Sudden, severe insomnia – please share your stories!

[HotToast]

I've suddenly started suffering from really terrible insomnia and I really need to chat about it and hear some other experiences!

It started 2-3 weeks ago with frequent waking in the night and early morning waking – but I was at least still getting some sleep so although it was frustrating, it was manageable, and I told myself it was a little phase that would pass. Then suddenly it got dramatically worse and for the last three nights I have gone to bed, only to lay wide awake literally all night long until morning, feeling strangely wired, although desperate for sleep, if that makes sense. The only sleep I've had has been after about 6am, when I've finally managed to drift off for an hour or so.

I am feeling seriously alarmed by this. There is nothing going on in my life that could account for it and I haven't suffered from insomnia before really apart from a blip in my teens. The only thing that I can think that would be causing this is changing hormone levels – I'm 42. But I don't have any other signs of peri yet. I spoke to a doctor on the phone this week and he wasn't particularly helpful. He dismissed the idea that it was hormone related because my cycles are still regular (but what else could it be?!) and said to try over the counter meds for a couple of weeks to see if that sorts it. I've tried Nytol – which doesn't seem to work – and have just started taking a magnesium supplement; too early to tell if that will help.

My question basically is, has anyone experienced a similar sudden onset of insomnia? If so, how long did it last and did you find the cause? What if anything helped? Should I press my GP on the hormones thing? I don't know what to do and am starting to panic. I have two DC (8 and 6) and I really can't function on an hour's sleep a night. Help!!

@MILLYmo0se @Squirrelsnut Could I ask you, and anyone else here who has started HRT, is it worth going to a private specialist clinic to investigate peri and get HRT? Can private meno clinics do anything/prescribe anything that the NHS can't for peri etc?

I'm afraid I don't know, @HotToast , but if your GP isn't amenable (which goes against NICE guidelines!) you could look into a menopause specialist or private GP.

I'm not in the UK, but maybe start with your GP and if they are useless which unfortunately some are then go private.

@HotToast very pleased phenergen is giving you relief.

I'm not taking anything at the moment, and it's hellish. Really need some kind of solution. Problem for me is that antihistamines tend to make me restless and make my palpitations worse, so I don't think that's the route for me.
Can I ask whether your cousins also used phenergen? If not, how did they survive this? It's truly awful.

Aside from the help with meds/ hrt investigations which are all important. I found that acceptance was helpful. Ie rather than being furious I got up, went down stairs, watched some nice tv and had a herbal tea and sort of thought of it as some “me time” 😂 alongside googling jobs as a dairy farmer or postie! This was helpful for me.

I've just looked him up. Fascinating, and so hoperul. As well as the peri investigations, this looks incredibly helpful as an approach. Have you had luck with it, @musicofthespheres?

I use melatonin + magnesium glycinate. Haven't had a poor night's sleep on this combination. You can get melatonin by taking a sour cherry supplement. Both have other health benefits so a win-win!

Hi OP, I am a veteran of the insomnia wars, you are far from alone. I'm in my late 50s and I have literally had insomnia off and on since my teens.
Definitely had an acute episode at the start of menopause. Awful and very intense, I had so little sleep I was hallucinating!
For me the only thing that worked was sleep restriction. That was deliberately staying up late and still waking up early every day for two weeks. I had a 5 hour window of being in bed. After a few days I had stopped being afraid I wouldn't sleep as I was so keen to shut my eyes. It is a totally brutal technique and I tried everything else first.
I also found out that I need a lot less sleep than accepted wisdom deems essential. I only need 6ish hours sleep. I found a lot of my suffering wasn't about sleep at all it was about me thinking my day was ruined because I had been awake for hours.
Also drugs are not the answer long term. I had Zopliclone twice, it is highly addictive, a professional pharmacist I spoke to said in her personal experience Zopliclone was 100% addictive! That is every single person it was prescribed to wanted to stay on it forever! In the USA it is called Ambian and it is more widely available and people literally stay on it for decades.
I have taken phernagen but that does have side effects in the medium term. It is a better fall back for when you really need a break in my opinion.
I also can't drink alcohol, I do find moderate exercise very helpful and reading.
Good luck OP!

@UnspeakablyKnackered re my cousins, it was HRT that helped them both in the end. The elder of the two started experiencing insomnia in her early 40s, and she knew it was due to peri because her cycles were also irregular, but her GP made HRT sound really scary so she didn't go on it straight away and lived on 2-3 hours sleep a night (sometimes none at all) for 4 years (!!!) before she finally went on HRT. Only then did it all settle down.

Other cousin went on HRT much sooner after her sister's experience and lo and behold, the insomnia went away - although she said recently she thinks she needs to up her dose because she's on a low dose of hormones currently, and the insomnia is now creeping back a bit.

In my case it's my only symptom, so harder to diagnose it as peri - although I'm
now starting to slide into depression, which again could be peri/hormone related - or not? A lot of these symptoms are overlapping, it's very confusing. For you @UnspeakablyKnackered , I'd see your GP as your first port of call - a sympathetic female one if poss. Do you have other symptoms of peri or is this the only one? Either way, I think a sudden onset of insomnia at this sort of age is highly likely to be a hormonal thing. I hope we both get to the bottom of it. It all feels very overwhelming at times.

