# Insomnia to the point of psychosis?



## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

Sometimes (like now) I have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. I'll stay awake for a couple of days or sleep about 2 hours in a 4 or 5 day period. I don't take medication, so it's not anything I'm taking. I just can't shut my eyes and sleep. 

Does anyone else have this? 

If so, do you get it to the point of psychosis like I do sometimes? 

Why do you think you have trouble sleeping? 

What works to get you back on a sleeping pattern?

Thanks,

Tella


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## JustSpitItReal (May 24, 2012)

It is the million dollar question! I am the same way, I don't know if it is that my brain just doesn't want me to go to sleep so I can to stay awake until my body just forces my brain to sleep, or what. Some days where I did not sleep the night before I am drop dead tired but something tells me I cant sleep, even if I lay there I will become bored within a minute and need to use the computer or do something else. Last night I did not sleep a wink, got up and lived my day, went to the gym, got some stuff done. Came home and fell asleep around 4. My dad then woke me up for somthing around 6. I am now stuck awake, tired to the point where I have that strange feeling my body that I get when I don't sleep, it is an unexplainable feeling but it is for sure one of the worst feeling you can have it is sort of like everything in your body hurt and your brain hurts. Now I still can not fall asleep.


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

It's hard to function too, huh? And remember things. I start to forget simple words. Do you also do that?


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

And it doesn't help to lie down or drink milk or all the other things people suggest.


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

I vaguely remember something weird that happened when I was little. I was crying hysterically while my parents tried to convince me to go to sleep. The story was that I was "too tired to sleep." It wasn't psychosis, but I was definitely hysterical. I remember how hysterical I felt. (Sorry for the repetition, but that's the only word that fits how I was acting.) I don't remember the particulars of the situation, such as WHY I was so tired--all I know is I felt certain something was really wrong with me--so I know this reply isn't that useful, but I do think psychosis is possible if you're not getting enough sleep. I imagine it might get hard to tell reality from imagination after a while. Maybe dreams seeping into waking life? Or lapsing into half-waking, half-sleeping states?

I hate replying without a solution for your issue, especially after replying to your other post (I'm not stalking you, really! :blush ), but I do hope you find something that helps. I'm always so tired, I can't imagine going so long without sleep.


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

I've been working on a solution in therapy, but so far it seems my body just doesn't go to sleep.

But it's good to know others have experienced that same problem. 

And the craziness that happens after awhile.


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## JustSpitItReal (May 24, 2012)

great reply's you guys explained it near perfect. Too tired to sleep, that is exactly what it is. Another thing I HATE is when I am this tired, if I do begin to drift into a sleep, my body gets an instant shock and I awake , I sometimes get these for up to a half an hour trying to fall asleep. It is sometimes scary!


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

And if you just lie in bed or read, you're still not sleeping. 

Then you see the clock and freak out that it's almost time to get up and go to work.


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## meeps (Dec 5, 2011)

It was not helpful for me to lay in bed _trying_ to fall asleep- or to think that sleep was my goal. If I started to get frustrated or psyched out about not being able to sleep while laying there in bed, I would go do something else like watch tv until I felt like I might be able to. Stressing out over it only made it worse. You could try listening to relaxing music.


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## meco1999 (May 28, 2011)

I've been having this problem the last few weeks. I go to sleep around 1 or 2 and wake up at 6 or 7 after only 4 or 5 hours of sleep everyday. I'm still sleepy but I can't go back to sleep. Today I was dead tired at work. Some nights I've been worried and anxious about things but other nights I've had a clear mind, and still wake up at 6 or 7. Drinking "sleepytime" herbal tea and taking 2 Benadryl the night before didn't help. I wish I had some suggestions. Anyone? :|

I wonder why my brain got into this groove of waking up at 6 or 7 AM after just a few hours sleep when it used to wake up at 9 AM a month ago?


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

Thanks guys on the suggestions. 

I think mine is more I don't want to sleep, but no I have to. 

Just crazy making!


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## ApathyDivine (Feb 28, 2012)

You could try a sleep hypnosis video?


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

Silentious said:


> You could try a sleep hypnosis video?


Thanks for the suggestion. It would have to be alone watching it, because I won't ever trust a therapist or someone to put me under hypnosis.

Thanks for the idea.

Tella


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## Still Waters (Sep 18, 2008)

If you get really desperate,you could try antihistamines? They're non habit forming and I've even had a doctor tell me he occasionally uses them to sleep.


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

Thanks for the suggestion. I have gone with Benadryl and Nyquil sometimes. When I wake up, I walk into walls for about an hour, but them I shake it off. 

