Similar situation for me. Takes forever to fall asleep. Difficult to get up in the mornings. I wake up at least once during the middle of the night. Some of the herbal over the counter sleep aids have helped a bit, but not much. I really dont want to take Tylenol PM or Motrin PM chronically. Motrin might be better choice of the two. I just figure its another manifestation of PFS and hopefully it will improve some over time.
Have either of you tried melatonin? It has worked consistently for me and if I build up a tolerance I go off for a while and it works like new.
I took a couple of melatonin tabs last night. Havnt had any for months. Still up in the middle of the night and didnt sleep all that well. Might be other stuff goin on with me though. Been having alot of stomach/digestion issues lately even with a pretty clean diet. Feel bloated and have acid reflux constantly now. Feels like I’m gonna lose my bowels sometimes. Never was like this pre-Fin. I hope it goes away some over time. Feel sick and never can get relaxed enough to want to sleep.
Anxiety can also really compound sleep problems. I sympathise with you, this pill takes everything.
I sympathise with you mate, sleep problems made me feel incredibly shit for months on end. I suffered exactly what you describe, consistent waking up throughout the night with terrible anxiety, hot sweats, and even incredibly odd dreams and experiences where I didn’t know whether i was asleep or not. Thankfully I can sleep for hours pretty much as normal now, with vivid dreams.
TIMED RELEASE Melatonin has helped me so much, and it’s something I will keep in my cupboard forever, I can’t believe you can’t get it over the counter here - it is very useful for getting you to sleep, and when it’s timed release it will help to keep you asleep. Combine melatonin with a good 5 htp supplement and see how that works - try not to take anymore than 150 mg of 5 htp though.
Another thing to do is follow all the normal sleep helping procedures - turn everything off by the main sockets in your room, don’t stay up on a computer or be near any bright lights before bed, and drink enough water an hour before bed. A glass of red wine can help a lot too, and it’s good for the anxiety.
Do you smoke cannabis? good strains of quality stuff help me to get to sleep.
I tried ambien, tylenal pm, trazdone and melatonin without sucsess,
My doctor prescribed me remeron and I am now sleeping good-great 5-6 nights a week . I started @ 15 mg and now I am up to the max dose of 45.
The only downside is remerom stimulates appetite in many people, myself included. I have gained a good 15 pounds. Ive been taking it about 8 months now
Might be worth a shot
I had the bloating/indigestion thing for over a year off fin too. I had ulcers for a long time too. It takes time to heal. Kefir and natural yoghurt helped, coffee hurts.
The sad problem is regardless of what we do sometimes sleep will be impossible for periods…
I struggled with sleep issues for many years because of a psych drug I was on… then had an even worse problem post-fin. My suggestion, as insensitive as it may sound, is to just stop thinking about it. Load up on caffeine to get you through the early to mid portions of the day. I used Mountain Dew as a crutch for years myself, mostly because it was sweet and energizing, and gave me an incentive to drag my weary bones out of bed. Coffee would be a lot easier on your teeth. The more you obsess over sleep, the worse it will get. Just accept it… don’t hang around in bed struggling to fall asleep. If you can’t get to sleep within 20 minutes, find something to do until you are too tired to stay up.
What helped me above all else was meditation. Learn to focus on a single syllable or image and think of nothing else. You’ll need to practice this a lot. I used to have a mind that ran with anxiety non-stop when trying to sleep, but consistent practice with meditation completely alleviated the problem. Reading your description, I think this would really help you. When I first started having difficulty sleeping years ago, I would lay in bed for hours with my heart pumping and thoughts racing every night, helplessly jarred awake until the sunrise. It’s a horrible thing to have to go through.
How long did you take the Klonopin? Benzodiazepine withdrawal could be a contributing factor as well.
If it is indeed fin-related, there are a few on here whose sleep improved naturally with time, and some haven’t. Mine was completely haywire and progressively got worse for about two months after I stopped, and I never thought it would get better. Now it is completely back to normal.
Try: Gabapentin 600 to 900 mg/day and one day on one day off, Lormetazepam 1 to 2 mg.
It helped a lot.
M.
I recommend against taking anything, particularly benzodiazepines or any other pharmaceuticals, to resolve your sleep problems. You become physically dependent with many of these substances, and, more importantly, psychologically dependent on all of them. Benzos are extremely dangerous to get addicted to, and you don’t need that problem compounded on your fin problems. Many docs are just as ignorant about benzo withdrawal and addiction as they are finasteride.
Years of experience talking here. I tried EVERYTHING. All the drugs, herbs, even crazy stuff like eating blocks of cheese in the middle of the night, bright light therapy, sleep restriction therapy, on and on and on. The best things you can do are to learn meditation and to stop thinking about it! Don’t panic or fret if you can’t get “enough” sleep… just try to roll with the punches. I believe this technique is called paradoxical relaxation by some-- the more you accept the problem, the more your body releases the tension.
Good luck!
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Benzodiazapines have been linked to ED. I’d avoid them for sleep.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9160580&dopt=Abstract
Can’tsleep I agree with you about avoiding more pharma drugs…nevertheless I’ve been using Seroquel as it is commonly used off label for sleep. It never fails to get me 8 hours of deep sleep but obviously I’m wary of becoming hooked on something normally prescribed for bi-polar. In all honestly though, it probably did more to alleviate my daytime fatigue than anything else this far. I can’t exaggerate how much this has helped as I often felt like SHIT otherwise.
I think it’s starting to lose it’s effectiveness somewhat as it takes me forever to get to sleep, sometimes 2-3 hours.
i also had a big problem to sleep for a long time after qutting propecia,now after 6 years i can say i’m 80% recovered about this… first question to people that can’t sleep good: i want to know if you are working all the day or if you do nothing all the day…i say this cause when i had this problem from propecia,i was not working and at night time i was even less able to fall asleep… just after i started to work i can tell you that everything changed cause in the night time i was/i am really tired after a big day of work,so i regulate the hours of sleep,i always use to go to sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time and i m pretty sure this was the main trick that made my sleep better…just an advise.
Hi italysideeffects,
I can confirm that. Working regular hours a day (especially hard work) makes you sleep much better. When I started working I recognized that. However, now I quit my job and I have about three months of vacation with days that are not “structured” and it is the same as before. What I want to say is that having “routine days” with regular work hours doesn’t cure the problem.
I’ve had trouble sleeping for decades (pre PFS). The only thing that has worked for me is a drug called Elavil. I take a low dose (12.5mg) which is 1/2 a 25 mg pill. Helps with other conditions too.