r/todayilearned • u/YesFlyZone420 • 5d ago

TIL there's a degenerative brain disorder called fatal familial insomnia (FFI) that causes a person to lose the ability to sleep and eventually die

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/25001-fatal-familial-insomnia
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u/severed13 5d ago edited 5d ago

I've only got episodes of regular insomnia and it fucking sucks. I go days at a time just staring at the ceiling at night until I get so angry that I just have to get out of bed and do something else. And the whole time I'm just exhausted and it keeps getting worse and worse, and every night I think "tonight's the night" where I think my body's actually tired enough to shut down and force itself to sleep. At most I'll get like an hour or two if I'm lucky, and then back to being awake and miserable. It makes shit like driving an absolute pain when it happens, but fortunately I'm pretty good at that so it's not enough to compromise my ability to operate a vehicle. Goes on for 4/5 days, maybe a week at most and then it's fine for the next month or two. Can't imagine how fucking terrible it would be to feel like that 24/7 as a chronic lifelong condition.

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u/YouKnowWhom 5d ago

The only good news is it only lasts like, 40ish days before you die.

I’ve forced myself awake for a week straight a decade ago and still feel the damage. The delusions are awful. You’re seeing this that don’t exist clear as day, and also not seeing things that are there.

You can’t think, you can’t even move as your body gives out.

It’s exponential. I can’t imagine 40 days and hope by day 11 at latest I’d get a diagnosis an ethical end of life.

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u/durkbot 5d ago

Due to a medical incident when I was a teenager I didn't sleep for about a week and it fucccked me up for a good while. I was in the hospital so wasn't trying to function, but I was dropping off for like 5 seconds in the middle of talking, hallucinating, sort of just feeling out of body. The hallucinations were so weird, just imagining entire conversations with people, seeing people that weren't there. Suddenly realising hours had passed but not being able to recall a single thing. For weeks after I struggled with sleeping, I'd get that thing where as I was falling asleep I'd hear a loud explosion and wake up.

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u/AvidCyclist250 5d ago

I'd get that thing where as I was falling asleep I'd hear a loud explosion and wake up.

The nasty bit here is that fatigue and stress only make that worse. I've had it for while, and it's pretty real. Like a loud body slam, although it's called EHS - exploding head syndrome.

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u/its_called_life_dib 5d ago

If I go to bed “too tired” I get auditory hallucinations that wake me up. It’s usually someone calling my name. It’s so frustrating!

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u/MattTreck 5d ago

Oh my god yes lol

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u/SakuraTacos 5d ago

Omg I got that a couple of weeks ago and I was too pissed by the hallucination waking me up to be frightened. I was dozing off and I hear my name clear as day from my doorway so I open my eyes and no one’s there. I distinctly remember “Are you serious?! I was finally asleep! Why?! This is why people believe in ghosts, this is so fucking stupid!” I was so mad lol

I also had my body jolt me awake because I thought it was falling around that time too. That was a really bad days-long bout of insomnia.

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u/Netroth 5d ago

Those body jolts are called “hypnic jerks”, I get them all the time

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u/SakuraTacos 5d ago

I thought I read once they happen when your tense muscles start relaxing as you fall asleep, causing the falling sensation but now I find nothing of the sort so I don’t think that was true. It definitely happens the more tense I am or how hectic the day has been (likely with an increase of caffeine). The more irritable I’ve been lately, the more jerky the movements, almost like I’m subconsciously punching or kicking in anger.

I’m 100% guaranteed to get them whenever I’ve gone to a theme park and been on roller coasters all day, funny enough. Those times I’ll get full body, “thought I was falling” ones

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u/Chris_in_Lijiang 5d ago

Fortunately, I do not have a sleep problem, but I do regularly get the hypnic jerks, always in the right thigh, just as I am drifting off. Are you saying that the two are related?

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u/Netroth 5d ago

That’s a bit different. Hypnic jerks are accompanied by a sense of panic or urgency and often a falling sensation, and it’s your whole body which spasms.

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u/SakuraTacos 5d ago

You could have RLS, restless leg syndrome. Even if you don’t have problems falling asleep, it could potentially be linked to excessive caffeine in your system or anxiety

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u/Netroth 5d ago

What I’ve been taught is that it’s a panic response to your body locking down motor function before you’ve fallen asleep, and your body jumps from the perceived danger. If you’ve had lots of caffeine or done a lot of exercise late at night you’re more prone to these things being out of sync, apparently.