I just wish it didn't feel like such an uphill battle/ Sherlock Holmes code-cracking mystery to sort all this shit out. You just want one brilliant doctor who looks at the whole picture holistically and says 'Yep, this is what the prob is, don't worry, we'll sort it.' That would be nice. I'm sure we're all far too busy to have life derailed by issues like this, I know I am!

Absolutely agree @HotToast - I wish there was a clear answer and it wasn't all trial and error.

I had a blood test for peri recently which was "normal", but I was told that basically means nothing. I don't know about periods because I have a mirena coil (out of date so no longer releasing progesterone I believe), but I have a few other peri things - more facial hair growing, jawline acne, lower libido, some hip pain. But the anxiety, racing heart at night, etc, could be peri or could just be the insomnia, so who knows?? Guess it's the same with your mood stuff?

Your poor cousin. Very pleased to hear she's intact. It's heartening to hear (though also scary to hear story).

Also hoping for answers and solutions for both of us. Did you look at the Daniel Erichsen link someone posted, by the way? Anxiety does seem key to what's going on with me, even if precipitated by hormones.... worth a look. Also Guy Meadows. I'm going to try to work on this from all angles, I think....

I know this thread is a few months old but wondering how everyone was and if you had any tips.

Insomnia has been building for a few weeks and I'm now at breaking point. I think I slept 45 minutes last night.

Mine is definitely at least partly cause by anxiety but I do think something hormonal has been going as I also feel a lot of rage and have a lot of hairloss.

It is triggered by DS not sleeping well at the moment, I catastrophise, put pressure on myself to fall asleep and worry I'll never sleep again and will end up very ill. Any words of wisdom much appreciated.

I work from home and thought I'd go for a walk at lunch but could not stop bawling and got worried about bumping into someone I know so I'm now hiding at home in tears.

I did have a blood test booked today but the computer system was down at the GP surgery so I now need to reschedule it, which sent me over the edge.

Sorry to hear you're going through this too, I really don't think this part of menopause is spoken about enough. It really does push you to the brink. If it's hormones HRT should help, I saw improvements after about 5 days. It didn't solve the insomnia completely and I would occasionally have to use nytol or at it's worse, after 4 nights of 0 sleep, the GP gave me 3 sleeping pills to break the cycle. It really was a battle for a good few months but I seem to be through the worst now, I also don't get as anxious about it all. I also had the thoughts of never sleeping again, don't worry you definitely will! Good luck hope you get some relief soon. 💐

@Insomniabattle Hi! I'm sorry to hear you're struggling with this too. When it was at its worst and I posted this thread in the summer, I thought my sleep would never ever return to normal and it felt like a massive catastrophe. I'm happy to report that things are much improved since then. I do think that the sudden bout(s) of insomnia I experienced were due to hormonal changes/early signs of peri, but things have settled down a lot, luckily.

At the time, I started taking Phenergen, an over-the-counter sedative, which helped me get to sleep again when I was desperate, so you could try that - but be warned, a couple of other people I know who I recommended that to experienced side effects they didn't like, so it may or may not be right for you. If def worked for me though with no ill effects. After a month or two or taking those, I halved my dose and eventually stopped taking them. I also started taking magnesium citrate supplements, which I do think has helped, with consistent use. I use a brand called 'Health & Her'. I do anticipate that this issue will probably crop up again as I go into perimenopause, and if it becomes more of a regular problem again I will be asking for HRT.

So anyway, I would say definitely book in to see your GP and see what they recommend. You could try the Phenergen to get some short term relief as well, and magnesium supplements are worth a try - do your research though as certain types of magnesium are better than others, and you need to take them consistently. Being on the other side of this now, I can tell you that this will more than likely pass at some point, so try not to panic as it only makes things worse. If all else fails, the general consensus on here seems to be that HRT helps most people - if you are approaching the age where hormones are the likely culprit. I hope this helps. x

I had this.
Could be due to numerous factors

1. Do you have stuff at the back of your mind or have you made a large life changing decision recently...new house, new relationship, new car.
2. Check your blood sugar
3. Check your thyroid levels.
4. Have you started a new diet....maybe due to being hungry. Try eating something before bed and see if it makes a difference
5. If all else fails, have an orgasm....it will send you to sleep.

Thank you so much for your response and the advice, it has made me feel a lot less alone the last couple of days.

I am 40 so a bit disheartened to think I might be having hormone issues already but we will see!

It does seem like not panicking about it is half the battle, I was catastrophising so much. I actually did sleep OK last night, but tonight DS woke me at 1.30 and I'm still up...

But I've been listening to podcasts and relaxing so it hasn't felt as bad as when I panic and my heart races and I just want to burst into tears...

I will continue to channel acceptance and hope it passes soon! I have bought magnesium also so hopefully that will help.

The average age for progesterone (which is the hormone related to sleep) is 35 so it's not unusual, just for years we've all been led to believe that 'menopause' suddenly happens in our 50s. There's actually a long run up to it, some aren't really affected by peri and others have an awful time

I suddenly started waking up at 2–3am and couldn’t fall back asleep for hours. Someone mentioned focusing on dopamine and serotonin, so I started small things like walking in the morning light, eating more protein, and cutting screens late at night. I found https://releaf.co.uk/blog/natural-ways-to-increase-serotonin-and-dopamine super useful—it’s got loads of simple tips that actually helped me feel a bit more balanced after a couple of weeks.