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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Got Insomnia Bad

My Dr. Prescribed temazapam for me on Friday, I took as prescribed, 2 15 mg capsules and it did absolutely nothing as far as help me sleep. I sleep a couple hours and then up a couple hours. It is maddening!
 
funny story about temazapam. i was a senior in high school and had stolen 2 30mgs from my moms friend went to the bathroom after 1st period. Poured the powder of both into my mouth. at this time i was a benzo noob. wen to economics class. fell asleep halway through the teaacher could not wake me up she prayed, shook me then i awoke. tried to stand fell over twice. said i had a migraine. drove home, poured 6 shots of vodka into a cup with a can of red bull, snorted some clonodine, passed out. ahh the good ol days.
 
I've been on 45 mg of mirtazapine for a little over 2 years now. It still slams me into the ground just as hard now as when I started. No tolerance on my end. Seroquel certainly works, but over the years tolerance builds. Not very quickly, but over the span of 2-3 years, you can reasonably expect your dose to escalate from 25 mg to 800 mg. And of course, you'll put on a lot of weight in the meantime. No addiction potential, that's probably the main reason doctors prescribe it like candy.
 
Maybe try doing some heavy activity before bed. Go jogging, lift weights, wear your body out. Then, go eat something very heavy, brush your teeth, and hopefully pass out and get a good nights rest.

This will do the opposite I am afraid.

Ensure if you eat late its light and easily digestable.

No lights of any kind ,standby light alarm PC light ,hall light ,mobile fone screensavers, black as hell.

Externally that's all you can do.

Drug wise and excluding booze and benzo there's the 2 Z-class drugs

Zolpidem I used to use but I only needed help getting to sleep then ,when I moved country it was to dear so I swopped to 2mg lorazapam did but its a benzo. ... and to be honest I started just eating them all day. Zolpidem I did not abuse.

Zopiclone the big brother will work all night but usually into the next morning and with most people makes your mouth taste like utter crap. Metallic and veryalmost hangover and it never seems to stop after time ,way worse than trazodone.

The 2 anti-d Mirtazapine is know for the sleep properties you have mentioned andin some extreme weight gain and craving for simple carbs ,long haflife too if you miss a dose or two .

Trazodone the much older one is now rarely if ever prescribed as a anti-d, it made me feel knock out before bed but nicely ,not lik zolpiclone but I take ritalin in the morning and jog so if I am tired I see it as tough shit ,do it.

I've been on and off -good times/bad times in my life mirtazapine for over 10yrs from my lowest dose 15mg now [cost] to the max dose [UK] of 45mg and I did find it incredibly nicely stimulating in a 'non-wired' way .

If you are sleeping too much take it 2hrs before bed without being in bed or doing anything too brain draining. If you feel too 'heavy' in the morning it should ease up or just hit some caffeine pills/expresso's.

I'm surprised it was given to you just as a sleep aid as its a very powerful anti-d so if you ever feel able to stop mirtazapine it does come in 7.5mg breakable tab so you can taper.

Exercise as said done early before the evening will help in more ways that one, morning cardio on a empty stomach -even just a 20min walk with some music is great or just silence if you live near any parks or countryside.

Good thing about mirtazapaine is it won't blow out on you or require upping the dose or a 2nd med.

Obviously your overall mental and physical health/diet play a huge part in sleep and more important your sleep cycles.

Lastly [since I live by the clock] set your alarm for bedtime as well as waking up so its all uniform, even weekends,try to sleep and wake up the same time everyday no matter how tired you feel and take your pill the same time ,your body loves routine.

If you are you are young you will need-want more ,as you get older 6 hours isn't so bad and usually it's all the time modern life gives you.....well me anyhow but I force myselfto get up and jog for 30mins at 4.30 no matter the weather of how tired I feel ,you get used to it;

Also....some people can sleep soundly with their TV on and even volume up ,don't try cause because what you watch unless its your own copies of a series then it will end varying times.

Ole skool- read a book......it will make you feel tired very quicky and don't sit up playing with or checking your phone for message, put it on silent ,not vibrate and read your silly long posts like this one on your laptop in bed ;-) .

Best of luck......I know after even 2 days you start to go abit crazy ,it's torture hence my drivelling reply ,I know how bad it is.

Lastly find a nympho. That always works +in the end you just makes a excuse not to do it again and say you are going to sleep. Winwin.

.....and re -enforcing the point from my soapbox of hypocrisy stay ckear of the benzos and z-class if poss.

Mirtazapine will rapidly calm anxiety too so if you are unwittingly worrying about useless crap before bed it'l chill that right out ,should feel it working once you know what you are looking for after 15-20min.

Just watch your weight.

.
 
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I'm a life-long sufferer of insomnia. Fortunately, I had the insight to determine that the cause of my chronic insomnia was my debilitating anxiety. It makes sense when one considers the fact that the only soporifics I've ever found remotely effective all have some anxiolytic effect along with their sedative/hypnotic effect.

The reason diphenhydramine or quetiapine or doxylamine or trazadone don't work for me is because they only make me drowsy. However, I have no difficulty with naturally becoming sleepy or drowsy; rather, my problem is with the fusillade of anxiety-provoking thoughts, the constant checking of potential fire hazards and other threats, the incessant ruminations, etc. Unless a drug has the potential to quiet my anxiety and racing thoughts, it has no chance of ever relieving my insomnia. I don't find it helpful for a drug to force tiredness upon me, because my anxiety won't allow me to settle down or remain still long enough to fall asleep.

On the other hand, drugs like benzodiazepines and barbiturates provide both anxiolysis and sedation/hypnosis, allowing me to both feel tired and relaxed enough to doze off. However, I'm aware how much fear and dislike surround people's notions about these types of drugs. I suppose, with any drug, one has to decide for themselves if the benefit justifies the risk.
 
