-First ever sleep med: Ativan .5 mg–>worked for like 3 days then didn’t work, didn’t make me sleepy, made me feel normal so I could fall asleep normally
-1 mg–>worked for 2 weeks then didn’t anymore
-prazosin (don’t remember dose)—>did absolutely nothing except give me low blood pressure & make me dizzy and almost blackout when I’d walk
-back to 1 mg Ativan+trazodone—>knocked me out 2 weeks then didn’t work…doc continued to raise trazodone dose again and again when it would stop working…started getting side effects like sweating like a PIG at night, if I woke up before it wore off I would faint if I tried to stand or do anything, eventually I gave up on this bc realized I’d have to keep infinitely raising the dose
-.5 mg klonopin–>did nothing (for sleep)
-1 mg klonopin–>does not make sleepy but will make me groggy the next morning, helps keep me asleep and get more restful sleep however like Ativan I gain tolerance extremely quickly and on average after just 4 days it loses effectiveness & I have to go off it and wait like 2 weeks to go back on for it to work again
-500 mg depakote–>did not make me sleepy or affect my sleep at all
-lunesta–>no effect at 1 or 2 mg whatsoever, at 3 mg (max recommended dose) helped me fall and stay asleep for 3 days and then literally just didn’t work anymore
-silenor 3 mg (max recommended dose)–>no noticeable effect on sleep whatsoever, might as well be taking a sugar pill
-seroquel 50 mg–>makes me sleepy more reliably than anything else ever has and has not lost that ability even after a month of being on it, however it does not keep me asleep & my sleep is not restful on it. Have incredibly vivid dreams on it which are dangerous for me as it flares up my psychosis and nightmares can make me depressed and get insomnia & anxiety around falling asleep
-seroquel 100 mg–>knocks me out quickly, but the dreams are even more intense & I am groggy literally the entire next day even when on a stimulant it’s like my narcolepsy isn’t being treated anymore
I have tried flipping everything for sleep. I’ve tried all the natural things, teas, GABA and melatonin supplements, followed the sleep hygiene suggestions, made lifestyle changes, etc. N o t h i n g works. My natural sleep is incredibly erratic. I don’t become tired until extremely late at night, even without any access to blue light/technology. I’ve been nocturnal since I was an infant. When I do fall asleep at night, my sleep is very very light and I wake up constantly. I am commonly plagued by terrible nightmares that actually leave me traumatized when I wake or dreams that are so vivid and amazing I am left to believe they are an entire separate reality on their own. During the day naturally off meds I am incredibly sleepy which saps me of all motivation and energy. I am struck with random spells of intense sleepiness I can’t fight where I fall asleep to very vivid dreams and sleep paralysis.
Narcolepsy is flipping insane, if that’s what this is. My brain’s sleep center is ridiculously dysfunctional. Sick of it. All I want is to be able to fall asleep at a reasonable time, stay asleep (peacefully…not trapped in nightmares), and be able to wake up and have a normal amount of energy. Hot dang.
summary: Frustrated that even prescription strength sleep meds are like sugar pills to me, or I gain tolerance insanely fast or they don’t make me feel rested but instead make me even groggier during the day. Also I’ve been having vivid dreams again & it’s driving me insane.
my nurse practitioner i think doesnt want to prescribe anything that could be addictive like benzos or zdrugs so she has me on clonidine to make me sleep. it doesnt knock me out but it relaxes me so i can usually dose off, though it makes my blood pressure tank whenever i stand up, ive fallen over a couple times because of that
My prescribers are insane they just toss 30 day supplies of these meds at me right off the bat and I warn them that historically my brain doesn’t respond to sleep meds so they should really start me with a smaller supply in the very likely chance they don’t work. Otherwise it’s just a huge waste. I have a verifiable pharmacy in my side dresser drawer. They are lucky I am not a drug addict or dealer. Good god. Very irresponsible.
Yes I have ptsd. I have had sleep studies which lead to my diagnosis of narcolepsy (no cataplexy though). No sleep apnea.
Many nights as a child I was kept up by extreme terror/paranoia from my psychosis. I’m very stable now though and rarely experience that now and when I do it is 100 degrees milder.
I guess I have a lot of contributing factors to this. Still very frustrating.
Yep have tried meditation (used to be really into it until I started going into weird trance states and having vivid hallucinations and just odd experiences-probably to do w my sleep disorder), binaural beats, and l theanine. Weirdly l theanine aggravated my bladder issues. Dunno why.
I’m in the same boat, so I’m no help. My psychiatrist gave up on me. I get about 2-5 hours in any given day, usually closer to 3. I take 2-4 mg Klonopin about twice a week to get me enough sleep to keep me out of the hospital, but even that doesn’t always work.
i have so much trouble going to sleep but then when i do get to sleep i sleep like 10-12 hours or i feel exhausted. i also sleep so much easier during the day than at night, i can be tired all day and when night rolls around im wide awake. i saw a sleep specialist and he was like “its prob just your psychiatric issues” and im like welp
I feel your pain in the sleep department man. I’m on a whole host of ■■■■ for sleep. Let me list them.
2mg ativan
50mg trazadone
100mg baclofin
7.5mg zoplicone
100mg luvox
Sometimes if I have the money I will add 50-100mgs of gravol.
And worst case ontario ill sup with olanzipine 5mg.
Seems like nothing can put me down anymore and im constantly stressed out maybe ill give siroquil a try.
Yeah whenever I exercise I do it at night. It definitely makes me more tired right after but once I’m back in bed something just switches in my brain and I wake up.
@LED yes several prescribers in the past also just wanted to give up on me and have me on a benzo forever but I know the issues that come with that and I’m not about it…
Exercising at night might be making the insomnia worse. It’d at least be worth a try to exercise in the morning or early afternoon and see if it helps.
I am on Remeron 15mg and it does wonders for me for both depression and sleep. Apparently, 7mg is an even better dose for sleep. It works opposite. Less is better for sleep. What about Remeron?
If this has already been discussed, sorry. I searched the thread and couldn’t see it mentioned.
I haven’t tried remeron but silenor is the same class and type of drug I believe & has done nothing. I’ve been prescribed other antidepressants in the past to try to help with sleep too and they were not successful so I do not have great hope
