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Anonymous
Hey /fit/.

I've had severe, chronic insomnia since the age of 11. Without sleeping medications, I'll stay ups for days at a time -- even if I'm completely exhausted, I simply can't slip out of consciousness, even for a few minutes.

I've had to go to the hospital a couple times for sleep deprivation, and have had a few suicide attempts due to complete desperation. After 72+ hours of no sleep, your brain isn't exactly working at maximum capacity.

But as for my main question: I've fallen into a poor sleep cycle (stay up all night, sleep all day) because I'm becoming immune to my pills (Seroquel at this point). My psychiatrist keeps upping the dose, but I'm starting to worry about the ramifications of being so heavily drugged.

It's sort of funny, because when I go to pick up my meds, the pharmacist will usually refuse to give them to me unless they've made a second call to my shrik -- the dosage is so high, they think it's dangerous to my health.

I know I'm addicted and completely dependent on the damn things, so it would take an ubelieveable amount of effort to quit.

I've never in my life met someone with worse insomnia than me, so it's getting frustrating.

tl;dr, Can sleeping pills fuck you up for life? What's Anon's experience with them? Should I try to find some natural method?
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>> Anonymous
just a couple q's

what dosage are you at? do you have a particular diagnosis? do you have any other problems?

that drug isn't usually used for insomnia, i think sedation is one of its side-effects.
>> Anonymous
>>90514

1000 mgs.

And yeah, it's usually prescribed for types of schizophrenia.

It's also supposed to tread my 'bipolar,' but I don't believe I have the condition. Most of my poor moods and manias are caused by either lack of, or too much, sleep.

The thing is, unlike most insomniacs, once I do fall asleep, absolutely nothing can wake me up for at least nine hours. I set four alarm clocks today, but ended up sleeping through them and missing my dad's birthday party.
>> Anonymous
Workout like crazy, if you're not exhausted by the end of the day, you're fucked.
>> Anonymous
>>90497
I'm an idiot, but hear goes.

1. See other doctors outside your area and/or call specialists out of state. If you've been seeing the 'family doctor' for decades, he won't be of any help. Get in touch with any known medical research groups (in Cali we have Standford Medical Center, etc.) as they take interest in 'extreme' conditions. Try to find *specialists* who deal with sleeping disorders, and see as many as you can - get second, third, and fourth opinions.

2. Have you tried getting the light exposure for seasonal whatever condition? It can affect sleep and you DON'T have to live in Finland or some shit to get it.

3. If you can sleep all day and stay up all night, isn't that a good thing? I mean, it's opposite to normal conventions but you ARE getting a full day's sleep and are presumably operating at full mental capacity? Could you get a night job, take night classes if you need education, etc, to take advantage of this?

4. Some people have offset 'clocks' and don't sleep normal hours, and find that adjusting their schedule to follow that works. The only catch is living with a wife/family as they will have a more normal routine. But if you find a pattern that works consistently, don't fight it?

5. Do you have any kind of daily exercise routine in your life? If not, do it. If you are a stay indoors and get on the internet type (I am) it phucks with your sleep. Going out, doing stuff, and having regular physical activity is better for your body.

6. Try not to booze/drugs/smoke as those also mess with sleep.
>> Anonymous
Lay off the caffeine, fatty. Green tea, iced tea, same thing.

Get a sleep mask, gay, but I'll help blocking the light (it wakes me up).

Get heavy narcotics, sweet dreams.

I am taking amitriptiline, have been for 2 years. Shit sucks, makes you groggy in the morning and takes forever to kick in.

Make sure you dont do engaging stuff before bed, masturbate maybe, just chill and tell yourself 'its ok to sleep'. Stop browsing /b/ at all hours. That will fuck up your sleep moar than anything
>> Anonymous
>>90561

You're not at all, thanks for the help

1. I have flaked on a few appointments at a neuropsych institution, mainly because they wanted to test me for aspergers, which I find ridiculous.

2. It's actually really sunny here, I live in central California. I might be getting too much light actually, because lately I've been afraid of the dark. It's probably not effecting my sleep much though, since I go through the same cycles even when the lights are off.

3/4. I suppose, but it's very difficult to find a job in this town, and even more so a graveyard shift.

5/6: I get about an hour and a half of walking in every day, and I rarely smoke or drink. As>>90556said, streuous exercise would probably help, but it makes me break out like crazy. And honestly, I'd rather be a reclusive vampire than be covered in blemishes.
>> Anonymous
>>90572

I don't drink soda or any other caffeinated beverages.

Also I = girl, so masturbating doesn't have the same effects. Actually, I'm pretty asexual, so it isn't appealing to me at all. (Don't pull the no women on the internet shit -- this isn't /b/)

Though you're right, the computer and TV do kind of jazz me up. There's just so little else to do at 4 AM when everyone else is asleep; I want to get social contact in some form, even if it's far inferior to another.
>> Anonymous
>>90585

Go to a gym, you get exercise and can have people stare at you.
>> Anonymous
>>90591

I hate the gym.

