Insomnia - nothing works, GP won't prescribe sleeping tablets

Take the antidepressants.  They may help you depending on your situation. Also ask for low dose of Dolpidem or Zopiclone with short term use. Lizx

Hey Charmaine,

Sorry to hear about your troubles.  My first advice would be, do not lose your will to live!  I have been where you are, so disheartened and depressed and racked with anxiety with no end in sight.  So many others here have as well and I hope they will weigh in also.  I want you to have some hope, because you can and will feel better even if that doesn't seem possible at this moment.  

My first thought on the sleeping pills is that your doctor is right.  I know that is tough to hear but those pills do more harm than good.  I have tried them all and would be able to live with the dependency issues they can create IF they actually worked!  That's the problem with sleeping pills, they simply don't work and then you get even more depressed after holding out so much hope that they are exactly what you needed. You really won't find too many good things about sleeping meds on this forum.  I am sure they work for some people but I don't see too many success stories.  It is easy to slip into a pattern of thinking where you believe that all you need is the right sleeping pill and then you will be able to sleep again but that magic pill just doesn't exist.  

And I wouldn't swear off the antidepressants just yet.  They helped me get through a tough spot when my insomnia was at its worst.  I wouldn't want to take them long term but they can help you manage depression and in-turn get better sleep.  Insomnia is very closely intertwined with depression and anxiety and it is very difficult to get better sleep if you are also dealing with the other things.  If you are worried about the side effects of antidepressants, I would just tell you that the side effects of Ambien/Lunesta and the like are much worse.  

I'm going to go through a brief list of things that have helped me battle back from my insomnia.   I know I sound like a broken record on the forum sometimes but I have gone down all the wrong roads and finally settled in on the few things that actually work (at least for me). 

1. Get exercise every day.  It doesn't have to be a near-death experience, just some activity to get your heart rate up for around 20 minutes.  I do not know why this helps your sleep and really don't think the doctors do either, but it does help.  Even when you have a poor night of sleep, exercise makes you feel more focused and relaxed.  

2. Limit your time in bed.  For example, if you are in the bed for 8 hours but only getting 4 hours of sleep, then start limiting your time in bed to a total of 4 hours. When you wake up and can't go back to sleep, get up and do something like reading or another relaxing activity.  When you get to a point where you are sleeping the full 4 hours, extend your time in bed by 15 minutes.  Do this every week until reaching a point where you are satisfied with the amount of sleep you are getting. 

3. When you have a rough night of sleep, just go on about your business and resolve yourself to have a good day anyway.  I know it feels bad and you may not be able to remember things or focus as well as you'd like, but the truth is you can have a good day even if you don't sleep that well.  Proving to yourself that it's not the end of the world when you sleep poorly will lessen the anxiety you have about sleep in general.  Lower anxiety = better sleep.  

4. I don't want to pry, but if you have depression and anxiety issues (I'm just assuming this is the case since your doctor wants to prescribe antidepressants), get with a therapist and work on these things.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to take care of yourself on these things.  I had both for a long time and just thought that I'd be able to keep right on leaving them untreated if I could get better sleep.  That was a monumental mistake on my part.  Again, it is very difficult (almost impossible) to get better sleep if your insomnia is related to anxiety and depression and you don't address those problems. 

Hopefully some of this will help you.  None of these things works overnight, but if adhered to over the course of a couple of weeks they will start to pay dividends.  The main thing is not to lose faith, because it will get better with the right approach.  

 

I was wondering why you won't take the anti-depressants. A lot of them cause drowsiness which could help you.