Another insomniac here

I've suffered from insomnia for over 15 years now.  At first took Xanax as needed, but then got chest tightness / pains, along with not being able to fall asleep and started Klonopin every night for the last 6 years.  Need to get off the Klonopin because of a lot of negative symptoms, so I began my taper from .5mg to .125mg, and then the insomnia got really severe.  I'm not able to fall asleep no matter what natural remedies I try.  CBD oil, melatonin, antihistamines, you name it.  I'm worried sick not being able to function and take care of my kids.  I broke down and took a Xanax last night and skipped the Klonopin.  Not my smartest move, but was feeling desperate.  I'm feeling lost.  Every doctor I go to suggests a different medication from Seroquel to medical marijuana, and the ssris (more insomnia).  Hoping to find some good advice on here.

 

Everyone says in here that after you heal that you normally return to your baseline sleep habits, meaning that if you had a sleeping disorder before you took your benzo then you will prob have it after you stop and have healed.

 

Did you have this sleeping disorder as a child or teenager? If you did not have it as a child or teenager then there may be something that caused it to begin with and the doctors did not care to find out what it was and so they just prescribed a med that masked your disorder.

 

If you are tapering you will have a lot of insomnia for a good while and usually nothing helps until your brain heals some.  I tried everything with my insomnia when I was tapering and the only thing that really seemed to work was time. I didnt have the luxury of know what was going on with me, though. I didnt find this forum until 3 months into my taper.

 

First thing is to start with your diet and water consumption. Get rid of all junk food and coffee and other stimulants. That would mean msg, smoking, sugar, gluten etc. All of these cause damage to your body and brain.

 

Start drinking half your body weight in ozs in water. If you are 120 pounds drink 60-80 ozs of water. There is something called the "Water Cure" and this is supposedly that drinking water with the correct type of salt (himalayan salt or Celtic Sea Salt) helps heal body and Brain.

 

Correct diet - Eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible. This will add many nutrients into your body and help heal your brain. There is a doctor (Terry Wahls) she had MS and she was able to reverse it by adding enough nutrients in her diet, among other stuff. But the theory is that the nutrients in the vegetables help feed your brains midochondria and neurons.

 

Exercise like jogging is supposed to build new neuron pathways in your brain as well.

 

Also fasting is a way to heal body and brain. Autophagy is a process brought about thru fasting where the body will "eat up" damaged cells in the body. Fasting brings about this process.

 

Some of this I am doing and some I will be doing later into my taper or after my taper.

 

Hope some of this helps. Good luck.

Gosh! Thanks so much for that. Im going to start eating nothing but fruits and vegetables and drinking water. Do you know about how long this process takes in order to heal?

No I'm not sure.

 

I suppose its different in different people. You could look into each of those things I listed and see what you think about them. There are certain people on youtube that i follow that I feel are pretty knowledgeable.

 

John Bergman - functional medicine doctor. his videos talk about everything  from detoxing the body to curing autoimmune disease to the dangers of rx drugs. This guy is very smart.

 

Loren Lockman, Dr. Valter Longo - fasting and autophagy

 

There is a video on youtube called Water, Natural salt (Not sodium) first, then diet and exercise in that order! it is very long and boring but it tells you how certain chemicals you consume are toxic and discusses the benefits of drinking more water with the correct salt.

 

 

Terry Wahls and Bob Cafaro - both cured their MS thru diet, water, exercise, meditation, stress reduction and the placebo effect (which is important). They both heave tedx talks which are really informative. Thats where I heard bob cafaro talk about the water cure, so I looked into that.

 

There is also videos about healing body with the mind which deals with the placebo effect - also how negative thought actually generate toxic chemicals in the body. John bergman has video that address this.

 

Also all of these people deal with detoxing body from stored toxins from the foods we eat and toxins caused from stress. This is what i was saying before that food additives like MSG, gluten, GMO, pesticides, sugar etc etc all disrupt the neurons in our brains.

 

These are a few people I follow and learn from. Hope it helps some and gives some hope. Hope is the important thing.

 

 

 

 

Gosh! Thanks so much for that. Im going to start eating nothing but fruits and vegetables and drinking water. Do you know about how long this process takes in order to heal?

 

Just make sure you are getting some protein from something. There are beans, you can buy plant protein that is non gmo and sugar free.

What a about the pesticides from veggies? Do

You think you have to always buy organic? I’ve got this thing about me though that I get so desperate when I can’t fall asleep. I’ve tried not caring and laying there all night but all I think about is how bad I’m being tortured so I get up and take something. I took a belsamra the last couple nights and slept 2 nights in a row. I got off the seroquel though cause it was making my symptoms worse. I’ve drank a ton of water today and I’ve ate pretty good. I’m going to try your method of eating healthy. Are eggs ok?

Don't start obsessing over what you eat right now. You have enough anxiety on your plate. You are doing what needs to be done to get better by just getting through this one day at time until enough time passes (and it will).

What a about the pesticides from veggies? Do

You think you have to always buy organic? I’ve got this thing about me though that I get so desperate when I can’t fall asleep. I’ve tried not caring and laying there all night but all I think about is how bad I’m being tortured so I get up and take something. I took a belsamra the last couple nights and slept 2 nights in a row. I got off the seroquel though cause it was making my symptoms worse. I’ve drank a ton of water today and I’ve ate pretty good. I’m going to try your method of eating healthy. Are eggs ok?

 

I'm sorry if have panicked you over the food thing. I dont want you to start obsessing because something I have posted.

 

I was just trying to give some tips for things I have read or watched that have seem to work for others. Has it worked for me? I cant say - I'm sure it hasnt hurt.

 

If it were me I would watch some of those people I listed and then kinda draw some of your own conclusions. I dont want to tell what kind of diet you should get on. I am learning from all of this as well. We all have some kinda of damage from long term medicine use and this what I'm trying to do to help myself.

 

I'm still having pain and WD symptoms myself,  so I dont want to tell you that this is stuff is a cure all. In my opinion this stuff does help but it takes time and a lot of healing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ocean, I've been doing the "WaterCure" protocol for a number of years...One of the smartest decisions I ever made. It's helped immensely in my recovery, along with whole food only diet, exercise, meditation and internal weekly GI cleanses. I started taking an organic liquid mineral supplement several months ago. I HIGHLY recommend incorporating this in to your daily regimen. I did a lot of research on minerals and decided on Alpha Mineral support. I'm a bit over 10 months c/t from restoril, Xanax and 9 months c/t. It seems like you're well on your way to a successful recovery.

 

All the best!

thanks apollo I will certainly look into that. It strange, I have been doing better since I have started eating better and juicing but last night i was hit by a number of WD symptoms that seemed worse than normal. I dont know if it was a "wave" or my anxiety and stress making it worse. Who knows.

 

Anytime you have advice for me about this, be sure to let me know - as i said I'm learning about all this and I like hearing from people who have been doing this longer than me.

 

What GI cleanses have you been doing? If you dont mind me asking.

 

Thanks.