Does insomnia ever improve?

General Discussion
#14

Im having the worst insomnia of my life after taking VitD3 & K2, along with worsened sides.

I’ve slept about a total of the 6 hours over the past 3 days, all consisting of 30 minute naps.

I pray to God there’s improvement for this. I can handle the ED and the anxiety and the digestive problems, or even the shitty sleep here and there. But back-to-back never ending insomnia is too much.

I’m trying to get a prescription for a sleeping pill now, hopefully something helps. Any recommendations? I’m gonna try to stay Clear of benzos

#15

Check out @Shellnyce’s posts he had severe insomnia problems and wrote about the various drugs that worked for him.

He seems to be doing OK and names a drug here that seems to be working for him here:

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#16

Man, I’m sorry. Has anything got worse other than insomnia?

#17

I used lunesta …it was good for what it did at the time , it allowed me up to 4-5 hours sleep occasionally 6 at a time when I had previously got next to nothing .
It’s similar acting class to a benzodiazepine though and gives you tolerance , dependence on it to sleep , addictive etc
I used it for 4 months or so every night and managed to taper off in the end . I use it occasionally now when I’ve had a run of bad nights in a row. It’s not something I’d reccomend to anyone as first line treatment - unless you have had no sleep for several days and are getting desperate etc

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#18

Good info @Forwardsnotbackwards, I know @Shellnyce has written about having things on rotation to avoid addiction, I think.

Hopefully people can get a sympathetic doctor to try various routines out.

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#19

I was able to sleep last night using Hydroxyzine. I’m hoping it puts my sleep mechanism/ability to fall asleep back in check.

My other symptoms are good, besides lower back pain. I think it’s an autoimmune inflammation like arthritis. I will talk to my gastroenterologist

Sleeping on tough mattress /floor helps with my back pain too

#20

Do you know how Aromatose inhibitors cause insomnia ? Is it something to do with the estrogen receptors being blocked ??

#21

I cant say that aromatase inhibitors on their own cause insomnia directly. Its more of like a consequence of a major imbalance on the hormonal axis / cortisol rhytm / gut microbiome / etc. Blocking an enzyme that important is very risky. Blocking whatever enzyme is risky, I think we all know that now. Aromatase has many many other important tasks in human body on top of converting testosterone to estradiol. And if we manipulate those enzymes there can be really long lasting negative effects.

#22

I know this all is just so much to handle. Too much. I got some improvements to my sleep but my gut is my major symptom and has been that for around 1,5 years. Stools just dont come out, not even the signal for urge to stool. This is just hellish. Hell start every morning when it would be the normal time to get bowel movements. Nearly nothing comes out and the hell starts. Tomorrow have to go to colonic therapy again (have been maybe 20-30 times) to try to empty my colon a little bit.

#23

Geez that must be hellish , I’m so sorry to hear what you go through :frowning:

#24

Yes , that’s what I’ve been thinking too lately . Who knows what processes aren’t getting carried out when our enzymes are getting blocked? That’s what they sell finasteride on - I had a dermatologist who prescribed me finasteride say ‘DHt is needed for puberty and now you’re an adult it’s near enough useless’. That hoodwinked me into taking it …I thought well even if the Testosterone isn’t getting converted to DHT at least I still have the testosterone right ? They didn’t mention that it was blocking othe things aside from test to dht , but in hindsight I honestly don’t think they know what it really does and they just guess. So many people are on finasteride through the dermatologist…a dermatologist doesn’t even specialize in endocrines yet they are mostly responsible for giving this stuff out and they don’t even know the mechanics of it!!!

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#25

Just thought I would share that I had my first 7 hours uninterrupted sleep this week. It was with the help of 0.5mg clonazepam and 25mg of promethazine, but these things haven’t worked at all in the past, so I think some natural healing has occurred. Unfortunately for me the improved sleep hasn’t really helped my severe depression which I’m working hard on. I’m trying to take the approach that I’m not broken and it’s within me to beat this depression. Also libido and shrinkage is still big issue as with everyone else …

#26

Congrats, I’m sure with more consistent sleep depression will improve. I had such a night last week, it was with 5mg ambien and 10mg doxepin. However it lost it’s affect after a few days. I’m going to start using that regimen once every three days so I don’t develop a tolerance. The days in between are just going to suck I guess, we’ll see.

#27

5 month update. I can sort of sleep on my own now, but just a few hours a night. Still have crazy dark circles under my eyes all the time. Taking ambien about once a week when I really need it. I can’t wait for this year to be over. I’m noticing more people talking about bad reactions to AI’s recently. That shit really messed me up good.

#28

Great to see improvements. I think there needs to be more awareness about the dangers of AIs. It’s not even listed as one of the drugs in the survey or on the propeciahelp front page under androgen deprivation section. One should be able to google “aromatase inhibitor side effects” and get warnings about potential long term issues. This could prevent naive people taking them, especially as they appear safe in bodybuilding communities.

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#29

Hey,

Please update answers in this thread. I’m 3.5 months off and have terrible sleep quality. I can only sleep 5 hours per night. Did it improve over time or what can I take to sleep longer?

Thank you

#30

My sleep is much better, almost pre-fin. Have had ups and downs I’d say, usually coinciding with whichever protocol I’m trying, but these days very good.

Perhaps on the light side, but I’m not sure. I can totally take naps now if I want to too which is, well, heavenly.

It is as good as you might imagine/recall it being also.

#31

To be honest I’d say 5 hours is heading in the right direction - I consider myself having 5 -6.5 hours as a good night .

Many of us on here had the episodes of total insomnia (0 hours ) or 1.5 -3 per night .
I averaged 2 hours per night for months and months , whereas now I’m doing much much better .

I think if you’re on 5 hours at this stage so near to your discontinuation the only way is up ( although I think it might take up to 6 months to feel more normal patterns)

Do you use any kind of sleep medication or sleep aid?

#32

Ahh I just re read the lower part of the post - zopiclone is really good to take here , a few of us have used that and it helps fall asleep quicker and get a few more hours in . Just be careful as it is addictive and you will have to have a serious game plan if you use that one (but it will deliver instant results)

Sleep aids - melatonin is good , L Theanine, CBD oil , 5htp has worked for some people and also the amino acid Glycine is supposed to be good .

Ones that have worked for others include : chamomile , passionflower , lemonbalm and lavender pills.

The thing that seemed to reset my sleep pattern the most was Amitriptyline. It just made everything in my mind and body seem ‘normal ‘ again , but this one would need some discussion with a doctor as it’s not for everyone .

#33

Thank you guys,

I can take a nap during the day but my sleep at night is so bad. I just never feel rested these days. What is the realistic timeline to see at least any improvements in this area? I know that it may never improve but I’m just asking from your experience or based on everything you have read so far.

I don’t have a problem with falling asleep, only with sleep duration and when I wake up lets say at 5 am I can’t go back to sleep at all.