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Re:An insomniac's journey to regular sleep by smabie on Thursday July 23, 2020 @02:00AM (#23924555)
When I first got prescribed medication for sleep (and other stuff, but it hit two birds with one stone I guess), it fundamentally changed my life. Often people think that the only medications for sleep are either benzos or Z-drugs, but that's not true. There's a particular anti-psychotic that works incredibly well for sleep, and doesn't have any of the long term cognitive side effects of the more traditional sleeping medication.

There are risk to every medication, of course, and anti-psychotics are no exception. But I think people fetishize behavorial treatments instead of medication. My motto: better living through chemistry. Do your own research, figure out what medication you want, try them out, whatever. People are far too risk-adverse around drugs. Some of them have substantial upsides if used properly. Of course there are downsides as well, but that's true for just about everything.

Finding the right treatments for sleep and energy during the day has given me a significant edge over the competition. Drugs aren't just to solve problems, they are to make us better. And we, as a society, need to start embracing that.

Re:An insomniac's journey to regular sleep by mcntsh on Thursday July 23, 2020 @04:34AM (#23925358)
The problem with taking sleeping medication is that you are treating a symptom and not a cause. In most cases insomnia is related to stress, and ironically insomnia itself causes stress which worsens itself.
Re:An insomniac's journey to regular sleep by cko on Thursday July 23, 2020 @02:39AM (#23924763)
Are you referring to mirtazapine or amitriptyline or trazodone? I've seen by of those three being used for sleep aside from their primary indication.
Re:An insomniac's journey to regular sleep by smabie on Thursday July 23, 2020 @03:26AM (#23924994)
Seroquel. It's often prescribed off-label for sleep. Very small doses are sufficient for sleep, so a lot of the side-effects listed online aren't applicable (we're talking like 25-50mg for sleep vs 300-900mg for anti-psychotic uses).