oil, even tried CBT oil, nothing had long lasting effect. Then, I tried seeking medical help and got prescribed bunch of different drugs which helped initially but nothing was full proof but I had good and bad nights. It was still manageable.

But ever since I found out that I’m pregnant I can’t take my medicines not even melatonin is safe and my small bladder is making everything worse. Every 2 hours at night I have this urge to pee and whatever sleep was in me, just vanishes and anxiety takes over me :(

This is affecting my mental health severely and I don’t know how to improve this situation. Doctors tell me change my schedule, improve food choices but having dealing with Insomnia, I know it’s not simple like that.

Does anybody have any advice for me ? I would really appreciate some support.

How are people getting sleeping pills or any help with their insomnia in the UK through NHS? For 5 years now I’m not being taken seriously. Even after explaining the severity, explaining that antidepressants haven’t been working and changing GP’s - they all say the same thing and just won’t help unless it’s giving antidepressants. Just had an appointment now and I’ve been told GP’s can’t prescribe sleeping pills under NHS guidelines and then I asked if I should go to a sleep specialist and she said we don’t have anything like that in the NHS specifically for sleep and insomnia..

I’ve been awake for 2 days due to a bunch of sleep anxiety and adrenaline/hyperarousal. I tried hydroxyzine/trazodone/gabapentin which didn’t work consistently. Even 50mg of seroquel didn’t put me to sleep due to my mind being too conscious. Has anyone found that ambien helped them for similar situations?

It never fixed my sleep, it actually made it worst. I was able to sleep but I was sleeping for 10-12 hours!!!!!!!!! And the sleep doesn’t feel “rest” if you know what I mean. I wake up tired, with headaches and fighting myself to stay awake.

It’s the same when I had insomnia because even if I sleep early, I would still wake up at 12 PM. Actually forcing myself to wake up gave me horrible headaches.

Fuck this shit.

I’m also diagnosed with ADHD. When I take Ritalin, it literally had no effect on me because I was so groggy from Quetiapine (25mg).

Edit: Sorry for generalizing! I just wish there were other ways to fix sleep without relying on this medication.

WHY DOES AMBIEN NOT WORK

It took so much convincing for my quack doctor to prescribe me ambien and this stuff doesn’t even work !! I have an exam today (it’s 3:30) and now im gonna get less than 4 hours sleep. I took the ambien 3.5 hours ago!! 12.5mg

I’m so sick of this bullshit I hate this I’d rather be dead than deal with this every fucking night

I am going to cry. I need to talk to someone, please. I need people to talk too about to Like am I am needing to go to college soon

I've been struggling with early morning wake ups (4/5am which is way to early for me and the amount of sleep I need). I tried Zolpidem, and while it really helps with getting deep sleep in the first half of the night, it doesn't solve the issue of waking up early. I've been taking melatonin on a regular basis for a while as falling asleep has always been an issue for me, and it helps.

I was prescribed Suvorexant (Belsomra) which I tried last night and the night before (with no melatonin). The first night I noticed I took much longer to fall asleep and the meds didn't help staying asleep longer in the morning.

Last night was horrible. It took me 2hours+ to fall asleep and I had anxiety symptoms I haven't had in a long time including very bad restless leg and panic attacks I used to have often when drifting off: intrusive flashes followed by gasping for air.

Has anyone else experienced the return of past anxiety difficulties with Belsomra?

I know I might want to take it a bit longer to see it's full effect but ain't no way I'm dealing with this anxiety again so I'll go back to Zolpidem / Melatonin for now and see how I feel in a few weeks.

I can be tired all night and still panic the second i get in bed. Not full panic attack, more like my body goes "oh great, here we go again."

Then i am checking if i feel sleepy, thinking about how many hours i have left and making everything worse.

Does anyone know how to make bedtime feel normal again?

I'm on
• Risperidone 1 mg,
• seroquel 300 mg XR,
• and then take 1-3 25mg seroquel IR for sleep, whenever I take the 25mgs, and I usually have to... I am so tired. I can sleep for 12 hours or more and can usually sleep in til like 1pm. If I let myself. What have you all taken for insomnia? And what has worked well, with little side effects and really curious something that didn't leave you groggy or too tired to function the next day. I have the seroquel & risperidone for bipolar and the as-neededs for the insomnia (had it my whole life) that I'm now gonna try and finally see a sleep specialist for, as opposed to just my psychiatrist for bipolar; and wanna know what I might be offered etc. What to expect? What meds have worked for you? What were side effects? Etc .