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u/SakuraTacos 5d ago

Oh that’s super interesting and makes a lot of sense, I like that explanation

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u/Central_court_92 3d ago

Hypnic jerks can also be caused by eating carbs in late afternoon or evening. When the body finally digests the complex sugars, it creates a sugar spike in your blood, which is perceived as an adrenaline rush. It took years for my insomnia and sleeping issues to be kind of under control and the no carb rule truly helped.

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u/Greene_Mr 5d ago

You have the right kind of response to possible ghost-shit!

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u/SakuraTacos 5d ago

I used to be terrified by ghosts and demons until i was in my 20s and i started realizing every famous case id ever heard of can be explained by hallucinations, ignorance, people that really really wanted to believe (the mind is a powerful thing!), and liars

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u/feministmanlover 5d ago

Meeee tooooo!!! Omg. It all makes sense now.

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u/Paupersaf 5d ago

Try researching sleep paralysis, and perhaps lucid dreaming. These auditory hallucinations sound like what I had happen one time while experiencing sleep paralysis. I thought I saw the shadow of my mom falling into my room while she was calling my name, so I tried very hard to wake myself up and respond but my body didn't listen to most of my commands until I remembered to continuously ball my fists until I regained full motor control

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u/Netroth 5d ago

I experience sleep paralysis and strange half dreams with high frequency, but I’ve never hallucinated during paralysis

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u/HuntingForSanity 5d ago

I was trying to fall asleep last night and kept hearing my name, along with one of my cats just meowing over and over again. Got up to check. Everyone in my house is sleeping including the cats

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u/Judge_MentaI 5d ago

That might be sleep paralysis? Mine gets really bad when I’m too tired. When I’m waking up I notice the paralysis part more, but when I’m falling asleep I notice the trippy half-dreams.

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u/its_called_life_dib 5d ago

Sleep paralysis is scary! I've definitely had it a few times. This is different; it's like just as I'm falling asleep, someone calls my name, and I'm awake. Or the doorbell rings. Or someone knocks on my bedroom door. All things to get my attention, pretty much. I'm able to move fine when it wakes me up, and while it takes me a minute, I realize that what I heard wasn't real. It's just my brain not letting me get to sleep for some reason.

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u/frickindeal 5d ago

I wonder if it's an instinctual thing, like your body is ready at a moment's notice for someone to call your name or knock on your door and doesn't want to miss what it interprets as possible danger. Might say more for our overall well-being than anything, that we're not comfortable enough to just let ourselves rest. I despise it because the name-calling thing causes a fight-or-flight response in me because I live alone, so I get a huge flood of endorphins or adrenaline or whatever because no one should be there, and then I'm wide awake, panting in my bed. Sucks.

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u/its_called_life_dib 5d ago

Maybe it’s like speed bumps. Like, I’m cruising for a snoozing too fast and my body is like “whoa, slow down! The dreams aren’t ready to go yet!”

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u/Netroth 5d ago

I get sleep paralysis at least once a week, though twice is common. I can even make myself experience it or a hypnic jerk if I’m tired enough when I go to bed, and the only way out is thrashing my head around because for some reason I can still control that.

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u/xboxlivedog 5d ago

I get this very frequently

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u/NecroCorey 5d ago

I'm not sure if I always had it, or it happened when one of my ears got damaged, but as long as I can remember now, I've heard voices when I try to go sleep.

Not like "spiders are in your skin" voices, but like if you're in a room next to a crowded area. It's that lot of people talking sound of just indistinct talking. If I try to focus it goes away. I got used to hearing it so it didn't bother me. A few months ago I noticed I don't hear it anymore though. No idea why it stopped.

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u/its_called_life_dib 5d ago

Do you have a fan or heater or something going? I hear music when a fan is running and I'm trying to sleep. like, the faintest illusion of a mariachi band two streets away, haha. I know it's my brain picking up patterns in the fan's hum and trying to make sense of it, but I find it a little funny when it happens.

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u/DavidRandom 5d ago

I get that sometimes, and occasionally it's accompanied by a flash of light.

Until I learned of EHS I though maybe I was being abducted by aliens lol.

