My recovery and advice from Z-drug induced withdrawal insomnia.

Ok here’s my story of possibly the worst time of my life to date, mainly induced by a Z drug that was prescribed to me. I have now healed, I sleep 6-7 hours a night and it actually feels like sleep again. Recovery has taken 8 months and been horrid at times. To put it into context, I was struggling with sleep in September/October 2020 mainly due to anxiety I believe, I was sleeping between 2 and 6 hours a night at the time.

 

I asked a doctor if they had anything to help and they immediately prescribed Zopiclone, saying ‘take one a night (3.75mg) for two weeks and if they work let me know and I’ll prescribe more.’ No mention of dependency, tolerance, addiction or side effects. Or indeed what these evil drugs do to your brain and nervous system. I was willing to try anything at that point so took his word and started taking them daily. Initially they worked, I was sleeping well again, up until just under two weeks later when I started struggling to go to sleep again, so I got in touch with the doctor who just said ‘here’s some more, go up to two tablets a night (7.5mg). So I upped the dose  and was sleeping fine again. Up until two weeks later, when I thought I would try sleeping without them one night. I couldn’t sleep at all. That was my first zero night. I also started to feel odd during the day, extreme anxiety, heart palpitations, vision issues. But I noticed that when I took Zopiclone in the evenings before bed, the symptoms would go away. I didn’t realise at the time but I was starting to have intra dose withdrawal. I also started to struggle to sleep on 7.5mg. So I went up to 10mg for three nights. I slept, but the sleep wasn’t proper sleep. It was like being punched in the face sleep and I didn’t wake up feeling restored at all. This started to scare me and I realised I needed to get off them. So I did a one week taper (which was way too short) back down to 3.75mg. My sleep was awful during that week, at best 4 hours a night, with a couple of zero nights.

 

Then I jumped. What ensued was the most hideous period of my life. I thought my sleep was bad before I went on these pills but that was nothing compared to what experienced in the weeks after coming off them. The first 4 nights I didn’t sleep at all. I tried, felt exhausted but wired all the time. I remember going to bed the fifth night and sleeping for 4 hours, it was rubbish light sleep but I was overjoyed. But it was followed by another 4 nights of nothing. This was accompanied by heart and chest flutters, trembling and chest pain. I realise that my body almost required the drug to feel normal. The second stint of 4 nights I panicked and phoned the doctors, who claimed it couldn’t be their beloved drugs and I needed to see a psychiatrist. I even went to the urgent care centre who wanted me on more pills. I felt really alone, I didn’t understand what was happening to my body and thankfully that’s when I found this site, and I read the book ‘Klonopin Withdrawal and Howling Dogs’ which described a woman’s awful benzo withdrawal induced insomnia. I then realised it was withdrawal insomnia and I was just going to have to ride it out, it was sobering reading it could take months. The next three weeks I averaged 10 hours or so of sleep a week with lots of zero nights. My skin, hair, eyes etc all felt terrible, and I felt so weak and exhausted when trying to run or exercise. It was miserable. I idealised suicide many times.

 

About a month after the last pill, my sleep went to being able to sleep one night and not the next. This was aided by the sudden success with using a low dose of Mirtazipine, about 3mg. It had not worked at all until this point. With a LOT of REM sleep, I mean a lot. This lasted a month. Then came the first two night block of sleep and I was elated. That quickly became three. Then after two months I was able to get some form of sleep every night. It wasn’t restorative, I could always tell because when I opened my eyes it didn’t feel like I’d been asleep at all, but I’d look at my watch and 5 hours had passed. Deep restorative sleep did not come back for a long time. Maybe after 6-7 months or so. By April (month 4) after two weeks of solid 3-5 hour nights I was getting these horrible waves still where I would go 3-4 nights of getting very little and it feels like I’m going back to square one but then it improves, I guess these are waves.

 

So what I have learned:

 

1. You WILL heal. It may feel like you won’t, and there will be some awful days and nights. But you will. It gets better. Don’t believe some of the crap you read on here or some Facebook groups where some say it never gets better. I think some people love the sound of their own individual situation and the attention it gives them. The vast majority get better. Be positive.

