Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Symptoms Neurological
#1

I like all kinds of feedback but let’s see if I get some from people who were on a similar situation:

After 3,5 years on finasteride and having developed lately a really weird insomnia I decided to quit for 17 days to see if anything happened (pretty innocent). A week after I restarted the drug, like four pills later, I got to the point of not being able to get to sleep at all. Everytime I was about to get any sleep I was having twitches and some panic feelings and palpitations. After the night of sleeplessness I was having a very strong head pressure/blocking/activation state and I would try to rest and I could not get anything, so I went into lorazepam and could sleep a lot.

It’s been almost a month and I have been in trazodone, which has been helpful but now seems to be losing its effect. I have used lorazepam like four or five times.

And this last night has been the same. I haven’t slept, plus I can’t get real sleep now. And I have the twitches and palpitations when I am about to. The head pressure is going but most likely because of trazodone, which I am tapering.

I am perfect at laying in bed, I am genetically made for sleep and dreams. But… what the hell can I do when it is like I will not have any real sleep? Should I just find a switching benzo treatment or something like that? I will see how things go and I trust my body. But I am only one month off finasteride and I will probably have to maintain myself some alternative way.

If you have experienced the same, I would love if you give me some advice.

I want to thank @LazarusRy and @Dvir for their previous advices.

Take care!

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Severe Insomnia and Sleep issues
#2

I would try to stay away from meds as they can make things a lot worse. I got desperate and resorted to meds which I regret I’m still paying the price years later. As mentioned try distraction . relaxation therapies they do work. Turkey, lettuce, cherries help as long as you don’t have intolerences. I fall asleep almost immediately using relaxation but wake 3 hours later most nights. Ruminating will keep you awake and wired so you need to clear your mind. Hope this helps.

#3

Without relaxation I’d be awake all night

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#4

Thanks. I will keep this advice with me, be sure about it. I think it is the last thing you could forget.

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#5

Good luck Nait

#6

When my sleep is bad (as last night, in fact) I think that looking at my phone is a really bad habit. I find that if I can stop my mind from racing to new thoughts then it’s a good sign. With that in mind, try and work out what distracts you without needing your input (eg - don’t play a video game) and try and let yourself be occupied by that. I’m not sure how much that may help but I find that if I listen to a podcast with the volume low, that can help. I can lie, close my eyes and be occupied to some degree.

Try and make sure your environment is as tuned to sleep as you can, sort out your bedding so it’s not too hot / cold for you. If you’re in the Northern hemisphere, summer and hot nights are coming. Get a fan if you need it, etc. Try and wind down beforehand.

A lot of this stuff is general sleep assistance for people who don’t have our problems and so some of it may or may not be helpful. But give yourself the best chance.

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#7

Best sleeping hack I found so far: 1 hour before sleep, take an ice cold shower for 2 minutes.

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#8

1g Phenibut…But NEVER overdo it…I treat myself every once or a while when i have a long week end…

#9

I overheard EMF and blue light can both be sleep disruptors. Putting away the phone and turning off nearby wifi may be a plausible idea. Magnesium sometimes help.

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#10

Don’t drink caffeinated drinks. Caffeine is a powerful stimulant

#11

The thing is that I got to an state of my body that I can’t get to sleep at all. The next day, the same. I would be twitching and convulsioning. I would like to try if at some moment I could be reaching some sleep level like just waiting it out but I am afraid it is dangerous. There are some members in the forum who have experienced this terrible situation and that is what I am curious about, getting in touch with people who have been at this limit. I got a really good answer in another topic and an user called Marck2012 or something like that seems to have managed with the same years ago.

#12

Sounds pretty serious maybe some short term sleep meds are in order or a sleep specialist. My first 3-4 weeks off the drug I averaged about 2 hours a night if that’s any consolation. Often did not sleep as well

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#13

Yeah I will start low with meds at the direction of the doctor.

#14

The second time I took Saw P seven years ago I developed severe insomnia . I stayed up for 6 weeks with zero sleep . Followed by weeks of hardly any sleep. Followed by months of not so great sleep. My sleep never recovered completely back to normal but close to pre crash.

At the end of November 2020 I experience something similar but not as bad. Still bad though. This time I took a combo of amino acids and SAMe. I stayed up for 8 days zero sleep followed by weeks of minimal sleep . I am doing much better now and I’m pretty much back to my regular baseline with sleep. Although some nights I still do worse then my regular baseline so it still fluctuates.

This is what worked for me and this will be my exact protocol if it happens again:

No prescription drugs. except a prescription of benzodiazepines on stand by. Do not take the benzodiazepines every night. Only take a benzodiazepine at the lowest dose possible needed to work for one night after getting zero sleep for three nights. So if you get zero sleep for three nights this is the point that you are really suffering. So at that point I give in and take one benzodiazepine. Get some sleep . Hope you can can get some sleep the next night with no benzodiazepine. If you can’t get any sleep just go three nights with no sleep again . Then take another benzodiazepine after another three nights of no sleep

Do this until every night you get at least 1-3 hrs of sleep with no benzodiazepines ever .

Glycine, magnesium every night and a rotation of melatonin 3 nights on and 3 nights off is a must for me to maintain my current 5-6 hrs of sleep with 1-2 short wake ups in between. Some nights I sleep up to 6 hrs with no wake up’s. Most nights after the 5-6 hrs I can still get in and out light sleep for another 1-3 hr’s. So this is pretty good and I’m only 4 months post the recent insomnia crash. I’m not suffering by any means. I’m also experimenting with individual amino acids trying to figure out which ones help and which ones hurt so that I can learn more about how to beat this completely .

Also I started taking cold showers about 2 weeks ago. They suck while you are doing it. Hands down suck. It’s a part of the Cdnuts protocol that I never tried and believed in. But I have improved in all areas since adding in the cold showers only two weeks ago. I severely regret not making cold showers a part of my daily routine for the last 10 years. That 5-6 hr stretch of sleep if more commonly 6 hrs since adding in the cold showers and it feels like more refreshing deep level sleep. I would recommend trying everything I said here. I’m up to ten minute straight of cold water. I man up and go in cold to get the biggest shock as possible and stay under the shower head for 10 minutes. In my experience thus far with cold showers the colder and longer the better.

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