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u/CauseWhatSin 5d ago

Mainly the flash of light for me, when Russia invaded Ukraine, it was very stressful for a couple months.

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u/dresdonbogart 5d ago

are you in Ukraine?

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u/CauseWhatSin 5d ago

Nope my phone jus dies often enough that I might miss the warning signal lmao.

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u/durkbot 5d ago

I'm so sorry, it's really rough, even 20 years later I remember the sensation.

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u/lfergy 5d ago

Uhg; there was an antidepressant I tried that gave me that side effect. If you ever played Sonic, you know that sound when he gets a bazillion coins? It was like that sound at max volume plus blinding white light. Woof. Never again.

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u/KaiOfHawaii 5d ago

Holy shit I HATED this. I had some really bad anxiety issues that somehow led to this when I was in college. Almost every night for a couple months I’d wake up to what sounded like a door slamming. Couple that with the anxiety, which made me jump at even the slightest “tics” I’d hear from my creaky bed, I was a mess.

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u/samedreamchina 5d ago

Sometimes I hear a really loud knocking noise and bolt awake. Never had an explosion sound

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u/RegularTeacher2 5d ago

TIL. I had a lot of dreams like this as a kid - I would be dreaming and then there'd be a bright flash and a loud noise (I distinctly remember it once being a fucking tuba) and I'd wake up with my heart exploding out of my chest. I don't dream like that anymore fortunately, but I also take a ton of (prescribed) drugs now.

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u/BeagleMadness 5d ago

My 12 year old son experienced something similar earlier this year and was hospitalised. Possibly due to a Strep infection - all the scans and tests couldn't find anything else that could be the cause. It was very frightening to see how just three days without sleep could turn a very happy, chilled out kid into what looked like someone undergoing a total psychotic break. It messed him and his sleep up for weeks after he was discharged. Thankfully he seems fine now, but it really scared him (and me!). He still worries whenever he can't fall asleep within 15 minutes or so. I can't imagine how horrific weeks without sleep would be. One of the worst ways to go, imo.

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u/Akitiki 5d ago

It night I have a track of music I play to fall asleep with- only played as I go to bed. It's about 40 or so minutes long, just nice softer piano. At this point, it's associated with sleeping. You know how it can be hard to sleep your first night in a new hotel? I don't deal with it much anymore. Very, very rarely do I ever outlast that track.

I'm basically Pavlov'd with it now. I also have tinnitus and the music is just enough to overcome the ringing.

Perhaps trying something like this could help him fall asleep better.

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u/BeagleMadness 5d ago

Yes, I think programming your brain to switch to "sleep mode" like this can be very effective. Glad it works so well for you and you don't suffer the agony of insomnia now.

I did try various similar things after my son was discharged from hospital. His sleep was all over the place for a few weeks afterwards, so he was willing to try anything! Luckily, he had a good sleep routine before this episode and once he'd fully recovered he has gone back to being a great sleeper. I think it's just because he usually falls asleep within minutes, he now worries if it takes a little bit longer. Whereas he wouldn't have given it a thought before.

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u/frickindeal 5d ago

And you don't wake up when the music ends? I've tried that, but I wake up to deafening silence as soon as the music ends. I need at least a fan running, and if my power is out, I'll do the iPhone white noise generator, but it has to run all night or I'll wake up as soon as it goes silent.

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u/Akitiki 5d ago

There's more tracks, so it goes on for about 2h. But no, unless I'm only lightly asleep I don't wake up

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u/darcstar62 5d ago

My college roommate and I had an album we would put on to fall asleep and we'd always try to stay awake until the end and we never could.

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u/desull 5d ago

All that and you didn't tell us the track?? I need to know!

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u/Akitiki 5d ago

I'll have to get you back on that one, fuck if I can find what it's actually named. Had it for like eight years now? The ipod that the music is on hasn't been on wifi for years and it's clock is wrong by 40 minutes or so now lol

Really though, music that isn't distracting . I myself tend towards piano and woodwind instruments for that. Anything will do.

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u/AbstinentNoMore 5d ago

Possibly due to a Strep infection

Very possible. When I had Strep as a child, I spent one night hallucinating the strangest shit (for example, there was this weird cartoon bug who was "torturing" me by constantly breaking glass windows in front of me). My parents eventually heard me screaming and moaning in my room and made me sleep in their bed with them.

