I am an insomnia sufferer and I have battled this disease for the better part of 40 years. I never understood how others could bounce out of bed, as my grandmother would say, “Bright eyed and bushy tailed.” I was the guy that tried to sleep “5 more minutes.” Insomnia has caused me to miss important events, lose relationships with friends and loved ones, and even lose jobs; all because I needed just “5 more minutes” of sleep. I have been needing those 5 minutes for as long as I can remember.
I have taken a long list of sleep aids, from over-the-counter stuff to Ambien, Lunesta, Rozerum, and none of them gave me the sleep that I needed. Some were totally ineffective and others, in sufficient amounts, would render me unconscious, but NONE helped me SLEEP and what I (and everyone) needs is deep, peaceful, restful, restorative sleep.
This all changed in October 2010. Ambien had stopped working all together. I could take 30 – 40 mg, enough to render a large animal immobile for hours, and I would be unaffected. I tried Rozerum, another hyper-marketed, miracle sleep aid, and it did NOTHING. I tried Lunesta and experienced profound memory loss, sleep driving and a total detachment from reality that bordered on psychosis. I began to research insomnia and searched for an alternative treatment. That is when I found Xyrem.
This blog is about how an illegal ‘date rape drug’ changed my life and gave me something that most people take for granted – sweet sleep.
I invite you to read through this blog, bookmark pages and watch as my experience with sleep progresses.
