Sleep or rather lack of it - What to expect - What can you do

I have not had the worst insomnia of all the buddies here, but I had it pretty severe for almost 9 months, so I feel like I am at least qualified to point out a few things as I had about 65 zero nights during that time and many times for 3-4 days in a row.  Besides having a litany of symptoms, sleep was my worst symptom followed by severe claustrophobia. I still went to work most days and drove a car.  I was never tired so there was no risk of falling asleep at the wheel.  After you taper or jump cold turkey (what I did, and not recommended), below is what you may or may not experience.  Some of this is difficult to do, especially when you are sleep deprived and your brain acts completely crazy and tells you many lies that you start to believe over time.

 

What to expect:

 

1) Lots of very little or no sleep for an extended period of time. Not sure how long that will be, but Ashton says at least 6-12 months for most.  Some 12-24, and a small percentage 24 months or longer.

2) Drugs are a dead end road.  Drugs = artificial sleep.  Tolerance is reached in X amount of time (different for everyone) then the dose must be increased for the drug to have the same effect.  That is why you should try to avoid all Rx drugs, not just Benzos.  All of them have side effects and possible withdrawal?

3) Natural supplements are also not advised either.  Why?  You emotionally and physically convince your already weakened brain that it must take something in order to sleep.  I know...easy for me to say now that I sleep pretty well most nights.  I tried them all too and they didn't help much early on or later during my withdrawal.  There is also new research regarding melatonin, it is actually a hormone that the body produces and daily supplementation could lead to the body not producing it any longer.  It is meant to reset your internal clock and is designed for short-term use only.

3) Benzos are short-term use only drugs (2 - 3 weeks max) that doctors love to prescribe for whatever length of time as most don't know about withdrawal or even acknowledge it exists.  Benzos shut down or suppress your Gabba receptors in your brain; what helps you remain calm and relaxed.  When those stop working, Glutamate takes over and it is what makes you active and alert.  That is why you can't sleep.  Your sleep switch is broken.  It takes time for your sleep switch to fix itself.  Unfortunately it is not like breaking a leg or arm where healing times are pretty consistent.  See #1 above for time.

4) Most people won't understand what you are going through, even your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, family, etc.  Outward you look normal, inward you are messed up, but they can't see that.  They might have a hard time understanding, accepting or even having sympathy for you.

5) It gets better over time.  Time allows your brain to "learn" how to sleep again on its own, without any type of drug or supplement.  All brains heal...just as drugs affect all of us differently, all brains heal at different speeds.  That is why some people can be on a Benzo for 10 years or longer before they reach tolerance and some people never go through withdrawal; however, almost everyone experiences some form of insomnia.

6) The amount of time you were on Benzos does not = how fast you will recover.  In some cases it does, but for others it does not.  I was on Benzos for 12 weeks and recovered fairly quickly, but others that were on only a few weeks took longer to recover.

7) Recovery will be up and down, like the stock market (well maybe that's not a good example as it has been doing well this past year) but you can expect to have some good days and bad days with the good days eventually becoming more frequent than the bad days and finally becoming almost or all goods days over time.

Immediately after going Benzo free, either through a proper taper or cold turkey, you will most likely experience "acute withdrawal" a period of usually 30 - 90 days of intense withdrawal symptoms and lack of any real sleep.  I went 4 days without any sleep after I went cold turkey on a doctor's advice.

9) Things slowly get better, usually you will notice a difference by month 6.  But it is slow.  Sort of like how we transition from summer to winter and back again...the days get longer and shorter very gradually.

10) Windows and Waves. Windows are good periods where your symptoms reduce or go away and you feel better.  Waves are crummy periods where your symptoms are at their worst and you feel like crap and sleep sucks.  Most people alternate between Windows and Waves until eventually the Windows last longer than the Waves and the Waves mostly or completely disappear over time.

11) When sleep starts to return, it will be light and broken (you will wake up a lot) and most people experience REM REBOUND or lots of dreams.  Later on your sleep will slowly turn to deeper sleep with less dreams and longer periods of sleep before waking up.

 

What you can do:

 

1) Be as POSITIVE as you can be given the crappy circumstances.  Try to laugh if you can. 