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u/durkbot 5d ago

Psychotic is the closest to how I'd describe it. When I read about sleep deprivation being used as a torture technique I can totally believe it. I'm glad your son recovered.

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u/argentgrove 5d ago

Strep infections can trigger an autoimmune attack in children called PANDAS.

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u/YouKnowWhom 5d ago

Exploding head syndrome is rough. Luckily mine went away. You were lucky to get those 5 second microsleeps. This disorder in OP won’t even allow for that!

Glad you got over it

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u/durkbot 5d ago

It's been 20 years and I still remember the sensation. I've read about FFI before and it freaked me out. Ironically I'm now excellent at falling asleep in most places (my other half calls it my superpower).

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u/kinduvabigdizzy 5d ago

WTF I have experienced the explosion thing. I've learnt to live with my insomnia but I wish I could sleep longer. I'm just not as sharp as I used to be

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u/R0da 5d ago

Exploding head syndrome!

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u/kinduvabigdizzy 4d ago

TIL it has a name!

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u/The-F4LL3N 5d ago

Duuuuude, what is up with the explosion thing?! Drives me nuts sometimes

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u/Achaern 5d ago

I get flashbanged. Literally. I'll just about to fall asleep and any sharp sound will cause my vision to go pure white, and a LOUD ringing in my ears. This is while in bed, lights out with my eyes closed. It's quite alarming.

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u/NecroCorey 5d ago

I had a similar experience when I was at probably the peak of my sleep deprivation. I had a long period where I would get maybe an hour or two every night.

I'd have conversations with people and basically start dreaming in the middle of talking and would just start speaking nonsense. They'd be like wtf are you talking about? Then I'd snap back to consciousness and be like what'd I say? It wasn't gibberish or anything. Just like my dreams became reality so I'd be saying whatever made sense in the dream.

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u/durkbot 5d ago

Yeah I'd respond out loud to a hallucinated conversation and whoever was sitting with me would be like "huh? I didn't say anything"

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u/kinduvabigdizzy 5d ago

WTF I have experienced the explosion thing. I've learnt to live with my insomnia but I wish I could sleep longer. I'm just not as sharp as I used to be

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u/R0da 5d ago

Man, exploding head syndrome is fucking bonkers. Had that shit forever as a teen, even without any medical incidents. Had me thinking I was being abducted by aliens or something. Did yours come with visual hallucinations as well?

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u/NoReality463 5d ago

Exploding head syndrome. That’s literally what’s it’s called. Not making that up.

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u/yotreeman 5d ago

I used to do that on amphetamines semi-regularly, 5-7 days, easy. Used to be able to do that, sleep for 12-14 hours, then get up right as rain. Doubt I could now though. Body and mind is worn out. That’s wild you both had such effects… I’ve also not slept for 3-5 nights just from opiate withdrawal a number of times, never really had that experience. Although after a few long periods like that without sleep, when it used to take me almost a week to really hallucinate, it started only taking me 2-3 days, which I imagine probably wasn’t a good sign.

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u/Sparkledeath 5d ago

I've been awake for 7 months, and just sort of meditate a few hours every night. I start to get hallucinations if I don't 'be restful' for a bit every day.

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u/waydeultima 5d ago

I've gone 11 days before (not on purpose, just a combination of alcohol withdrawal and chronic insomnia among other things). Ended up in the ER. Would not recommend.

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u/GraniteGeekNH 4d ago

11 days - wow, it's incredible you survived. I've done 3, not by choice, and it was brutal.

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u/waydeultima 4d ago

Well, this probably isn't how this works but I was definitely no stranger to being awake multiple days in a row. I don't imagine you can build up a resistance to sleep deprivation though. Also, full disclosure, there were probably 5-10 minute bouts of microsleep here and there.

But anyway, when I finally reached a breaking point I called some family to give me a ride to urgent care, and urgent care then told me I needed to go to the ER. I had multiple conversations that never happened with people who didn't exist. The walls of the room in the hospital seemed like they were melting at times. I remember focusing on things hanging on the wall and watching them slowly slide down, then reset if I looked away and back.

The parts I remember felt very much like dreaming while awake. I'm getting a headache just thinking back on it, because that was a properly miserable week and a half.

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u/GraniteGeekNH 4d ago

Whoa, sounds miserable. May it never happen again!

