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What symptoms exactly are keeping everyone from sleeping?


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What symptoms are keeping you from sleeping at night everybody? Like is it pain? Just being amped up? Not tired? Jerking awake? Vertigo? I have tried to see what is keeping most everyone on here up and it's hard to tell. For me I seem to forget to breath the sleepier I get. Once I am about to fall asleep it feels like my body is not taking in air properly, this is what keeps me from sleeping mainly. Anyone else like this? Or are most of you guys just unable to sleep period?
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Constantly amped up, thoughts go crazy when I lay down to sleep and I have a hard time actually falling asleep and when I'm about to, my body hits me with a mini panic feeling. And when I do get to sleep, I am forced awake with the same issue.
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I have one of two things I lay down go to sleep but can't stay asleep I'll wake up 4 times or more normally shallow breathing or in panic. Or I'll just lay there all night and regardless of how tired falling asleep doesn't happen.  I normally have a lot of muscle twitching at night and skin burning
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josephga,

Ditto....fear, anxiety, headache, leg pain, back pain unable to catch my breath  and afraid of dying in my sleep !

Hugs and healing to all.

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Brain just wont turn off 100% at times and I can't drift off at times.

 

Sleep varies from 4-7.5 hours.  Better than before but still just never great.

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Brain just wont turn off 100% at times and I can't drift off at times.

 

Sleep varies from 4-7.5 hours.  Better than before but still just never great.

 

Oh my god, I would kill to get 4 hours straight.

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I'm so sorry some of you guys sound pretty miserable. I have pain and aches too..but only in waves..it comes and goes. The sleep thing though...shallow breath and air hunger lasts for much longer windows. I swear the lack of sleep ramps up all my other symptoms...r u guys the same? Panic and excessive worry are there but I do my best to push them out of my mind at night. (Being really exhausted helps). Panic attacks can ruin anyone's night. I can't stand muscle and joint soreness/stiffnes, hoping mine don't come back any worse than they are now. What do you guys think about not taking any sleep aids to try and heal faster?
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It's the lack of drowsiness despite feeling profound fatigue most nights. I feel no different many nights than I do in the morning or afternoon. Like my brain has lost the thread of how a circadian rhythm works. Still, it's much better than it was like Murph said. I range from 4-7 very broken hours most nights with occasional nights that are microsleep only. Having had very long periods of microsleep only for days and weeks at a time, I try to be thankful for every bit of sleep. There's brain healing in it's sweet old glacial time.
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At this stage of my recovery I can pretty much fall asleep fairly fast, but I have countless awakenings. I am usually able to get to sleep okay, but it is crazy how many times I can wake up in the middle of dreaming. Sometimes I do that multiple times in one hour and sometimes I get lucky and stay asleep for up to 3 hours at a time. At least I feel more or less rested in the morning so that is a big improvement.

 

During the worst time of my withdrawal I would jerk awake every time I nodded off and never really fall into any real sleep. I was so exhausted but developed a fear that if I fell asleep, it would be so deep that I never would wake up from it. I got to the point where I tried to resist falling asleep (even though I really couldn't sleep if I wanted to). Eventually I became equally fearful of falling asleep and not ever falling asleep again. I also had a sore neck from always violently jerking back awake while on the couch watching TV in an attempt to stay awake. It was pretty bad. Had this period lasted much longer I probably would not be around to write this right now.

 

During more recent bouts of insomnia I would go to bed trying to convince myself that I really did not care if I slept or just rested. I would feel myself just starting to sink into sleep, but once I became aware of any stalled progress I would get agitated and rise back up to full wakefulness. I am sure that many of you experience this.

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At this stage of my recovery I can pretty much fall asleep fairly fast, but I have countless awakenings. I am usually able to get to sleep okay, but it is crazy how many times I can wake up in the middle of dreaming. Sometimes I do that multiple times in one hour and sometimes I get lucky and stay asleep for up to 3 hours at a time. At least I feel more or less rested in the morning so that is a big improvement.