2) DISTRACT yourself as much as possible.  Focus on anything that gives you enjoyment.  Don't focus on NEGATIVE things or hang around NEGATIVE people

3) Do not try to FORCE yourself to sleep.  It is not possible.  You cannot make yourself sleep no matter how hard you try.  It happens naturally when you are relaxed and NOT thinking about it.

4) ACCEPT (very hard to do for most) your situation and know that there is an end to it, it won't last forever.  It is only TEMPORARY!

5) Try not to CARE if you Sleep or Not.  When you stop caring if you sleep or not, it will slowly start to return.  Again, difficult to do, but others that have regular insomnia not caused by drug withdrawal cured their insomnia by not giving a rat's butt if they slept or not.  Takes time, is difficult to do, but works for most.

6) Eat Healthy, Drink lots of water, Exercise even if you don't feel like it or think that you can do it because you are too tired.  Also, be careful with caffeine.  Caffeine is a stimulant.  Some folks have no issues drinking coffee or soda during withdrawal; others are affected by it.

7) Be careful with supplements.  Some may excite your already sensitive nervous system. Some worked for me.  Mostly Green powders for a shake.  Again, try some experimentation to see how you are affected. 

Pray.  Some of you may not be a "believer" in God, but prayer works.

9) Maybe take a break from this site for awhile, when you can, and it works for you.  This site is a tremendous help for many, but I found myself making other people's recovery process and experience my own.  I took about a 5 month break and did an amazing amount of recovery during that time.  I came back as I promised to help others get through withdrawal and because I don't think people should go through this ordeal alone.

10) ACCEPT the RECOVERY PROCESS and don't put a time frame on it for getting better.  For example, don't expect to get better by month 8 because someone else did.  In the same light, don't expect it to take 5 years or longer either, as it may have for a very small percentage of people on this site.

11) Seek counseling when beneficial and affordable.  It helped me cope when I was at my worst.

12) Be THANKFUL for any sleep you do get.  Some light sleep is better than no sleep.  Practice GRATITUDE for whatever you can in your life.

 

Final parting words: 

 

You don't have FATAL Insomnia.  I thought I did, many others did/do too.  You don't have that, it's all withdrawal.  Lack of sleep will NOT kill you.  A drive by shooting could, but sleep deprivation will not!

You often get more sleep than you think, even microsleep (that most are unaware of) helps keep you going when insomnia is at its worst.

If you can't sleep, just lay in bed and do your best to relax.  Laying still can still help your body recover a little versus getting up and doing something or freaking out over the fact that you are not sleeping.

Even after you recover, expect some "off" or "bad" nights of sleep from time to time. 

Never take another Benzo, ever, don't keep any in your house and don't see a doctor that will write you another prescription.

Don't Google sleep related diseases or "possible" things that could happen to you from lack of sleep.  It only adds fuel to the already out of control fire in your mind.

Acupuncture did not work for me, neither did CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), sleep restriction, or other methods of "alternative" ways to help with sleep.  These might work for some people after their nervous system settles down?

There are not "magic" cures or special supplements you can take from some exotic land to get past recovery quicker.  I paid $7,000 to go to the Coleman Institute in Virginia to try his Flumazenil treatment for 1 week and that may have helped speed up my recovery but I have no way to know that and if it did work it certainly was not immediate.  Unfortunately the only way out is through the recovery process.  It is difficult and no fun at all, but you will get through it, eventually.

Read the Success Stories on this site for hope and encouragement.

Be mentally as STRONG as you can be and consider this a FIGHT.  FIGHT to get your "old" life back.  I was mentally SUPER WEAK after jumping CT.  I got a lot stronger mentally over time.

Be careful with ALCOHOL or anything containing alcohol as it acts on Gabba just like Benzos.  My advice would be to completely avoid all forms of alcohol including those in OTC remedies.

Most of the time, whatever you were experiencing or caused you to go on Benzos in the first place, is much easier to deal with.  If you started taking Benzos for sleep, then after recovery, you will typically have the tools and coping mechanisms to deal with a poor night of sleep much better than you did before you started taking Benzos and especially after you are healed.

Almost all of the people that suffered the most and had the worst insomnia on this site eventually healed to some degree.  Not always to 100%, but enough to lead an acceptable life.

This process will make you incredibly strong and make you grateful for each day.  You will have a newfound appreciation for life in general after you are healed.

