I think an insomnia blog with Fitbit measurements could be good, there could be some good data in there.
I’m really pleased to hear you sounding so much more positive by the way.
Thanks @Greek . Yesterday was horrid. Today is much better. I did drink some coffee this morning which I think was probably a mistake as it made me feel really jittery. I guess my recomendation would be to NOT drink any coffee. I was hoping it would take some of the groggyness away but it was too much.
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Yeah I have a super weird reaction to coffee. Oh I miss coffee. I used to make my own cold brew and drink tons of it. Made me feel alert, euphoric, and motivated (and slightly restless which was good). Now when I drink it, my body sorta shuts down. I get twitchy and my vision gets worse like my brain is having processing issues. It almost makes me light headed. Almost like the feeling of crashing on coffee with zero sleep.
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Yeah… I got some weird spaced out jittery feeling this morning which def made my vision sort of weird. Its like I couldnt focus or something. Its going away now. I guess its best to leave that alone. I “think” coffee is probably bad for GABA. The only reason I drank some this morning was because I know I’m going to have a late night tonight and I figure it will be long gone out of my system by the time I get to try to sleep.
@Mcbbould Do you drink decaf just to get that taste or have you just steered clear of all of it.
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So I actually really think my issues are gaba related, so interesting that you bring this up. I also get “brain zaps” and the going theory is that brain zaps are gaba related.
I don’t drink any coffee period. Decaf is shit and drinking it would depress me, lol. I will test my caffeine tolerance with black tea, but even that is too much for me. It’s the exact lack of focus feeling you describe, only my baseline is as if I drank 10 coffees, with the spaced out, unable to focus feeling.
Just an update on the Remeron. So 2 nights ago I took my normal 7.5mg dose of Remeron and it litterally did nothing. I have no idea why. Its like the drug does nothing to me anymore. I laid awake all night and had a horrible day yesterday. Last night I took a full 15mg pill of Rememron and it barely did anything to me. Once I hit the 11pm mark… after nearly 2 hours of trying to fall asleep. I took 1.5mg of Klonopin and then I was able to fall asleep for the remainder of the night. I’m not sure what happened with the Remeron… it was working so well… I felt good during the day. I was happy. I did notice that the munchies everyone talks about when taking Remeron started to fade. I didnt think much of it. Seem like maybe that was a signal that the drug was starting to not work for me anymore. So now I’m in a very tough spot. I dont have anything that I feel is safe to take long term for sleep. I have some Trazodone but I’m not thrilled about trying that. As it is I technically need to wean off the Remeron.
I have started a water fast. Techinically started it yesterday after lunch as since 2pm yesterday all I have had is water and whatever sleep meds. I’m going to shoot for a 48 hour water fast to see if this makes an improvement in my sleep.
My theory is that Orexin is the real culprit in our sleep. I’m not depressed so I dont think Allopreg is the issue. I think for whatever reason, Orexin is over stimulating. I’m hoping a fast will help. Not sure what else to do. I’m open to suggestions.
Weird… some say that mirtazapine is good to sleep. i wanted to try it. i’m on trazodone and i was going to change it.
Allopreg. is responsible even for sleep distrubaces, anxiety… do you have these issues?
Update. I took a 15mg last night 2 hours before bedtime and took a 5mg time release melatonin (RemFresh) and I sleep nearly the full night. I probably could have skipped the melatonin or used a much lower dose. I was in the process of weaning off the melatonin and was down to .7mg and when the bad night of no sleep happened. I will now try to get back down to the lower dose of Mirtazapine ( 7.5mg) and work back towards using no melatonin.
In hindsight I suspect that maybe drinking coffee started to cause problems with the Mirtazapines effectiveness. A lot of talk in regards to sleep circles around Allopregnanolone but I’m starting to think that for some of us its really to much or over stimulated Orexin. If thats the case, the people who are drinking coffee for the benefit it might have towards Allopregnanolone might be doing more damage to their sleep by over saturating with Orexin. THats just my arm chair sciences. I litterally have no idea what I’m talking about and am just a guy trying to make sense of why things happen. @anonymous1968 had tons of failed attempts with sleep drugs until he went on Balsomra which is an Orexin antagonist.
