I’ve taken Ambien every night since it was first introduced. On those rare nights when it doesn’t work I take another half, and if that doesn’t work I add 2 milligrams of Valium.
So far no problems and it’s made my life worth living and saved my career.
Well just got up after 45 minutes of being wide awake. Now for the rest of my protocol – please please let it work.
I’ve had insomnia my entire life. I honestly don’t know how to go to sleep. No
matter how tired I am I’m just unable to fall asleep. I lie awake in bed for hours
in the dark, with my eyes closed, not moving. Just lieing there for hours. Eventualy
I discovered alcohol, which’ll eventually knock me out after consuming
extraordinary amounts (this of course has led to alcoholism which is another
story). Recently my girlfriend got a prescription for Ambian which she occasionaly
shares with me. Wow. Ambian is the greatest thing mankind has ever invented.
About a half hour after I take it I’m unconconscious with no memory of having
lain in bed trying to go to sleep and no after effects the next morning. I’m not
tired and groggy and I feel refreshed and good - I suppose the
way normal people feel after a good night’s rest (and I don’t feel hungover like
I do after drinking all night). I’ve never experienced anything like it.
It’s incredible. I’m thinking about if I get a prescription for myself and I honestly
think it’ll help cure the alcoholism too (which is another story).
As someone who needs a nap to survive the day, I read this article on caffeinated naps, and found it really helpful to survive.
Does your insurance cover Ambien or have you figured out a cheap way to get it?
I goot those, but only after using sleep inducing tapes. Cripes, they were weird. Laser-ninja-George-Bush-plastic-tank-flying-Gotham weird.
Well, you’re only 40. There’s still time. 
For now my insurance covers it, but they’re getting more restrictive every year. Plus Ambien raised their prices by 13% this year, which is the largest increase of any drug on the market. I’m a businessman and I understand the need for profits, but these guys seem to be driven by pure short term greed.
By the way my protocol worked last night. I went from, “hyper alert wide awake,” “to out like a light.”
I tried AMBIEN-it put me to sleep, but it left me groggy all the next day. To me, it was like waking up and feeling that i han’t slept-and being angry and tired the next day. anybody have this experience?
I’ve had difficulty with sleep ranging from having a hard time falling asleep to outright, can’t-sleep-at-all insomnia, for as long as I can remember. Like you, it’s much easier for me to drift off and nap during the day then it is to fall asleep at night, though you sound like you’re having an especially rough time of it if it takes three or four hours to fall asleep. With the thinking and worrying keeping you awake - been there, done that. Stress of any kind definitely makes it worse. The only thing that I’ve found to work even semi-effectively is to make a schedule and stick to it. I love naps - took one today, in fact - but I find myself unable to fall asleep for several hours later that night, pretty much without fail. It’s especially annoying to be a more-or-less chronic insomniac night person in a morning world. My schedule currently requires me to be up between 7 and 8 AM, which has been less than pleasant. Waking up even an hour later is something I can do long-term, and I look forward to being able to stay in bed until 9 come fall, but waking up before 8:00 definitely makes it more difficult to avoid insomnia. So, in addition to keeping as regular a schedule as possible, it’s best to have a sleep schedule that’s in synch with your personal cycle. Unfortunately, the world of work and academics don’t always allow for that.
I wish I could comment on the effects of meds, but I have no experience with them. When I had some mild depression in high school and was on a light dose of Lexapro, I seem to recall it helping, but that may have just been a side effect of less anxiety as a result of the drug. I don’t know if it has any direct influences on sleepiness or lack thereof.
Of course, one option is to get five to seven hours of sleep a night and deal with being tired in the morning by resorting to coffee or other forms of caffeine. Some people (a lot of people) function this way, but I personally end up getting pretty strung out pretty fast whenever I try it. And of course, if you have caffeine past a certain time of day - for some people, if they have it all - it’s going to make things MUCH worse. I’m not anti-caffeine or anything, and I get the impression that you’re not really interested in going that route, but that’s my personal experience with it.
Good luck with this. Lack of sleep is a really frustrating thing to deal with, and it really does make day to day life a lot harder. I’m sure you’ll lick the worst of this eventually. Hang in there!