My friend suffered a concussion almost 10 years ago. He has not been able to sleep since then. He has trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. He can go days without sleeping or only getting a couple hours sleep. This has been seriously affecting his life/relationships/work. Hes has tried every sleep med out there (benzodiazepines...ambien and the like...melatonin...benedryl etc.) Hes tried accupuncture, sleep studies, mri's (no brain abnormalities), meditation, hypnosis. Hes even been to medcine men, drank crazy teas, had prayer and blessings placed on him, all in effort to fix this problem. The only diagnosis doctors gave is PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and chronic fatigue syndrome (but thats a given since he cant sleep!!) Does anyone have any more ideas, treatments, meds that worked for them? Links? Doctors? Refrences?


Thank you so much!

I take 10 mg of melatonin and 4 mg periactin (cyproheptadine), which is an antihistamine. My doctor said it was similar to benadryl and I'm pretty sure you can buy it over the counter, although I am prescribed to it. For some reason the combination knocks me out for a solid 10-12 hours. And it's great, restorative sleep. I actually feel rested upon waking up. Melatonin alone didn't work for me, nor did ambien or benadryl.

Not sure if this was just luck for me or if it will be beneficial to your friend, but I definitely recommend giving it a try.

I just started on Elavil (amitriptyline) for headaches. It also has the side effect of making me VERY sleepy. I take it at bedtime and am sleeping better now than any time since my concussion. In fact, I can hardly wake up.

Be careful with Periactin. My neurologist tried Periactin for my insomnia back in 1996. I took it for one day and had to stop. It instantly caused the worst depression that I have ever experienced. I was miserable. I recovered from the depression as quickly as it started just by stopping taking the Periactin. Altered thoughts is one of the listed side-effects of Periactin.

I deal with insomnia now by reducing all sensory stimuli. Soft clothes, soft sheets and blankets, soft sounds (music) etc. I also take 900 mgs of gabapentin (Neurontin) to help my mind slow down.

I just did some quick research. Periactin is still a prescription drug in the US. It appears that it is OTC in Canada.

I got prescribed Amitriptyline for the headaches as well, I was waking up either every hour or just waking up for hours even though I was absolutely knackered, but now sleeping again...amazing!!!

i wake up every hour of the night. i'm gonna try melatonin. i know there's a research paper out there that shows that ppl w/ mtbi produce less melatonin in the pineal gland.

Melatonin sure helped me to sleep when I tried to quit Elavil. Seems like I am addicted to Elavil now since whenever I tried to quit I get nauseous, my stomach gets upset and sure sleep gets messy too.

But formark28's friend I don't think any of these are helping. He tried benzos, ambien etc., which are intense medicines for sleep. I didn't exactly know what Insomnia feels like before my head injury. I had insomnia for 3 days when I tried Cymbalta and some other supplements. Another one gave me insomnia is GABA Calm (sublingual supplement). Same note some people got great sleep. Some new supplements almost works close to drugs and may be dangerous too.

10 years of insomnia bcuz of a concussion! I say a prayer for your friend.

Periactin didn't cause depression for me (or in my case exacerbate depression that was already present).

Definitely try 4 mg periactin + 10 mg melatonin.

I went from nights of HORRIBLE sleep (restless sleep/waking up at 4 a.m. some nights/not falling asleep til 6 a.m. other nights) to sleeping a solid 10-12 hours.

Thank you everyone!

[QUOTE=Kelly50179;784756]I take 10 mg of melatonin and 4 mg periactin (cyproheptadine), which is an antihistamine. My doctor said it was similar to benadryl and I'm pretty sure you can buy it over the counter, although I am prescribed to it. For some reason the combination knocks me out for a solid 10-12 hours. And it's great, restorative sleep. I actually feel rested upon waking up. Melatonin alone didn't work for me, nor did ambien or benadryl.>>

I use baby Benadryl when we are in our camper in parking lots and also sub lingual melatonin because I have to be alert if the police ask us to move the van. They both work for 3-4 hours. At home I use generic Xanax and get a good sleep but takes two coffee to wake up for my work after 8 hours. Many find Greenstone brand is the only generic to use and I concur. Hard to find at times. Costco have it. I don't like to rely on benzoids but I need a life too. Neurologist prescribed some other things that made me weird so I stopped them. Alprazolam is the name of the generic Xanax. Normally for Anxiety. Much like old valum but shorter half life that suits me better. My doctor told me about generic (Publix or Drug Store brand) Baby Benadryl, the red syrup in a bottle. He uses it too.