 

Work to inform your doctors and health care providers that Benzo withdrawal is real.

 

Wishing Everyone a Happy and Healthy 2022.  I pray that this is the year you turn a corner, or completely recover!

 

 

Yeah this is a Nice Post, I trie last night without nyquil to sleep, 1-9am I tried, Maybe dozed after 2 hours trying but the last 6 hours woke up numerous times, feels like I got none

Great great post

Thanks soooooo much.

Well written Theway with excellent advice. Nice description of accepting, not catastrophizing not sleeping or very poor quality sleep. We can learn to be grateful for even just a few minutes of light sleep. It may not feel very good but it's all a sign of our brains recovering. I'm so glad you're doing better.

Awesome! I pretty much accepted all this and I do feel much better comparing to my first three months. Sleep is on and off. Had several nights of no sleep not straight but am ok for now. The only thing that I ain't doing right is eating healthy. I did the first two months and I started to eat fast foods again though in moderation. I try to limit sugar as well. Because I ain't living if I don't cheat every now and then. Yes, God is awesome. He is responsible for my healing even if I don't deserve it because I fall into sin lots. Not saying that is ok but I'm just being honest.

 

Fantastic post. I hope that the moderators see it and it gets bumped up with Sofa's 'Stages of Recovery' and Parker's 'What is happening with your brain '.

Great post- thank you!

 

excellent post!  I second everything you say in it.  I also had long stretches with zero sleep - 6 days in a row several times.  i do sleep now  - its not amazing sleep but its far better than anything i got in the years i was taking a z drug or later, the benzos.  once i accepted there would be no sleep- it slowly returned.  great post - i hope it helps people who are still stuck in the insomnia phase - it sure is brutal but we all survive it

I think this post is really great. I am trying to change my mindset about sleeping.

Do you guys/girls think that my insomnia is not any better than in the beginning, because I have been drinking socially (2 wines) twice a month?

I think this post is really great. I am trying to change my mindset about sleeping.

Do you guys/girls think that my insomnia is not any better than in the beginning, because I have been drinking socially (2 wines) twice a month?

 

Alcohol works on Gabba.  Just as small Benzo doses mess some people up for long periods of time, small amounts of alcohol could have the same effect on some people too?  If 2 glasses of wine have 1 oz per glass that is 2 ounces 2 times per month.  That could be playing into your insomnia?  I would consider skipping the alcohol until you start sleeping better.  And you could turn a corner rapidly with sleep going from very little to some literally overnight.  You will get there.  Stay the course.  Be positive.  Everyone heals in their own time.

THANK YOU TheEwWay2......Your post put tears in my eyes.....

 

Even though I was on Klonopin for 7 years and amitriptyline ( still tapering)... do I still have hope?  Insomnia is really the worst withdrawal I have now... 

 

An excellent and positive post!! And i concur with pretty much everything you have said Acceptance is not easy to achieve but every so necessary to recovery as you know.. Happy new year theway2  

 

I have not had the worst insomnia of all the buddies here, but I had it pretty severe for almost 9 months, so I feel like I am at least qualified to point out a few things as I had about 65 zero nights during that time and many times for 3-4 days in a row.  Besides having a litany of symptoms, sleep was my worst symptom followed by severe claustrophobia. I still went to work most days and drove a car.  I was never tired so there was no risk of falling asleep at the wheel.  After you taper or jump cold turkey (what I did, and not recommended), below is what you may or may not experience.  Some of this is difficult to do, especially when you are sleep deprived and your brain acts completely crazy and tells you many lies that you start to believe over time.

 

What to expect:

 

1) Lots of very little or no sleep for an extended period of time. Not sure how long that will be, but Ashton says at least 6-12 months for most.  Some 12-24, and a small percentage 24 months or longer.

2) Drugs are a dead end road.  Drugs = artificial sleep.  Tolerance is reached in X amount of time (different for everyone) then the dose must be increased for the drug to have the same effect.  That is why you should try to avoid all Rx drugs, not just Benzos.  All of them have side effects and possible withdrawal?

3) Natural supplements are also not advised either.  Why?  You emotionally and physically convince your already weakened brain that it must take something in order to sleep.  I know...easy for me to say now that I sleep pretty well most nights.  I tried them all too and they didn't help much early on or later during my withdrawal.  There is also new research regarding melatonin, it is actually a hormone that the body produces and daily supplementation could lead to the body not producing it any longer.  It is meant to reset your internal clock and is designed for short-term use only.

