Severe Insomnia caused by a medication

im a' healthy' 34 year old male .....who up until 2 years ago slept really well.

i suddenly developed severe insomnia about 1.5 years ago , when things are really bad its 0- 2 hours a night and when things are manageable its 4-6 hours .

i havent had a night of 8 hours sleep for years.

mine came 100% as a result of using Finasteride (propecia) which i took for 4.5 years. i quit the drug in september 2019 and im still suffering side effects today.

this is a drug used by many young males to help hair growth , although the dangers of it are not properly made aware to the users and at this stage people who bring these side effects up to their doctors are generally given the "psychiatry " explanation ("its all because of depression" or " these things are all in your head") which of course doesnt help anyone or anything . i have been lucky recently and found a doctor who is willing to believe what has happened and is helping me as best he can.

all the while more and more men are starting to use this drug and the scope for people suffering these side effects therefore continues to increase.

anyhow i have used several things to try and help over the last 1.5 years like Zopiclone which i used every night for 5 months and ended up tapering off.

i have tried valerian , melatonin , magnesium, lemonbalm, CBD all which have worked for a while (when i say worked given 4-6 hours a night) but eventually the extreme insomnia has returned .

i am now trying Mirtazapine , im on day number 5 so far and it has given some good nights and some bad. last night was bad- i took the 7.5 mg and layed awake till about 4am and then slept for about an hour .

does anyone know if mirtazapine can take a few weeks to kick in for sleep?

life is pretty grim right now- i eat well and exercise a lot (cardio and weights ) alternating daily . i have prayer/mediatation daily and i work on a craft daily as well , yet every night , all the positive things i have done in the day get undone by sleeping 0-2 hours.

im in the process of a sleep study , but it has taken a while to get round to because of covid and i have been on a waiting list.

if anyone else has taken finasteride and has these issues please let me know what worked for you , otherwise , i would strongly suggest to stay away from thise drug as it has ruined 2 years of my life and it may not be over just yet......

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