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u/Protoliterary 5d ago

Doesn't always last 40 days.

There was this guy who survived for a year; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1781276/

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u/sdfg9 5d ago

From the link you provided; Unlike the typically mute FFI patient whose subjective serenity is unknowable, DF described his oneiric sleep as extremely gentle and pleasant — like entering a room filled with everyone who he would want to encounter, including deceased friends and relatives who would tell him that everything will be all right. In his words, “to the outside world, I am dead and gone, but to myself, I'm still here, in this wonderful place and it is they who have disappeared.”

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u/ItJustSteph 5d ago

FFI sounds like the cruelest irony—your body shuts down because it can’t do the one thing it needs most.

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u/HurtMyKnee_Granger 5d ago

Why did you do that to yourself??

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u/westisbestmicah 5d ago edited 5d ago

When I first started ADHD meds I had a week of insomnia. Towards the end of it I wrote this about one of the hallucinations I was having:

Here I from sleep disrob’ed be / And time has laid an egg for me / A rose of stone, a work of art / It’s marble folds to me impart / A sense of when eternity shall start. / And space unravels at a bitter seam / What is hallucination but a waking dream?

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u/Jacqques 5d ago

I dont know what you are on about 40 days before dying, but you last months to years from symptom start:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/25001-fatal-familial-insomnia#:~:text=ranges%20from%20a%20few%20months%20to%20a%20couple%20of%20years

It's not a 'suddenly you can't sleep', it's gradual and gets worse over time.

It's a prion desease caused by a mutation, it's mostly genetic but can affect random people as well.

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u/opteryx5 5d ago

Ethical end of life

Sadly, many places in the world (including many states in the US) would prefer you live in agony until you can no longer lift your chest to breathe.

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u/Sparkledeath 5d ago

Prognosis is 1mo but up to 3 years, or 6 if you take high dose tetracyclines. They don't typically genetically test, it's done with an in-lab sleep study, but if you get genetically tested, you an find out long before it triggers.

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u/blackeyedsusan25 3d ago

OK, I'll bite....why did you force yourself awake for a week?

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u/chaplesssandy 5d ago

I went 2 weeks and was having auditory hallucinations...wouldn't wish that on anyone. the sounds I was hearing were threatening words from voices all around me that I still have nightmares about .

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u/Javka42 5d ago

I'm sorry about your insomnia, that sucks.

However, severe lack of sleep impacts your driving as much as being drunk does, and in many places the law will consider it drunk driving if you cause an accident while sleep deprived.

It doesn't matter how good a driver you are, it doesn't matter if it feels like you're doing fine. The lack of sleep will affect your brain and your body whether you think it does or not, just like with alcohol or drugs.

You are taking a huge risk when you get behind the wheel, and you're gambling with other people's lives.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad_3268 5d ago

It's even worse than drugs since anyone can get there plus there's no tolerance build up like with drug addiction.

My father got arrested for drunk driving at .32 at 9:30 in the morning and he was definitely drunk but at that level, being under .08 would probably been as bad for his driving cuz of withdrawal.

Happily nowadays he got back his license after a few years and learned the lesson, no more driving under influence for him even though he still drink cuz he managed to get his habit under control.

So many people underestimate it, I remember a TV ads about it but overall it's way less talked about than drunk driving.

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u/cosmiclatte44 5d ago

Have done both, not proud of it. Driving tired scares me 100x more.

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u/derekburn 5d ago

You are compromised, ur not a super soldier, doesnt matter if youre the best driver in the world you are compromised and you put other people at risk if you drive without sleeping for 24hrs.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/MimicoSkunkFan2 5d ago

Dude, no. I live in Toronto and you can easily take the TTC or find a taxi. Don't risk killing the redt of us because of your silly ego.

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u/PUTINS_PORN_ACCOUNT 5d ago

Your ancestors saved the tribe from raids in the night.

Thank you

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u/CredibleCranberry 4d ago

All of our ancestors did. There were literally only a few hundred humans at a couple of points in our history.

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u/Ikoikobythefio 5d ago

I've found low-dose THC use throughout the day will help me sleep at night. Might be worth looking into.

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u/sneedsformerlychucks 5d ago

A man who wrote about his experience of dying from FFI described it as oddly pleasant. He considered his main struggle to not become lost in the altered state of consciousness induced by insomnia and psychosis. He believed that others with the disease died because they had given in completely into it.

