Jump to content

My Experience In Dealing With Withdrawal Insomnia


[al...]

Recommended Posts

I noticed that a few new members have fallen victim to withdrawal insomnia. It is unfortunate, but will probably always be the case, at least until doctors become a bit more informed of the dangers these pills represent. I thought that I would take the time to pass down some of what I learned during my withdrawal. The old timers have heard it and lived it themselves, but newer people just might learn something.

 

First off, this is not normal insomnia that we are talking about. Normal insomnia is a sweet furry kitten compared to this beast. Therefore, normal rules regarding insomnia, such as proper sleep hygiene, are pretty much out the window, at least during the initial stages of withdrawal. It is all about finding sleep anyway that works for you at the time. Proper sleep hygiene applies once you come out he other end and sleep starts to return.

 

Two things are keeping you awake during withdrawal. First, your brain chemistry does not allow sleep to come easily, if at all. Secondly, the experience of near total insomnia is very frightening and will create severe sleep anxiety that is certain to further impede sleep. Unfortunately the brain chemistry piece of the puzzle must straighten itself out over time. Additional prescription medications is most likely going to stretch the time out much longer. Try to avoid going that route.

 

Contrary to most of our fears, lack of sleep will not kill you unless you happened to have a very specific and extremely rare genetic disorder or fall victim to a fatal accident due to extreme fatigue. While going through acute withdrawal be very careful about driving or engaging in other potentially dangerous activities. Your brain will sustain itself through periodic mini-sleeps that you may not even be aware of. The trick is to put yourself in a position to allow these to happen. In other words, rest as much as you can rather than pacing the floor all night long.

 

If thinking about work the next morning is brings on anxiety due to the fear of loosing your job, look into the Family Medical Leave Act. I used it to take 2 months off of work. This took a ton of pressure off my shoulders during the worst of my withdrawal.

 

I learned very early on that the ritual of turning off the lights and crawling into bed is sure to produce such anxiety that sleep will be next to impossible. The expectation of sleep becomes the enemy of sleep. When I went downstairs at night and sat in my Lazyboy chair to watch comforting (rather than stimulating) TV programs I would often nod off for short periods of time. I believe that these much needed periods of sleep happened because I was not anticipating sleep. Proper sleep hygiene theory will tell you to avoid the blue light coming from your TV screen. I'm glad that I ignored this advice. Also, proper sleep hygiene will tell you to stick to a strict sleeping schedule. I found that you do not turn down any potential sleep simply because a clock tells you to.

 

Probably the best thing that I came up with to help get me through this mess was the purchasing of a futon from Amazon.com. I simply could not sleep in my bed. Tying to was making me too anxious. Instead, I placed the futon on the floor next to my bed and turned it into a "nest" by using a lot of pillows and blankets. Cold air drops so I turned up the air conditioner to allow me to use the extra blankets. This become my nighttime sanctuary and allowed me to at least be in the same room as my wife. I would start each night in my own bed and if I was still awake long after my wife fell asleep, I would head on down to the floor. This way my tossing and turning would not keep her awake and she would not wake me up if I fell asleep. I still use this "nest" on many nights when I want to help ensure a good sleep. I also now found that I often wake up the next morning in my own bed. Sleep hygiene theory will tell you that it is dangerous to imprint on another bed, preventing you from every being able to get back into your bed. Not true.

 

On a closing note, I want to state how important it is to learn to accept this temporary situation, rather than burning yourself out swimming against the current fighting it. Time is your only healer, but that is not to say that you should not continue experimenting to find ways to make your plight more tolerable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you so much for this informative post about your experience! It makes a lot of sense, especially the piece about the anxiety about not sleeping!!

 

I like the idea of having the futon in the bedroom. We don't have a lot of room in our bedroom though, but I sometimes have tried laying on the sofa with the dog on the nights I couldn't stay in bed. I have had some success with being patient with myself and laying quietly and just focusing on my breathing and doing little mantras "breathe in love, breathe out tension" and telling myself everything will be okay even if I don't sleep. This has worked 3 x in the past week and helped me get a few uninterrupted hours.

 

I also hear you on the "avoid the prescriptive route" piece. My dr prescribed Trazodone for me... I've taken it the past few nights, do not like the way it makes me feel right after I take it or the next day, and don't feel like it's really working either. Both nights I've taken it, I've still taken 3-4 hours to fall asleep anyway. I'm going to try tonight without it, and maybe take magnesium glycinate instead - I don't see that in the same way as a prescription drug, and I used to take this before bed all the time. Magnesium supposedly helps calm you, and although I never needed help before bed before, we'll see if it helps.

 

Any sense on how long this particular symptom can last for folks? I'm sure this is a "it depends" answer. I took benzos for 4 days straight, then 3 days off with a little sleep, then 2 days and now i'm on the 3rd day of no more. Getting some sleep, even if very little, is relieving at least. I think I just need to straighten my system out, give my body time to adjust to other meds my dr prescribed (zoloft, metoprolol) and work on the anxiety when I'm awake. and take the pressure off! (I hear you about turning off the lights and waiting in bed making it more stressful!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All so true, Aloha! Thanks for you input, the futon story is interesting! (I've given up and have my own room).

