Cycle of little sleep then sleeping a lot

Wednesday night I felt relaxed in much of the same way I’ve felt on benzodiazepines:  Relaxed and loving to meditate to music while falling asleep. Sadly, that’s been mostly missing in my recovery. However, that evening, I did fall asleep to music around 10PM and didn’t wake up until 7PM the next day! Are these signs of the brain wanting to sleep coming back? Did others notice in their recovery nights of minimal sleep, but then suddenly, you sleep too much?

 

 

Yes, it happened to me that way.

 

I didn’t sleep for more than 0-2 hours a night for two years, but now I can sleep 14 hours if I want to – just like a teenager again. Great dreams too, instead of the screaming terror of benzo nightmares.

 

This morning I woke up at 5 am, had some coffee and read for a while, and then went back to sleep for eight more hours. Not so long ago, I couldn’t even drink coffee, and now I can not only drink it, I can sleep right afterwards, just like the good old days.

 

Don’t worry, you’ll get your old ways back.

Yes, it happened to me that way.

 

I didn’t sleep for more than 0-2 hours a night for two years, but now I can sleep 14 hours if I want to – just like a teenager again. Great dreams too, instead of the screaming terror of benzo nightmares.

 

This morning I woke up at 5 am, had some coffee and read for a while, and then went back to sleep for eight more hours. Not so long ago, I couldn’t even drink coffee, and now I can not only drink it, I can sleep right afterwards, just like the good old days.

 

Don’t worry, you’ll get your old ways back.

 

I’m so happy for you, and grateful for positive testimonies.

I have suffered from this cycling, and I’ve heard of others having it as well. I can sleep great for a few nights in a row, then it’s like I simply never get sleepy for the following several nights. Sometimes I will remember dreaming as I lay there but otherwise it feels as if I haven’t sleep at all, all night. Then I’ll have another 1-3 nights of normal sleep. I’d love to know for sure if this is withdrawal or not as it seems to be a pretty rare pattern

My recommendation is to try sleep restriction, meaning not allowing yourself on the "good nights" to get that 7, 8, 9+ hours of sleep - as good as that might feel - and instead restrict yourself to a number that is an average of what you get over a typical week. So if after all the ups and downs, you average 5 hours (for example), then NEVER allow yourself to sleep more than 5 hours until you are sleeping 85% or more of that 5-hour window for a week or more. What that does is maintain your natural sleep drive so that instead of having these wild ups and downs, you smooth things out and begin sleeping more efficiently and consistently. Then you gradually increase the time in bed by 15 minute increments.

 

Now, this doesn't necessarily work for everyone so there is no guarantee. But if you are kind of desperate, it might be worth a try. You have to give it at least 10-14 days to see if it works for you.

I think Lilac's idea is a good one. It's counterintuitive to not go for all of the sleep you can get, but ultimately life ends up feeling better when you can climb off the see saw a bit. I set a time to get up regardless of how the night went and I still don't let myself go to bed  very early since my brain is going to wake up early regardless. Now I'm more often able to have a good night and not pay for it the next night but periodically this pattern will revisit and I'll go back to some sleep restriction.

I think Lilac's idea is a good one. It's counterintuitive to not go for all of the sleep you can get, but ultimately life ends up feeling better when you can climb off the see saw a bit. I set a time to get up regardless of how the night went and I still don't let myself go to bed  very early since my brain is going to wake up early regardless. Now I'm more often able to have a good night and not pay for it the next night but periodically this pattern will revisit and I'll go back to some sleep restriction.

 

Yes, sleep restriction along with stimulus control (getting out of the bed and doing something quietly elsewhere after ~20 minutes of lying in bed awake and not falling asleep) are two of the most effective natural treatments for primary insomnia (primary meaning there isn't a physiological cause). I know it helped me get out of the good night/bad night cycle and get me into a much more consistent sleep pattern.