Fewer people suffered with insomnia before gyms were even invented. My own sleep habits probably have something to do with my brain chemistry or computer usage rather than exercise, since technically I'm in very good shape (ideal blood pressure/heart rate/weight&body fat%)

Plus, even when I was on the cross country team and ran 8 miles a day, I couldn't sleep.

Probably just going to go to a professional. It's time for me to stop relying on a single, rather ignorant, psychiatrist.
>> Anonymous
what other meds are you on?
have you ever actually had a manic episode? like all out im the queen of the world stuff?

mania can cause something like insomnia...
but srsly, time for a second opinion.
>> Anonymous
>>90596

It's past fucking time. I had a similar issue with Dermatologists. The first one I used was a fucking twit who kept prescribing the same damn medication even though it didn't work. The second misdiagnosed my problem. The third guy got me onto a compound medication that solved the problem.

So; basically what the other anon said. Do some heavy research and find the best doc you can. I would actively be looking for the best people in the field even if you have to go across country and pay obnoxious fees.
>> Anonymous
>Though you're right, the computer and TV do kind of jazz me up

my doc named them as one of the biggest culprits. Try shutting both off after sunset for about a week and see if it makes a difference.
>> Anonymous
>>90574
>>1. I have flaked on a few appointments at a neuropsych institution, mainly because they wanted to test me for aspergers, which I find ridiculous.

I'll the the first to say it's difficult doing this, but going in for those kinds of tests and being 100% truthful about everything, no matter how stupid/embarassing/whatever, is the only way you can begin to get an accurate diagnosis. Your reaction is common, but even though assburgers is probably the last thing you have, getting that ticked off your list of possible causes is a step in the right direction.
>>2. It's actually really sunny here, I live in central California. I might be getting too much light actually, because lately I've been afraid of the dark.

If you are seeing a shrink (you should) have you discussed this fear? I would.
>> Anonymous
have you ever tried cleaning your sleep hygiene? ALWAYS going to bed at the same time, and laying there even if you don't fall asleep. ALWAYS getting up at the same time, even if you're tired? NEVER taking naps during the day. And, never doing work or watching tv or playing games in your bedroom? If not, then try that shit for a month. If your body hasn't adjusted by then and you aren't sleeping a sound sleep each night, you are clearly not normal and need medical help.
>> Anonymous
>>90797
4channer with aspergers is probably more likely than you think
>> Anonymous
OP is an excuse maker and always finding crutches to aid in her delusional fantasy that she can't sleep. Go do something exhausting everyday, and retrain yourself to be fucking tired.
>> Anonymous
>>90497

I'm a firm believer that ADD pills do fuck you up if you take them at a very young and developmental age. I was forced by my parents and elementary school teacher to go to a doctor who "diagnosed" me with ADHD when I was 10 and prescribed Adderall, and they also put me on some other pills to take at night to put me down after my body was frazzled by the stimulating effects of Adderall. They turned me from an imaginative and lively kid into a drugged-up robot on two medications so that my fucking elementary school teacher would have her job made easier. All of this shit being done to an innocent 10-year-old kid.

I was never the same after that, not even when I stopped the meds as a teenager and was unable to sleep like you, probably due to having taken sleeping medication all the time. Taking mind-altering medication as a kid and through puberty probably left me emotionally stunted, and unable to sleep without medication strong enough to knock out a damn rhino, not to mention the antidepressants I have to take due to being medicated most of my life. So here I am, 22 years old and dependent on maximum-strength sedatives to ease my insomnia.

I don't know if your insomnia is brought upon by the same thing, but I'm almost sure that it is the case with me, even though some asshole with a medical degree that he probably found in a Cracker Jack box keeps telling me otherwise.
>> Anonymous
>>90851
you were probably more of a hyperactive asshole than you can remember. probably would take shit apart all the time, unable to follow any instructions, would be in your own world most of the time, and wreak havoc at school. also, the meds wouldn't have caused such drastic long-lasting effects . fix your sleep hygiene like i described a few posts above and see what happens.
>> Anonymous
I'd say around 95% of the kids that are said to have ADHD don't even have that borderline bullshit mental illness. There's seriously a sort of "boogeyman" mental condition that seems to surface in the American children population where regular circumstances always indicate that there's a mental illness present. The previous boogeyman used to be ADHD, which then progressed into depression, and now the current one to date is Asperger's.

Is your 10-year-old kid acting up in school and can't sit perfectly still and obedient in a classroom for hours at a time? He has ADHD. Is he upset because you didn't buy him that new toy that all the other kids have, and now he says he hates you? He has depression. Is your kid shy and unable to have a complex conversation with people? He must have Asperger's.
>> Anonymous
You know, as much as I loathe Scientology, I still think that american psychiatrists are indeed prescribing too much chemicals onto the populace.
Instead of taking pills, maybe someone should try to solve their underlying problems sometime...
>> Anonymous
Hi , fuck you
>> Anonymous
>>90497
Hi, fuck you again