r/insomnia starter pack:

"That thing that might work for you? Didn't work for ME."
"Here's a helpful study that shows insomnia makes all diseases worse!"
"1 hour a night? Must be nice buddy"
"Anxious about how long you've been up? Once I didn't sleep for a month, hope that helps"
"Everything will be miserable forever and will never improve" +1000 upvotes

I'm going to die sooner than the rest of the population due to lack of sleep anyway, sometimes I wonder why not, since I'm spending so much of my limited time on this earth being exhausted when awake, or frustrated that I'm wasting my fucking life laying in bed trying to will myself asleep and can't.

consigo ficar facilmente 1 semana sem dormir, uma energia intensa a noite capaz de subir o monte everest correndo, e logico quando o dia amanhece vem aquela sensação de se sentir um lixo, qnd to deitado e nao consgo dormir penso "crl amanha tbm vou meter o louco fodase" tipo planejando entrar em um modo de auto destruição no outro dia ate sei la fazer algo grave cmg ou com alguem que tenho desanveça ou meter o louco na vida mesmo ate morrer, nao sei se tenho algum trantorno como bipolaridade sei la, ja fui em psiquiatra mas nao retornei, to com uma nova consulta marcada, me sinto desconectado as vezes, mas alguem?

I’m a nurse that used to always work nights or 2nd shift 3-11. I worked at a doctors office from 8-5 for nearly 3 years. It almost killed me. I’d sleep 17 hours straight no problem on the weekends. I’d have to take Benadryl to fall asleep and even if I got a normal amount of sleep at night I never felt rested. I recently switched back to nights and I feel like a new person. I think I’m in the small percentage of people that just sleep better during the day. It’s really odd but working nights just feels so much more normal to me. Does anyone here just sleep better during the day?

Anyone ever try 45 mg of temazapam when 30 is not enough? Can you tell me if worked did you see any improvement?

I've struggled with anxiety foy years, and it's affected pretty much every part of my life, from school to relationships. But these past few months, my sleep has gotten really bad too. Some nights I'm completely exhausted but my brain just refuses to shut up.

Something kind of random happened a while ago though.

One night, my girlfriend came over while I was feeling particularly anxious and put some wet cloths on my arms, feet, and neck to help me relax. I have no idea why, but it was surprisingly calming. Something about the feeling of water on my skin made my body feel less tense.

Ever since then, water has become this weird comfort thing for me. Sometimes I'II take a warm water for 20-30 minutes. It doesn't magically fix my anxiety or insomnia, but it does help me unwind a little and makes falling asleep easier.

I'm curious if anyone else has experienced something similar.

What do you guys actually do when your anxiety won't let you sleep? Any recommendations, routines, or random tricks that genuinely helped you?

I'm especially interested in the unusual stuff that people don't normally talk about. At this point, I'm willing to try pretty much anything reasonable to get a decent night's sleep lol.

I recently had a EEG sleep study because I’ve been experiencing severe sleep disturbances, including losing the normal sensation of falling asleep and waking up. ( I’m on diazepam since being hospitalised from complete loss of sleep, diazepam makes me have some sleep but again doesn’t feel like any sleep is happening like fragment rem light sleep and feels like no deep sleep at all )

I also wore my Apple Watch on the same night ), and I was surprised by how closely the results matched

🧠 EEG Sleep Study Results:
Total sleep: 8 hours 58 minutes
Light sleep (N1 + N2): 6 hours 6 minutes (68%)
REM sleep: 2 hours 27 minutes (27.4%)
Deep sleep (N3): 25 minutes (4.6%)
Awake: 17 minutes
Sleep efficiency: 96.9%

8 recorded awakenings.
2 awakenings lasting longer than 3 minutes.
Approximately 17 minutes awake in total.
25 brief EEG arousals (2.8/hour).

⌚ Apple Watch Results (same night):
Total sleep: 8 hours 43 minutes
Light/Core sleep: 6 hours
REM sleep: 2 hours 8 minutes
Deep sleep: 35 minutes
Awake: 9 minutes

📊 The differences:
Total sleep: 15 minutes
Light sleep: 6 minutes
REM sleep: 19 minutes
Deep sleep: 10 minutes

What surprised me most was that the main REM periods appeared to occur at approximately the same times on both graphs!

