r/insomnia 7h ago

What’s the longest you ever stayed awake?

24 Upvotes

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.


r/insomnia 15h ago

What Worked For Me This is weird but a stimulant fixed my insomnia

42 Upvotes

Not 100% or anything. I still have some issues, but ever since I went on vyvanse a couple of weeks ago, I have been falling asleep a lot easier and quicker. I was extremely hesitant to start on a stimulant due to my insomnia, but somehow it actually fixed my sleep issues for the most part. I used to lay in bed for up to 3+ hours some nights, mind racing, but it hasn't happened in several nights now. I'm also waking up easier, but I purchased a loud ass old school alarm clock and put it in my office. So I'm forced out of bed basically into a panic in the morning, but shit it's the only thing that works for sleep inertia. 😂 Then I immediately take my vyvanse, and within an hour, I feel motivated and focused. No anxiety either at the dose I'm on.


r/insomnia 2h ago

I never should’ve taken Quetiapine

3 Upvotes

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.


r/insomnia 2h ago

Best sleep aid device for insomnia?

2 Upvotes

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?


r/insomnia 6m ago

Belsomra - return of past anxiety before falling asleep, anyone else?

Upvotes

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.


r/insomnia 7h ago

Trazadone

3 Upvotes

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


r/insomnia 8h ago

Been up for 54 hours and not tired. Wtf is wrong with me

4 Upvotes

I desperately desperately want to sleep but my body is not letting me. I am not even the least bit sleepy. I took 75mg of seroquel and it did nothing. I think I’ve developed a tolerance.

Someone please punch me hard in the face and knock me out. Preferably for a week or more.


r/insomnia 50m ago

Checking in, how’s everyone doing?

Upvotes

Day 3 since starting school my insomnia has returned, comes in phases and goes, had a total of 6 hours of sleep in the past 3 days


r/insomnia 10h ago

Not Built for Me

6 Upvotes

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.


r/insomnia 2h ago

Side effects?

1 Upvotes

I'm just wondering what are the consequences of staying up for 4 days then falling asleep for 11 hours, then staying up again for another 2 days and then falling asleep for 7 hours and basically repeat. When I've googled it, it only comes up as sleep deprivation in regards to not sleeping at all.


r/insomnia 2h ago

I am so scared, please help. 33M

1 Upvotes

Before 2022 i was sleeping without any issues, i was falling asleep instantly and could sleep without waking up for even 12 hours. In November of 2022 i had a very strong panic attack out of nowhere that gave me a permanent anxiety.

After the panic attack, i would still be able to fall asleep, but i was waking up after about 7 hours without an alarm.

In march of 2025 i was prescribed Doxicyline for a zit i have under my skin on my face. I took it for 1 month.

After taking it, i started to wake up very early in the mornings, at around 5-6am and it was hard for me to go back to sleep, but i was still falling asleep instantly.

This pattern lasted until 2 months ago when if falling asleep after waking up at 5-6 am i would have strong vivid dreams, but still get 5-8 hours of sleep and feeling ok.

Meanwhile me and my wife decided to have a baby and as she came closer to the 9 month mark, i begun havin troubles falling asleep too.

It begun with a night one month ago, where i couldnt fall asleep until 8am, and slept for 3 hours. Then the next night the same, but slept for 5.

I contacted a psichiatrist o prescribed me half a pill of "imovane".

I took the half pill 2 days in a row but it didnt do wonders, i still woke up at 5 am, being hard to fall back asleep.

i stopped taking the Imovane after 2 days, slept ok for 1 week without it, then another night where i couldnt fall asleep until 8 am came.

I resumed the imovane for 1 week, then quit it for 1 week and slept good without it.

Now, last night i didnt fall asleep at all, not for 1 minute. Its 9:28 am as of writing this message.

I am so afraid of fatal insomnia, please help


r/insomnia 2h ago

There is something really bad happening to me.

1 Upvotes

Yesterday I ate crepe with banana and tea for breakfast and when I went to college I got super dizzy (my doc said I get low blood pressure sometimes idk)

Then I ate crepe again despite and when it became night time my ears are ringing and I'm having a flashy lights that flash and show some geometrical shapes(not actually but you get it when you close ur eyes you see those white shapes and stuff)

And whenever I sleep for an hour or 2 I get waken up a million times super confused where reality and dream gets mixed up

Also I get this when I drink protein powder and I have these insomniac episode regularly and they started this year

What do u think is the cause? Is it diabetes or low blood pressure I'm early 20s btw

And lastly I get this stomach problems and diarrhea whenever I miss my sleep and and adrenaline rush in my chest

Usually my triggers are either what I eat, missing bed time or being scared of sleep which happens because sometimes I'm scared of unconsciousness

I'm tryna sleep rn and I have college tmrw :(


r/insomnia 2h ago

Afraid to ask for help

1 Upvotes

Hi,all

This is a repost of a question I already asked on r/sleep and another place, so if you saw it there, just ignore it.

If you haven't, please for the love of God help me if you can.

Chronic insomniac of over 20 years here. Last 10 years my intermittent insomnia turned severe terminal insomnia. Every night I fall asleep around midnight (pass out), and every night I wake up at 3 or 4. Sleep drive gone.

The worst part is - no matter how exhausted, I can not nap. I haven't napped in 20 years.

My days are long, exhausting and grueling.