 

2. No amount of supplements, cbti or sleep hygiene will make any difference to withdrawal insomnia. I tried most things and the only things I believed that helped were not things that help sleep specifically but more aid the recovery of your nervous system. I had green smoothies every day courtesy of Athletic Greens (the book ‘klonopin withdrawal and howling dogs recommended green smoothies), a Probiotic containing lactobacillus Rhamnossus (to reduce anxiety, lots of evidence this particular bacteria reduces anxiety) and Nordic Naturals Omega Oil (recommended by Parker to help brain injury recovery). Going to bed at the same time and getting out of it at the same time even if you don’t sleep helps your body establish a routine which makes the recovery easier I think, or did in my case.

 

3. Sleep hygiene says if you can’t sleep get out of bed, well I don’t think this applies to withdrawal insomnia, I think if you can’t sleep just being in a dark room and resting your eyes is the next best thing and I spent many nights doing this, getting up would have made me feel worse.

 

4. If you don’t feel you can exercise, go out walking. I walked most days until I felt I could exercise again. Morning walks are better, exposing your body to light early on.

 

5. Doctors and medical professionals have an extremely poor understanding of the effects of their beloved Z drugs and Benzos. I even went to see a world leading sleep doctor who claimed I had psycho physiological insomnia and wanted me back on Zopiclone and trazodone to get me sleeping again. Thank the lord I didn’t listen to him. I went to A and E on Christmas Day because I’d had my second stint of 4 nights without sleep and I had chest pains, the doctor wanted me back on pills. Finding this site and reading through Dr Ashton’s Manual and the experiences of others is the best thing you can do.

 

6. Sleep does come back but as others have said, it’s extremely non linear, involves a lot of REM rebound initially and won’t feel restorative for a good while. You might go through 3 weeks of improvement and get excited that everything is coming back to normal but then have a rubbish week or longer where it feels like it’s going back to that awful phase of sleep again. Stick with it. These periods will happen and are common. At 4 months off when I’d had 2 weeks of proper sleep again, I had a week where it went back to how it was in the early stages of withdrawal, all the horrible memories came back and I thought I was broken. But it went back to normal after a week or two. I imagine that will keep happening from time to time. (Update, it has)

 

7. The time you were on these hideous drugs has no bearing on how long the recovery will be. Perhaps tolerance has more effect on the length of recovery. I was only on for 7 weeks but it’s taken 8 months to recover, some people have been on for less time and need longer. Some are on for years and come off without a problem. Every one has their own unique withdrawal experience.

 

8. You will become a more appreciative, grateful and more compassionate human being after this experience. You will enjoy the smaller things, be less materialistic and more tolerant. There were times after I stopped these pills that I thought my body wouldn’t hold out and I was going to die. The human body can take a significant beating before it starts failing. As one doctor said to me a long time ago, when your time is up there’s not much they can do.

 

9. Your body will get all the sleep it needs. Even if that’s just half an hour or so initially, or even micro sleeps. Every day off that rat poison is a day closer to recovery.

 

10. There are no long term health studies showing what cumulative use of z drugs and benzos can do to the human body. The companies who make them say you should not take them for more than 2-4 weeks max. Easy to say when they don’t realise how addictive they are and how the body can become dependant on them. It might be hell in the short term but getting off them is the best thing you can do.

 

11. You will have these occasional phases where insomnia returns for a ‘wave’, which might be 2-3 nights, or a week. It will feel as bad as it did at the start, but it won’t last too long. It’s part of the healing process.

 

12. An understanding of what they have done to your nervous system helps you understand the symptoms. This is covered extensively by Parker in another thread and also in the Ashton Manual. But understanding that your body reacts to the drug by shutting down your gaba receptors in an attempt to maintain homeostasis, which results in its counter neurotransmitter, glutamate being allowed to run the show explains why you feel so awake all the time despite feeling exhausted. Here is the the psychology wiki page which I believe best describes what Z drugs do, and how they are just benzos with a different chemical structure.

 

https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Zopiclone

 

 

It has taken 8 months for sleep to properly return and actually feel like sleep again. Pretty much in line with Ashtons ‘6-12 months insomnia will resolve’ advice.

 

Happy to answer any questions, or if anyone wants to DM me they can. I remember how awful it was at it’s worst, and there were people on here who were there to guide me and help me on my way out of it. Theway2, Aloha, Shayna, Andros. Thankyou.

 

I'm so happy you've recovered RedOne, thank you for sharing your experience with us and your tips for getting through it.