 

During the worst time of my withdrawal I would jerk awake every time I nodded off and never really fall into any real sleep. I was so exhausted but developed a fear that if I fell asleep, it would be so deep that I never would wake up from it. I got to the point where I tried to resist falling asleep (even though I really couldn't sleep if I wanted to). Eventually I became equally fearful of falling asleep and not ever falling asleep again. I also had a sore neck from always violently jerking back awake while on the couch watching TV in an attempt to stay awake. It was pretty bad. Had this period lasted much longer I probably would not be around to write this right now.

 

During more recent bouts of insomnia I would go to bed trying to convince myself that I really did not care if I slept or just rested. I would feel myself just starting to sink into sleep, but once I became aware of any stalled progress I would get agitated and rise back up to full wakefulness. I am sure that many of you experience this.

 

This is me right now. It just improved on it's own for you?

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Some times when I almost fall a sleep I feel internal tremor in my head. I does not come every time but randomly. I wake up typically after couple of hours sleep, sometimes after 3-4 hours. Then i sleep couple of ours broken sleep waking up 3-4 times total. Always when I wake up I have internal tremor which goes away when I distract me somehos; taking shower, going outside and walk a little etc. This happens if i take a nap as well. Really annoying symptom but I hope it is withdrawal driven rather than something else.
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I get the internal tremor tremors bad as well. mostly in the arms and neck nearest to lower part of the skull. last night was really bad i break my pill up into 3 daily doses and forgot the .25 dose last night and had tremors really bad this morning.
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At this stage of my recovery I can pretty much fall asleep fairly fast, but I have countless awakenings. I am usually able to get to sleep okay, but it is crazy how many times I can wake up in the middle of dreaming. Sometimes I do that multiple times in one hour and sometimes I get lucky and stay asleep for up to 3 hours at a time. At least I feel more or less rested in the morning so that is a big improvement.

 

During the worst time of my withdrawal I would jerk awake every time I nodded off and never really fall into any real sleep. I was so exhausted but developed a fear that if I fell asleep, it would be so deep that I never would wake up from it. I got to the point where I tried to resist falling asleep (even though I really couldn't sleep if I wanted to). Eventually I became equally fearful of falling asleep and not ever falling asleep again. I also had a sore neck from always violently jerking back awake while on the couch watching TV in an attempt to stay awake. It was pretty bad. Had this period lasted much longer I probably would not be around to write this right now.

 

During more recent bouts of insomnia I would go to bed trying to convince myself that I really did not care if I slept or just rested. I would feel myself just starting to sink into sleep, but once I became aware of any stalled progress I would get agitated and rise back up to full wakefulness. I am sure that many of you experience this.

 

This is me right now. It just improved on it's own for you?

 

Yes, since I never found a silver-bullet cure for withdrawal insomnia, it just improved on its own over time. Also you just get more used to it and learn to deal with it better.

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  • 2 weeks later...
My problem is waking up easily.  I can fall asleep naturally and that last about 4 hours, after that I just wake up.  If there's any noise or discomfort then I wake up easily, too.  Even if it's just a trip to the bathroom I become wide awake.  Need to go through all my bedtime routine again to get drowsy and drift off.  Sometimes I never manage to get sleepy enough again, and have to do with 4 hours' sleep.  If I got a cold or have bad period then I can expect a sleepless night.  I seem to only sleep when it's dark, cool, quiet and my mood is happy or content.  As I have anxiety and depression (not controlled by med) that's a tall order. 
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I hardly sleep at all. Would  be sooo happy to get 3 or 4 hours straight.

What keeps me awake? I don't know. I don't stress or anything. It just feels like my brain thinks sleep is overrated. Don't get that tired feeling anymore.

But do feel eshausted with major headaches from sleepless nights for months and months.

Being stuck in a wrong cycle of neurotransmittors firing the wrong way... that is keeping me up, I think

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Same with Sleepwhereareyou. It's almost as sometimes we were better off on the drugs for sleep. I wish I stopped taking these pills after the 1st week. Mines lasted 6 and that is already considered long-term.

