Suvorexant and Tiredness: What Users Say

• Ins...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 22, 2015

Suvorexant for Insomnia "I have been on Lunesta for approximately 10 years. Lunesta has its ups and downs, but my doctor suggested trying something that was not a hypnotic. So, I stopped Lunesta for one month and went on 15 and then 20 mg of Belsomra. As best I can describe it, the Belsomra was interesting. Interesting, in that when I could fall asleep, it did feel much more natural. I would also wake up in the morning feeling tired and just wanting to lay in bed and relax. That is not a bad thing. However, it simply would not put me to sleep on most nights. Moreover, the tiredness feeling I experienced tended to linger all day. It was not a drugged feeling, but just a tiredness I could not shake. So, I went back to Lunesta. Not perfect, but does its job well!"

• bri...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 17, 2015

Suvorexant for Insomnia "Everyone reacts differently to medication. Dosage: 10 mg, Sex: Male, Age: 58, Diagnosis: Chronic Insomnia. I've taken Belsomra for 3 nights now with 1 to 2 hours of sleep each night. This is strange stuff, be careful. You feel tired, but it does not shut your mind off, I laid in bed for 4 hours awake. At that point, after 2 nights of not sleeping, I think I would have fallen asleep anyway from exhaustion. I did not think I was asleep but started to experience the strangest nightmares I have ever had. After another hour of this, I did fall into a dream state sleep for sure. The dreams were extremely unusual and lucid (like when taking Restoril), very strange. I fell in and out of sleep for about 2 hours, then woke at 4 am, and that was it."

• aka...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 11, 2015

Suvorexant for Insomnia "This drug should be taken at the 20 mg strength. The trials were done at 20-60 mg, but the FDA forced Merck to make 10 mg (that do not work but do cause side effects). There's a long article in The New Yorker about all of this. My main problem with this drug is that it's hit or miss. It shuts my mind off very well, but sometimes I wake up only 3 hours later. Even if it's 8 hours, I can be very tired the next day. But, sometimes I am great the next day! The inconsistency didn't improve after 10 days. I am also on Klonopin, Cymbalta, and Neurontin, but I cannot stop those. The trials were biased because they only allowed 'pure' insomniacs not on any other drugs or with any other conditions... how many people are like that?"

• KTJ...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 10, 2017

Suvorexant for Insomnia "I started Belsomra 15 mg about 3 weeks ago. It has not worked for me at all. After taking the medication earlier (7:45-8:00 PM) and spending several sleepless nights, my doctor increased my dosage to 1 and 1/2 tablets. The last few nights, I have been up past 4 AM. Even when I finally doze off, I wake up at least once an hour. I will call my doctor in the morning, I'll be awake. Exhausted! But awake!"

• Lin...
• September 8, 2015

Suvorexant for Insomnia "I've been using and still will use zolpidem for the last 8 years. I tried Belsomra, clean off zolpidem, at least 20 hours. The Belsomra at 15 mg made me yawn. That was what the Dr. recommended. Did not sleep at all. Next day I tried 20 mg. Ever hear of sleep paralysis? Well, 20 mg I got sleepy. I was impressed. I started to doze off, and the sleep paralysis started to hit me. I got up and made some coffee, and I won't take them anymore. Google sleep paralysis and you'll find it is not pleasant, to say the least. And they wanted $300.00 for 30. Ended up with 10 for free with a coupon. Got 8 1/2 left and will not use them anymore. Took it 4 hours ago. Zolpidem beats this Belsomra by far. I rate Belsomra in the negative 10. Merck, thumbs down on this one...."

• Sle...
• September 18, 2018

Suvorexant for Insomnia "I have had insomnia for years and started Belsomra 4 months ago. I take it one hour before I want to go to sleep, and I have been lucky not to experience side effects that others have. I do wake up during the night but only to use the bathroom and am able to fall back asleep pretty quickly. Sometimes I feel a little more tired in the morning, but after my cup of coffee, I am fine. I do not drive, so I don't have to worry about that. I just feel like I got a good night's sleep, which is pretty much a miracle for me."

• Sav...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 11, 2018

Suvorexant for Insomnia "This is the only medicine that has worked for me without bad side effects. It makes me so tired and relaxed about an hour after I take it. I do have some weird dreams, but nothing bad. I am never groggy the next day, and I always feel like I got a good night's sleep. I love it."

