I need hope from someone who had anxiety/insomnia.

I've been off my z-drug since May 4, and have since been taking Seroquel.

 

Prior to this, I was a night owl, but slept pretty good. Would have trouble sleeping if I had to get up early or was anxious about something.

 

Had tons of life changes and moved in with wife in January and the worst insomnia of my life started. After a couple of weeks, I saw a doctor and got Zopiclone (Lunesta). I've been on Seroquel since my CT, and have recently tapered from 50mg to about 35mg.

 

If I don't take the Seroquel, I've gone 48 hours with no a second of sleep. Then my anxiety/OCD go through the roof!

 

Have any of you been here, and made it through?

Anyone?

Hi, Damien.

 

Yes, I've been there and made it through. In my case, the really bad insomnia lasted about five months. I know you don't want to hear that it took that long, but for many here it was longer. The important thing is I made it through. The body can take way more than you think.

 

Without any drugs, I wouldn't sleep at all two nights in a row. Then I might sleep two hours the third night, though I ended up compromising and taking a drug the third night (Lunesta). Yes, Lunesta is a benzo in sheep's clothing, but I was desperate. What really delayed my recovery was getting sick about two months (flu-like symptoms). I was so miserable that I took a Lunesta every night for about two weeks because I *had* to escape. Then I had to start another taper off of Lunesta.

 

Things improved gradually and one night in mid-May I was less worried about falling asleep. Even felt a little confident that I *could* fall asleep without meds. Haven't taken a Lunesta now since then.

 

I have a lot of nights with just four nights of sleep. A good night is six hours. Still, that is so, so much better than 0. My goal is to improve the average night to six hours. I'm making some steady progress, despite the stress of becoming self-employed this month.

 

I've had one night, I believe, of almost no sleep. But I didn't worry about it. I knew I would drag the next day, and yet sleep the next night.

 

Here are some coping strategies I used: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=107964.msg1397804#msg1397804

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

I appreciate your reply.

 

For me, the problem is dropping off. I have a really hard time falling asleep and that has been made even worse by the drugs!

 

Does anyone else suffer with delayed onset of sleep?

 

Does anyone else suffer with delayed onset of sleep?

 

Yes. What has helped me is looking at it logically...that my body is tired and will do the natural thing and sleep. So I just relax and have faith that my body will fall asleep if I let it. That means for me no drugs, no bright lights at night, all the sleep hygiene stuff. And instead of letting my mind wander all over the place I just repeat over and over I'm going to fall asleep any second and I do.

I attempted to drop 25 mg of S and didn't sleep at all for the fours days I tried to do this. Felt anxious in the am. I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place.

I c/t'd and had one night of insomnia. Many nights of waking up early and staying up. I made it through, not sure how, things are much better. I'm sorry you're all going through the same thing and worse. It does get better. I became militant about improving my sleep and after this my sleep and I'm sure others will be rock solid after all the learning and positive habit changes.

Pre benzo days, I had very severe anxiety. Hello folks! That's why I'm here. B/c of the anxiety, I could not sleep at all. Agitation, racing thoughts, hyper, worried, etc. Welcome to the wonderful  world of benzos dear Betsy.