User Reviews for Belsomra oral

Don't waste your money

I am a 58 year old with a familial history of insomnia. I had high hopes for this medicine. The first night I took it I slept about three hours, but only 20 minutes at a time. Last night, I only slept about two hours and then kept waking up frequently. This is a terrible drug and is way overstated in its material. I will probably go back on my ambien. At least with it I only had intermittent sleep issues. I am so disappointed. I was hoping for a better outcome from this medicine. I simply can not function on this minimal amount of sleep.Read More Read Less

Update. After a month on this drug, I find I get to sleep OK but awaken in 3-4 hours every night. Unfortunately, once I wake up at 3:00 AM, I find it impossible to get back to sleep without additional medication. Thus,I have been supplementing Belsomra with a 1 1/2 mg dose of Lunesta when I awake in the middle of the night. I sure wish the Belsomra was effective for the 7-8 hours the company refers to in the prescribing literature.

Just started this medication this weekend. Did not want. To start on a work night. I received some samples from my dr. The tabs are 10 mg. I shaved a little off the pill-which I know is not always a great idea. I actually feel asleep fairly quickly, feeling a little sleepy in a drugged kind of way. I usually wake 3-4 times a night, but after taking belasomra, I did not wake until 7 hours later. My insomnia is not the kind that keeps me from falling asleep, instead my problem is staying asleep. I did feel very very tired when I woke up and could have gone back to sleep for a few more hours. Since it was the weekend, I was able to lie in bed for am hour until I felt wake enough to get up. I felt very relaxed and a bit woozy....so there is no way I can take this med and get up early for work. I think I will just keep it for the weekend for now until I see my doc again. Read More Read Less

I have had chronic insomnia since adolescence. Before trying Belsomra, I had been stable on 100mg of quetiapine (Seroquel, for the sedative side effect) and 10mg of zolpidem (Ambien). The dosage of both of these medications was reduced for several days before trying Belsomra. I slept fine these days, but it took a bit longer to fall asleep. Day 1: At 7:30pm I took 10mg of Belsomra. 15 minutes later I thought I felt something. My mind seemed more idle than usual, but I was still not tired. 15 minutes after that and the effect was totally gone. At 8:30 I decide to take another 10mg, bringing me up to the max dosage of 20mg. At 9:15 I still feel no effects at all. I take 50mg of quetiapine and 5mg of zolpidem. An hour later I still feel awake - strangely, more so that I would normally feel after taking 50mg of quetiapine and 5mg of zolpidem. I take another 25mg of quetiapine. At 11:30 I fall asleep. I woke up at around 9:00am the next morning, having slept through my alarms. This is not at all normal for me. I felt foggy and out of it until around 11:30am, but have trouble focusing through the rest of the day. When I left work at 6pm, I still felt "off." Day 2: At 8pm I take 10mg of Belsomra on an empty stomach. I felt a very slight sleep pressure around 9:30 but couldn't fall asleep, so I took 60mg of quetiapine and 6mg of zolpidem. I finally fell asleep at 11:50, then woke up at 4am. I felt unpleasant and mildly anxious. I eventually fell asleep at 6:30, sleeping until 9am. The hangover effects are less strong than the first day, but they still last through the afternoon. I will not be taking Belsomra for a third night. I had been following the development of this drug for over a year, and had very high hopes that it would be effective for me. Unfortunately, for me at least, this drug seems no more effective than a sugar pill.Read More Read Less

After being on several sleep meds most recent Halcion and worked great, but my physican told me it's time to change meds. I started taking Belsomra 10 and 15 mg did not work. I up it to 20mg takes about 2hrs to kick in, when I do fall asleep mind is racing and wake up several times...insomia is a horrible condition to have, it has effected every aspect of my life.

I am taking celexa For depression and was taking ambien for sleep. My doctor said this new drug would not cause memory loss or cause the imbalance I felt in the mornings. I had great difficulty going to sleep with 10mg but once I did I had very vivid frightening dreams. I told my husband about the crazy dreams and decided it couldn't be the belsomra. Tried it again last night and had very vivid, violent, frightening dreams. I will did not fall asleep quickly and once I did my husband says i thrashed all night. I won't take the drug again.Read More Read Less

This is my second post on this drug. Initially, I had no success whatsoever after two nights with 10+10mg and then 30mg. As I am trying to withdraw from Lunesta, after 18 months of continuous use, I thought maybe the rebound insomnia influenced my results with Belsomra. I therefore tried it again. This time ( 5 nights now) I am taking 25mg. I am careful not to have anything to eat for at least 3 hours prior. In addition, I take it one hour prior to going to bed. Unlike the benzo's and Z drugs, Belsomra will not knock you out but lets you get to sleep on your own. I do awaken numerous times a night but find I can get back to sleep, something that had eluded me on the other meds. No apparent next day issues thus far, but very crazy dreams. It is like watching a new movie every night. As a 20+ year sufferer of insomnia, I remain very cautious, but optimistic about the long term use of Belsomra. Yes, this drug is very expensive and my provider will not cover it at this point. I am still working off of the 10 day trial offer. I do have a prescription for 30 tablets but I may just request 10 at a time and see how that goes.Read More Read Less