 

Yeah, I understand some of us built a tolerance. I think if that never happened, I be happy to stay on them, mines was just more nightmares and some panic attacks, sleep wasn't really affected on the small doses but enough was enough. I really feel although we can recover from most of these symptoms, I feel that these drugs really do a number to your sleep system. It seems like sleep is the only that thing that never truly heals from these meds/drugs. I know some people get their sleep back so not an issue but it seems like insomnia can be actually given to you after WD. I never had insomnia prior to this but the broken rem sleep for 2.5 months is already freaking me out at times.

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  • 3 months later...

 

During the worst time of my withdrawal I would jerk awake every time I nodded off and never really fall into any real sleep. I was so exhausted but developed a fear that if I fell asleep, it would be so deep that I never would wake up from it. I got to the point where I tried to resist falling asleep (even though I really couldn't sleep if I wanted to). Eventually I became equally fearful of falling asleep and not ever falling asleep again. I also had a sore neck from always violently jerking back awake while on the couch watching TV in an attempt to stay awake. It was pretty bad. Had this period lasted much longer I probably would not be around to write this right now.

 

During more recent bouts of insomnia I would go to bed trying to convince myself that I really did not care if I slept or just rested. I would feel myself just starting to sink into sleep, but once I became aware of any stalled progress I would get agitated and rise back up to full wakefulness. I am sure that many of you experience this.

 

This is definitely where I’m at right now! :( It’s like every time I’m about to fall asleep, I get hit with a gigantic panic attack/electric shock feeling, like my nervous system is on fire, and I absolutely have to jolt up out of bed. It’s the most horrific sensation I’ve ever experienced, and it’s made me fear sleep!!

 

Lately I have been experimenting with different prescription sleep aids in attempt to get past this… Remeron worked OK, but did not sedate me enough to truly get past it (7.5mg). Although I did experience less of it this sensation when I did take it. I just didn’t like the side effects of restless leg syndrome, and constipation. Plus, the reports about Remeron seem to be very mixed. People seem to suggest if anything else works, take that instead. Only use this as a last resort.

 

Amiltriptaline didn’t help at all. It does not sedate you, it just helps you stay asleep. I did seem to sleep fairly well on it, once I actually got to sleep.

 

I think I am going to try Trazodone tonight. Many years ago it seemed to work wonders and I slept for many hours on it… But I wasn’t going through benzo withdrawals then! Was anyone had any success with Trazodone?

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Hi Ombass I personally feel any sleeping aid you take will delay healing.Please try to take them if you dont sleep non stop for 3 days to break the cycle .I have the same kind of hypnic jerks that you are describing .I realized they will only fade if I allow my brain learn how to sleep on its on . 
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Thank you for that advice, White Swan!  I have stopped taking any sleep aids, thankfully. Unless you consider Gabapentin (Neurontin) a sleep aid. I discovered that it is the only thing that helps! It’s like it just turns down the volume on that fried nervous system/Jittery/going to have an electric shock feeling. 300 mg or 600 mg really does help me get to sleep. I’m hoping this can help me through my taper. Because right now I’m having symptoms despite not going down in dose at all. Likely because I quit cold turkey, unknowingly two times thinking I didn’t have dependency. Then when I came back to the benzo‘s the same dose just wasn’t enough anymore. But I refuse to go up in dose! I’m going to begin the liquid titration as soon as I get home, in two days.
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Brain just wont turn off 100% at times and I can't drift off at times.

 

Sleep varies from 4-7.5 hours.  Better than before but still just never great.

 

Oh my god, I would kill to get 4 hours straight.

Same here  LiveAboveIt!

 

I consider a solid 4 or 5 hours a godsend!

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  • 2 weeks later...

My problem with sleeping is my chest is swirling ,In some crazy way.Like my heart is not pumping but vibrating the blood through it...I lay down to sleep but will wake up to this awful feeling in my chest.

I have always taken a shower at night. But found after laying down one evening and fell asleep. That not showering at night helps me sleep now.

I think its the hot water that makes it worse for me.

 

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