Thanks!


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## iamwhoiam (May 14, 2012)

I don't have it as bad as you, but I havn't slept through the entire night in many years. I have times when I just lay there for hours and hours, trying everything I can to get to sleep then finaly fall asleep an hour before I have to get up. I normaly wake up about 6-8 times everynight when I do sleep. Sometimes I can get back to sleep, sometimes not. Things I have used to _make_ myself sleep are diphenhydramine (generic anti-histamine), doxylamine succinate (OTC sleep aid, but good luck not being a zombie the next morning), meletonin, valerian, (both work for a bit sometimes) and phenibut. Hope you find something that helps you out.


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## meco1999 (May 28, 2011)

Well, last night I did a little better with my sleep. Any improvement is good. I managed to fall back asleep for a little while after waking up at 6 AM (went to bed around midnight, took a while to fall asleep). Last night I took 2 over the counter nighttime painkiller pills with 25 mg Diphenhydramine HCl in them. Those helped a little. :blank


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

JustSpitItReal said:


> Another thing I HATE is when I am this tired, if I do begin to drift into a sleep, my body gets an instant shock and I awake , I sometimes get these for up to a half an hour trying to fall asleep. It is sometimes scary!


Could it be this, perhaps?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myoclonus

(I'm used to it being called the myoclonic jerk. I get these often enough to be irksome. Like your leg or something knows when you're dozing off and wants to play a prank on you. :roll Useful when you're, say, dozing off atop a stool, but not so much when you're lying down!)

I take diphenhydramine myself to sleep. As I've said in an earlier post, sometimes I end up doing kind of weird things in the middle of the night, but at least I sleep!


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

Thanks tehuti88, meco1999 and iamwhoiam, for the suggestions and information. You guys have all been helpful. 

Tella


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## Still Waters (Sep 18, 2008)

Some people just love sleepytime tea or melatonin? I tried both,didn't work for me though.


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

I tried some all-natural Nytol a long time back; I can't remember what was in it (they don't even sell Nytol around here anymore, but I think it's just diphenhydramine too). Stuff didn't work at all. So I'm leery of relying on any of those other natural sleeping aids. :/


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## suddentwist (Sep 27, 2011)

A few years back, I went through a few months of complete hell. It started innocently enough - I started waking up early after going to bed really late, then it progressed into a few nights a week where I'd just lie in bed twisting and turning. Eventually I found myself nodding off perhaps 30 minutes - 2 hours, per night. After a few weeks of such little sleep, I had to start writing things down because I couldn't remember simple things anymore - at one point it got so bad that I had to write little notes for myself around the house, and I'd constantly have to check the calendar because I could never remember what day it was.

The only thing that helped me, a bit (with getting the little sleep that I did get), during those few months was to change the location of where I was sleeping, or the position I was sleeping in. So for example, I'd sleep with my head at the opposite side of the bed, or on the couch. Some nights I'd camp out on the floor. Or I'd sleep in my car. Not sure why it helped me, and it might not be helpful for you, but it's worth a try, perhaps.


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

suddentwist said:


> The only thing that helped me, a bit (with getting the little sleep that I did get), during those few months was to change the location of where I was sleeping, or the position I was sleeping in. So for example, I'd sleep with my head at the opposite side of the bed, or on the couch. Some nights I'd camp out on the floor. Or I'd sleep in my car. Not sure why it helped me, and it might not be helpful for you, but it's worth a try, perhaps.


This has actually helped me also. I've been rotating from bed to sofa to a futon each night and it seems to be working. Not sure why. Maybe it's just exhaustion, but it does seem to be working. Thanks. It's nice to know that I wasn't crazy in my belief of changing where I slept helped.


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

tehuti88 said:


> I tried some all-natural Nytol a long time back; I can't remember what was in it (they don't even sell Nytol around here anymore, but I think it's just diphenhydramine too). Stuff didn't work at all. So I'm leery of relying on any of those other natural sleeping aids. :/


I have ADHD on top of other stuff and so any type of antihistamine will keep me up for days. i don't take any medication now, but I do drink caffeine to help me focus. Caffeine calms down ADHD people. Nyquil will work the first night, but then it does that hyper effect on me.

I have been sleeping for the last two nights which is wonderful! I actually feel rested for the first time in a long time. I appreciate all your suggestions. I've been trying a little of this and a little of that. I'm going to refer to this thread if I go through insomnia again.

Thank you, tehuti88, Still Waters, suddentwist, and everyone who gave suggestions. It was very helpful. I hope the suggestions will help others who might have insomnia also.