 

I have a favor to ask, would you mind putting this post in Success Stories as well?  What you've written will help so many people searching for hope.

RedOne, your situation is almost identical to mine. Same drug, similar time on it, similar dosages, similar sides.

 

For me, the acute was around 1 month. I remember that one night when I had not slept for 4 days in a row, and I thought I was doing to die that night. And then the terror "am I going to stay like this for the rest of my life?".

 

2nd month, with Remeron as well, I was able to sleep 2hr a night, then 3, 4, 5, etc etc.

 

Supplements I used non-stop from beginning to now:

 

1. Magnesium. I always took Zinc and Mag in the form of ZMA. I never stopped, would take it every day

2. For me, the greens I was using were called CytoGreens. That stuff rocks, I can feel a difference in the quality of my day on this stuff.

 

I added a few things religiously due to their ability to stimulate BDNF and help your brain heal faster: Chamomille, Lithium Orotate, Gastrodia, Pollygala, and a baby Aspirin.

I also alternated between Remeron, Cannabis (CBD and THC), and Supplements to sleep (I would reach tolerance with one, so I'd switch to another one). When I took supplements specifically for sleep, I was taking a stackfull: Valerian, Magnolia Bark, Melissa, Theanine, Lavender, Kava, and sometimes Melatonin. That's what it took to knock me out for 3-4hr.

 

It took 5 months for me to get 5hr sleep, And now, 8 months later, I am sleeping 6-7hr if I follow my strict sleep hygiene.

 

What I went thru I would not wish on my worst enemy. The Pharm industry is EVIL for knowing about what these drugs do, and still pushing their sales. Doctors? Most of them are just bat#@t retarded. At least they offered you drugs at your ER. In mine, they told me right out they would do nothing for me, that I likely had sleep apnea, and that I should be talking to my GP.

 

In hindsight that was best. Had they given me a benzo, I would have taken it, and I may not be here, recovered. 

Zoplicone seems to be the worst Z-drug.  For it to be banned here in the US shows how dangerous it is.  They say it's banned because it's so addictive, but there are other reasons I'm sure that they won't publish because of potential lawsuits.

Just wanted to provide an update to this now I am roughly 19 months clear of these evil drugs. SLEEP DOES RETURN. That is the fundamental message, albeit with the occasional wave of 2-5 nights where the sleep drive disappears a little and I maybe get 4-5 hours or so. I can nap, sometimes I struggle to stay awake, and when I get into bed at night I almost feel sleepy immediately most nights. I average 7 hours a night which is ideal for me. This is not intended to show off about how much sleep I am getting now, it is intended to provide hope as in the height of withdrawal, I went several consecutive weeks of barely getting any sleep AT ALL. I thought I would never sleep properly again. It was the worst time of my life. I idealised suicide. I remember intra dose withdrawal gave me crippling panic induced anxiety. The waves do become less frequent, I have had maybe 2 this year. Even when you do start sleeping every night again, it takes bloody ages for sleep to feel normal and for the brain to be able to slow down the waves enough to find deep sleep again. I think I only started getting consistent deep sleep after being off for a year.

 

But, the main message is, IT DOES GET BETTER. It just takes much longer than we would like.

 

Any advice, PM me. I do not come on here much but I will help where I can.

Zoplicone seems to be the worst Z-drug.  For it to be banned here in the US shows how dangerous it is.  They say it's banned because it's so addictive, but there are other reasons I'm sure that they won't publish because of potential lawsuits.

 

Unfortunately, zopiclone is not banned in the US. You just know it as another drug - Lunesta which is Eszopiclone.

 

Zopiclone is a racemic mixture of two stereoisomers - R and S versions.  The R stereoisomer is not biologically active. It makes up 50% of Zopiclone and basically does nothing.

 

Eszopiclone is only the active S isomer of zopiclone. Hence the "es" (i.e. "S") in the name. It's for all intents and purposes the same as zopiclone but is twice as powerful for the same dose. If you look at zopiclone doses used in the rest of the world and eszopilcone doses prescribed in the US you'll see that the former is roughly 2x the latter.

 

Eszopiclone was approved in the US because it was technically a new drug and therefore was granted a new patent which gave the drug maker exclusive rights to market it in the US for a period of time. It was never sufficiently different from zopiclone that it should have been allowed to be patented but the patent system in the US is broken and abused by powerful corporate interests.