• TMK...
• February 10, 2015

Suvorexant for Insomnia "I've been battling insomnia for almost 5 years, mostly sleep maintenance. I've tried every medication under the sun. Belsomra is the new kid on the block and works very differently than all other 'sleep' drugs (via orexin/hypocretin receptor antagonism). I've been following and waiting for this drug's release for years. First night at 20 mgs, I slept 8 hours without waking once, something I haven't done in years, but boy, does it sure cause next day sedation. Well, tiredness is a better term. Doesn't cause 'hangover' effects like other drugs, just a tired feeling is the best way to describe it. Will try 10 or 15 mgs and see if the next day tiredness lessens."

• Bee...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 28, 2022

Suvorexant for Insomnia "From 10 mg to 20 mg had me waking up every 2 to 3 hours. Terrible headaches during the day, being tired and fatigued with a horrible sinus upper respiratory infection. I never suffered from a sinus infection before this. I'm sorry it's just not worth my $60.00 (wasted) and the suffering throughout the day. No thanks, I'm going back to temazepam until I can find something else that works for me."

• Daz...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• October 22, 2019

Suvorexant for Insomnia "UPDATE... Just an update to an earlier review on Belsomra. First off, I had good success with this med, but as time went on (1 year), I noticed some memory impairment and feeling very tired every day after I woke, which would last all day. I also started to suffer mild to moderate depression and loss of interest and energy. I would say that this seems to be a safer sleeping med, but comes with longer-lasting side effects. Happy to say that now I'm off it that I have returned back to my normal self. I suggest it's good for short-term use."

• hei...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• June 26, 2019

Suvorexant for Insomnia "So I have an update on Belsomra. I had started it in April, 10 mg one at night. At first, it didn't work because I still had Ambien in my system, it takes 7 to 10 days of taking Belsomra while the Ambien leaves your system to work. I was bumped up to 15 mg... and once it kicked in, I now take a half, so I break it in half with a pill divider, it's now 7.5 mg... only drawback is I lost my tons of energy during the day. Now I feel sluggish and am constantly tired throughout the day. Insomnia sucks, I had horrible chronic insomnia for 10 years. Yes, this med works, but I've traded my daytime energy for sleep."

• Sle...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 18, 2018

Suvorexant for Insomnia "I've found Belsomra to be my enemy, not my friend. I have so many side effects besides not working well at all after three hours of sleep. After three days of use, I am totally exhausted, yet I'm too wired to nap, have constant chills, have chest pains and shortness of breath (just had an echo stress test, heart totally normal), diarrhea, cough, GERD... Please don't be fooled by the ads and expensive price tag. It doesn't always do what it says."

• Joe...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 20, 2019

Suvorexant for Insomnia "I was initially prescribed Belsomra 10 mg to help me sleep, however, all it did was make me really tired. My dose was increased to 20 mg, however, I had the same issue. Just really tired/drowsy. Unable to fall asleep."

• Sur...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• February 26, 2018

Suvorexant for Insomnia "My doctor gave me a sample, so I tried it. I’ve had insomnia for years. Tried so many things for sleep that didn't work. Took the sample tablets, two 20 mg tablets in two consecutive nights. Worked great. So called the office and told them they work great and had a prescription called in to my pharmacy. They do make me fall asleep faster, so now I sleep 5 hours instead of 3. Guess that’s better than none. But once I wake up to go to the bathroom, I have a hard time going back to sleep! The next day I either have a horrendous headache or am extremely tired all day. Don’t like either side effect or expense of Belsomra now that I’m on Medicare-they don’t pay for it! So back to not sleeping again. If only I could sleep at night, it would be so nice. I don’t know what it is like to sleep through the night anymore. This really sucks!"

• nan...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 27, 2021

Suvorexant for Insomnia "Belsomra 15 mg used for the past 2 months, taken every second day as it seemed to become ineffective if used daily. Works okay to keep me asleep most nights. But I need 9 hours of sleep on this to feel rested vs. 7.5-8 hrs as usual, and if woken early, would be terribly exhausted as if I hadn't slept at all. No other effects, did dream a lot more at the start, but that has subsided. Not worth the cost to me."

• Kan...
• October 18, 2019

Suvorexant for Insomnia "Belsomra didn’t really work at all. This is the first prescription sleeping aid I’ve tried, and I’m not even sure why it was suggested by my doc. I fell asleep at 11 PM, woke up at 1:30 AM completely exhausted and unable to go back to sleep. I couldn’t even tell if I was asleep or not, my mind felt very active. I’m not going to continue taking the samples I was given."

• Rox...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 20, 2018

Suvorexant for Insomnia "This drug is amazing so far. I’m on the highest dosage, and it knocks me on my butt. I feel tired the entire next day, but I don’t care. I’m so happy to be able to sleep without waking up at 3 a.m. and not going back to sleep. I’ve tried 12-15 sleeping pills since 2010, and this one works really well. I just hope I don’t get tolerance and it stops working."

