[Lenochka]

Hi guys. I wanted to know if it is possible to live without sleep at all? I have mental illness and severe chronical insomnia. I have tried tons and tons of methods. I developed a very quick tolerance to all of them. I am soon to sleep on nothing. That means I will not sleep at all. Recently I slept only about 30 minutes in nine !!! days in a raw. When I had nothing to sleep on. Martin says that sleep drive will do its work and you will eventually fall asleep. But!!! this is not true for me. I have schizoaffective disorder and this rule simply does not work for my case. Martin also says that CBT will work even when you cannot sleep for many days in a raw. But how on earth can you implement CBT techniques if you cannot sleep a wink a night?! In this case you just lie in your bad and pray and hoping to die without so much suffer. I do not know what to do. I tried CBT online course which was free for me. They offered me access on research basis. I need help. I visited best our psychiatrists in our town and even a couple of the best in Moscow (I live in Russia). They cannot help me. I only visited one neurologist and talked to two somnologists. Neurologist suggested also pills that do not help me at all. And these two somnologists did not work with me and suggested me nothing. I am not working and spend all my money on my insomnia treatment. I simply do not know what to do. I will not live long. I want to live desperately. I do not know what to do. Please help me. I will be happy for any help you can give it to me.

[Davy]

9 days i don’t know the longest i whent was 4 now i am awake for 2 days again hope i sleep tonight our
it will be 3 i understand your frustration and fear but 9 days take drugs enny drugs legal or not i sometimes drink myself stupid it may kill some brain cells but enny sleep is better than what you go true

[Lenochka]

Hi Davy, thank you for your reply. No meds work for me. I developed a resistance to them. I tried marijuana, the strongest version of it, no effect on me at all. They all affect the same brain receptors. And my doctors say that my brain receptors lost their sensitivity to all possible meds and herbs and alko. I do not dring. But tried a couple of times to make me asleep. No success at all. I do not know what to do. I would do whatever possible to have at least few hours of sleep per night. I do not know what to do. I will die soon. I have no friends, no family to support me and help. I am on my own.

[Martin Reed]

Everyone sleeps eventually — sleep is like breathing. We will always breathe. We can hold our breath, but eventually, we will breathe because breathing is a core biological function, just like sleep.

Unfortunately, things are a bit more challenging for you due to the schizoaffective disorder — and I do not believe anyone here (myself included) is qualified to offer you advice on sleep in relation to your condition.

I hope you find someone local to you who is able to help.

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[Lenochka]

Hi Martin,

Thank you for your reply. Your forum on Insomnia is the best I manage to find. I would rather stay there. I find a very good tips here. Unfortunately I live far from our capital and cannot go there. I contacted Moscow specialists on CBT i and want to talk firstly to them to see what they say – is CBTi in their opinion could be of at least partial help for me. I talked shortly to few sleep specialists not from my town but elswere. All they say I need CBTi. But none of them new in detail how serious my problem was. So I would like to talk initially to these Moscow specialists. And descover their opinion. Thank you, Martin, for creation such a nice web source where people can sare their problems and tips.

Elena.

[frozensun]

Lenochka can you write what meds you have tried so far?

[Lenochka]

Frozensun, I tried everything sedative we have on the market in our countries: all sedative benzos, all sedative neuroleptics, all sedative antidepressants, one Z pills (andante, name in Russia, I do not know it latin name) and pregabalin. And later different combinations of the first three classes. I can list you name only in Russia. I do not know their Latin names or how they are named abroad.

Alprozolam, phenazepam, ludiomil, corvalol, phenobarbital, clonazepam, tizercin, zopiclone, melatonine, nitrazepam, triptophan, 5-htp, magnesium, teraligen, glycine, valeriana, passiflora, ashwaganda, doxylamin, omega-3, theanine, warm milk with honey, sibazone, valemidine, quetiapin, amitriptiline, aminazine, lerivon, valdoksan, mirtazapine, sedalit, valproec acid, trittiko, atarax, fevarin, limipeanil, haloperidol, clozapin, risperidon, ilanzapin, droperidol, clopixol, neuleptil, propazin, chlorptotixen.

The dosages were from small till maximal.

Before I developed a resistance, I could sleep on everything. Everything worked for me. No nothing works for me.

[Antman455]

Hey there, i was wondering how are you doing now? I have to say i have pretty much the same insomnia as you.

[Macadamia]

My heart goes out to you. Not sleeping is terrible. I’m glad you are posting here because we can understand a little bit what you are going through. I hope one day there will be enough research that scientists can understand the link between insomnia and mental illness. I think brain research is the answer. Again, my heart goes out to you. The suffering you are going through I know is extremely difficult. We are all in this together and I hope somehow you will find the help you need.

[Lenochka]

Hi Antman455, hi Macadamia, thank you for your posts and for your kind words. I am doing pretty bad :(((. Every day is a struggle. The only thing I am doing is visiting doctors and doing different kinds of treatment. Until I have money. I cannot afford all of them. Noone helps and supports me. Every day may be the last for me. Yesterday I finally figured out why I have insomnia. I did a genetic test and it showed, in brief, that I have problems with melatonin and GABA, two the most important factors for sleep. It is in my genes that is why none of the treatment works. My genes were fine before major stresses and shock happened in my life. This changed my genes. I do not sleep for 5 days in a raw for sure. And even after my brain does not switch off but rather I have microsleeps. Then again no sleep but I already do not know for how long – I cannot function anymore. I have tried tonns of alternative approaches – tolerance is developing to all of them very fast. The answer to it may be that it is because my problem is genetic. So, my insomnia not necessary be connected to my mental illness.

The question is to Martin – in my particular case (genetic reason) can CBT-i help, at lest partly? I would be happy to sleep on my own for 4 hours every night. Is it possible with CBT-i.

I tried to find our Russian CBT-i specialist (not Martin and not abroad), the only reason is that because it is much cheaper. I had very bed experience with such specialist, from Saint-Petersburg. In Internet they say that she is super-perfect. But what she was saying was bullshit. In my province we do not have CBT-i specialists. I did sleepio course (www.sleepio.com) (they accepted me for free as a laboratory animal), did everything but could not resist sleep restriction – I feel enormously bad both physical and emotionaly when I was trying to do it. Well I feel very bad even without sleep restriction.

I lost my hope :(((. Because nothing helps me. My relatives do not give a shit about me. My friends do not understand how serious my situation is. Our specialists say that I will die because people cannot live on microsleep once in 5 days. And it is a horror both physically and emotionally not to sleep that long.

Because reason of my insomnia is genetic I do not know what to do about it. Scientists are in the very beginning of treating genetic diseases.

Please write to me. I am very glad to receive comments on my post. For my mental illness I have something between schizoaffective disorder and bipolar, i.e. I have simptoms of both these disorders.

Now I am doing rTMS. It is not only for depression, it is for many things. If someone is interested I can keep updating about the progress.

Thanks.
Elena.

[samar]

Hello Lenochka, how are you currently? I read all your posts, my insomnia is similar to yours and I’m also scared

[Chen Liang]

Lenochka how are you today?

[Author]

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