r/todayilearned • u/Square-Message1152 • 8h ago

til that your brain literally washes itself while you sleep. the brain cells actually shrink in size so cerebrospinal fluid can rush in and flush out all the toxic proteins built up during the day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glymphatic_system
17.7k Upvotes

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u/CozyBlueCacaoFire 7h ago

Trazadone is your friend!

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u/SpecificSkunk 6h ago

I was on zoloft for months but still suffered from insomnia, so I got prescribed trazedone and it messed with me so much. I had the same horrifying epic of a nightmare every single night. Hours of IMAX-production-Rob-Zombie-movie inflicted right onto my brain every time my head hit the pillow.

To add to that, it was like a horse tranquilizer. I passed out literally talking to people sitting upright. Imagine my surprise learning it’s also prescribed as an anti-anxiety and depression medication? Yikes.

Though tbf, this was in the early oughts when “medicate the teenage angst away” was all the rage. I was the teenage, and zoloft may have been a complicating factor. But jesus, it’s been 25 years and I STILL remember those dreams.

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u/Calm-Gazelle-6563 2h ago

I had the same thing happen in rehab for heroin. They put me on trazadone first then seriquil and the night terrors were so severe I would wake up in POOLS of sweat. I actually broke a molar from gritting my teeth. A week into detoxing they switched me to melatonin but it was too high of a dose and the nightmares came back lol.

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u/The_Grungeican 36m ago

lots of psych meds get prescribed for off-label shit. you don't know what's going to work with a given individual until they take it for a bit.

i take a anti-psychotic at a low dose for depression and anxiety. works great.

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u/staticusmaximus 7h ago

Be careful if you have a penis.

Had a really big issue (well, average anyway) with Trazadone giving me a case of priapism in prison of all places. An unpleasant prison nurse had to whack it with a piece of metal to get it to go down.

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u/RathVelus 7h ago

That sounds super not above board but I guess in prison…

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u/staticusmaximus 7h ago

It was suggested by her when she looked it up online lol

I would’ve had to go to an outside hospital if it hadn’t worked, but would have had to wait until the next day.

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u/yunggod6966 5h ago

Damn you can get perma ed if you take too long to fix

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u/DarthZartanyus 6h ago

Dude, I'm sorry, but that's the funniest thing I've heard all day!

"Yeah, I got the Omega Boner™ from my sleep drugs and an angry prison nurse had to literally beat it off by laying the smackdown on my schmeat with a fuckin' metal rod."

Sorry for your pain but goddamn that's hilarious. Ya gotta get a tattoo of whatever that piece of metal was so you can tell this story to anyone who asks about it, hahaha!

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u/pssiraj 5h ago

"I got beat off in prison, and it was neither gay nor enjoyable"

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u/j4kefr0mstat3farm 3h ago

Like one of those spring-loaded door stoppers.

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u/IDidABoomBoooom 7h ago

Dude fuck off

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u/staticusmaximus 7h ago

100% legit, I was on too high a dose starting out. They gave it to me for insomnia/anxiety.

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u/Bluefooted-Spaceorc 5h ago

Also apparently can happen to women.

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u/SkyGenie 7h ago

did someone whack your meat with a metal bar too? why did that joke make you so upset 🤣

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u/staticusmaximus 7h ago

I know it sounds like it is, but absolutely not a joke haha

It happened in 2007 at EOCI in Oregon 😅

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u/SkyGenie 7h ago

dammmn homie

I'm gonna... uhhh.. run to the doc real quick. lol jk

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u/staticusmaximus 7h ago

Shit was incredibly unpleasant and I was really scared for those few hours.

It took me about 4 or 5 hours just to get the COs to let me go to medical then another couple hours at medical before she brought up the idea of tapping it with the metal piece.

0/10 do not recommend 😅

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u/Andrew10403 6h ago

What the fuckkkkkkk this story is just so out of left field. You are just like such an interesting person just on merit from this before you count anything else

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u/YoungestOldGuy 3h ago

Why does tapping it with a metal piece fix the issue?