The reason diphenhydramine or quetiapine or doxylamine or trazadone don't work for me is because they only make me drowsy. However, I have no difficulty with naturally becoming sleepy or drowsy; rather, my problem is with the fusillade of anxiety-provoking thoughts, the constant checking of potential fire hazards and other threats, the incessant ruminations, etc.

On the other hand, drugs like benzodiazepines and barbiturates provide both anxiolysis and sedation/hypnosis, allowing me to both feel tired and relaxed enough to doze off. However, I'm aware how much fear and dislike surround people's notions about these types of drugs. I suppose, with any drug, one has to decide for themselves if the benefit justifies the risk.


1st paragraph I quoted is OCD -not GAD although one is fed from the other, as you know benzo's are plasters on cuts + a drug like mirtazapine I was prescribed for deep depression and OCD will put you too sleep in a better [sleep cycle wise] than the benzo which eventually 'could' bail on you.

Your insomnia as you say is cause by anxiety so you need a modern anti anxiety OCD med with sedating properties which is mirtazapine and you won't have to wait 4 weeks for it like old skool anti-ds ,it will help your anxiety in the first week and makde you very sleepy from day 1.

It's possible it's not for you ,it's possible it feels to heavy or not as immediately 'nice' as the benzo but it you give it time its the better choice in my experience ,at first ,it was too much and it the simple carb craving and drowsiness in the daytime made me think twice but I stuck it out and all the sides eased and then although you will still be dependent on a med, you won't be addicted to it and possibly need a dosage or med change one day and no WDs......personally if you swop and I'd really look into it you can taper the benzo as you start the anti'd.

You can always change back......and no I'm not I'm not one of the benzo haters but I'm deeply addicted to them now and its f--king terrible vs 10yrs of use of mirtazpine at varying doses with no prob.

Any Benzo is meant to be used tops 14-21 days I believe ....a fact ignored by doctors for 40years.

Still right now I couldn't do without them ......and the rest....

Best of luck!
 
I'm a life-long sufferer of insomnia. Fortunately, I had the insight to determine that the cause of my chronic insomnia was my debilitating anxiety. It makes sense when one considers the fact that the only soporifics I've ever found remotely effective all have some anxiolytic effect along with their sedative/hypnotic effect.

The reason diphenhydramine or quetiapine or doxylamine or trazadone don't work for me is because they only make me drowsy. However, I have no difficulty with naturally becoming sleepy or drowsy; rather, my problem is with the fusillade of anxiety-provoking thoughts, the constant checking of potential fire hazards and other threats, the incessant ruminations, etc. Unless a drug has the potential to quiet my anxiety and racing thoughts, it has no chance of ever relieving my insomnia.

In my experience, there are three things needed to fall asleep. It's a little tricky, but I'll try to put them into words. First: you have to be psychically tired. Second: racing thoughts must be turned off. The last one is particularly hard to describe; the best I can do is to call it "sleepiness", for lack of a better term. You have to be ready to fall asleep.

Most sedatives work on the first one: they make you tired. The second one is harder. For me, the only thing that consistently does the job (~ 4 years so far) is zaleplon (the 3rd Z-drug). Of course, every drug affects everyone differently, so some trial and error may be necessary. The third one generally follows from the first two, but not always. That one is really a guessing game.

Drugs aside, I have one little trick for sleep that hasn't been mentioned yet. Around an hour before I go to bed, I turn off the room lights and bast the ceiling with a high-power LED flashlight. 100 lumens will do for a small room, bigger ones will need 300+ lumens. This greatly decreases light exposure. Of course, you'll want rechargeable batteries for this route.
 
I'm a life-long sufferer of insomnia. Fortunately, I had the insight to determine that the cause of my chronic insomnia was my debilitating anxiety. It makes sense when one considers the fact that the only soporifics I've ever found remotely effective all have some anxiolytic effect along with their sedative/hypnotic effect.

The reason diphenhydramine or quetiapine or doxylamine or trazadone don't work for me is because they only make me drowsy. However, I have no difficulty with naturally becoming sleepy or drowsy; rather, my problem is with the fusillade of anxiety-provoking thoughts, the constant checking of potential fire hazards and other threats, the incessant ruminations, etc. Unless a drug has the potential to quiet my anxiety and racing thoughts, it has no chance of ever relieving my insomnia. I don't find it helpful for a drug to force tiredness upon me, because my anxiety won't allow me to settle down or remain still long enough to fall asleep.

On the other hand, drugs like benzodiazepines and barbiturates provide both anxiolysis and sedation/hypnosis, allowing me to both feel tired and relaxed enough to doze off. However, I'm aware how much fear and dislike surround people's notions about these types of drugs. I suppose, with any drug, one has to decide for themselves if the benefit justifies the risk.

I relate a lot to what you've said here, that is my experience as well. Although diphenhydramine/doxylamine do work kind of well (short term) for my insomnia. Other drugs (like zolpidem or trazadone) don't really do much of anything. Although I still take trazadone because the dreams I get on it are insane and incredibly vivid.
 
Have you tried good ole marijuana? I have trouble sleeping also, but a strand of bud that is usually a downer takes me right to sleep.
 
I am currently dealing with insomnia as well. Very little access to benzos.
I have found a mixture of melatonin/kava kava/valerian root/passion flower/GABA/L-Theanine to be effective at double doses.
There are many herbal sleep supplements that contain all these in combination.
Combined with some nice MJ about thirty mins before bed can help get someone ready to sleep. The trick after that though, is wait 30 mins and go ahead and throw a benzo on top if possible. (As always you know you best )
The herbal supplements actually do a good job getting your body to a calm state. However, you still need something to shut down your brain, and that is at your discretion.
 
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