Sleepless. My Journey from Sleeping Pill Addiction to Awakening

Melissa just dreamed of getting a good night's sleep.
Job cuts, the birth of a child with developmental disabilities, problems in her relationship with her husband — consumed by worries, she didn’t notice how morning came, followed by another night —... and again without sleep. But is it possible to forget how to sleep?

Chronic insomnia is observed in 33% of the adult population (data from PubMed Central).

To treat her insomnia, the doctor prescribed Melissa benzodiazepine drugs. Thus began her story of waking nightmare, when her whole body turned into a stretched nerve, and fire burned beneath her skin.
Physical dependence and irreversible consequences in the brain — this is what one has to pay for 'pharmaceutical magic'. Melissa managed to speak up to tell her truth about the drugs that are prescribed to millions today.

Melissa Bond — poet and journalist. Key speaker at the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse conference in 2022. In 2021, she was an invited speaker at the National Down Syndrome Association conference.