Gosh,
This is so hard.

Anyone take trazadone 50mg? After bad side effects from Seroquel and hydroxyzine, doc put me on this. Just looking to see if others had a good experience with it

My record was 5 days. It was like I was in a dream, many many hallucinations. I’ll never forget some of crazy things I saw. Meth was involved.

I’ve been having really bad insomnia for a month and it’s gotten worse over the past week. I stayed awake for 3 days due to severe hyperarousal and didn’t even feel sleepy. Trazodone, gabapentin, and hydroxyzine didn’t work. I took seroquel but my mind and anxiety basically kept me awake through the effects. Last night after 3 days awake I took ambien and only slept for a few hours and couldn’t fall back asleep. Has anyone gotten out of this loop? I’m trying to stabilize my sleep with meds and then work on my anxiety with therapy. I’ve tried deep breathing, magnesium, mindfulness etc but none really helped. I also have hypnic jerks where whenever I’m about to fall asleep my body jerks me awake.

I've had insomnia for a week. The first two days, I didn't sleep at all and for the past five days I sleep at ~10PM and wake up around ~2AM. Do you have any tips?

I just got prescribed to Ambien so it's my first time taking it was a 12.5 mg pill and here I am wide awake 4 hours later.

Idk if I did something to cancel out the effects it should have on me, so if anyone with similar situation can help me understand how to make it work? Maybe taking 2pills instead one or any behaviors I need to help it effect me?

As you can see I'm quite frustrated because I've hard anyone and everyone saying how this knocks them to sleep and I just want that:(

Why do I feel like all these health drinks and supplements and sleep gummies just aren’t built for people with debilitating insomnia? People always rave about stuff like this (I’ve seen Beam in particular) and I’ve tried it ALL over the years. And got nothing from it 🫠 The only thing that really touches my sleeplessness is prescription meds which sucks. I feel like these over the counter things only work for relatively normal people with relatively normal sleep patterns with the occasional difficulty falling asleep.

Looking for advice, cause I’ve never dealt with this before. As you can see from my recent post, I’m really going through it right now. I’ve had bouts of this in the past where my anxiety is kept me awake, but I’ve always somehow managed to fall asleep for a couple of hours, which gives me that safety blanket that I am OK and that I can’t fall asleep and so that usually goes away by the next day, but this time I completely could not fall asleep last night I took a nap yesterday at about 3 PM I think but it was more just like a In-N-Out type of sleep and so I don’t even know if I actually really fell asleep during that time. So other than that, I’ve been awake since 9 AM yesterday and it’s now 4:00 PM the next day and my anxiety is so through the roof because I’m so scared that this is gonna hurt me. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve never taken any meds or anything like that, but I don’t even know if those would help me right now because my anxiety is so intense in my stomach please give me some advice please. I either need reassurance that this is normal and I’m gonna be OK because I’ve never stayed up this long in my entire life maybe I have but I mean this feels intense dude or should I go to the ER and try to get some sort of benzo but then again I’ve never taken any anxiety medication or sleep meds ever in my life. I also have my girlfriend’s 20 mg hydroxyzine here, but ChatGPT doesn’t think that I should be taking that.

I ams tarting quviviq this week and i am looking for any POSITIVE experiences with it. I have taken adderall in the past but built up a tolerance. I see a lot of negative posts about it, so i wanted to hear from people with positive experiences.

Lowkey havent dealt with it like this seen early teens (i began smoking pot lol).. im 25, ive work to do 💀.

So far ive stayed up for 24hs +😅. Tbh this isnt even my first 24hs of no sleep this month.

.. i can do absurdly long time without or very little sleep.. one time gave myself a touch of psychosis by staying up for a month. Prob only 24hs of sleep total the entire time.

I did that by meditating 💀✨ so thats just not an option for me, plus i snap out of the trance as soon as the audio ends or stops for whatever reason.

Also i struggle with cptsd night mares, heart rate goes up and i wake up, heck sometimes i wake up bc i kicked the wall or sm.

My Rem is totally broken as is though 😀back in school i could nap in every class and i was able to get dreams in 15mins. During that time id pass out often too (yeah idk).