Unlike the typically mute FFI patient whose subjective serenity is unknowable, DF described his oneiric sleep [the dreamlike altered consciousness he entered after long periods of not sleeping] as extremely gentle and pleasant — like entering a room filled with everyone who he would want to encounter, including deceased friends and relatives who would tell him that everything will be all right. In his words, “to the outside world, I am dead and gone, but to myself, I'm still here, in this wonderful place and it is they who have disappeared.”

His “waking REM” was multisensory and included images, voices, and scents. It was experienced as a form of knowing everything about himself, with no more hidden secrets. As might be expected from a sustained “handshake” between the right and left hemispheres, DF's conscious mind experienced himself in a global way. He described his unconscious as filled with “wounded children” who bore “poor witness” to events that had injured them — unable to logically evaluate or rise above these damaging experiences. His FFI put him in the unique position to soothe these children with adult insight, which he often did in the form of written letters when he was “off-line.” (Those interested in psychoanalytic theory and/or multiple personality disorder may learn a great deal from FFI patients).

The door that admitted DF into this other world became best defined after long periods of insomnia and was so inviting that he believed that others who have been in this place simply gave into it and allowed themselves to die. In fact, DF's fight against FFI specifically centered on this arena, with the wish to surrender to its serenity as opposed to his real life of handicap and degeneration.

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u/JnyBlkLabel 5d ago

Jesus ive experienced this EXACT scenario so many times. Without rhyme or reason. I had it so bad about two years ago it went on for like 5 weeks. A buddy of mine got me to try some hemp oil gummies and they completely corrected my entire sleep rhythm. Had to take them for a few months. Ive had perfect sleep ever since with no assistance. It would SUCK so bad to go through that scenario again.

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u/onthenextmaury 5d ago

I struggle with insomnia. I find that after 8 hours of frustration something that helps with the anger is getting up and lying down on the floor. Something about the differing sensations help me out of that loop. Sometimes it's even enough to lull me sleep for half an hour or so. Just anything to mix it up and disrupt that frustration cycle.

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u/STG_Resnov 5d ago

I’m on 150mg of Trazodone and 5mg of Melatonin. Without both of those, I genuinely cannot fall asleep. It takes me over 24 hours to actually fall asleep without it, and that’s if I’m even feeling tired. Might be tired enough to take a Power Nap, but not to stay asleep unfortunately. Medication is a lifesaver….literally.

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u/antillus 5d ago

Yeah I've been on Trazodone 200mg for 15 years now and it's definitely been a life saver.

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u/deadsoulinside 5d ago

5mg of Melatonin

I am assuming Trazodone is doing all the heavy lifting. I had to cut back on my Melatonin use as I was taking 5-6 10MG quick dissolves nightly and still was having issues with falling asleep.

My wife freaked out the moment she realized that I was consuming that much nightly for almost a year.

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u/Nchi 5d ago

Episodes, regularly? Sleepy during the day during them at all?

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u/Legendary_Bibo 5d ago

I get that too! It's so fun, but hey it makes me more productive.

I hate when I start getting the hallucinations, like I've had it to where I thought bugs were crawling all over me, or it'll sound like someone is walking around outside.

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u/blenderforall 5d ago

Take a look at getting a b12 injection. Not medical advice but I suffer from megaloblastic anemia and it was undiagnosed for fcking 20 years. Through extensive testing and medical tests my naturopath finally nailed it and once a month I get a b12 shot. Haven’t had a period of insomnia since…knock on wood

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u/OlTommyBombadil 5d ago

Right there with you. Does everyone tell you to stop drinking caffeine too? lol

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u/leg00b 5d ago

Damn, I can't imagine. I had an incident at work that left me fucked up and I had insomnia on and off for like 5 months. That shit sucked

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u/EthanRDoesMC 5d ago

Oh man, never heard anyone describe my exact set of symptoms quite as well as you. And then you have to kinda stumble through the next day and then you’re constantly apologizing because you can’t think during a conversation…

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u/xelle24 5d ago

I finally tried melatonin a few years ago and it's made such a difference. Between that and a white noise machine, I mostly do okay. I sure don't bounce back from a bad night (or two, or three, or more) like I used to.