• Joh...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 20, 2019

Suvorexant for Insomnia "I will update my review if this gets better, but I took this for the first time last night. I'm one of those people who gets sleepy taking an 800 mg ibuprofen. I expected what's marketed as a sleeping pill to knock me out. This did nothing for me except make me super tired the next day even though I slept 7 hours."

• MYF...
• February 5, 2017

Suvorexant for Insomnia "Belsomra offers a voucher for FREE (10 days of 10 mg, 10 days of 15 mg, and 10 days of 20 mg), so I tried them all, and now I am going to use the voucher for $3 ($90 a month) a pill if your insurance requires a payment of more than $150 and $1 ($30 a month) a pill if insurance requires a payment of less than $150 since I haven't met my deductible. I was just visiting this site to see how long it takes for the dosage to level off since I am feeling a little drowsy on the 20 mg. So if you need to try it to save a little money, use the vouchers. I love this pill since I was taking amitriptyline before and was always so exhausted the next day. I think I will try the 20 mg for the month and back down to the 15 mg if I am exhausted by the next refill."

• MzL...
• February 17, 2018

Suvorexant for Insomnia "I took Belsomra, 1/2 of a 15 mg pill, last night, after my doctor gave me Belsomra samples, saying this would help me sleep through the night. I wake up after 4 or 5 hours on Ambien. I have no problems falling asleep, just with staying asleep. Last night, I began to feel sleepy after taking Belsomra, turned off the light, then lay, mind racing for an hour or two, bad images of a gory dreamlike nature. I woke up four hours later, couldn't go back to sleep, ended up taking 1/4 of an Ambien. Intense dreams upon awakening. I have felt tired all day, depressed, headachy. I have taken zolpidem for years. I get 10 mg pills, Northstar brand cut into 4 pieces. I've never had bad dreams, daytime grogginess, or other problems. If I wake up in the middle of the night, with 4 hours until the alarm goes off, I take 1/4 10 mg, get back to sleep, wake with no problems. Trazodone made me impossibly groggy the following day. I don't take benzos. I'm sticking with zolpidem."

• Boo...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 29, 2018

Suvorexant for Insomnia "Went to my doctor for anxiety and depression, plus PTSD. They insisted that I just needed a good night's rest. After telling them multiple times I didn’t want something that I’d get addicted to. So they gave me a sample of Belsomra! After reading about it, I was upset to find it is a class 4 drug. They asked me to give it a try. So I did. 3 days! That was enough for me to decide I hate it! First night, it made me feel like my tongue was numb and sent me into an anxiety attack. I had to call my husband to talk me out of it. I had horrible nightmares, plus woke up periodically through the night and was exhausted the next day. The second night was the same! I had horrible nightmares and woke up. Third night: I had reoccurring night terrors! Woke up from them absolutely terrified! 3 days was enough! So, it didn’t work for me. I gave it two stars because it did get me to sleep pretty fast to be tortured by nightmares."

• fre...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 26, 2019

For Insomnia "Tried a 10 mg suvorexant sample last night. Slept off and on through the night. Woke up tired, spacey, not motivated to do anything. Waiting for this garbage to wear off. Throwing the remaining samples out! This drug is terrible. Staying with Lunesta."

• Bec...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• February 25, 2018

Suvorexant for Insomnia "This medication is not worth $56, it makes me so tired, but I can’t fall asleep. When I finally do, I wake up within 2 hrs feeling sick as anything, with a bad headache, and it makes me feel depressed. I hate Belsomra!! I just want to sleep."

• Rya...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 19, 2018

For Insomnia "I have had chronic insomnia for many years now, and the only medication that worked for me was Zyprexa (Olanzapine), which just made me feel like a bit of a zombie. I had no love for anything. Worried about the long-term side effects of the drug (memory loss), my doctor switched me to Suvorexant, and it is really working for me so far. I do have absolutely wonderful dreams on it too when previously I would hardly dream at all. The only bad thing about the drug is I do feel lethargic the next day and a bit agitated, but I am hoping they are just short-term effects. With a combination of Pristiq, Avanza, and Suvorexant, I am getting about 8 hours of sleep a night, so very happy."

• Bel...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 8, 2023

Suvorexant for Insomnia "I had several weeks trying to sleep with no luck. I tried everything over the counter first, again no luck! However, Belsomra works wonders for me. The first night I took Belsomra, I slept four or five hours the first night and 7 to 8 since. All I can say is that after three weeks it works for me with very few side effects. I’m a little tired until noon, then all is well."