3) Benzos are short-term use only drugs (2 - 3 weeks max) that doctors love to prescribe for whatever length of time as most don't know about withdrawal or even acknowledge it exists.  Benzos shut down or suppress your Gabba receptors in your brain; what helps you remain calm and relaxed.  When those stop working, Glutamate takes over and it is what makes you active and alert.  That is why you can't sleep.  Your sleep switch is broken.  It takes time for your sleep switch to fix itself.  Unfortunately it is not like breaking a leg or arm where healing times are pretty consistent.  See #1 above for time.

4) Most people won't understand what you are going through, even your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, family, etc.  Outward you look normal, inward you are messed up, but they can't see that.  They might have a hard time understanding, accepting or even having sympathy for you.

5) It gets better over time.  Time allows your brain to "learn" how to sleep again on its own, without any type of drug or supplement.  All brains heal...just as drugs affect all of us differently, all brains heal at different speeds.  That is why some people can be on a Benzo for 10 years or longer before they reach tolerance and some people never go through withdrawal; however, almost everyone experiences some form of insomnia.

6) The amount of time you were on Benzos does not = how fast you will recover.  In some cases it does, but for others it does not.  I was on Benzos for 11 weeks and recovered fairly quickly, but others that were on only a few weeks took longer to recover.

7) Recovery will be up and down, like the stock market (well maybe that's not a good example as it has been doing well this past year) but you can expect to have some good days and bad days with the good days eventually becoming more frequent than the bad days and finally becoming almost or all goods days over time.

Immediately after going Benzo free, either through a proper taper or cold turkey, you will most likely experience "acute withdrawal" a period of usually 30 - 60 days of intense withdrawal symptoms and lack of any real sleep.  I went 4 days without any sleep after I went cold turkey on a doctor's advice.

9) Things slowly get better, usually you will notice a difference by month 6.  But it is slow.  Sort of like how we transition from summer to winter and back again...the days get longer and shorter very gradually.

10) Windows and Waves. Windows are good periods where your symptoms reduce or go away and you feel better.  Waves are crummy periods where your symptoms are at their worst and you feel like crap.  Most people alternate between Windows and Waves until eventually the Windows last longer than the Waves and the Waves mostly or completely disappear over time.

11) When sleep starts to return, it will be light and broken (you will wake up a lot) and most people experience REM REBOUND or lots of dreams.  Later on your sleep will slowly turn to deeper sleep with less dreams and longer periods of sleep before waking up.

 

What you can do:

 

1) Be as POSITIVE as you can be given the crappy circumstances.  Try to laugh if you can. 

2) DISTRACT yourself as much as possible.  Focus on anything that gives you enjoyment.  Don't focus on NEGATIVE things or hang around NEGATIVE people

3) Do not try to FORCE yourself to sleep.  It is not possible.  You cannot make yourself sleep no matter how hard you try.  It happens naturally when you are relaxed and NOT thinking about it.

4) ACCEPT (very hard to do for most) your situation and know that there is an end to it, it won't last forever.  It is only TEMPORARY!

5) Try not to CARE if you Sleep or Not.  When you stop caring if you sleep or not, it will slowly start to return.  Again, difficult to do, but others that have regular insomnia not caused by drug withdrawal cured their insomnia by not giving a rat's butt if they slept or not.  Takes time, is difficult to do, but works for most.

6) Eat Healthy, Drink lots of water, Exercise even if you don't feel like it or think that you can do it because you are too tired.  Also, be careful with caffeine.  Caffeine is a stimulant.  Some folks have no issues drinking coffee or soda during withdrawal; others are affected by it.

7) Be careful with supplements.  Some may excite your already sensitive nervous system. Some worked for me.  Mostly Green powders for a shake.  Again, try some experimentation to see how you are affected. 

Pray.  Some of you may not be a "believer" in God, but prayer works.

9) Maybe take a break from this site for awhile, when you can, and it works for you.  This site is a tremendous help for many, but I found myself making other people's recovery process and experience my own.  I took about a 5 month break and did an amazing amount of recovery during that time.  I came back as I promised to help others get through withdrawal and because I don't think people should go through this ordeal alone.