 

It's the same drug and the same poison. And I'll agree that zopiclone/eszopiclone might well be the worst of the bunch. It is one of the most active drugs at the a1 binding site on the GABA receptor. It is now thought that the a1 site is the most responsible for developing tolerance and the resulting withdrawal when discontinued.

 

Seven years ago I finished almost 20 years of use of z-drugs and benzos for sleep. The last one I used was eszopiclone and I'm fairly convinced it's the one that "did me in" and the reason why I'm still here 7 years later.

 

The z-drugs are bad stuff. Their short half life makes them prime candidates for interdose withdrawal. And of the rotten bunch, zopiclone/eszopiclone might the the worst one.

 

 

 

 

I took the darn Lunesta too for sleep.  I also took Ambien and Xanax and Restoril for sleep at night as well and some nights I wouldn't even take it, hence, all the tolerance and interdose w/d I had all the time.  No wonder I had a seizure at work in 2012.  It damaged my brain and I had to go home and haven't been able to work a day since then.  I haven't been the same since then. These benzo's and Z-drugs have seriously damaged me.  I'm housebound now because of all the damage done to my CNS, but I do the best that I can every single day.

PREACH! 

 

Ok here’s my story of possibly the worst time of my life to date, mainly induced by a Z drug that was prescribed to me. I have now healed, I sleep 6-7 hours a night and it actually feels like sleep again. Recovery has taken 8 months and been horrid at times. To put it into context, I was struggling with sleep in September/October 2020 mainly due to anxiety I believe, I was sleeping between 2 and 6 hours a night at the time.

 

I asked a doctor if they had anything to help and they immediately prescribed Zopiclone, saying ‘take one a night (3.75mg) for two weeks and if they work let me know and I’ll prescribe more.’ No mention of dependency, tolerance, addiction or side effects. Or indeed what these evil drugs do to your brain and nervous system. I was willing to try anything at that point so took his word and started taking them daily. Initially they worked, I was sleeping well again, up until just under two weeks later when I started struggling to go to sleep again, so I got in touch with the doctor who just said ‘here’s some more, go up to two tablets a night (7.5mg). So I upped the dose  and was sleeping fine again. Up until two weeks later, when I thought I would try sleeping without them one night. I couldn’t sleep at all. That was my first zero night. I also started to feel odd during the day, extreme anxiety, heart palpitations, vision issues. But I noticed that when I took Zopiclone in the evenings before bed, the symptoms would go away. I didn’t realise at the time but I was starting to have intra dose withdrawal. I also started to struggle to sleep on 7.5mg. So I went up to 10mg for three nights. I slept, but the sleep wasn’t proper sleep. It was like being punched in the face sleep and I didn’t wake up feeling restored at all. This started to scare me and I realised I needed to get off them. So I did a one week taper (which was way too short) back down to 3.75mg. My sleep was awful during that week, at best 4 hours a night, with a couple of zero nights.

 

Then I jumped. What ensued was the most hideous period of my life. I thought my sleep was bad before I went on these pills but that was nothing compared to what experienced in the weeks after coming off them. The first 4 nights I didn’t sleep at all. I tried, felt exhausted but wired all the time. I remember going to bed the fifth night and sleeping for 4 hours, it was rubbish light sleep but I was overjoyed. But it was followed by another 4 nights of nothing. This was accompanied by heart and chest flutters, trembling and chest pain. I realise that my body almost required the drug to feel normal. The second stint of 4 nights I panicked and phoned the doctors, who claimed it couldn’t be their beloved drugs and I needed to see a psychiatrist. I even went to the urgent care centre who wanted me on more pills. I felt really alone, I didn’t understand what was happening to my body and thankfully that’s when I found this site, and I read the book ‘Klonopin Withdrawal and Howling Dogs’ which described a woman’s awful benzo withdrawal induced insomnia. I then realised it was withdrawal insomnia and I was just going to have to ride it out, it was sobering reading it could take months. The next three weeks I averaged 10 hours or so of sleep a week with lots of zero nights. My skin, hair, eyes etc all felt terrible, and I felt so weak and exhausted when trying to run or exercise. It was miserable. I idealised suicide many times.

