Can’t sleep, not even sleepy

I’m 24 days off 1mg Xanax from rapid taper .. big mistake from bad advice  3 nights no sleep, restless leg.  I’m wide awake even though I worked in the yard, went to the gym and tried to be normal.  I get what I call bed phobia because when I get in my bed I get so anxious fearing no sleep.  Help.. I’m so alone.  Is this part of it??  How many days with not sleep..

Insomnia is pretty common in benzo withdrawl - many of us have gone through it but I am sorry you are there.  I had insomnia terribly for a while and I also developed the bed/sleep phobia and began to dread bedtime.  Of course, the anxiety over not sleeping only makes things worse.  Ugh.  I even asked my hubby to switch sides of the bed with me which oddly enough helped!

 

Insomnia does resolve with time and patience.  Meanwhile, this link has some really helpful and reassuring information in it:

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=235100.0

You were on a long time which doesn't help, but Ashton says insomnia lasts 6-12 months for most.  Some recover sooner but most later. 

 

Your sleep isn't terrible the entire time and then one night you suddenly start sleeping.  It's very UP and down with sleep alternating from none to some to none over and over until you finally start getting some most nights and then every night.

 

No one knows how long your insomnia will last, but it will get better over time

 

I had 5 nights in a row with zero perceived sleep after I jumped CT.

 

Then I averaged 5-10 hours per week for months

 

Some people use another non-Benzo to help with sleep such as Seroquel, Mirtazapine, Hyrdoxyzine, Trazodone, etc.  You do what is best for you, but please stay away from any future Benzo use

 

Good luck.  Time is the healer!

Thanks Kate08.  I have read the post you copied and it does give me hope.  But when you’mre laying alone in the middle of the night in the guest room so you do t wake your husband it’s hard.  I end up wondering how many nights will be sleepless. 

It takes time. And it is NEVER soon enough! I'm sorry you are in it. But just know this......it's survivable! I was very similar to TheWay2. The zero sleep, and then the broken patterns. When I was going through it, I just kept thinking "there is no way this is possible for a human to survive THIS much missing sleep!" On top of all the other horrendous symptoms.  ..........but somehow we DO!!!

 

I’m sorry your going thru this too. I also did a ct and in 7 months out. My sleep just started coming back in the last couple weeks where I get anywhere from 2 to 4 hours every night. I also went days without sleep and had so many zero nights I can’t even count them. It’s horrible and really puts your life on pause. If you need any support I’m here and your welcome to send me a PM.

Just want to chime in with everyone else to tell you to hang in there! It does get better over time. Sleep patterns in the brain are a funny thing and can be dramatically affected by Benzo's. If I only knew. I used benzo's to HELP me sleep and they turned on me and quit working. I have just recently started getting a few hours of benzo quality sleep (withOUT the benzo's) after months and months of zero's and a few hours of very light sleep.

 

You got this! You can do it!

I’m 24 days off 1mg Xanax from rapid taper .. big mistake from bad advice  3 nights no sleep, restless leg.  I’m wide awake even though I worked in the yard, went to the gym and tried to be normal.  I get what I call bed phobia because when I get in my bed I get so anxious fearing no sleep.  Help.. I’m so alone.  Is this part of it??  How many days with not sleep..

 

I've been there you're not alone. I went a week of 45 minutes a day before I dragged my self to the ER. (they thought i was drug seeking and offered me more benzos but i refused)

 

What I did was go to an Addiction Specialist. They were the only doctors that understood what was happening to me. I was prescribed a Beta-Blocker for the restlessness and Doxepin for Sleep and it worked. Mind you it had been a week of no sleep, if it were sooner IDK. 

 

Your not alone, The best thing I could do was accept it and surrender that it's going to take time to heal, and its way better now (this was 2 weeks ago)

I also had the bed phobia because I would be jolted awake, The fact that I went to a addiction doctor lowered my stress incredibly because I knew he was going to help me unlike my previous doc. Another thing i did other than the above comment is I didn't get in the bed, even if its 9AM from the night before. The reasoning is it made my bed phobia worse because I associated the bed with being awake, nightmares, restlessness, and akathisia. HOT SHOWERS! I took probably 10 showers a day only getting out when the water became cold. When I stayed out of the shower for over 25 minutes the feelings would resurface so i would get back so get back in BEFORE they do and helped a lot.

 

I can survive anything after surviving that. Hope any of this helped. 

Hi Wanttosleep,

 

I myself am currently in Benzo withdrawal. I took Benzodiazpines for my insomnia in the first place. Somewhat similar to you I struggled with even worse insomnia during too rapid withdrawal.

 

My first advice is to read the Ashton Manual!!! I cannot emphasise this more.

 

You basically went cold turkey which is really bad. Most people taper over the course of years switching to Diazepam (Valium). 1mg. of Xanax is equivalent to 10mg. of Diazepam! Something that you can consider is to start taper down from 10mg. of Diazepam.

 

The other thing that I want to advice: Dr. Heather Aston does mention aids if sleeping really is a problem. One of the aids Dr. Ashton suggests in Seroquel, but I would strongly advice against it, because it can be very hard to come off them. I had a very good talk with my psychiatrist and she suggested some aids to help me sleep during withdrawal.

 

Before I give you some concrete advice I do have to say, that after going trough Benzo hell with an almost fatal outcome, I've never become so anti-medication. Also I'm not a doctor or specialist, but I'm going to tell you what I wished I told myself years ago.

 

You can start with natural stuff, like hops and valerian. Currently I am taking Promethazine 50mg. (it's originally for heyfever), which seems to help me sleep.

 

The best remedy is time, though.

 

 

Good luck!

 

 

I’m 24 days off 1mg Xanax from rapid taper .. big mistake from bad advice  3 nights no sleep, restless leg.  I’m wide awake even though I worked in the yard, went to the gym and tried to be normal.  I get what I call bed phobia because when I get in my bed I get so anxious fearing no sleep.  Help.. I’m so alone.  Is this part of it??  How many days with not sleep..