10) ACCEPT the RECOVERY PROCESS and don't put a time frame on it for getting better.  For example, don't expect to get better by month 8 because someone else did.  In the same light, don't expect it to take 5 years or longer either, as it may have for a very small percentage of people on this site.

11) Seek counseling when beneficial and affordable.  It helped me cope when I was at my worst.

12) Be THANKFUL for any sleep you do get.  Some light sleep is better than no sleep.  Practice GRATITUDE for whatever you can in your life.

 

Final parting words: 

 

You don't have FATAL Insomnia.  I thought I did, many others did/do too.  You don't have that, it's all withdrawal.  Lack of sleep will NOT kill you.  A drive by shooting could, but sleep deprivation will not!

You often get more sleep than you think, even microsleep (that most are unaware of) helps keep you going when insomnia is at its worst.

If you can't sleep, just lay in bed and do your best to relax.  Laying still can still help your body recover a little versus getting up and doing something or freaking out over the fact that you are not sleeping.

Even after you recover, expect some "off" or "bad" nights of sleep from time to time. 

Never take another Benzo, ever, don't keep any in your house and don't see a doctor that will write you another prescription.

Don't Google sleep related diseases or "possible" things that could happen to you from lack of sleep.  It only adds fuel to the already out of control fire in your mind.

Acupuncture did not work for me, neither did CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), sleep restriction, or other methods of "alternative" ways to help with sleep.  These might work for some people after their nervous system settles down?

There are not "magic" cures or special supplements you can take from some exotic land to get past recovery quicker.  I paid $7,000 to go to the Coleman Institute in Virginia to try his Flumazenil treatment for 1 week and that only reset my recovery clock.  Unfortunately the only way out is through the recovery process.  It is difficult and no fun at all, but you will get through it, eventually.

Read the Success Stories on this site for hope and encouragement.

Be mentally as STRONG as you can be and consider this a FIGHT.  FIGHT to get your "old" life back.

Be careful with ALCOHOL or anything containing alcohol as it acts on Gabba just like Benzos.  My advice would be to completely avoid all forms of alcohol including those in OTC remedies.

Most of the time, whatever you were experiencing or caused you to go on Benzos in the first place, is mostly or completely healed.  If you started taking Benzos for sleep, then after recovery, you will typically sleep normally or much better than you did before you started taking Benzos and especially after you are healed.

Even the people that suffered the most and had the worst cases on this site eventually recovered.  Not always to 100%, but enough to live a decent "normal" life.

This process will make you incredibly strong and make you grateful for each day.  You will have a newfound appreciation for life in general after you are healed.

 

Work to inform your doctors and health care providers that Benzo withdrawal is real.

 

Wishing Everyone a Happy and Healthy 2018.  I pray that this is the year you turn a corner, or completely recover!

THANK YOU TheEwWay2......Your post put tears in my eyes.....

 

Even though I was on Klonopin for 7 years and amitriptyline ( still tapering)... do I still have hope?  Insomnia is really the worst withdrawal I have now... 

 

 

Runnergirl, yes there is hope.  As long as you don't stop "fighting" you will heal.  Insomnia was my worst symptom too.  It gets better but can take more time than we would like it to.  You are much stronger than you believe right now.  You can do amazing things on little or no sleep.  Your mind won't break and you probably won't even get sick with the flu or a cold?  I never did.  It is unfortunately a mental torture with very little means of relief, but hold onto anything positive, anything good, whatever is worthy of praise, think about those things when you are down.  As Aloha said, deep sleep does return.  I had some this morning from 5:00 to 7:00 am, first time in a long time I was able to sleep past 5:00 am and deeply with little or no dreaming.  I too get an "off" night here and there but also have good stretches of 6-8 hours of sleep.  A year ago, I thought I was going to die from lack of sleep and that I would never get better.  You could read some of my old posts under the ThEwAy.  I have been getting pretty good sleep going on 10 months nows.  It will return for you too.  You will get better.  Your Benzo/drug damaged brain loves to lie to you and it is easy to believe the lies that you'll be an insomniac your entire life.  NOT TRUE.  Everyone heals, it's just that some people take longer than others.  I think you said you have been off for 6-7 months now.  That's a good start but can still be "early" in the sleep recovery process for some.  Not what you want to hear, but know that there is an end.  Keep telling yourself this is only temporary because it truly is only temporary.  You will slowly get your sleep back and it will continue to improve over time, there will be ups and downs and setbacks, but eventually the better sleep nights will surpass the off or bad nights.

