Emergency Sleep Inducer?

[Lecarpetron]

As I sit here at 3am, wide awake after spending yet another day exhausted, it occurred to me that my 10 year anniversary of Extreme Insomnia is around the corner. At this date a decade ago, some switch flipped in me and I have never felt truly sleepy since (exhausted, yes. Sleepy, no).

My metabolism blows because I don't sleep. I can't fall asleep because my metabolism sucks. I've always thought if I keep fighting the good fight - a few more months of quality food, stress lowering supplements, and sunshine, that sleep would eventually follow. It never did. At least not in the long term.

I now seek out supplements that strongly induce sleep drive. I got through the first 7 years of insomnia with xanax, valium, and microdoses of SSRIs. I'd like to avoid benzos and SSRIs at this point, but I will go back to benzos if necessary because whatever problems they cause can't be worse than falling asleep at 5am night after night when the alarm goes off at 6.

For those of you who have experimented, which substances have knocked your rats the F out? Here's what I don't respond to sleep-wise so far:
- theanine
- glycine
- high doses of niacinamide
- high doses of magnesium
- pregnenolone, progesterone, T3 (well T3 raises my temperatures a little when I first start taking it but doesn't have sleep affects)
- unisom, benadryl
- red light in the morning
- baking soda baths

Cypro has sedative effects, but does not induce sleep the way xanax does. Cypro at least stops me from getting brain and/or chest "zaps" at night. The zaps tend to occur during SSRI withdrawal apparently, which leads me towards serotonin antagonists...but there are so many of them and I'm not sure where to start, so looking for opinions from people who've experimented on inducing sleep in their rats.

I feel that if I could force 8 hours of sleep for a week, I could maybe start to break the cycle. Any suggestions before I go throw in the towel and go back to swallowing xanax like candy? Mirtazepine? LSD? Anyone?

 

[Dhair]

The brain zaps you describe are likely from benzo withdrawal, although they do occur with SSRIs as well. But if you were swallowing xanax like candy, I'd bet it's the former.
Please, PLEASE be careful with the xanax. I still cannot understand how benzodiazepines are so liberally prescribed. Withdrawal is extremely dangerous and unsettling.
Lately I've been using just a couple drops of androsterone if I wake up in the middle of the night. It puts me right back to sleep with no problems at all. Even low dose xanax didnt do that for me. A more common suggestion around here is milk with lots of sugar and salt. Also not a bad idea.

 

[Lecarpetron]

I haven't had a benzo in over 3 years, though. And the ol' zaps just came roaring back after being gone for at least 6 months I'm so depressed and hopeless, it just hit me there's a possibility I will never solve this and I'll end up with Parkinsons or Alzheimers like the elder statesmen of my family.

Milk/sugar/salt doesn't help. Tried a million times. Thanks for the androsterone suggestion, this is the sort of thing I'm looking for at this point.

 

[Dhair]

I haven't had a benzo in over 3 years, though. And the ol' zaps just came roaring back after being gone for at least 6 months I'm so depressed and hopeless, it just hit me there's a possibility I will never solve this and I'll end up with Parkinsons or Alzheimers like the elder statesmen of my family.

Milk/sugar/salt doesn't help. Tried a million times. Thanks for the androsterone suggestion, this is the sort of thing I'm looking for at this point.

Buy haidut's androsterone. It's pretty inexpensive and it might be the right thing to get you off this roller coaster ride that you seem to be on.
Until then, stick with cypro and try to keep a decent sleep schedule. My sleep problems always get the best of me when my schedule is erratic.

 

[paymanz]

Valerian root/lemon balm tea.

I think ray is OK with them too.

 

[SQu]

My sympathies. I've struggled for about that long but not as badly as you. But some things improve last, and only with an overall improvement, no one thing to definitely point to. And yes I know in itself it's holding back recovery. For the overall gradual healing thing I'd emphasize the minerals. For the lying awake for hours before sleeping I find clonidine very good, with all the usual caveats about taking medicine even over the counter stuff. Apparently also withdrawals but I haven't found that at lower doses ie 25-50ug and skipping days fairly regularly.

 

[Lecarpetron]

Thanks guys, I plan to try every single thing suggested on this thread.