 

About a month after the last pill, my sleep went to being able to sleep one night and not the next. This was aided by the sudden success with using a low dose of Mirtazipine, about 3mg. It had not worked at all until this point. With a LOT of REM sleep, I mean a lot. This lasted a month. Then came the first two night block of sleep and I was elated. That quickly became three. Then after two months I was able to get some form of sleep every night. It wasn’t restorative, I could always tell because when I opened my eyes it didn’t feel like I’d been asleep at all, but I’d look at my watch and 5 hours had passed. Deep restorative sleep did not come back for a long time. Maybe after 6-7 months or so. By April (month 4) after two weeks of solid 3-5 hour nights I was getting these horrible waves still where I would go 3-4 nights of getting very little and it feels like I’m going back to square one but then it improves, I guess these are waves.

 

So what I have learned:

 

1. You WILL heal. It may feel like you won’t, and there will be some awful days and nights. But you will. It gets better. Don’t believe some of the crap you read on here or some Facebook groups where some say it never gets better. I think some people love the sound of their own individual situation and the attention it gives them. The vast majority get better. Be positive.

 

2. No amount of supplements, cbti or sleep hygiene will make any difference to withdrawal insomnia. I tried most things and the only things I believed that helped were not things that help sleep specifically but more aid the recovery of your nervous system. I had green smoothies every day courtesy of Athletic Greens (the book ‘klonopin withdrawal and howling dogs recommended green smoothies), a Probiotic containing lactobacillus Rhamnossus (to reduce anxiety, lots of evidence this particular bacteria reduces anxiety) and Nordic Naturals Omega Oil (recommended by Parker to help brain injury recovery). Going to bed at the same time and getting out of it at the same time even if you don’t sleep helps your body establish a routine which makes the recovery easier I think, or did in my case.

 

3. Sleep hygiene says if you can’t sleep get out of bed, well I don’t think this applies to withdrawal insomnia, I think if you can’t sleep just being in a dark room and resting your eyes is the next best thing and I spent many nights doing this, getting up would have made me feel worse.

 

4. If you don’t feel you can exercise, go out walking. I walked most days until I felt I could exercise again. Morning walks are better, exposing your body to light early on.

 

5. Doctors and medical professionals have an extremely poor understanding of the effects of their beloved Z drugs and Benzos. I even went to see a world leading sleep doctor who claimed I had psycho physiological insomnia and wanted me back on Zopiclone and trazodone to get me sleeping again. Thank the lord I didn’t listen to him. I went to A and E on Christmas Day because I’d had my second stint of 4 nights without sleep and I had chest pains, the doctor wanted me back on pills. Finding this site and reading through Dr Ashton’s Manual and the experiences of others is the best thing you can do.

 

6. Sleep does come back but as others have said, it’s extremely non linear, involves a lot of REM rebound initially and won’t feel restorative for a good while. You might go through 3 weeks of improvement and get excited that everything is coming back to normal but then have a rubbish week or longer where it feels like it’s going back to that awful phase of sleep again. Stick with it. These periods will happen and are common. At 4 months off when I’d had 2 weeks of proper sleep again, I had a week where it went back to how it was in the early stages of withdrawal, all the horrible memories came back and I thought I was broken. But it went back to normal after a week or two. I imagine that will keep happening from time to time. (Update, it has)

 

7. The time you were on these hideous drugs has no bearing on how long the recovery will be. Perhaps tolerance has more effect on the length of recovery. I was only on for 7 weeks but it’s taken 8 months to recover, some people have been on for less time and need longer. Some are on for years and come off without a problem. Every one has their own unique withdrawal experience.

 

8. You will become a more appreciative, grateful and more compassionate human being after this experience. You will enjoy the smaller things, be less materialistic and more tolerant. There were times after I stopped these pills that I thought my body wouldn’t hold out and I was going to die. The human body can take a significant beating before it starts failing. As one doctor said to me a long time ago, when your time is up there’s not much they can do.

 

9. Your body will get all the sleep it needs. Even if that’s just half an hour or so initially, or even micro sleeps. Every day off that rat poison is a day closer to recovery.

 

10. There are no long term health studies showing what cumulative use of z drugs and benzos can do to the human body. The companies who make them say you should not take them for more than 2-4 weeks max. Easy to say when they don’t realise how addictive they are and how the body can become dependant on them. It might be hell in the short term but getting off them is the best thing you can do.

