I started taking Dayvigo, it’s still taking 5 hours to fall asleep

According to their website, it may take 7-14 days to normalize your sleep. I tried it one night and it did absolutely nothing to help me sleep and I stopped. I received 10 free through their website trial. It was so expensive otherwise that I wouldn’t have tried it. For me, having tried so many sleep medicines over my 5 year insomnia journey, it either works right away or I move on. Have you tried Trazodone? It worked really well for me for several years until it stopped working at any dose. Belsomra worked for about a month. Just recently I have gone back on Gabapentin but its effectiveness wears off quickly within several weeks. I totally understand when you say you are exhausted. I have to say my insomnia has gotten a little better over the past 5 years. I found that it helped to accept it rather than let it ruin my life. Most people that sleep well like my husband just can’t understand how devastating it is to not be able to sleep well. Have you had a sleep study? I highly recommend it because they can tell a lot about your sleep patterns-snoring, rule out apnea, etc. My insomnia started after taking only 25 mg of Trazadone for several years when I was working different shifts every week. Then it stopped working at any dose and the chronic insomnia began because my body was too used to a pill to sleep. Hang it there. It will get better. Let me know if I can help you in any way.

Insomnia is such a frustrating scenario to resolve, as I have been learning, and I understand the frustrations I have been reading about. Many years ago (decades), I was prescribed Xanax to help me sleep; my issue was that my brain would not shut off when I went to bed, and I was against sleeping pills. Fast forward, and after being advised to stop taking Xanax, I am now off it due to an impending organ transplant. I was also using medical cannabis, but this too had to be stopped.
So, first I tried Trazodone (did not like the side effects), then Ambien, but it did not work for me.
Next was a short course of Belsomra, but it was not effective either.
My pulmonologist (CPAP use) initially prescribed a relatively newer drug called Quviviq (daridorexant). Insurance denied, as I needed to show that the other drugs were ineffective, hence my initial use of the above.
I appealed to the insurance company and received the approval. After the first few nights, I am pleased to say my sleep has improved tremendously.

After experiencing such awful and debilitating exhaustion with mental fog, after only a few days, I am feeling stronger and am mentally sharper. I wish you all the best as you navigate through this, and hope you get this resolved soon!

> Quviviq (daridorexant): "Mechanism of Action: Unlike sedatives that force the brain to sleep, Quviviq is a DORA that reduces "wake drive" by blocking orexin receptors, allowing sleep to occur naturally."

My insomnia began a few years ago after I had Covid. At the same time I began having severe body pain and was later diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I think my insomnia was related to that disease.

I tried Trazodone at first. It helped me fall asleep but only lasted about 4 hours, when I'd wake up and struggle to fall back asleep. Trazodone was hit or miss, sometimes didn't work at all. Finally I started having severe tiredness during the day, like a drug hangover, so I quit taking it.

Sleep gummies helped me. I used one called Hibernate by Minny Grown, available to purchase on line. They helped me fall asleep but also wore off after about 4 hours when I'd wake up and have trouble falling back asleep.

What really helped my insomnia was low-dose Naltrexone (LDN), which I started taking for my fibromyalgia . It helped very much by relieving the pain and also basically cured my insomnia. Later I found out that studies show it can help with insomnia. So maybe ask your doctor for a prescription. You have to get it from a compounding pharmacy and the pharmacists can help you with the dosing recommendations as you start with a low dose and slowly work up to a maintenance dose of 4.5mg/day. Once you get to the maintenance level, it can take up to two months to start noticing a benefit, so don't give up. I don't have any noticeable side effects from the LDN. Good luck.

There are many articles on-line about LDN for insomnia, here is one: https://www.innerblisscare.ca/blog/low-dose-naltrexone-ldn-improve-sleep-quality

@michael219 taking a snack before you go to sleep works just as well as in is an orexin antagonist. Orexin is a brain hormore for Wake/sleep. If you can antagonize it not to be secreted, therein lies the solution. Have been eating 2 Biscoff cookies at nite along with Xanax 1.5 mg and have been sleeping through the nite. Came across this researching Orexin on NIH and other research studies done on the same subject. alot cheaper!

@kndaustin71 - I love the idea of the cookies before bed! Unfortunately, I needed to stop Xanax (I've been taking it for decades) due to an upcoming kidney transplant (hospital requirement). Interesting about orexin, I will now be doing some additional reading about this. So far, after a few nights, my new Rx is working significantly better than prior medications.

Am so glad it is working for you! Frankly I have Pharmoco-phobia as a seem to be more prone to side effects. I am small, 5’ at 94 pounds & that may be part of the problem because most drugs that us older people take do not have pediatric calculations. Yes, quite fun researching. I also feel that every physician’s office should have a pharmacist review any new drugs prescribed to assure the safety for interaction , falls etc! Sure that wouldn’t be a popular idea!

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.

@siwoods I tried Quivivic, briefly, about a year ago. The first night was the worst nightmare I have ever had, and it seemed so real, I woke up sweating and in a panic. And for a full 30 seconds or so, , I could not tell if I was still asleep or awake. I was advised to keep using it, that things would improve, and they did a bit. Several nights of just not knowing whether I was dreaming, or just thinking. So it wasn't the greatest experience, but I do know it helped me fall asleep. So I still have a few pills left and I keep them, just in case I am desperate for a way to fall asleep. Plus, Quivivic is so very expensive, it would be a crime to throw them away.

@michael219 Quviviq never worked for me. Neither did Dayvigo. I can sleep very well with .25 xanax, 5 mg THC and 300 mg gabapentin. By the way, Dayvigo made me go completely unconscious, scary style, only for 3 hours and I woke up with a severe migraine.

I have been suffering for insomnia for years. I was taking xanax for a while and stopped because I felt like I was getting dependent on it. So, I was prescribed Seroquel. My dr kept going up on it to where I was taking 600mg and it still didn't work. Saw another psych dr and he told me that it wasn't really used for sleep. I do have a mood disorder, so I take it for that. He put me on Ambien and after I researched it, it's supposed to be for temporary use and I was using it for over a month. Stopped that. Saw another psych and she put me on Dayvigo. Man, when I tell you that has been the ONLY drug Ive taken that has worked for me! At first I was super groggy but I took it after I had turned off all the lights, no phone, no laptop, right before bed. I take 5mg and I wake up feeling refreshed. I also absolutely love that I have the best lucid dreams ever!! For the past two nights, I haven't needed it because I just go to sleep after everything is turned off. As long as Im going to sleep, I won't take it, but if I have one of those nights where I feel like I have to, it's like Im ready to go so I can jump into some dreams...lol!

Long story short, been having insomnia for years and years. Nothing helped until I got DayVigo.