The many things that can wreck your sleep during withdrawal...

During withdrawal, our sleep becomes so precious and also so fragile. The things we could get away with before are no longer possible, drug or supplements that worked in the past no longer do. I cringe inside every time a buddy complains of desperate insomnia, but is obviously taking or doing something that could be ruining their sleep. Since I seem to have the most sensitive body ever, I started keeping a list of things that had disturbed my sleep (to remind myself to avoid them!), and eventually looking for things that might possibly derail sleep. The list became longer and longer...

 

I'll start with the elephant in the room, which is caffeine. IMHO, anyone who suffers from severe insomnia has no business drinking caffeine. Many will disagree, I'm sure. I hear you say, "I have always had 3 cups every morning, and a few throughout the day, it never bothered me"--well that was then, when sleep came easy. Caffeine blocks the activity of adenosine, which brings on drowsiness and sleep. The half-life of caffeine is about 6 hours, so even 12 hours after a cup of caffeinated coffee, about 1/4 of the dose of caffeine is still in your system. As we get older, we don't metabolize it as well, and especially women after menopause may not tolerate it as well.

 

Caffeine is also found in many teas, some OTC meds such as Excedrin, Anacin, Motrin complete, many colas, energy drinks, guarana and kola nut. Even decaf coffee contains some caffeine, amounts vary by brand, but many buddies can "feel" even a cup of decaf (including me). A similar compound called theobromine is found in chocolate, especially dark, and good quality chocolate. I don't metabolize this well and it has derailed my sleep many times, susceptability to this seems to vary from person to person (Dogs can't metabolize it at all, very poisonous).

 

Many, many medications can cause insomnia as a side effect. This list includes (but not limited to): Beta-blockers, statins (esp. Zocor), theophylline, cold medicines (esp. with decongestants or alcohol), steroids, donezepil, lamotrigine, felbamate, thyroid medications, tobacco, nicotine patches, etc...If in doubt, google the name of your drug and "insomnia" and see what pops up.

 

Opiods seem to make my insomnia worse, as well as CBD oil (medical marijuana), but this seems to be a very individual thing.

 

Antidepressants  (esp. Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, Paxil, Wellbutrin, Zoloft) are famous for causing insomnia, and this effect may be dose dependent, or appear after a period of time. I was forced to cold-turkey the AD I was on due to severe insomnia, that often appears at lower doses of the drug.

 

Many nutritional supplements can cause insomnia, including (but not limited to): Vitamin D, B vitamins, magnesium (unpredictable, can go both ways), amino acids such as phenylalanine or tyrosine, Coq10, chromium, DHEA, pregnenalone, Sam-e. Vitamin D gave me complete insomnia, I prefer not to mess with supplements as it is so unpredictable.

 

Herbal supplements that can cause insomnia include: St. John's wort, Ginseng, large doses of Garlic, Valerian and Bacopa. There are many others, including any that promise you "energy".

 

Hormones can both cure or worsen insomnia, including estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, melatonin and birth control pills. Thus your insomnia may worse at some points during the menstrual cycle, or during the process of aging and hormonal changes.

 

What you eat or drink can effect your insomnia. Many report problems sleeping after a large dose of sugar. Alcohol can have a large effect on sleep, that may last for a day or two. Low carb diets are well known for causing insomnia, I found that I could not go below about 60g of carbs without feeling the effects. In general, keeping blood sugar levels stable promotes better sleep.

 

About sleep aids, such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl), doxylamine succinate, hydroxyzine, melatonin, valerian, etc...These can at times be quite helpful, but they can inhibit sleep in two ways--first, they may go paradoxical, that is they actually cause you to become more "wired" and awake, and this effect can be quite unpredictable. This seems more likely to happen early in withdrawal.  Secondly, if they do work, you may very well have some rebound the first night you quit taking them, as your body reacts to the lack of sedation.

 

Certain activities on the computer can rev up the dopamine system and inhibit sleep, including video gaming, gambling, streaming porn, flame wars, etc...so you might want to investigate other entertainment options for a while.