Thanks,

Tella


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## Johny (Dec 21, 2010)

tehuti88 said:


> Could it be this, perhaps?
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myoclonus
> ...


I've found eating one or two spoonfuls of millet (powder form bought from grocery store) before bed help reduce the occurrence of hypnic jerks.


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## McdonaldMiller (Apr 16, 2012)

Sleep is a normal body function (No S*** Sherlock). If you cannot sleep you are doing something wrong or you may have some disorder. Try thought exercises. Do not be afraid to pursue psychological help whether it be online sources of techniques or counseling. I drink for my insomnia sometimes... helps me forget about all my worries. DONT DO THIS lol.


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## McdonaldMiller (Apr 16, 2012)

Wait this psychosis you speak of. I have had that. Or at least something similar. When I was in a withdrawl I was in a delirium I could not get rid of. I could not sleep or do anything that required even the smallest amount of focus. I started to take bio glycozyme forte. Apparently, I was extremely deficient of things due to the withdrawal and stress. Try something like this. It has b vitamins and alot of other things.


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## sansd (Mar 22, 2006)

Johny said:


> I've found eating one or two spoonfuls of millet (powder form bought from grocery store) before bed help reduce the occurrence of hypnic jerks.


I think that magnesium supplementation may have helped me with them.


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

Thanks carambola, McdonaldMiller and Johny for all the suggestions. It's great that there are so many ways to beat insomnia. 

Thanks for posting.

Tella


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## alittleunwell (May 27, 2012)

It's great to know that I'm not alone in my stubborn insomnia. It often seems the doctors don't believe you when you tell them you _can't_ sleep. I guess they think you'll sleep when you get tired enough -- but we who suffer know that's not the case. I've tried everything, yes _everything_ so all the suggestions I've heard. This is a problem I've had since childhood. The only thing that ever really helped me was taking Elavil (although it would still take me at least 4 hours to get to sleep every night). It didn't help any of my psych problems so I'm now on something else instead.

The thing with me is that I can't _get_ to sleep -- but once I do fall asleep I could (and have!) literally sleep for fifteen hours straight. That would probably be a good schedule for me, awake for days then sleeping for days, except that I have to go to work. Once a long time ago I read a short article that said scientists were working on a new sleep med, that they'd found a type of "switch" in our brains that flips to put us to sleep. They said in some people this switch doesn't work right. That sounded exactly like the problem I have, rather than regular insomnia. Sadly I guess nothing ever came of that research, as I don't know of any atypical sleeping pill.


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

alittleunwell said:


> It's great to know that I'm not alone in my stubborn insomnia. It often seems the doctors don't believe you when you tell them you _can't_ sleep. I guess they think you'll sleep when you get tired enough -- but we who suffer know that's not the case. I've tried everything, yes _everything_ so all the suggestions I've heard. This is a problem I've had since childhood. The only thing that ever really helped me was taking Elavil (although it would still take me at least 4 hours to get to sleep every night). It didn't help any of my psych problems so I'm now on something else instead.
> 
> The thing with me is that I can't _get_ to sleep -- but once I do fall asleep I could (and have!) literally sleep for fifteen hours straight. That would probably be a good schedule for me, awake for days then sleeping for days, except that I have to go to work. Once a long time ago I read a short article that said scientists were working on a new sleep med, that they'd found a type of "switch" in our brains that flips to put us to sleep. They said in some people this switch doesn't work right. That sounded exactly like the problem I have, rather than regular insomnia. Sadly I guess nothing ever came of that research, as I don't know of any atypical sleeping pill.


I'm sorry you're struggling with insomnia also. It sucks doesn't it? Thanks for sharing here.


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## Midnight Laces (May 5, 2012)

Well, I pull an all-nighter every night and I sleep during the day. I either can't sleep or don't want to sleep.

Now, I kind of see (think I see?) spiders in the wall. It's an occasional thing. 

I'm starting to worry.


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## VC132 (Sep 1, 2010)

Midnight Laces said:


> Well, I pull an all-nighter every night and I sleep during the day. I either can't sleep or don't want to sleep.
> 
> Now, I kind of see (think I see?) spiders in the wall. It's an occasional thing.
> 
> I'm starting to worry.


 I used to see giant spiders crawling on my bed at night...when I went out to touch them or threw a pillow on them, they disappeared. In the last seven days, I slept maybe 24 hours total. It's been horrible.


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## chantellabella (May 5, 2012)

Yikes Midnight Laces and VC132! 

That's not good. Have you tried different things to sleep. It's really not good to be seeing stuff.