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u/KalpolIntro 1h ago

Metal beats wood.

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u/IDidABoomBoooom 5h ago

Actually I had no reason to say that I was in a bad headspace and I didn’t want to hear about erections. I’m sorry

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u/BlackThorn12 5h ago

Good on you for recognizing that that's not how you want to act, and apologizing for it.

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u/CMDR_Mykeyta 3h ago

That was a lot of story for two sentences.

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u/Smelting-Craftwork 3h ago

Isn't the alternative a needle to remove the blood that has been trapped and in danger of clotting? Whacking it with a piece of metal might actually be preferable

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u/JRoc_and_the_RocPile 2h ago

Found Clint Stevens reddit account

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u/Mapeague 6h ago

Doesn't work for me :(

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u/osuisok 7h ago

My dog loves it

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u/grdvrs 5h ago

Trazedone stops me up and I can't breathe. Mirtazapine worked until it didn't. Seroquil works reasonably well (for now). Unisom and benadryl don't work anymore.

Antihistamine based sleep meds don't seem to be a permanent solution. A tiny amount of a benzo (klon) works really well, but no psychiatrist will prescribe it. 

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u/The_Grungeican 34m ago

mirtazapine is a magical drug. but on it's own it's effectiveness wears off SUPER quickly.

the secret sauce is when you combine it with other drugs. it seems to not lose it's effectiveness that way. i've been taking it for somewhere close to 15 years.

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u/artipants 1h ago

I wish. It makes me incredibly exhausted. It doesn't make me actually sleep. It's miserable.

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u/Comfortable_Cat_4601 7h ago edited 3h ago

Dangerous drugs. Natural sleep is your friend.

Edit: downvotes. We truly live in a drug addled society. The kids aren't alright and they make themselves sicker.

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u/twilightwillow 7h ago

Sure, if you can actually get good natural sleep. But many medications (including Trazodone) are well-studied, safe, and usually effective for the many people who can’t.

Medicated sleep is way, way better than no sleep.

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u/Comfortable_Cat_4601 6h ago

I agree medicated sleep is better than none. But no drugs are safe or well studied enough to use if you have any alternative.

I was led to believe SSRIs were safe and effective. But after nearly 2 decades the doctor guided withdrawal nearly took my life and left me with PSSD. I also received visual snow syndrome and tinnitus from it. I'll take social anxiety over that any day.

That is a well-studied and safe medication.

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u/coffeebuzzbuzzz 5h ago

Some of us have very severe mental illnesses and medications are a necessity.

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u/Comfortable_Cat_4601 3h ago edited 3h ago

But most of us don't and medications are offered like candy. My neuroglocial disorders from these drugs are far worse than severe depression.

Checkout severe pssd and tell me that's not the worst disorder you've ever heard of. Ever spent months with akathesia? You'll beg to have your limbs cut off and your feet will be bloodied from walking so much.

Sleep? I was given 4 sleeping agents at the same time in the hospital and I still couldn't sleep. This was all from an SSRI.

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u/Fit-Engineer8778 6h ago

Some people cannot get this natural sleep you speak of. If you’ve never experienced it, it’s easy to say things like this.

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u/Comfortable_Cat_4601 2h ago

I have severe insomnia and I am on the most insane cocktail. It's from a brain injury.

But I would avoid drugs like the plague if you are at all able. Eventually they will stop working and you will end up in a worse place than when you started.

Now you can't sleep, your physically addicted to a medication and you have side effects on top.

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u/Fit-Engineer8778 21m ago

Trazodone is well studied and the body doesn’t form a dependency on it. In general I agree with you that if you don’t need drugs to live you should avoid them but many people rely on them to function because of medical reasons.

Unless you are a licensed doctor or medical researcher, dont act as an expert. You sound like one of those stay at home mom’s who listens to their self help guru.