Can't sleep even with valium at night, please help. Just beginning taper.

Hi Guys

 

I am only several weeks in to my taper. My first doctor switched me from 1.5 mg xanax to 4 mg valium a day for taper. I did that for three rough weeks because of the low dose. I then found a doctor who would support the Ashton Method and took my taper up to 15 mg valium. I take 5 mg, three times a day. I just cut the mid day dose to 4, so now I'm on 14 mg per day. I take 5 mg at bedtime, and for a few days I slept great again. Now for the last week I have been getting less sleep every night, down to two hours last night if that!

 

I don't understand why I am not sleeping even with the valium. Can anyone give me info on this?

 

p.s. After Lilac's response I thought I would modify this post to mention I've been on an antibiotic for three weeks (doxycycline). Maybe that's part of it.

It comes with the territory unfortunately! While I had a relatively smooth taper, I got hit really bad with insomnia a few weeks after I was off completely. You can't predict when some withdrawal symptoms will hit you (or why).

 

May be you hold at your current dose until you get through this episode and improve somewhat. One thing you will read time and time again on here is patience. You may need to hold for a while to get through this wave and then continue with your taper.

 

And the other thing I always say on this forum is that the more you worry and think about sleeplessness, the harder it will come. I know it's hard not to, but try to just roll with it and get whatever rest you can. You would be amazed at what we can do with minimal sleep.

You know, I've also been on an antibiotic for three weeks now (doxycycline hyclate) I wonder if that's contributing to it.  Thank you for the response Lilic.

Lack of good sleep is perhaps one of the most common WD symptoms. Because benzos "numb" your brain, blocking fear and anxiety signals, not sleeping when you get off them often happens.

I can tell you it is nothing to worry about, but you do not know that yet. Your brain is pre-wired to protect you from dying from lack of sleep. When I went CT off benzos and ADs, I did not sleep normally for over a year. All I got was "micro sleeps." Moments when my brain just blinked out. That is how your brain protects you from dying. Scientists found this out studying POWS who had been deliberately deprived of sleep by their captors.

 

What finally helped me with this was listening to sleep hypnosis videos on YouTube. After about a month, I found I was able to sleep a bit more. Over time, the effects of these wonderful videos truly helped me sleep normally. This sort of video does not work immediately. Your brain needs to be slowly re-trained to fall asleep. But they do work. I STILL listen to them on occasion.

east

Tom6418

The benzos that you have been taking artificially stimulate your brain chemistry to promote relaxation. The brain sees this effect as an imbalance and over time will set out to suppress the stimulation. This is why it is common to have to increase the dose of many meds in order to get the same results. During a taper there is less artificial stimulation going on, but either the brain is still trying to suppress the production of relaxing biochemicals (including naturally occurring) or it's regulating abilities become messed up. As a result, the ability to relax and eventually fall asleep is lost. It can take a fairly long time, even once off the meds, for the brain chemistry to equalize again in order for normal sleep to return.

Well my doctor prescribed Mirtazapine to help with sleep and to assist with depression and anxiety. That means I'll be taking Valium, doxycycline, and Mirtazapine. A little nervous about that, but here goes.

Well my doctor prescribed Mirtazapine to help with sleep and to assist with depression and anxiety. That means I'll be taking Valium, doxycycline, and Mirtazapine. A little nervous about that, but here goes.

 

I hope that it works for you, but it did not for me. The first time that I took it with a dose of Ambien during my rapid taper I could hardly walk or move my mouth to talk. It then dried my mouth out so bad that I felt like I was choking. It did put me to sleep, but I felt so groggy all the next day. None of those side-effects did much to help with my anxiety.

Thanks Aloha

 

I'm sure that didn't help your anxiety at all. Too bad it was such a bad experience. I know I get so hopeful that various things are going to work or help. I wanted to start on a small dose tonight so I broke the 30 mg tablet into quarters and took just 7.5 mg. Hopefully that will prevent any craziness. Also think I'll stay up an hour or so to see what happens when it kicks in.

 

Thanks for your responses, one of the worst things about benzo withdrawal is the feeling alone because so few can relate to it or understand it. Without this board I would have no one who really understands.

Well my doctor prescribed Mirtazapine to help with sleep and to assist with depression and anxiety. That means I'll be taking Valium, doxycycline, and Mirtazapine. A little nervous about that, but here goes.