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## Midnight Laces (May 5, 2012)

I take seroquel. However you spell it. 

But I take that when it's needed. Like if I have a session with my therapist or I need to be somewhere.


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## sirmrkill1 (Jul 16, 2013)

*ditto*

i get the same. i take quatiapine. its an anti psychotic and a sedative so i can sleep. sometimes i wake up a few times in the night.recently this has happened. but right now i feel rather strange. i dont know quite how to exlpain it. its like i dont have peace inside. its like a wrestling going on. i totally understand loosing my memory and unable to sleep. if i dont sleep i just wont get tired.


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## Maslow (Dec 24, 2003)

If your insomnia is that bad, get on Paxil. It will make you tired and you'll sleep like never before! I suffered from severe insomnia for some 15 years and nothing else helped.


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## tieffers (Jan 26, 2013)

Psychosis as in auditory and visual hallucinations and extreme paranoia? I have. I do, pretty commonly. Antihistamines - good suggestions! They used to work for me, but now they have a simultaneously sedative and stimulatory effect, so I'm just sleepier but more spazzy and anxious. I hope they work for you, though. Ultra safe OTC medications are best to try first if they can help.

I hate recommending benzos as a cure-all for everything, but in this case, it's my magic bullet. The one thing that is guaranteed to help, every time. If it's myoclonus, muscle relaxants have helped, too, but you have to be careful mixing those.

Sometimes a really low dose of a tetracyclic or tricyclic antidepressant can help, like Trazodone or Pamelor. Trazodone has been really effective for me in the past, and the recommended dosage as a sleep aid only is so low you won't likely feel any side effects except for (possibly) a bit of a hangover the next morning.

I've also found that not doing anything physically or mentally strenuous at least hours before bed decreases the likelihood of these sleep problems by a lot. Also, chamomile tea with lavender right before bed has been very helpful.


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## Redneck 40 (Aug 12, 2013)

I have been a severe insomniac for decades. It’s only been the past seven or eight years that I’ve not only been able to get to sleep, but enjoy it.

It started about when I was 12. At first it was difficulty getting to sleep. Eventually it advanced to not being able to stay asleep when I finally was able to get to sleep. Then it took another step to periods of waking up and not being able to sleep again. By the time I was 15, my regular hours of sleep per week was an average of 15. 



I had severe issues in remembering names, phone numbers, where I was going- but my school work really didn’t suffer (except math. I sucked at math anyway.) as long as I did the work immediately upon having it issued. Emotionally I was distant, manic at times, and got very good at hiding it.


My parents had hints of my issues, but no real idea of how bad it had gotten until they were thrown into my delusion on a school morning (I think it was near a weekend, but I can’t remember much of that week at all). I had not been able to sleep at all… the first two days were rough, but I’ve managed before (many times) and go through it. The third day I started to see little things flash by my field of vision, or I’d catch my name being said with no one around.


I had friends at that time that liked to mess with me, so …I chocked it up to them being them.


Beyond being too tired to sleep, I do remember saying a prayer to just let me go that evening. Let me go, let me sleep, or let me die. I lay there, not really thinking of anything- just breathing.


I remember the sun coming up.


I don’t remember, an hour later, screaming in the living room and scaring my entire family out of their wits. Evidently, I was witnessing the couch cannibalizing the lounger in the living room and was screaming for my parents to stop the murder. I don’t remember this, all of this information was given to me by my parents later on. I don’t remember the trip to the hospital after my father restrained me so I wouldn’t hurt him or myself as he got me into the car. I don’t remember screaming at the E.R. staff (I don’t know what I was screaming, and my father refused to tell me).
I certainly don’t remember being put down by the on-duty doctor. I barely remember the next Monday (I believe it was that, anyway) during the drive home from the hospital.


After they sedated me and spoke to my father they had decided to keep me under mild sedation so I could sleep without interruption. I’m not sure what or how of all of that, but I know from my father’s description of the events and from what he remembered that I had desperately needed REM sleep. I was kept under for almost two days. The team of doctors told my parents I had come very close to a psychotic break, and after speaking to them before I was discharged it was decided it was due to my complete lack of sleep for the week prior.


The week after I was sent home with some sleeping medication I had to go back for a sleep study and CAT scan, and a few other tests. Combining this issue with the often twice weekly severe migraine attacks they worried it was something in the brain tissue that caused both. One of the nurses there told me that if a brain is deprived of REM sleep cycles for more than five days in consecutive order it can and will go into a psychotic break with reality, and often lack the ability to return to normal.


All I found out with the tests was that I had a brain (yay)...and a chemical imbalance that caused the chronic and debilitating migraines, but no physical reason for the chronic and severe insomnia.