 

I think the only caveat is if someone is truly still in an acute withdrawal stage and they never had any issues with sleep prior to withdrawing from benzos. Then it truly could be 100% physical and there isn't much they can do but wait for time to heal. But folks that are in the cycle described here CAN sleep for long periods of time. It just isn't happening consistently. That's why I think a sleep restriction intervention may help in this particular case.

Yep, I was in the hard core insomniacs group way back. I’d easily go two or three days at a time with only micro sleep. A lot of nights now I can barely stay awake. It can definitely get better. It does take a lot of time though.

 

(Hi MT Buddy! Hope you’re doing well these days.)

I am sadly in the same place , I am currently only getting 2 hours of sleep a night. It makes me very anxious the feeling of not being able to go to sleep , it feels like i just lie there all night long. I could possibly get micro sleep what ever that is but i am on empty, Cant imagine that this could last years .

Mine sleep seems to go in cycles for no apparent reason. 2 weeks ok and 2weeks none. I hope my good 2 weeks will come back soon.

Do you really ever regain sleep again?

lisa

Hi Lisa,

 

It can take a while for sleep to normalize, but almost all the insomniacs I’ve known in here have gotten better. That cycling of good days / weeks with bad days / weeks is really common. I know it’s hard to miss sleep, but you’ll get through it. Just enjoy the better days and make it through the bad ones. Some days I can now sleep 8-10 hours in a night. Which is the total amount I’d get in a week back when I was still deep in recovery.

 

Yep, I was in the hard core insomniacs group way back. I’d easily go two or three days at a time with only micro sleep. A lot of nights now I can barely stay awake. It can definitely get better. It does take a lot of time though.

 

(Hi MT Buddy! Hope you’re doing well these days.)

 

Hey Siggy!

 

I'm doing a lot better than I used to. It's still a work in progress but some of that is my ongoing health issues. I'm delighted to see you on here again and I'm thrilled you've recovered so nicely!

 

MT

Some good postings on this thread! I thought I was the only one feeling like having 'bipolar with rapid cycling' in the forum; and it kind of has shaken me up a bit and revamping my old health anxiety that I thought I had it under control. I am trying to be as positive and proactive as I can be exercising, working some, trying to distract with art and music, reading, going to the pool, etc. Most definitely my CNS is not completely healed yet because I cannot tolerate stress too well yet, and I have been through a lot in the last two months, which I believed triggered it because I had some great windows. This time I am not just let time pass by, I have decided to do some adaptogenic herbs and amino acids, omega 3's, lithium orotate to pull me through this wave and it is helping....will see that in spite of taking all of these I will heal. Before I was always told 'do not take anything that affect gaba', but right now I truly don't care anymore as long as I am not taking Rx drugs. The sleep restriction/hygiene is a great concept/fact; and I am still a work in progress in this realm. I have bought me some blackout blinds/curtains and amber glasses, and doing light therapy as well which is helping some; but I just started all this a month ago; so I still have a lot of work to do...

Yes, it happened to me that way.

 

I didn’t sleep for more than 0-2 hours a night for two years, but now I can sleep 14 hours if I want to – just like a teenager again. Great dreams too, instead of the screaming terror of benzo nightmares.

 

This morning I woke up at 5 am, had some coffee and read for a while, and then went back to sleep for eight more hours. Not so long ago, I couldn’t even drink coffee, and now I can not only drink it, I can sleep right afterwards, just like the good old days.

 

Don’t worry, you’ll get your old ways back.

Leslie, were all your SX's pretty constant until about the 2 year Mark or did some start to letup before that?

I have suffered from this cycling, and I’ve heard of others having it as well. I can sleep great for a few nights in a row, then it’s like I simply never get sleepy for the following several nights. Sometimes I will remember dreaming as I lay there but otherwise it feels as if I haven’t sleep at all, all night. Then I’ll have another 1-3 nights of normal sleep. I’d love to know for sure if this is withdrawal or not as it seems to be a pretty rare pattern

Yep, I cycle a lot too. Consistent sleep remains elusive.