If you are suffering from Insomnia, please read

[Guest [An...]]

TheWay2, I know you have nothing but the best intentions for people. And I highly respect you.

 

But I will have to respectfully disagree with you on this. It's true that drugs got us into this mess, but if a drug helps us cope and allows us to heal, I say use it with caution, and ideally, use the smallest dose that helps you.

 

If it weren't for Remeron, or Cannabis, I would have been toast. No way I can handle my day to day, configuring IT equipment, running cables all day, troubleshooting problems, without getting some sleep. I would have lost my job for sure. (more realistically I would have probably had to go on long term disability, but I was trying to avoid the sleep center like the plague!!)

 

I was wary of trying other medications, but I made the choice to try some, and I am now at the other end of this misery (mostly healed, taking nothing at all except magnesium and lithium orotate, and some days I skip doses). I've been able to recover daily 6h-7hr sleeps. Last night I had a bad night, 4hr, but I'm not completely wrecked, and I expect tonight I will get 6hr (I got 4hr because I had a stressor that hurt my sleep, but I took care of it today).

 

Bottom line though, it seems that I am at least 90% healed, neither the Remeron, nor the Cannabis, nor the supplements hurt my healing. I still have like 5 months worth of each (I even still have the 26 pills of Zopiclone left that I never took). I haven't even been tempted to use any of them, because I've been getting rest naturally. Just something to think about. My personal opinion: if you find something that helps you, use it, and if you have options, cycle them.

 

There's things I would stay away from unless I had no choice (like Seroquel). It seems Unisom works for a lot of people and it's very safe.

 

 

[[wo...]]

Just was browsing the forum, i found few things to help with Insomnia:

- CBT-I was very helpful, following sleep hygiene, good rules about use of bed (sex and sleep) and cognitive training for sleep

- When I was in Thailand, I was prescribed a medication called Valdoxan, its a little heavy on the liver and i had to get tested few times (I had regular liver enzyme levels when using so it was fine, if your test is high, stop it). Its completely non-addictive, you can stop whenever you like, it works through melatonin receptors and helped with mood too. Its not available in the US so I had to buy 6 months supply. I discontinued and had zero withdrawal symptoms. Its only sleep medication I ever took that made sleep easier, and I woke up in the morning feeling more energized than normal (compared to the z-drugs, benzos, sedative hypnotics and antipsychotics).

- Bright Light Therapy/Amber glasses - I would say these two added an hour to my sleep. Setting the circadian rhythm properly by exposing yourself in the morning to early light. I realized this when my sleep was much better in florida than up north and i got tired and slept deeper. Amber glasses help me relax at night and my sleep tracker reports i fall asleep within 30 minutes as opposed to hour and half when i didnt wear them.

- Exercise - do i have to say much

- Keto/IF and Prolonged Fasting - This had interesting effects on my sleep during benzo withdrawal. With keto/if i felt more energy even with less sleep. Prolonged fasting (3+ days) lead to 4-5 hours of night sleep, but i felt fully rested!

 

Good luck with the zzzzzs!

[[Ba...]]

Flumazanil helped you when you were 6 months off?

 

thx.

[[wo...]]

Yes flumazenil did wonders, I was taking doxepin 25 mg at the time for insomnia btw, i cut dose to 10mg because i was sleeping too much after it. Few nights after i got 8 hours of sleep and reduced alot of symptoms substantially, then they all came back but it was less than before. I did three infusions but the first one helped the most, its high dose of flumazenil in short time to kind of 'reset' the receptor as Malcolm Lader called it in his study.