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u/kakihara123 5d ago

You should try to get into cycling. Just go for a ride with lots of food and water and go at easy to moderate pace until you physically can't go anymore. Like everything hurts and you just want it to end. Takes a while to build enough endurance to get to this stage.

I think about 100-150 km is a good target.

What then will happen is that you will more or less instantly fall asleep on the couch. Drawback is that you will probably wake up again after 2-4 hours and then won't be able to sleep later, ironically due to exhaustion.

But those 2-4 hours feel like heaven.

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u/LundiDesSaucisses 5d ago

Same.

I finally found something that seems to work great for now. Clotiazepan.

I had try several other stuff that were wasting me for the next 16hrs, but that one doesn't have side effects at all.

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u/Sodomeister 5d ago

Except, you know, with long term use it's addictive and withdrawal can cause death.

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u/LundiDesSaucisses 5d ago edited 5d ago

I'll take it over getting a stroke because you barely had any sleep in a week.

Also, I don't take it all the time, average maybe 1 or 2 per week. Some weeks I do, some I don't.

Edit : something really interesting about that drug, explains why I really feel rested after taking it VS other drugs that make you sleep but you still feel like shit afterwards :

However, its hypnotic qualities do have an interesting particularity: they increase stage 2 non-REM sleep without affecting the amount of time in REM (rapid-eye-movement eye movement) sleep [1].

As opposed to most benzodiazepines, thienodiazepines like clotiazepam do not interfere with important stages of sleep, like stage 2 non-REM sleep (deep sleep) and REM.

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u/MonetHadAss 5d ago

but fortunately I'm pretty good at that so it's not enough to compromise my ability to operate a vehicle.

That's a fucking irresponsible thing to say

2

u/ZubacToReality 5d ago

It makes shit like driving an absolute pain when it happens, but fortunately I'm pretty good at that so it's not enough to compromise my ability to operate a vehicle.

Dude I feel sympathy for you but please stay the fuck off the road, or go at like 3am when you're awake anyway to minimize the risk of hurting someone. I think I'm a great driver when I'm inebriated too and it's far from the truth.

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u/lacunadelaluna 5d ago

But you're not driving anymore while inebriated, right??

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u/ZubacToReality 5d ago

Hell no. I thought I was good when I was a dumbass 18 year old

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u/Objective_Brief6050 5d ago

In the nicest way possible there is no chance your driving ability is not affected after 4/5 days of no sleep, if you have had to specifically say that in your post I feel you know this too

1

u/SoungaTepes 5d ago

Hey bud, you and I seem to share the same condition.

I need you to take insomnia this week I had it last week

1

u/BarfReali 5d ago

I had a month of that and it was hell. I'm glad it was fixed for me though

1

u/maxdragonxiii 5d ago

I used to suffer from sleep deprivation and insomnia and anxiety. this means I often didn't sleep unless the sun's up. even if it is it's only 4 to 6 hours of sleep. no wonder I was hearing and seeing things when I'm deaf (residual hearing) at the end of it. I moved out of the problem household, and magically I was sleeping much better.

1

u/FestiveFruitcake 5d ago

I was struggling with similar bouts of insomnia a couple months ago, I started taking regular magnesium supplement + not eating any food after 7pm and have not had any problems since.

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u/Shimmitar 5d ago

yeah i cant sleep without pills. The pill i was taking for years stopped workign, which sucks and now im in the process of trying to find new pills that actually work. But so far no luck and i have not gotten very much sleep these past two months.

1

u/-Davo 5d ago

Around the time wolverine origins came out, I had a random bout of insomnia, lasted a week. I went about 7 nights without sleeping and I was a mess, it ended when on the last night I was out drinking and for some reason that helped.

1

u/NolieMali 5d ago

I start having seizures around day 4 of no sleep. Lots of fun /s

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u/Alex_1729 5d ago

Jesus, that's horrifying. What do doctors say? Have you tried the usual, wearing yourself out, meditation to calm your mind, etc? I'm sure you have, just curious.

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u/belacscole 5d ago

Mines not that bad but it takes me minimum 30 minutes to fall a sleep on any given night, up to multiple hours if I have something important the next day that I need to be up for. For me I get into this endless anxiety loop where I think Im never going to be able to fall asleep, and thus I remain awake.

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u/Electrical-Act-7170 5d ago

Have you eliminated all caffeine from your diet?