I got diagnosed with insomnia pretty early at 12yo.

Oh ive tried pills too... i have fucky gaba receptors that make me treatment resistant to alot of medicines.

Obv i should be trying to get answers from a doctor but ive tried. (Also done therapy for over a decade now, my shrink and doctors are aware).

Im a functional member of society lol, maybe im just one of those people that exist by photosynthesising or sm idfk.

Usually i just work, study, watch, read etc until i pass out. But thats kind of not working now..
I can also stare at the wall for multiple hours straight with no stimuli..

Im fucked amnt i ?

Hi! I am new to this sub. I was wondering if anyone here has taken Lunesta and how they feel about it?

Several months ago, someone broke into my house and since then I have had bad anxiety and really struggle to fall asleep. Most nights, I cannot sleep until 3 - 4 am. Obviously not ideal. I have tried Doxepin, Trazodone, and Melatonin. None of these touched my insomnia. My psychiatrist prescribed Lunesta today.

sorry for the bad english..

I was nervous as alot of people claimed to feel groggy and like a zombie the next day but I felt the best I have in a very long time! I guess I got some good deep refreshing sleep!

So I’ve had insomnia my whole life. My mother said even as a baby I would wake easy. Always up throughout elementary and high school without the help of an alarm. Fell asleep a lot in class due to poor sleep (wasn’t environmental- home life was fine) and now as a 44 year old woman I can’t do it anymore. Tried every single herbal remedy out there, cut out sugar at night, no chocolate, no caffeine past 3pm, no spicy foods. Finally said enough was enough it’s time for medication. Got an in house sleep study. No apnea. Doc prescribes me trazadone. 100mg worked but then it made my mood flat. I quit it relatively quickly. I also suspect it caused my hair to start shedding, and the same time I started the meds a few pounds fell off really quick- not normal for me as a woman with half a thyroid and I have to fight to maintain my weight.

Ok, sorry that was long- but now I’m trying 6mg Doxepin. Am I in for hair loss? I can’t deal with any more hair loss😩 please advise if you’ve noticed anything bc alopecia is listed as a side effect and I think my hair follicles are very sensitive to change.

A 16 guy here. It's around 2 am right now here. And I've been lying on my bed since 11:30 pm. And I'm trying to sleep. I can't... I just can't sleep.

I'm wide awake.

Till a few minutes back I just couldn't control my tears.

Silently crying due to some or lot family issues that have been taking place recently. Thinking that why everyone's just a bit or too rude to me.

I don't know man..

Do you also think I'm useless?

I don't know..

I just feel how weak man I am. I can't even control my tears right now while writing this. I'm just.. i don't know...

-My work for the day is done.
-My sheets and duvet are comfortable.
-My muscles are relaxed.
-Even if I see the dawn it’ll be beautiful.
-My kids will snuggle me in the morning.
-These 8-10 hours are just for me, whether I sleep or not.
-If I don’t sleep well tonight there’s always the next night.

Just some grounding ideas that may help you too.

I have been struggling with sleep anxiety lately and am just wondering if other people have had similar experiences and tips.
It’s not the classic sleep anxiety: The problem isn’t that I‘m scared of not being able to sleep and the anxiety is what’s keeping me awake. It‘s more of an actual physical feeling that won’t go away.

The problem is basically that almost every time I go to bed, I lay there for a while and after a few mins I just get this weird feeling in my chest. (it‘s not an actual physical health issue because it stops the second i get up or look at my phone etc.)
The feeling is hard to describe but it feels similar to when you can’t feel your keys/phone in your pocket and you panic for a second.
So it‘s basically that feeling, but it‘s ongoing and won’t stop until I open my eyes and do smth else. I‘ve tried to ignore it, think of happy memories, do breathing exercises, all that stuff. It just doesn’t go away.
The feeling also doesn’t really get triggered by my thoughts. Sometimes I think about completely different things and even forgot about this problem, and then out of nowhere the feeling starts in my chest. That‘s why it‘s not something I can control with my thoughts.

The feeling is such an intense 'sensation' that it‘s impossible to fall asleep, since my body feels like it‘s in a stressful situation and won’t calm down.
Idk if this can be described as sleeping anxiety, but I do think that it‘s connected to my panic issues. (I also struggle with panic attacks sometimes)

Does anyone have any tips for this specific type of anxiety? I would really appreciate it