I have had a severe sleeping disorder ever since serving as a Marine in Viet Nam. Additionally, as a result of my "experiences" there, I also suffer from anxiety attacks and other "conditions." I have been dealing/coping/enduring these and other issues for over 38 plus years. I would experience severe sleeping disorder bouts at least 2-3 times a year. I finally sought help and have been on many different medications for the past 14 years. However, in the past, when I could not fall asleep at night I almost always fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion about the time I was supposed to get up and go to work. This past May (2006), I began what would eventually be a 6 week bout without being able to fall asleep at night. However, for the first time, I did not/could not fall asleep as I had been able to do in the past. I gave up and tried to take a nap later in the day and still could not fall asleep. That night, and for what would go on for the next 6 weeks, I could not sleep at all! After the better part of a week, I finally called my Psychiatrist and he "upped" the dosages on my medication. When that didn't work we changed medications. This went on for weeks and nothing was working! I flat out could not sleep! Days had now turned into weeks. I was now psyched out, I could not think straight, and I had become desperate. Every day and every night was an eternity. I was exhausted, suffering, my mind was not thinking rationally, and I started feeling hopeless and was now feeling depressed. I did not know what was happening to me. I had never felt this "bad" or this "way" before. I was in such bad shape mentally that I actually started thinking of taking my own life, anything but this pain and mental anguish I was experiencing. My Psychiatrist finally put me on 30 milligrams of Valium, 100 milligrams of Seroquel, 600 milligrams of Lithium, and a "new" Patch for Depression (Selegiline transdermal System). He also told me that I had slipped into "deep clinical melancholy Depression." There was nothing more he could do for me medicinally and based on my "condition," he recommended Electro Convulsion Therapy. These new medications "knocked me out," and I started getting sleep, but I was in the throes of deep depression. Although desperate, ECT still sounded very radical. My Sister had been scouring the internet for anything related to Depression and came upon your site. I called "Karl," got my Psychiatrist to prescribe Alpha Stim and ordered it. It didn't happen overnight, but after about 3 weeks I started making "baby steps" out of my depression. I have used it every other day since then, and came out of depression in late August. As a precautionary measure, even though I thought I was almost back to "normal," my Psychiatrist still has me on the same medication. I believe Alpha Stim made a significant difference in my recovery and highly recommend it to anyone with sleeping problems, anxiety attacks, and depression.

Mark Hansen - Woodstock, IL