 

The best thing I did was to stop worrying if I slept or not.  When I stopped caring, and tried to live my life "normally" sleep slowly started to come back.  I would notice 20 minutes here and there and then 30 minute blocks that worked their way into 1 hour then 2 hours and then 3 and 4 hours...wish I had a time frame for you...but just as we all react to drugs differently, we all heal differently.  But I promise that you WILL get better.  The recovery/healing process works best when you are completely off all drugs.  Not sure how much of your amitriptyline taper you have left, but after that is done, your brain can begin some real healing.  Amitriptyline did not work for me along with about a dozen other drugs I tried besides benzos for sleep.  I only took them for a few days and when they stopped working, I flushed the remaining pills.  All drugs affect the brain in some way and it is my personal belief that real healing will not take place until your brain is free from drugs and then it can work on fixing your broken sleep switch, but that WILL happen and you WILL get better.

Hi EWway2......wow what a post again......you are my buddy here!....I had my husband read what you wrote... he re-assured me I will get better.  We were working out this morning ( cannot run outside, too cold) and while working out, we were watching The Doctor's show..  They were addressing Gabapentin and how it is carelessly prescribed by doctors!!!  Wow....what about SSRI's and benzo's....My doctor told me it was like taking a vitamin......I wish I knew back then what I know now.  I do not trust him now.  I would love to shove all these pills in  his mouth for 7 years.  A lot of doctors prescribe anti-depressents to women going through menopause...hence,  that is what he put me on amitriptyline for, and klonopin for not being able to sleep. 

 

Yes, last night was New Year's Eve -  we were in bed at 10:30 p.m.  My husband and I are both runners ( 36 years)......I laid in bed til 12:30 pm., got up took a Melatonin and I don't remember anything til 6:30 A.M..... I feel good today...funny..only about 5 hours sleep...I always use to remember falling asleep....but now anymore....It is hard to run, workout, and be healthy, let alone with sleep, but without it....it is horrible.  I take Fish Oil, Omega 3's, Vitamin C, Vitamin D...tried B-12 , but I think that made me more jittery. 

 

Your words of inspiration are VERY ENCOURAGING....I am just a normal , healthy person, ....I never IN MY WILDEST DREAMS, thought I would be going through something like this in my 50's....

 

I am going to start going to a Naturpathic doctor (homeopathic).....I trust my own body and myself....not my Doctor who put me on this poison..I NEVER  LIKED TAKING A PILL FOR ANYTHING.  I trusted my doctor of 30 years....not anymore.

 

Have you tried taking anything natural for sleep, herbs, tea, warm milk, melatonin, etc. etc.

 

Well, I am going to enjoy New Year's Day,  eat some healthy snacks, a healthy dinner, and play with our Golden Retriever.

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH , AGAIN,  EWway2

 

PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH :thumbsup:

 

 

 

TheWay2, what an incredibly uplifting post. Thank you so much. Insomnia is my worst enemy, but it is for so many others, also.  Last week, I put some dirt  and water in the 300+ bottle of clonazepam and tossed it into the trash.  I really didn't feel anything and only shared it on here. 

Now I will print your comments out and re-read them now and then.

Thanks!

I drank moderately all through withdrawal and for the first few months after I jumped. I didn’t think it impacted me.  One night I had three glasses of excellent wine. I had my first panic attack that night and my insomnia worsened.  I continued to drink on rare occasion, but finally concluded that it was interfering with my healing. I haven’t had any alcohol since November 1 and am sorry I didn’t abstain from the get go. It wasn’t worth it.

Just posting here to get this thread back on the current page.  Maybe this is more what people want need to hear vs. my "tough love" post?

I am leaving this community as there are a handful of NEGATIVE people that seem to push drugs as the solution to getting off of drugs. Good luck with that. They offer ZERO hope and think that everyone is DOOMED and will never recover!  I would avoid these Negative people like you would avoid RAT POISON. 

 

Thanks to everyone that helped me get through the worst part of my WD...you know who you are....Siggy, Aloha, MTfan, etc. 