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Having tried Ambien, Klonopin and Trazodone… my opinion is that Mirtazapine is waaaay better of a sleep drug then any of them. If you can keep the dose down to 7.5mg I think you have a shot at getting sleep while your body heals its sleep in the background.
So I’m not at the point where 15mg of Remeron (Mirtazapine) is no longer working. I laid in bed for 2.5 hours last night and was so frustrated that I got up and took 2 Klonopin. That knocked me out from 11pm - 6:30am. Its the first time I’ve been awakened by my alarm in months. Anyway, that is clearly not safe or sustainable.
I wonder if I should push back down to 7.5mg because apparently Remeron has more of a sedative effect at lower doses.
I’m trying a 24 - 48 water fast starting this morning to see if this has an effect on the Remeron. Food didnt seem to make a difference in the begining when i was using it. It was working so well and I was so happy. Now I’m fastly approaching having no functional sleep aid. Dont want to keep increaseing the Remeron .
talk to your doctor. trazodone saved me from insomnia.
when did you stop fin? are you on other drugs? i don’t think that a single 24-48h fast is going to help.
Hi out there, 2 months after stopping fin I still suffer from insomnia. First 3-4 hours I get normal sleep and after that I wake up and rest of the night is a phase of being half asleep and half awake… often having the feeling of being full of adrenaline.
My dopamine, serotonin and noradrenalin was tested low. Melatonin was normal.
Has anybody tested Melachron 3mg? It’s 1/3 fast releasing and 2/3 slow releasing melatonin.
Thanks for any advice
has anyone taken zopiclone for sleep?
I took it… made me depressed the next day. Not really a great drug at all. It only gives me a couple hours of sleep.
Just a quick note… 2 things that work for me for sleep. Liftmode sleep caps and Phenibut. Both must be used very carefully. I use each once a week at this point. As you know Phenibut can be highly addictive and has a nasty withdrawal. I took a Liftmode Sleep Cap last night and it nearly knocked me off my feet. Very strong stuff.
Maybe I can bring some hope with my good news story:
After stopping finasteride I was suddenly unable to sleep longer than 5 hours for 2 months (in 2017). But in the 3rd month I naturally recovered 
Guess my sleep problems (or more accurately early wake up problems) were after all just caused by stress because I discovered finasteride gave me permanent ED. Probably bad habits like checking the clock when I woke up worsened things. I had sleep therapy which helps a little bit. (Mainly preventative; surely no wonders.)
Hope this might reassure people a bit. Unfortunately this does not apply to everyone but in some cases insomnia is just caused by… worrying about insomnia.
Hey everyone thought I would post a new experience for me, I’ve started trialing marijuana/weed as a way to improve my sleep.
I will preface this with acknowledging that weed may have some 5ar-I properties that have been previously discussed on the forum and some members have reported worsening following weed use. Caution should be taken if you have severe reactions to what are usually relatively innocuous substances (regarding 5ar-I activity).
That being said I’ve used it twice now the first time i had a good sleep for me following its use about 6 hours (while camping in the cold). However last night I smoked about 1/4 of a joint a few hours before bed, it was primarily an Indica strain. The high itself was quite nice even though I can sometimes be prone to mild anxiety with weed, however more importantly I had an awesome sleep last night one of the best since getting PFS about 8 months ago. I got around 7 hours uninterrupted then another 2 after (my baseline is 2.5-4.5 hours per night). I feel well rested today!
It is early days but will update after a few more nights using. Once again be cautious with any substance and also this is early days for me to clearly decide if weed is helpful with my sleep routine.
Cheers
After 1 year of pfs I sleep well. I sleep 8 hours only days.
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Do you wake up refreshed though
No…