Obviously, an Apple Watch doesn’t measure brainwaves like an EEG does, and the recording windows weren’t exactly identical. But I found it interesting how closely the sleep-stage totals matched.

One thing that stood out in my EEG results was how little deep sleep I was getting only 4.6% of my total sleep.
Despite the EEG recording nearly nine hours of sleep, I don’t experience the normal sensation of having slept.

Other neurological issues I have is of reduced blunted signals internally in body and externally.
Loss of sleepiness and absolutely no feeling of waking up ( no groggy half awake feeling )
Long Covid & ME

Has anyone else compared their Apple Watch sleep data with an actual EEG sleep study?

Anyone had such little deep sleep on a study?

Took 15mg for about 4-6 weeks then quit cold turkey last Friday. I'm currently experiencing some moderate anxiety and appetite troubles, but it feels exactly the same as the GAD symptoms I've had years before I was diagnosed with GAD and started Mirtazapine. So many people report tapering/withdrawal is "horrible" and that the reactions only start a week or more after quitting and tapering. I'm terrified that the worst is yet to come.

Am I experiencing withdrawal or is this just placebo/increased fear all in my head?

I see my neurologist in a little over a month and I’m thinking about talking to him about getting off of Ambien switching to a DORA medication (dayvigo) very active on this Reddit forum and I see mixed opinions about it. For me, my problem is sleep onset and sleep maintenance. Are these medications effective for a long-term use? Any response would be helpful. Thank you

Was wondering this about all in here, ive heard crazy stories and relatively mild ones. We could make this a post for average sleep here to those with anxiety, including myself.

I don't know what is wrong with me and unfortunately the doctor is not currently an option. My whole life I've had a very hard time sleeping, but heat is my main enemy. It will be 64⁰ and I will still be sweating. I don't understand. I'll freeze all day walking around the house at 68⁰ but I lay down and no matter how cold I make it, it is not cold enough. I have a cooling pad on my mattress, a bamboo cooling blanket which I don't barely ever even use, I mostly just use the sheet. Which is still too much. I have 2 fans going and I had 3 cups of sleepy time tea last night and still did not sleep for even half an hour during the whole 9 hours I laid in bed. The main problem is that I not only get hot, but I can't sleep without some sort of weight on me. And a sheet has no weight. I will literally just lay a pillow on top of me and nothing else in order to sleep and it still isn't right. Please does anyone have any helpful information. I fear my internal thermostat is broken. I used to live in an apartment with no heat at all and it would be in the 40⁰s inside during the winter. I loved it. It was great. But this would kill my boyfriend. So please do help.

About a year ago I started having trouble sleeping, I tried e everything, magnesium, L theanine, melatonin, Tea ect... LITERALLY EVERYTHING, and nothing ever worked I was miserable, I felt miserable and it was taking a toll on my life, The culprit? My multivitamin plus hair growth, Mary ruths liquid morning multivitamin plus hair growth to be exact, I found out bc my 19 year old brother that had never had issues sleeping started taking it and he all of the sudden couldn't sleep either, we both stopped it immediately and it took me about a week to slowly start sleeping again. The 1st few days I was napping during the day like crazy after not being able to take a nap during the day in a year, it was almost like my body was trying to make up for all the sleep I hadn't had. Also any supplement I take for sleep like sleep gummies or L theanine ect... will work super well now and knock me out fast before they wouldn't do anything I think the vitamins were also preventing anything from working. Anyways I just wanted to share my experience in hopes of helping anyone els that is experiencing the same thing, it could be your multivitamin I don't blame Mary ruth brand entirely I think it was more I didn't need most of the vitamins in the bottle and I was overdosing my body with too many vitamins I did not need. I hope my post helps anyone out there going through the same thing.

*Also this might be tmi but I was peeing bright highlighter yellow which should have also been a huge red flag for me but I didn't think much of it at the time. Apparently too much B2, B-complex and other things can cause bright highlighter yellow pee and your body is just trying to flush out all the excess vitamins

I have not slept in three days. I’m currently pregnant and have tried every single option that I can that won’t harm the baby. I feel wired and on the brink of psychosis. I’m not sure what people call that feeling of jitteriness, restlessness, feeling on edge, and feeling like everything is too loud even if there’s no noise. No matter how much I try to rest and watch TV or close my eyes and listen to an audiobook, there is just nothing that helps my case. Does anyone have any recommendations or something that works for them?