 

I feel sorry for the people still having to go through WD, especially if they have a preexisting or genetic psychiatric problem.  Then they are DOOMED!  NO CHANCE to RECOVER or get better according to the handful of NEGATIVE Debbie Downers! 

 

God's speed to everyone else for a speedy recovery with the least amount of symptoms and the best sleep possible.

 

 

Hi ThEway2 I cant stop you from going as you have already contributed SO MUCH by giving the most insightful knowledge about insomnia in all of your posts

 

But before you leave I would like to let you know that I must have read your success story may be a 100 times. As a short term user it was so difficult to understand why a short term user is having such a deadly insomnia .Yours was the only post that I could relate to .It gave me hope that I was not an abnormal case .

 

My sleep is definitely better than what it was three months back .I dont take any supplements but yes if I get a setback (non stop 3 days of insomnia) then I take half tablet phenargan to break the cycle .I am praying that I stop taking that too.

 

And yes you were right - the brain really needs to learn back how to sleep and time is the medicine for it .

 

I was going to the psychiatrist during my second month of cold turkey. I am extremely thankful to every one on this forum who discouraged me .

 

 

Hello ThEwAy2,

Like white swan said, I too can’t stop you from leaving the site. I also would like you to know that I have read your success story and posts on insomnia many times. I found them very, very helpful and informative because you are speaking from your own experience and I am sure from a lot of reading and research. I even shared your posts to a family member who also suffers from insomnia, not from benzo though ( thanks God), but from an over the counter sleep aid. I took some  Benadryl and herbs and Remeron for sleep before I found this site in April 2017, but quit all of them because they did not work. I also wanted my brain to heal and get my sleep back naturally. I have been getting some sleep nightly now with out the aid of sleep aids. My sleep are still broken but it is improving and better than no sleep at all.

 

Sending you lots of hugs and prayers for your newfound and well deserved life.

Pi

Whiteswan and Pi236

 

I am glad I could help you with your recovery in whatever way that I did by posting on this site.  Maybe I am the one being overly sensitive? It just doesn't make any sense to me why people would want to push more drugs to get off of drugs when drugs put us into our previous or current situation.  You WILL recover.  I know you will.  Everyone does.  It just takes lots of time.  I had a good run now of almost 1 month of pretty decent sleep.  It will return for you too.  I promise it will!

Theway2 I hope you will stay, as there is so much wisdom in your posts. I understand the sensitivity, as I am much the same. Sometimes it smacks me right in the middle of my forehead. Please remember, there are many who not only get a lot out of of what you say, but also enjoy your humor. Take a break if you need to, but when we walk away, the negative people accomplish way too much.

Hi Nightengale,  I too have horrible insomnia.....and I do not know if it is from The klonopin withdrawal or the Amitriptyline withdrawal.  A double whamy....Have been off Klonopin 9 months after tapering and then tapered off Amitriptyline , have been off about 2 months now.  You said your sleep is getting better and you have been on these Poisons for quite a while, as I have...

 

When did you start noticing your sleep getting better, how long did it take for you to see some improvement. 

 

Thank you.

 

I agree with what you wrote to The EwAy.....He has been  a god send here.

Just go to sleep all of you already.  Your bodies will give in to sleep eventually.  There's no quick fix, it will take weeks, if not months, or in some cases years.  Sweet dreams!

Runnergirl, last night was a bust for sleep. It comes and goes. I agree with ginger127, we just have to ride this out. Insomnia is my worst symptom, both during withdrawal and post withdrawal. I hate it.  I stopped drinking alcohol when I started my taper in Feb. 2017. I tried having a small glass (2-3 oz) at Thanksgiving and became extremely sick. I've not tried any since. Every night I do self hypnosis, telling myself I will sleep, etc. Then I read a book, then I do pressure points and drop off to sleep rather quickly. Just so I don't get any idea this is going to last, my brain wakes me up an hour or so later and typically I am awake for three or more hours, then I drift off to sleep and wake up again. Finally morning comes and I get up and walk for 30 minutes. Sometimes I lift hand weights or do yoga.

My hair has been falling out and I no longer recognize the person looking back at me in the mirror. The lack of sleep certainly has done a number on me. I'm so incredibly tired, but one day, the sleep will come back and I will be me again! We can and will survive the insomnia.