Sleep deprivation psychosis - anyone here had it? Also, not feeling tired.

Hi, I have been away from the forum for a long time but find myself back here due to having to slowly withdraw from Valium. I am down to 2.5 mg and getting almost no sleep. The last four nights I have only had a total of 2-3 hours of sleep, if that, and I know I am in for more severe sleep deprivation.

 

I know that benzo withdrawal insomnia can last for weeks or months and I have to ask : what is the danger of sleep deprivation psychosis during benzo withdrawal? I am worried about getting it and then being admitted to a psych unit where they will most likely give me more Valium or other benzos in addition to antipsychotics.

 

The other issue I want to raise is not feeling tired after missing 4 nights of sleep. I feel a little odd but not yawny or sleepy. This becomes a problem at night, for I am going to bed without feeling tired/sleepy.

 

Any advice or experiences greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry to hear you're tapering again and that its affecting your sleep but from what I've read here, we can go a long time without it and come out fine.  Are you getting any microsleep episodes where you don't feel like you've slept but have lost time, even just for a few seconds?  I found those kept me functioning during the day although I was miserable.

 

I didn't feel sleepy either, just supreme exhaustion until close to bedtime then it seemed like I had a lot of energy and I couldn't yawn, but I wanted to so badly.

 

Have you seen this post?  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=235100.0

Greg,

The only time that I came close to any sort of psychosis was when in the middle of withdrawal I tried sleep restriction therapy to stimulate my sleep drive and it totally failed. I was only given a small window to attempt sleep and any nodding off outside that window earned me a painful poke from those around me. After almost 3 weeks my therapist became pretty alarmed at my lack of sleep and pulled the plug on the therapy.

 

Sleep was still very elusive and sometimes nonexistent for a very long time afterward, but I never came close to any sort of mental breakdown. I was able to function, travel and just get through each day. Sometimes it would catch up to me with an intense wave of exhaustion, but that would pass almost as fast as it hit. Strangely, I never even caught a cold when my whole family had one and I was able to maintain exercising.

 

My secret was allowing myself to drink coffee in the morning and very early afternoon in order to get through the day along with staying in bed as much as possible when I could not sleep and kept wanting to get out. I learned that I was actually getting a lot of short bursts of sleep that I was completely unaware of, and these were sustaining me. My wife telling me that I had been snoring and the results of a sleep-test indicating a lot of short sleeps when I was 100% sure that I had been wide awake confirmed this. Pamster pretty much describes the same thing.

 

 

Thanks for the replies, and for the reference to that post.

 

I think I must be getting microsleep episodes, and sometimes I will remember a dream I have had even though I am convinced I have not slept.

 

I am amazed at the body and brain's ability to go without sleep for so long. Especially in those cases where insomnia has been persistent for months. You would think the massive sleep debt would render a person totally unable to function but this does not appear to be the case, somehow.

I had it over three years ago, March 2019 when I was tapering and I had about one hour of sleep per day.  I was doing very strange things.  I was extremely paranoid, and I didn't feel safe at home.  I ended up doing some really strange things, like walking away from home at 11 PM at night and walking six miles in the dark with no light on a major highway, convincing myself I had to get to safety. 

 

 

VALID FEAR. I do not advise pysch hospital or ER. What have you tried that's natural? Everything I tried didn't work, was paradoxical, or harmed me further. I honestly think only time will heal. No sleep is torture and I know exactly how that is. If you have to try something I'd try delta 8 cbd or tart cherry juice.

I’ve had sleep deprivation issues and I’m in the middle

of it now. My coordination is definitely worse. My memory doesn’t retain anything and I just feel overall terrible. Absolutely 0 energy or motivation. Sometimes I hear things that aren’t there. It’s super difficult.

I’ve had sleep deprivation issues and I’m in the middle

of it now. My coordination is definitely worse. My memory doesn’t retain anything and I just feel overall terrible. Absolutely 0 energy or motivation. Sometimes I hear things that aren’t there. It’s super difficult.

 

Can you work like that?

Greg,

The only time that I came close to any sort of psychosis was when in the middle of withdrawal I tried sleep restriction therapy to stimulate my sleep drive and it totally failed. I was only given a small window to attempt sleep and any nodding off outside that window earned me a painful poke from those around me. After almost 3 weeks my therapist became pretty alarmed at my lack of sleep and pulled the plug on the therapy.

 

Sleep was still very elusive and sometimes nonexistent for a very long time afterward, but I never came close to any sort of mental breakdown. I was able to function, travel and just get through each day. Sometimes it would catch up to me with an intense wave of exhaustion, but that would pass almost as fast as it hit. Strangely, I never even caught a cold when my whole family had one and I was able to maintain exercising.

 

My secret was allowing myself to drink coffee in the morning and very early afternoon in order to get through the day along with staying in bed as much as possible when I could not sleep and kept wanting to get out. I learned that I was actually getting a lot of short bursts of sleep that I was completely unaware of, and these were sustaining me. My wife telling me that I had been snoring and the results of a sleep-test indicating a lot of short sleeps when I was 100% sure that I had been wide awake confirmed this. Pamster pretty much describes the same thing.

 

I dont know how you did it Aloha. Ive been going thru this for a little over 10 months now and I have missed so much sleep that on 5 separate occasions I started Hallucinating for sleep deprevition. It happened to me just last week. I had ro go to the ER where the gave me a large dose of benadryl thru an IV that let me sleep for about 6 hours. I've tried coffee as well and that made my brain feel like it was on fire.

Have y'all tried Melatonine or an astihistamine?

 

I’ve had sleep deprivation issues and I’m in the middle

of it now. My coordination is definitely worse. My memory doesn’t retain anything and I just feel overall terrible. Absolutely 0 energy or motivation. Sometimes I hear things that aren’t there. It’s super difficult.