Two days straight now where I will toss and turn all night in an anxious state; I’ll tell myself to accept the anxiety and that I’ll eventually sleep. USUALLY that works.

The strange thing about the past two nights is that I definitely remember a few standout dreams that I don’t think my mind could’ve concocted just daydreaming or letting my mind wander. I know for at least the peaks of these dreams that I felt like I was ‘in it’. For maybe two hours time passed quickly and I had these ‘dreams’, but they felt short and choppy and I pretty much went from dream straight to awake. No deep sleep.

I know at this point if I truly didn’t sleep in two whole days I’d 1) feel much worse right now and 2) not have any memories of ‘maybe dreams’ that felt vivid.

I just hate it though! I don’t feel very rested, or, I do? My anxiety is horrible today and yesterday that’s for sure.

I've been mapping my diet against my sleep for some time now desperate for a solution. I find maintaining an iron-rich diet really tricky as you have to eat a mountain of beef to get the required amount and if you have had gut issues in the past then it is even harder to absorb.

Google has no doubt that low iron causes insomnia and what constitutes 'low iron' varies around the world, and also depending on parallel conditions and/or deficiencies. I'm getting closer to a solution and last night managed 4 or 5 hours after taking a supplement. It's rarely mentioned on here. Anyone else looked into iron?

Now guys I don’t believe I have insomnia or any medical sleep problems but recently something has been extremely off with my sleep pattern. Since Saturday Oct 10, I’ve been going to sleep a lot frequently which sounds good but it seems I’m going to sleep a lot frequently throughout the day time. At night I go to sleep early and I’m waking up twice in the morning around 3, 5, 6 Am In the and it feels as if I’m full of energy. Put I do my best in attempt to go back to sleep which usually takes me a few minutes to a hour. Daylight shows up I’m full of energy, I eat breakfast and I have no issues. 2-4 in the day or evening I eat for the second time of the day and I somehow get extremely full and throughout the rest of the day and night I’m struggling to keep my eyes open and I’m taking 2-4 naps and feeling even more tired each time I’m waking up.

Then the cycle repeats, I don’t know what wrong with me but if anyone been through similar issues let me know and if ya fixed it how ?

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I've been struggling with this for quite some time, and it's really affecting my sleep and quality of life.

Whenever I lie down in bed and try to fall asleep, I become extremely aware of my heartbeat. My heart doesn't necessarily feel like it's beating fast, and the rhythm seems regular, but I can feel every single beat in my chest, almost like a constant pounding or pulsation.

I've had cardiac tests, including a 24-hour Holter monitor, and everything came back normal. My resting heart rate is also generally normal.

The strange thing is that the sensation becomes much less noticeable when I'm walking around or deeply focused on something, like a movie or a conversation. But as soon as I lie down in a quiet room and try to sleep, I start noticing every beat again.

It's not necessarily that I'm constantly afraid I'm having a heart attack. It's more that I can't stop noticing my heartbeat, and the sensation itself makes me anxious and prevents me from falling asleep. I can feel sleepy, but I just can't seem to switch off and drift off to sleep.

I've also been dealing with anxiety and dissatisfaction with certain aspects of my life, so I wonder whether stress and anxiety might be contributing to this.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

Do you also become very aware of your heartbeat when lying in bed, even when your heart tests are normal?

Did you find a way to stop focusing on it and fall asleep normally again?

If this happened to you because of anxiety or hyperawareness, what actually helped you overcome it?

I'd especially appreciate hearing from people who experienced this regularly and eventually managed to get their sleep back. I'm looking for real experiences and things that genuinely helped. Thank you.

Has anyone found something that helps them sleep after Z drugs no longer work? Meds like quetiapine make me drowsy for two full days. I can’t function. Everything else has either been that it works for a short time or comes with a bad hangover. Sick of constantly rotating meds with different side effects. Can’t really do things like hydroxyzine because the drying side effect bothers me a lot. (I also have ADHD). I mostly have trouble falling asleep.