I just ate 3 eggs, 2 corn tortillas, some salty cheese, plantains and a cappuccino. My temp stayed put at 96.2. How can this even be?????? Haidut once said that after a while on cypro, eating basically anything should cause temp to respond. Of course, it will jump to 98.0 around 8pm, and then I will feel alert and unable to sleep.

 

[HLP]

20 mg Famotadine in the evening. For me, being more alkaline induces sleep.

 

[CoolTweetPete]

Some folks on the forum, myself included, have found sedative effect from vitamin b6 (p5p) and ionic magnesium administered together.

 

[Goat-e]

I'm sure this won't be a popular suggestion here, but being able to sleep is vitally important so I'm going to say it anyway - Cannabis (vaporised or ingested, not smoked of course), or at the very least CBD oil.

And this is an even crazier suggestion, but in terms of breaking the cycle it might be worth a go; switch focus from trying to get to sleep, to trying to not sleep. I was told this once by someone, they gave themselves the intention of staying up all night and only managed about two hours before they finally couldn't fight it any more and fell asleep after months of struggling. Maybe worth a shot at this stage.

Edit: If you do try the cannabis route make sure you have enough fuel on board before, a glass of apple or orange juice would probably be enough.

 

[theLaw]

Tried dozens of different sups and combos, and the only few that worked for me were:

5G Taurine

3+G Niacinimide

Gelatin + MCT + Sugar (not necessarily for knock-out sleep, but the only combo I've tried that has no effect on digestion while providing enough nutrition for 8hrs sleep)

If high-dose Cypro doesn't put you out, then you might need to go back to the basics (PUFA detox, Digestion, Liver Health) to see improvements.

Cheers!

 

[ecstatichamster]

Taurine and niacinamide together seem very powerful.

 

[AinmAnseo]

The brain zaps you describe are likely from benzo withdrawal, although they do occur with SSRIs as well. But if you were swallowing xanax like candy, I'd bet it's the former.
Please, PLEASE be careful with the xanax. I still cannot understand how benzodiazepines are so liberally prescribed. Withdrawal is extremely dangerous and unsettling.
Lately I've been using just a couple drops of androsterone if I wake up in the middle of the night. It puts me right back to sleep with no problems at all. Even low dose xanax didnt do that for me. A more common suggestion around here is milk with lots of sugar and salt. Also not a bad idea.

Why do you think that androsterone helps you to sleep?

 

[redpanda]

As I sit here at 3am, wide awake after spending yet another day exhausted, it occurred to me that my 10 year anniversary of Extreme Insomnia is around the corner. At this date a decade ago, some switch flipped in me and I have never felt truly sleepy since (exhausted, yes. Sleepy, no).

My metabolism blows because I don't sleep. I can't fall asleep because my metabolism sucks. I've always thought if I keep fighting the good fight - a few more months of quality food, stress lowering supplements, and sunshine, that sleep would eventually follow. It never did. At least not in the long term.

I now seek out supplements that strongly induce sleep drive. I got through the first 7 years of insomnia with xanax, valium, and microdoses of SSRIs. I'd like to avoid benzos and SSRIs at this point, but I will go back to benzos if necessary because whatever problems they cause can't be worse than falling asleep at 5am night after night when the alarm goes off at 6.

For those of you who have experimented, which substances have knocked your rats the F out? Here's what I don't respond to sleep-wise so far:
- theanine
- glycine
- high doses of niacinamide
- high doses of magnesium
- pregnenolone, progesterone, T3 (well T3 raises my temperatures a little when I first start taking it but doesn't have sleep affects)
- unisom, benadryl
- red light in the morning
- baking soda baths

Cypro has sedative effects, but does not induce sleep the way xanax does. Cypro at least stops me from getting brain and/or chest "zaps" at night. The zaps tend to occur during SSRI withdrawal apparently, which leads me towards serotonin antagonists...but there are so many of them and I'm not sure where to start, so looking for opinions from people who've experimented on inducing sleep in their rats.

I feel that if I could force 8 hours of sleep for a week, I could maybe start to break the cycle. Any suggestions before I go throw in the towel and go back to swallowing xanax like candy? Mirtazepine? LSD? Anyone?

2 ashwagandha caps right before bed work best for me. Also, 20 minutes of binaural beats (delta and theta waves, use a timer to turn off the music/sounds).

 

[Beatrix_]

Magnesium taurate