 

 

Any sense on how long this particular symptom can last for folks? I'm sure this is a "it depends" answer. I took benzos for 4 days straight, then 3 days off with a little sleep, then 2 days and now i'm on the 3rd day of no more. Getting some sleep, even if very little, is relieving at least. I think I just need to straighten my system out, give my body time to adjust to other meds my dr prescribed (zoloft, metoprolol) and work on the anxiety when I'm awake. and take the pressure off! (I hear you about turning off the lights and waiting in bed making it more stressful!)

 

tealwater--Zoloft is well known for causing insomnia in many users, and beta-blockers such a metaprolol also. I would be quite suspicious of them, especially if they are new prescriptions. I had to CT my anti-depressant due to insomnia. A difficult quandary, as depression can make insomnia worse also.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for replying :) I was thinking that too. When I took the metoprolol before (in May) it didn't cause insomnia, it actually made me so tired I would fall right asleep on the sofa! But wondering if combined with the zoloft it's making it worse. I've moved my zoloft dose up earlier in the day, maybe I should try that with the metoprolol too. I'm just very overwhelmed and my body feels so exhausted.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aloha - thanks so much for posting this. Although I posted recently about how sleep hygeine and related things have worked for me, I realize what was happening was I was emerging from acute and the physiological insomnia that you just have to deal with that that stuff doesn't help and I'd gotten into some habits that were prolonging the insomnia like watching TV on my phone in bed with the lights on and learning to fall asleep to that. When I got back to lights off, amber filter, sleep hygeine, my sleep improved dramatically, but that was almost a month out, so I think that was what was going on. The only thing I'd add to your post is to be wary of doing what I did and prolonging the insomnia by bad sleep habits we may have used to cope with the acute/unavaoidable insomnia, but well said!

 

Gina

Link to comment
Share on other sites

great info and always insightful aloha.

 

I think as we heal and get better it is good to look back and see what helped and didnt glad you are sharing your knowledge with others.  I am sure it will help.

 

I just say time heals and and everyone must work on the underlying anxiety to help ease the WD insomnia.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 years later...

Bump

 

Thanks for the bump! Interesting and inspiring post. My greatest take away is always patience and 'time heals'. It's so hard to wait though! Especially, when I have slept well my whole life and never took it for granted. I want that back! For both of us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aloha, the way, freida8, mtfan, siggy, EastCoast all had really severed insomnia and all of them are better now. There’s also a buddy called misty who had severe insomnia for 5 years who is well now. There is hope for us x
Link to comment
Share on other sites

0 are though. But also 2-3 with sleeping aid like antihistamine or quetiapine is preatty bad. Because you don't sleep enough to rest and you're likely to suffer side effects during the day. Tired like an insomniac, knocked out like an addicted. The worst of both worlds.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agreed. I took unisom 2 nights ago and serpent the entire next day fighting my way thru the grogginess. It’s just the pits
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has been a long time since I was on this site, but I decided to pop in and see what is up. I saw that this old posting of mine got bumped up from the dark past to the much brighter present. Boy, that was a trip down a not so pleasant memory lane! Sleep does return, but that doesn't mean that sleep problems can be banished for good. I just had a couple of weeks of a setback, but it was nowhere as bad as my earlier baseline and last night I slept for almost 10 hours and feel pretty good this morning. Don't worry, you are not going to have to wait 6 years to get here too. I have been having mostly good sleeps for a couple of years now and many good enough sleeps for a lot longer than that.

 

Before I run off I want to share what I learned regarding the use of antihistamines as a sleep aid. I would suggest taking them a couple of hours before bedtime (as long as you are settled in for the night). This will give enough time for them to mostly leave your system before you have to get out of bed in the morning so you wont feel as groggy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has been a long time since I was on this site, but I decided to pop in and see what is up. I saw that this old posting of mine got bumped up from the dark past to the much brighter present. Boy, that was a trip down a not so pleasant memory lane! Sleep does return, but that doesn't mean that sleep problems can be banished for good. I just had a couple of weeks of a setback, but it was nowhere as bad as my earlier baseline and last night I slept for almost 10 hours and feel pretty good this morning. Don't worry, you are not going to have to wait 6 years to get here too. I have been having mostly good sleeps for a couple of years now and many good enough sleeps for a lot longer than that.

 

Before I run off I want to share what I learned regarding the use of antihistamines as a sleep aid. I would suggest taking them a couple of hours before bedtime (as long as you are settled in for the night). This will give enough time for them to mostly leave your system before you have to get out of bed in the morning so you wont feel as groggy.

 

 

Aloha,

 

Did you ever have severe insomnia? Congrats on your 10 hours of sleep! I wish! :)

 

HM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes HeartMost,

I had severe insomnia. Got more than a couple of thousand earlier posts about it. During the worst of my withdrawal I had 5 nights in a row without any perceived sleep and it took years for things to settle down. I did a very rapid 10 day taper off of 20 mg. of nightly Ambien so it was pretty rough. Anyway, that was a long time ago and I got better. You will too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...