Insomnia Support Group

Insomnia is a symptom, rather than a disease, and is characterized by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep. People with insomnia complain of difficulty falling or staying asleep, which results in significant impairment of daytime functioning. Insomnia is categorized as transient (shorter than one week), short-term (one to three weeks) or chronic (longer than three...

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When Meds Don't Work....

mszach
mszach
I'm a 44 year old guy, have had insomnia since I was 28 or 29. Initially I attributed it to excessive alcohol use so I stopped drinking. Once upon a time, I could simply take one or two Benadryl and I could usually sleep for 8 hours. Now, here I am 15 years later and I am on Remeron, Trazodone, Klonopin and Xanax and I still have bouts of bad insomnia. I'm wondering if there's anyone else out there who's been on medication for a long time, has tried a myriad of different medications and nothing seems to work?? I do seem to have periods where I sleep reasonably well but lately, I've been taking at 4 or 5 am and am not able to get back to sleep. Sometimes I'll have the opposite problem where it takes a couple hours to fall asleep.

Of course, I've done Google searches trying to ascertain the cause of my problem, have come up with everything from depression/anxiety to sporadic fatal insomnia lol So, have given up trying to diagnose myself, doctors don't seem to be much good either. Had a sleep study in 2011 that was normal.

At any rate, was just wondering if anyone else out there has exhausted the cycle of prescribed sleep medications and nothing is working. I have also tried Seroquel and that caused breathing issues and significant weight gain, nasty drug IMO
LittleSadie
LittleSadie
The doxepin I have been taking seems to have stopped working. It was working ok enough since December, but I was still struggling with it taking hours to work at night and then I would struggle to get up in the morning. Last night I laid in bed for hours. I even took the maximum dosage possible, and nothing. I found myself trying to find an old bottle of ambien and took that at 2 in the morning, fell asleep right away. Called my doctor to move my appointment up, they can only move me up 4 days, to March 12th, but will call if they have any cancellations. So I have klonopin, which doesn't seem to do much anymore, what's left of the doxepin, and a bottle of ambien to get me through til then. I just don't understand why things stop working after a while. It seems like I have to change my medication every few months. At least I have a good sleep doctor who I know will not give up on me. I am frustrated but will never give up. I hope everyone else here is hanging in there.
Biatta
Biatta
I feel for you, Sadie! Meds stop working, that's truth. The only drug I take for a long time is Seroquel(50 mg). I started with 12.5 mg several years ago. There were periods I stopped it at all (while being pregnant, for example), or I just took a break. Then I was taking this medication again because compare to all I used, it is a best choice for me. My sleep is uneven right now. Some nights I sleep better (5-6 hr), some nights less. The sleep is mostly not deep or refreshing, but believe me, the over medication were worse even worse. Ask your doctor about Seroquel, it at least is approved for a long time use. Good luck.
LittleSadie
LittleSadie
Thanks, Biatta. Seroquel does not work for me and makes my heart race for some reason, so it's not an option. But as always, I appreciate your words of support. Glad you are hanging in there too.
Biatta
Biatta
I always happy to support, Sadie.I know how does it feel when meds fail to do their job. The other way is to give your body a break and to not to take anything for some period of time, then to start another medication or combination again. But, I do not think anyone is able to work during this "no-meds" period. As I said, I had time when I was not taking pills for a purpose to let the chemicals to be washed out of the system.
rubel
rubel
Bless you all I know your suffering. I am too.
Havent slept in three years. Tinnitus. Im exhausted mentally as well.
I dont know what to do. Lost my job. Ill be out of money some day.
First year I got along as the second. Third year tinnitus got worst- a whole new level of anxiety. I got plenty of love in me still. The hope comes and goes. To sleep Im taking trazadon, 1.5 lorazapam and anti histamines. Foe depression Im taking Venlafaxine. This is an awful med. I tried to quite and I got real sick. I rather take my chances on a benzo. Like I said bless you all.
LittleSadie
LittleSadie
I like what you said : " I got plenty of love in me still. The hope comes and goes." That is how I feel too. You just keep going, you have good days/nights you have bad ones, but you try to keep the hope alive. Somehow, sometime things will get better. Bless you too.
DSmom12345
DSmom12345
"When Meds Don't Work...."

I'm a chronic insomniac and I've been through pretty much everything. What I do these days is run through different nootropics. They work for awhile, then I need to move on to the next, or go back to ones used previously. For the past two weeks I've been taking Neuro-Mag (Magnesium L-Threonate). And unless I drink 2 cups of caffeine I do fairly ok. On a good day I'm bouncing between 6-7 hours a night which is amazing for me.
radio48
radio48
I have suffered from insomnia since the mid 90s. I believe it was started by working countless midnight shifts. Restoril worked well for years, combined with xanax or valium. My DR went to inpatient care only, and the new Dr would not keep me on these drugs. Ive tried about everything, I got my old DR back, continued my meds that worked. Nothing seems to work well anymore, including being prescribed 2 halcions at night. I have tried the older antidepressants and they are dirty drugs, and cause weight gain, and do not work. I find myself using more than one type of different hypnotics, mixed, to sleep. II believe I have become habituated to them, the benzos. Does anyone take the older barbiturates to sleep? I was unsure about asking for these from my DR., but nothing works anymore. Any suggestions? Thx in advance.
curiousmountain
curiousmountain
Most medications fail to work after a while. A method that does not involve medication that works for many people is called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). You might look into it. It improved my insomnia about 70%. I used a book and an app called CBT-i Coach. The app is free but it is not a stand alone program. You need at least a book to go with it.

Some people are unable to complete the therapy using self-help methods. There are online programs. If none of these work a therapist familiar with this type of therapy could be consulted.