 

11. You will have these occasional phases where insomnia returns for a ‘wave’, which might be 2-3 nights, or a week. It will feel as bad as it did at the start, but it won’t last too long. It’s part of the healing process.

 

12. An understanding of what they have done to your nervous system helps you understand the symptoms. This is covered extensively by Parker in another thread and also in the Ashton Manual. But understanding that your body reacts to the drug by shutting down your gaba receptors in an attempt to maintain homeostasis, which results in its counter neurotransmitter, glutamate being allowed to run the show explains why you feel so awake all the time despite feeling exhausted. Here is the the psychology wiki page which I believe best describes what Z drugs do, and how they are just benzos with a different chemical structure.

 

https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Zopiclone

 

 

It has taken 8 months for sleep to properly return and actually feel like sleep again. Pretty much in line with Ashtons ‘6-12 months insomnia will resolve’ advice.

 

Happy to answer any questions, or if anyone wants to DM me they can. I remember how awful it was at it’s worst, and there were people on here who were there to guide me and help me on my way out of it. Theway2, Aloha, Shayna, Andros. Thankyou.

Just a quick update, just coming out of a wretched insomnia wave that lasted 3-4 weeks, almost two years exactly since I came off. Went to sleeping 3-4 hours a night consistently with one 0 night and that sleepy feeling just disappeared. It’s started returning now and back to 6-7 hours again but it was grim! Just in case anyone out there is also getting these waves way after coming off, you are not alone!

It’s horrible how badly these drugs affect us. I am 13 months out and still not sleeping. I am starting to lose hope that this will ever heal. I read your story all the time for inspiration even though you starting sleeping again long before I have. I am sorry you had another wave but happy to hear that you are coming out it. I hope and pray that someday you can put this behind you.

Hi X Ray, I am pleased this account has offered some hope when times have been bad. I genuinely believed I had fatal insomnia, I would never sleep again, and that the body couldn’t cope with extreme sleep deprivation. Whilst I didn’t have it in the end as bad as you, there were many on here I spoke to who have and they all recovered. Just control the controllables. I ended up going to bed with the thought ‘sleep will return one day soon, and I am not going to give myself a hard time while this lasts’ and that kind of took the pressure off it. One day, you will get that sleepy feeling back, when your GABA receptors heal, and it will feel like the best thing ever. Keep going. 

This is a great thread and much needed.

 

I went through horrific withdrawal from paroxetine and, after three years where sleep was basically a lottery, I gave in and started taking 15mg of zopiclone every night. When it looked like I was approaching tolerance, I took “pre-GABA” supplements from my naturopath, which helped enormously. Until May 2022 when a mental health issue - caregiver burnout (after fighting depression on and off for 12 months) saw me change strategy and swap to seroquel. I have bipolar genes in me - given that my mother and my son both have bipolar - so antidepressants don’t work as well on me as they do on others. Anyway I was weaned off the zopiclone in a month while titrating the dose of Seroquel up. All was fine initially - until the wdl from the zop kicked in.

 

I would not have gotten through the paroxetine wdl without my naturopath but I now worry that my natural sleep will never come back. During the paroxetine wdl I endured a 3 month spell of just 4 hours sleep per night - eventually being diagnosed with ‘reverse T3 syndrome’ - a form of hypothyroidism that is not recognised by mainstream medicine. I can’t go through that again -  but equally I can’t continue taking additional

Seroquel on those nights when I simply can’t fall asleep. I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

I’ll keep taking the supplements my naturopath prescribed and keep going. I used to be a solid sleeper *sigh*

Thank you for this uplifting thread.

I'm giving this thread a bump as it has become a source of inspiration to me. I'm 2 months out from a CT from Ambien, Lunesta and Trazadone. I would say I had a 7 week run of heavy use, sometimes taking 6mg Lunesta and not seeing much "sleep" even at that dose.

 

I'm currently bouncing around at between 3.5 and 5 hours of nightly sleep. My daytime mood has mostly improved to neutral status. Like the OP, I am 100% committed to beating this thing. Eating healthy, walking, OMEGA, PROBIOTICS, keeping busy, Faith in Jesus Christ and maintaining a strict bedtime schedule are my tools.

 

I will update from time to time as things progress. I am hoping to be a positive note for anyone else stuck in this same boat.