 

I hope that it works for you, but it did not for me. The first time that I took it with a dose of Ambien during my rapid taper I could hardly walk or move my mouth to talk. It then dried my mouth out so bad that I felt like I was choking. It did put me to sleep, but I felt so groggy all the next day. None of those side-effects did much to help with my anxiety.

I took a 7.5 last night and slept 17 hours...I'm still groggy  :'(

When I went CT off a boatloads of benzos and ADS I did not sleep normally for an entire year. All I got was micros sleeps. Moments when your brain just blanks out. I thought this would kill me but it did not.

I had to learn all over again how to go to sleep naturally. I did this by listening to sleep hypnosis videos on YouTube. I like Jodi Whitely's the best. She just appealed to me. But there are many others out there. You do not WATCH these videos! You just listen, lying there in the dark. Watching would keep you awake, as the light coming from a tablet etc, keeps you awake. It took me about a month for these videos to work. But once they did work, I was able to fall asleep easily and naturally.

Check this out. It DOES help.

east

Thanks East coast!

When I went CT off a boatloads of benzos and ADS I did not sleep normally for an entire year. All I got was micros sleeps. Moments when your brain just blanks out. I thought this would kill me but it did not.

I had to learn all over again how to go to sleep naturally. I did this by listening to sleep hypnosis videos on YouTube. I like Jodi Whitely's the best. She just appealed to me. But there are many others out there. You do not WATCH these videos! You just listen, lying there in the dark. Watching would keep you awake, as the light coming from a tablet etc, keeps you awake. It took me about a month for these videos to work. But once they did work, I was able to fall asleep easily and naturally.

Check this out. It DOES help.

east

Hi Im taking celexa 5mg and  tapering 0.5 to 0.4  and experiencing anxity and waking up after vivid dreams yesterday I hardly slept , is this normal so early on,  could it be  the ssri that was stimulating at first hitting now?

I was started on a rapid taper for my medicine back in the middle of september. A started having WD symptoms like tingling and numbness and other things but by October I could not sleep at all. I went sometimes 3, 4 and at one time 9 days without sleep.

 

I told myself that I was not going to take anything for it but eventually I was trying two or three different sleeping medications, stretching excercises, asmr, mellatonin, warm milk, breathing excercises - anything that i could think and nothing helped.  After I healed some I was able to take half a seroquil and it would put me to sleep.

 

Like a lot of people say on here is just dont fight it, dont get mad about it. Your body needs rest so if you cant sleep lay in bed and allow your body to relax and as best as you can. Sometimes you will fall asleep and not even realize that you have. I had a lot of that.

 

good luck.

We are similar  I also took  klonopin  for ssri withdrawal  and Celexa  5mg how is your  taper  going?  I was not able to sleep  also after  stopping different  ssri's

Thanks Aloha

 

I'm sure that didn't help your anxiety at all. Too bad it was such a bad experience. I know I get so hopeful that various things are going to work or help. I wanted to start on a small dose tonight so I broke the 30 mg tablet into quarters and took just 7.5 mg. Hopefully that will prevent any craziness. Also think I'll stay up an hour or so to see what happens when it kicks in.

 

Thanks for your responses, one of the worst things about benzo withdrawal is the feeling alone because so few can relate to it or understand it. Without this board I would have no one who really understands.

It sounds strange I know, but taking Mirtazepin for sleep works better on a LOW dose, 15 mg.

Lack of good sleep is perhaps one of the most common WD symptoms. Because benzos "numb" your brain, blocking fear and anxiety signals, not sleeping when you get off them often happens.

I can tell you it is nothing to worry about, but you do not know that yet. Your brain is pre-wired to protect you from dying from lack of sleep. When I went CT off benzos and ADs, I did not sleep normally for over a year. All I got was "micro sleeps." Moments when my brain just blinked out. That is how your brain protects you from dying. Scientists found this out studying POWS who had been deliberately deprived of sleep by their captors.

 

What finally helped me with this was listening to sleep hypnosis videos on YouTube. After about a month, I found I was able to sleep a bit more. Over time, the effects of these wonderful videos truly helped me sleep normally. This sort of video does not work immediately. Your brain needs to be slowly re-trained to fall asleep. But they do work. I STILL listen to them on occasion.

east

Its good to read this when you have anxeity about your lack of sleep and even going to bed. Thank you.