I haven’t had that bad of a spell since, but I’ve come close. Days with little to no sleep in a row, followed by a night of five to six hours (heaven, in my view) and followed again with days with little to no sleep (Two hours at the most). 



Only in the past seven or eight years have I been able to sleep more than six hours in a spell. I can do this now without waking up for no reason in the middle of the night, too. I can and will sleep anywhere (trains, planes and autos) if need be. I love sleep. I loathe to get up in the morning. It’s like I’m making up for all of the time lost in the past near decade- and I’m blessed for it.


What changed? Geography? Jobs? Those always change. Stress? Always there. Some years more than others. The chemical imbalance is still there, as evidenced to the migraines I still suffer through. I still talk in my sleep at times. Once in a while I have a nightmare, but the night terrors are gone. I still grind my teeth, however, and have the damage to show for it. The sleepwalking, thankfully, has stopped as far as I know.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve woken up somewhere else besides my bed.


Once, in a cross-roads in the little town where I grew up; bare foot, with shorts and a tee shirt on and around four in the morning. What woke me up was stepping on a broken Pepsi bottle remnant. Another time I woke up hanging onto an overhanging tree branch at the edge of the second story porch roof of my parent’s house. Yet again I woke up in the kitchen, or in the bathroom, and once I scared my brother half-out of his skin when I walked into his bedroom and proceeded to bang on the leaded glass windows screaming to get me out of the fire. It lasted a minute, maybe, and he said I stopped and turned and walked out again.


Yes- I am very glad that doesn’t happen anymore.


No medication. I smoke. I stopped drinking. I walk three miles, five days a week most weeks, but as for exercise that’s it. I smoked back then, I drank back then (yes, even underage), and my idea of exercise was stretching- that’s it. 



So really, little has changed. 



In the end I think it was psychologically induced. Between what we (the kids) thought to be a haunting in the house and the hidden abuse I suffered (through many, many years- inside and outside of the family) the research I’ve done led me to believe it was that and not physical or inherited.


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## alieneyed (Jul 3, 2013)

^ Wow. And I thought I was bad. I see "shadow people" and hear them calling my name. Sometimes it looks like the walls are melting and the ceilings are breathing. I don't suffer from insomnia, though. I sleep A LOT, almost all the time, but I'm constantly exhausted. I just woke up from sleeping for at least ten hours and I feel like I haven't slept for days. Does hypersomnia cause hallucinations? :afr

Welcome to SAS, btdubs.


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## LynxLoop (Aug 21, 2014)

*Try this*

http://www.ehow.com/about_5174319_using-vitamin-d3-sleep.html

Hope this will help, it seems many people are using vitamin D3 to overcome chronic insomnia.


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## Draconis (Jul 24, 2014)

I have Insomnia too, but it's from severe Serotonin deficiency. It's tough during nights when I get paranioid about my health,start thinking I'm having a stroke, my body doesn't listen to me so I just pace around the rooms. I get about 2-3 hours of sleep during night time and since I'm working full time I can't sleep in day times. I can't really stress enough how important it is to keep your Serotonin levels in check.


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## LynxLoop (Aug 21, 2014)

Draconis said:


> I have Insomnia too, but it's from severe Serotonin deficiency. It's tough during nights when I get paranioid about my health,start thinking I'm having a stroke, my body doesn't listen to me so I just pace around the rooms. I get about 2-3 hours of sleep during night time and since I'm working full time I can't sleep in day times. I can't really stress enough how important it is to keep your Serotonin levels in check.


Try using Vitamin D3 suplements with vitamin k2 (K2 it is needed for vitamin D3 absorption)

You can figure if you need it if you notice you sleep better after a day spent outdoors, thats when the skin gets more sunlight to produce V. D3.

I hope it helps.


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## Draconis (Jul 24, 2014)

LynxLoop said:


> Try using Vitamin D3 suplements with vitamin k2 (K2 it is needed for vitamin D3 absorption)
> 
> You can figure if you need it if you notice you sleep better after a day spent outdoors, thats when the skin gets more sunlight to produce V. D3.
> 
> I hope it helps.


Thanks , I just need them 5-hydroxytryptophan supplements. I try to stay away from Zoloft as much as I can.


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## Slytherclaw (Jul 16, 2011)

That's why I have to take something for sleep, usually klonopin or trazodone. I had full-blown visual/auditory hallucinations because of my insomnia when I was 14. Lack of sleep is very damaging to your overall health so make sure you get that sorted out...try melatonin I heard that works alright for most people


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