 

Lastly, anything that disturbs the circadian rhythm is likely to inhibit sleep. Keeping a set schedule becomes critical. Blue light inhibits melatonin production, so you may want to invest in blue-blocker bulbs, goggles, special screens for any electronics. Even with goggles, late night electronic screens can rev you up, this was obvious to me in acute withdrawal, when a screen could bring on heart palpitations. Some exposure to daylight every day is also critical in setting the circadian rhythm.

 

Hopefully this will be helpful to some who may not realize how many things can derail sleep, and you can avoid a few nights of misery like I had. Please feel free to add anything to this list that you have experienced or heard of as causing insomnia.

 

From the very beginning of my withdrawal insomnia I drank 2 cups of coffee in the morning and a third in the early afternoon no later than around 1:30 pm. My caffeine consumption was a constant, but my insomnia was up and down and all over the place. The nights that turned out to be my best were preceded by my coffee during the day as were my worst nights. I personally saw no correlation between my daily coffee and my nighttime sleep experience.

 

I chose to continue drinking coffee because it seemed to help me get through the day (and I really needed help at times). I still drink it and my sleep is steadily improving.

 

We are all unique, but that was my experience with caffeine and withdrawal.

I only drink coffee first thing in the morning

Add to list- sleeping partners. I cant have any

Pets can keep u awake

Im there now

I agree with everything that you listed above.  I am sensitive to all of them...i found out the hard way unfortunately.  The only thing I consume in the early morning is my own homemade dark chocolate....it's made from organic coconut oil, organic honey and organic cacao powder and it's awesome! It contains a little caffeine, but not as much as coffee.  It gets me going in the morning and tastes delicious.  I also have to take my thyroid medication in the am.  As long as I consume them before 9 am, I'm good. 

 

I'd like to add that certain foods that cause you sensitivities can cause insomnia.  My gi system gets really crampy and crazy when I consume too much fiber from veggies, fruit and gluten free whole grains. I've been up many a nights from eating the wrong foods throughout the day. I also don't eat past 6pm...I want my gi system to start relaxing before bed. 

 

 

Meowie, thanks so much for taking the time to list things that may be inhibiting our sleep.  I found it very educational and helpful.  Cross (who lives with profound insomnia)

MEowie thank you very much for explaining WHY caffeine makes me so crazy:-)

I can only agree with your list of things..

Thanks so much, Cross and Marigold. I had to figure out so many of these the hard way, and some of them--I still keep trying!

If anyone has anything to add, would love to hear them.

gluten

sugar

vitamin C (even the ascorbic acid in lemonades)

Biotine

Peppermint

lavender oil capsules

anything spicy

pepper

kudzu

seaweed (because of the iodine contained)

salt with iodine

 

Ya I always found valerian make me not sleep.  I spend the night being too hot and irritable if I have any valerian.

 

L-tyrosine seems to make me take much longer to fall asleep (couple hours), I tried a few times and it happened each time. 

 

I do take vitamin D and haven't noticed a correlation.  I eat the chocolate flavored chewable ones.

 

I don't drink coffee or tea so I guess I don't need to worry about those.  I take a b-vitamin pill only a few days per month and always make sure I take them early enough in the day. 

 

Does anyone else find that sex get them too worked up to sleep?  I know for most people it's great to do it then fall asleep.  I always need an hour or two to quiet down before sleeping.

 

It sucks to have such sensitive sleep, but I know there would be people who are envious that we never fall asleep during the day or NEED to drink coffee. 

Add strenuous exercise to the list - I cant sleep at all after a hard cardio session.

On the other hand, being over-picky with lists and rituals about sleeping can be very counterproductive.

 

I'm three months clear and, last month, my sleep only began to improve when I decided not to care anymore. I went 'the other way' and declared that I no longer gave a rats whether I slept or not and went with that idea as fully as I could; there was no sleep happening anyway - so I went for a big change in attitude instead.

 

To my indifferent surprise, my dozes turned into sessions and my sessions turned into longer periods and now I have to set an alarm in case I oversleep. (that happened once and the all-day sleep hangover that followed was very setback-ish).

 

Well worth a try, if you're not sleeping anyway