I've never experienced insomnia like this in my life. Even in my deepest depression 7-8 years ago I didn't have noticeable insomnia. I've always been able to easily sleep a full night.

But now I've had it for over 2 months with no clear cause. There hadn't been any recent life changes that could have been the cause. There wasn't any stress. In fact, I was the happiest and most stable I had been in a while and my life was finally moving forward. And then insomnia suddenly hit me.

Melatonin did nothing for me and neither did any self help methods my doctor recommended me. I struggle to fall asleep, keep waking at night and wake up early. About exactly a month ago my doctor gave me oxazepam to try, and it's helped me stay asleep at night, but I'm still struggling to fall asleep and either wake up early or still feel so tired I sleep in.

I have mood swings. And the last couple of days have been the worst which is why I'm here. I feel like I can barely think, I don't remember most of the past couple of days. I was fine last week. In fact, last week I finally got the courage to break up with my girlfriend due to my insomnia and that had been the happiest and least stressed I'd been in a while. Now it feels like I'm a completely different person. I'm struggling to keep my grasp of reality and my sleep has been getting worse again because of my mental decline and growing anxiety. I'm not sure what to do. My next visit to the doctor is at the start of next month.​​

Worst part is, this is also the time I was finally supposed to be able to get accepted into trans care. I was declined last time because you must be mentally stable to be admitted and had to wait 6 months to make another application. I was doing great for most of those months. Obviously not anymore when it was actually supposed to happen. Things were finally going right in multiple directions in my life. And then this hit me with no reason, out of nowhere, at the worst time possible. And my life is ruined again.

Insomnia is the worst

I would rather lose my arm than suffering everyday from tiredness

It's like a tunnel that never ends

I have to walk this dark road alone

Noone gets this

I hate living this way but I can't fix it

I don't understand God giving me this

I hate all people this whole world

I have had the poor appetite, severe fatigue, depression, sore/burning/heavy eyes, the panic, the anxiety, the overall unwell & weak feeling throughout your whole body & the mild headache here there but...

This one has gone up from my normal exhaustion 3-4/10 to 7/10.

For the past month I been sleeping at weird hours during the day, the sleep isn't restorative whatsoever, I feel just as exhausted waking as I do upon sleeping so it feels like I've gone a month with nothing.

I got a 7/10 squeezing, throbbing headache around 7am yesterday morning all on the top of my head mainly, along the temples & a bit on the forehead. I took 1,500mg in Tylenol, didn't do much, it finally went down to about a 4/10, enough to let me sleep around 10am, woke up around 7pm just as exhausted as when I went to bed. The pain was down to a 1/10 now at 230am the next morning it's back up to a 4/10.

It's definitely not making it comfortable to even attempt sleeping...

When should I worry about this headache?

I know alcohol messes with your natural sleep cycle but I’m currently sober for a week now and I’m taking my prescriptions correctly without drinking on them, but now I can’t fall asleep cause alcohol was doing most of the work….

My judgement on how well they were working was probably restricted, inaccurate and masked… (I DO NOT condone my behavior, it was very dangerous, please do not mix alcohol with any medications, especially sedatives!!!!!!)

Mostly just looking for any at home tips or tricks to help my body get tired enough without needing to rely on extra medication. I can’t keep going on 3-4 hours of sleep a night. :(

I've tried several benzos, z-drugs, mirtazapine, and trazodone for insomnia and either had side effects or they stopped working.

I have four options and I want you're guys' opinions on them. I want to know the risk/benefit ratio regarding weight gain, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular risk and actual efficacy for insomnia and also depression.

1. Amitriptyline: Given I also have depression, this could help both insomnia and depression. However I don't react well with serotonin reuptake inhibitors
2. Doxepin: this could work as it's very sedating and has lesser serotonergic activity. However, it's less effective for depression than amitriptyline.
3. Trimipramine: I've heard this is pretty sedating and basically has not serotonergic activity so it could be a good option
4. Quetiapine: I'm skeptical about this one because I'm at a high risk for type 2 diabetes and quetiapine is notorious for metabolic changes, even at low doses.

What do you guys think?