Waited over a year for this to come out. Took 5 mg last night, it did nothing. Trying 10mg tonight. Insurance doesn't pay for it. So if it works I'm up the creek. I've tried everything, ambien & others like it do nothing. Seroqeul effects my heart condition. I can't do mood stabilizers, old anti depressants. I had taken chloral hydrate for over 15 years. That worked perfect for me. The pharmaceutical company decided to pull it off the shelves in the US. If this doesn't work I'm going back to a few margaritas a nightRead More Read Less

I have a sleep problem involving excessive dreaming, usually dreaming and waking 8 - 10 times a night. Doctor had me try Belsomra to see if it might help. Tried 10 mg for several nights. Slept for 3 - 4 hours before dreaming started. Then tried 20mg. Had worst night ever. Very restless all night. Hardly slept, and when I did sleep I had very strange, vivid dreams. So disappointing. I was hoping this might work for me.

No one has written yet about how the drug makes them feel. My experience was the same with 10 mg the first time I tried it and then with 20 mg the second time. Since it did not work the first time I thought a double dose might do the trick. Both times I felt my body feel heavy but my mind continued to race. I felt my blood pounding in my head. It was actually a very scary feeling. After a couple of hours of this I reached for another type of sleeping pill - xanax or lunesta and slept the rest of the night. Has anyone else had this experience? Is this maybe a pill to keep you asleep but not put you to sleep?Read More Read Less

slept with multiple awakenings, groggy and sleepy all day. Took 10 mgs at 8 pm , went to sleep 10pm

I was hesitant to try it because it's only been on the US market for a few months, but after trying every other sleep medicine under the sun (ambien, lunesta, etc.), I really had nothing to lose. Belsomra has been SO helpful with my insomnia, and although it's a bit pricey, I highly recommend it to those of you suffering from insomnia. The best part is I don't feel drugged or drowsy the next morning, which ambien often made me feel.

I have had a tough time with insomnia for some time now. Ive been taking ambien for over a year almost daily and my doctor wanted me off of it. He warned me about my inability to sleep getting worse after stopping ambien, I guess It is an ambien withdrawl, so I tapered down over a few days and switched to this new drug two weeks ago. It is definitely different, but I guess that is the point. I had to go up to 15 mg to get a good nights rest. Im getting about 61/2 hrs sleep now without wkaking up. I do not get a drugged feeling like I did on ambien and not drowsy in the morning like I was with Benadryl. This is just me. But it does work. Ill keep taking it. The voucher was helpful and I just found the coupon online. Read More Read Less

Gives me crazy vivid disturbing dreams which seem completely real. This is a scary drug. I am going back to Ambien.

It doesn't make me feel drugged up like Ambien does and doesn't even make me feel noticeably more tired, which is somewhat disappointing as I like that feeling when laying down to drift off. But if I take it and lay down, within an hour I drift off without realizing it and wake up seeing the clock has moved forward several hours, which is exactly what I remember sleep being like as a kid. One moment you're there, the next hours have passed. I haven't had a prescription sleeping medicine yet that made me feel like I fell asleep as naturally as I did on this, meaning it's exactly how I remember falling asleep as a child, before the parade on insomnia drugs that basically knocked me into a stupor. It did its job, which is about all I can ask for. And I'm one of those who cannot fall asleep without something to help him. I don't see this having the addictive potential of other drugs like Ambien as even at 20mg I felt absolutely no recreational value in it. Like I said, it didn't even make me feel tired. But it did help me sleep, which was the point.Read More Read Less

I've been taking seroquel, amitriptyline, trazadone, lamictal, and temazepam for years. Yes my insomnia is that bad. Belsomra gave me the first day of clear headedness and all day energy in probably 20 years. Even without getting off all the other meds completely. I'm only on 10mg now which is unlikely to be enough for my insomnia as I drop my other meds. I've been waking up after 5hrs of sleep the past few days. Once I'm done tapering seroquel and raise belsomra some I have no reason to think it won't be effective enough.Read More Read Less

Posted an earlier review but don't know how to get to it for editing. I have been taking 3 mg of Lunesta for about 7 years so my reaction to Belsomra may include some rebound action from discontinuing the Lunesta. Took 20 mg of Belsomra for 3 nights-no apparent results-awoke at least every hour and had some strange dreams. Last two nights I took 30 mg and still no help from the med. It is noted I also did not have any adverse day after reaction from any of the doses. Looks like I will be headed back to Lunesta which at least gives me 3-4 hours sleep. Very disappointing.Read More Read Less

Just took it one night so far-20 mg-and did not work much at all.

Tried two nights, both up all night but felt "drugged", gave me hirrible headache. really bummed I spent the money as I had high hopes. Ambien gives me about 4 hour sof sleep, guess its back to that