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.