Good morning, Thank you all of sharing your insomnia experiences. I am in the same boat as most of you, and I'm so tired of being exhausted every single day. I am a healthy post-menopausal woman, fit, exercise every day, and eat healthfully. I enjoy a nightly cocktail, but do not drink to excess ever.

My chronic insomnia started last summer after some health information that was incredibly frustrating and disturbing. I have taken care of these issues, but the insomnia remains. Last fall, I was getting about 5 hours of broken sleep, lots of waking up and not being able to go back to sleep. I started CPAP therapy in August, and honestly, I don't feel like this is impacting my sleep. I am managing this very well, and it continues to be relatively comfortable for most of the night. I thought maybe this would solve my sleep issues, but it did not.

I went to my PCP in December, she recommended 1mg Ativan to simply help me get a little rest. After three weeks, I wanted off of it as it made me feel terrible every day, affected my personality, and I pretty much didn't want to be around anyone, including my husband. I switched to 50mg of trazodone in January, and while it helps one to fall asleep, it does NOT keep you asleep. And the side effects were intolerable as the anticholinergic properties were to blame (water retention and weight gain, no sex drive, constipation).

I am a researcher, so I began yet another research task of finding insomnia drugs that did not have anticholinergic properties. This is how I found belsomra. I have been on it since the middle of February; first 10mg, now 15mg. I am getting some sleep, but still waking up a few times a night, and I am pretty certain that it has worn off EVERY day around 5am. I am exhausted when I wake up at 5 and completely unable to go back to sleep. I see my PCP again this coming Tuesday.

I am going to ask for either 20mg of belsomra, OR 15mg of dayvigo. I've researched enough to believe that dayvigo is a little better at helping you stay asleep longer. I generally don't have much trouble falling asleep, but can't stay that way no matter what.

I am interested in understanding if anyone has longer term experience with making this change, and if you believe it (dayvigo) is a better drug.

Thank you for reading my sad little story!! 🙁 I am running out of options, it seems, and I am never going to take another benzo drug, ever.