MemberHey folks,
Just wanted to share my experience with Dayvigo (Lemborexant) which is a brand new sleeping pill, came on the market in early 2020 in the US and Japan.
A lot of us struggle with insomnia. It is my #1 complaint every time my tinnitus spikes, too. I haven't really found any good options for it, even though I've read all the sleep threads here a dozen times. I tried Alprazolam (Xanax) and Zolpidem (Ambien); these sedate me heavily and leave me feeling like a slug until the next afternoon. Melatonin (tried all kinds of doses from 0.5mg to 3mg) doesn't help me sleep, just turns me into a zombie. Tried Valerian, it works, but only in large (500mg+) doses, and only for about 3 hours or so. Tried Mirtazapine (Remeron), didn't really do anything except give me side effects. There are several other antidepressants mentioned around here - I respect that these worked for many forum members, but using a drug for its side effects always felt like a risky hack to me.
So I was very excited when Dayvigo became available. It's the second member of the orexin inhibitor family, the first one being Belsomra (Suvorexant). These drugs claim to work not by tranquilizing the whole brain, but by specifically targeting orexin, which is thought to be responsible for the wake drive. So instead of systemwide sedation, your brain function remains unaffected, except it no longer wants to be awake.
Dayvigo's clinical trials seemed to be very promising. This is the first sleeping pill which is suitable for long-term use, they did a trial that went on for a year and the pill's effects didn't get weaker, in fact it became slightly more effective over time (compared to the beginning of the year, and also compared to placebo used for the same amount of time, too). Even better, there was no rebound insomnia, meaning that the participants could just discontinue the pill and their sleep was like before they started taking it - no physical dependence or withdrawal like with benzos. Also, sleep structure (e.g. deep sleep) was left intact, maybe even improved a bit.
Overall, looked extremely promising. Just tried it, 5mg (which is the half-dose, the full being 10mg). Subjectively, it felt just like it was supposed to: my brain continued to work normally, except there appeared this strong drowsiness, great desire to sleep. I slept pretty well, had normal dreams, and when I went out to the washroom, I moved entirely normally. No sleep paralysis, nightmares, or any bad stuff.
Now in the morning, there is still some mild version of that drowsiness left over, but "underneath" my mind is fully capable (unlike the zombie state induced by Xanax). It's also clearing up rapidly, I've been up for 45 minutes now and I'm almost back to 100%. I was in bed for a total of 7 hours, which is the very minimum recommended for this drug. Would probably work even better if I stayed in bed for 8.
Best of all, my tinnitus is at the lowest end of its range of fluctuation!
So overall, I found my new go-to option for sleep. This seems to be miles better than any other drug I tried. I don't plan on using it continuously (even though it would be actually an OK idea!!), but it's great to have a new weapon.
Just wanted to raise awareness because there doesn't seem to be any discussion of Dayvigo around the forum, and I think it could help a lot of people here.
Cheers!
Just wanted to share my experience with Dayvigo (Lemborexant) which is a brand new sleeping pill, came on the market in early 2020 in the US and Japan.
A lot of us struggle with insomnia. It is my #1 complaint every time my tinnitus spikes, too. I haven't really found any good options for it, even though I've read all the sleep threads here a dozen times. I tried Alprazolam (Xanax) and Zolpidem (Ambien); these sedate me heavily and leave me feeling like a slug until the next afternoon. Melatonin (tried all kinds of doses from 0.5mg to 3mg) doesn't help me sleep, just turns me into a zombie. Tried Valerian, it works, but only in large (500mg+) doses, and only for about 3 hours or so. Tried Mirtazapine (Remeron), didn't really do anything except give me side effects. There are several other antidepressants mentioned around here - I respect that these worked for many forum members, but using a drug for its side effects always felt like a risky hack to me.
So I was very excited when Dayvigo became available. It's the second member of the orexin inhibitor family, the first one being Belsomra (Suvorexant). These drugs claim to work not by tranquilizing the whole brain, but by specifically targeting orexin, which is thought to be responsible for the wake drive. So instead of systemwide sedation, your brain function remains unaffected, except it no longer wants to be awake.
Dayvigo's clinical trials seemed to be very promising. This is the first sleeping pill which is suitable for long-term use, they did a trial that went on for a year and the pill's effects didn't get weaker, in fact it became slightly more effective over time (compared to the beginning of the year, and also compared to placebo used for the same amount of time, too). Even better, there was no rebound insomnia, meaning that the participants could just discontinue the pill and their sleep was like before they started taking it - no physical dependence or withdrawal like with benzos. Also, sleep structure (e.g. deep sleep) was left intact, maybe even improved a bit.
Overall, looked extremely promising. Just tried it, 5mg (which is the half-dose, the full being 10mg). Subjectively, it felt just like it was supposed to: my brain continued to work normally, except there appeared this strong drowsiness, great desire to sleep. I slept pretty well, had normal dreams, and when I went out to the washroom, I moved entirely normally. No sleep paralysis, nightmares, or any bad stuff.
Now in the morning, there is still some mild version of that drowsiness left over, but "underneath" my mind is fully capable (unlike the zombie state induced by Xanax). It's also clearing up rapidly, I've been up for 45 minutes now and I'm almost back to 100%. I was in bed for a total of 7 hours, which is the very minimum recommended for this drug. Would probably work even better if I stayed in bed for 8.
Best of all, my tinnitus is at the lowest end of its range of fluctuation!
So overall, I found my new go-to option for sleep. This seems to be miles better than any other drug I tried. I don't plan on using it continuously (even though it would be actually an OK idea!!), but it's great to have a new weapon.
Just wanted to raise awareness because there doesn't seem to be any discussion of Dayvigo around the forum, and I think it could help a lot of people here.
Cheers!