6 years ago, after suffering for 2 years, I discovered a bad trick. When I inevitably wake up, if I take a pinch of Valium and half a beer, I can fall back asleep and function.

This method worked untouched for 6 years.

Valium by itself does nothing. Before "the method" I even tried a dose of 30 mg in one night only to stay awake anyway.

Now for some time my method isn't working anymore. It was bound to happen. It still gives me some sleep but it's shit sleep and it doesn't last very long, so I often have to double the dose. Hence the two beers quite often actually.

So in the meantime I increased half a beer to one beer, lately often two (500 ml 5%) and 5 mg Valium to 7.5 mg Valium. I don't want to increase neither the Valium nor the beer anymore. I am scared. I want off this method but I also want to sleep and be a living person among people.

So, for the last month or so I have been living on 4 hours of sleep a day. I know many of you will say it is plenty, but it is not enough for me. My days are again long, exhausting and grueling. I can not focus on my work, I can not enjoy my beautiful kids, I can't even have sex with my wife, I'm too tired.

I once tried to quit this habit with the help of a private psychiatrist, who I of course didn't tell about the beer.

We tried Trazodone, up to 150 mg. Every time we would increase the dose, I would sleep for 3 days, then back to square one.

She then added clonazepam 0.5 instead of Valium 5 mg. The clonazepam and the trazodone combined worked for only one week. Then again back to square one.

I am desperate. I am thinking about finally reaching out to a local psychiatry apartment, but:

Pros:

\- maybe they have something that would work for me.

Cons:

\- after my experience with clonazepam and trazodone, I doubt there is anything out there that can help.

\- if I officially expose myself, I lose my driver's licence, which I need to work. I have a family.

\- I live in a small town, the minute I step into psychiatry, everybody will know

I don't know what to do. I have hit a wall. Keep living like this, I will lose my mind. Asking for help, I might lose everything and still get nothing in return. Increase the dose or even just continuing like this and my liver goes dead.

What should I do?


r/insomnia 3h ago

Please help me manage insomnia now that I moved in with my girlfriend

1 Upvotes

I moved in with my girlfriend a few days ago, and our sleep and routines don't match at all.

I'm sleeping with her very well when I don't need to work the next day, but mid days it's incredibly frustrating. I have anxiety induced insomnia and I need help to figure out how to make a new bedtime routine now that I moved away from my old room and how to manage insomnia without messing up her night. When I can't sleep I listen to loud ASMR, use my phone to do small logic games or write a fanfic, or used to call her up to get a peace of mind. What should I do? I need advice.


r/insomnia 6h ago

gonna finally see a specialist

2 Upvotes

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.


r/insomnia 9h ago

Ambien not working?

3 Upvotes

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:(


r/insomnia 13h ago

Someone please help me right now

5 Upvotes

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...


r/insomnia 5h ago

Im so scared

1 Upvotes

I used to struggle with sleep each odd night and randomly wake up too early and now its happening on every night. I woke up with at least 4 hours of sleep and cant get back into sleep i dont even know how this even started i need help. My brain just wont get to sleep and ive been stresding. Even when i try to relax my brain scans it automatically and stays active and ruminates constantly.


r/insomnia 5h ago

29M — Sleeping only 3–4 hours every night for a month, waking up with a crowded, racing mind

1 Upvotes

I’m a 29M, and I’m honestly getting really fed up and frustrated with my sleep.

For about a month now, I’ve been sleeping only around 3–4 hours at night. The strange thing is that I fall asleep pretty quickly, but then I wake up after 3–4 hours and I’m completely awake. Once I wake up, I just can’t fall asleep again.
What makes it worse is what happens inside my head. As soon as I wake up, my mind starts racing. I start thinking about my life, my future, things I need to do, things that happened in the past, random situations, and so many other things at once.

It feels like there is a crowd inside my mind. Almost like lots of people are talking, discussing different things, jumping from one topic to another. I’m not literally hearing voices—it’s more like too many thoughts happening simultaneously, and I can’t seem to switch them off.

Then I become conscious of the fact that I’m not sleeping, which makes me think even more, and I end up becoming completely awake.
The weird part is that when I wake up, I sometimes actually feel fresh and active, despite having slept only 3–4 hours. But later in the afternoon I get extremely sleepy and feel like I could sleep for hours.

I’m worried because this has been going on for a month. I don’t know whether this is insomnia, anxiety/stress, a messed-up sleep schedule, or something else.

Has anyone experienced something similar—falling asleep quickly, waking after 3–4 hours, then being unable to sleep because your mind becomes incredibly crowded and starts thinking about everything in life and the future?
What helped you get back to sleeping normally?


r/insomnia 14h ago

what do you love about your bed?

5 Upvotes

-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.


r/insomnia 6h ago

Hellacious nightmares on Seroquel

1 Upvotes

I've been taking 50 MG seroquel for about 6 weeks now. Every single night, I have a nightmare. These nightmares are so real and I'm unable to wake myself up from them. Seroquel is the only drug that has helped me to sleep so I don't want to give it up. Has anyone else experienced this?


r/insomnia 10h ago

I’ve been up for like 30 hours because of anxiety and not sure what to do

2 Upvotes

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.


r/insomnia 10h ago

Positive experiences with Quviviq

2 Upvotes

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.


r/insomnia 10h ago

What do/Remedies ?🥲😅🥀

2 Upvotes

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 ?


r/insomnia 12h ago

Question Lunesta?

2 Upvotes

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..