Will do anything for sleep

Hey guys so I came off benzos Feb 2017 and had a massive setback when I was tapering Cymbalta last year. I just started to feel normal last week where I'd say I felt 100% day to day. However, of course, that couldn't just be the end of it. The last week I wake up every hour and it takes me forever to get back to sleep. This insomnia has flooded back all of my symptoms. When I sleep ok, I feel absolutely fine. So far I've tried CBD, antihistamines, hot baths and a massage. Nothing has worked. I want to try melatonin tonight but I'm at my breaking point and thinking about trying ambien. Not getting sleep is the worst part of withdrawal in my 2.5 years of hell. And it especially sucks knowing that I'd feel fine if only I could muster up a decent sleep. 

 

 

Yup

I had 5 years of 3 am waking, so I really sympathise.

Then like a switch it went to 4 then 5 then 6 am.

I hope your sleep centre gets into gear very soon.

Dickie

As bad as things are now, Ambien will make things worse in the long run so resist the temptation to try it at all costs. The drug works perfectly fine when only used for short term for people who have not recently gone through a benzo withdrawal.

I'm waking up every hour. I think people can die from sleep deprivation cant they?

i have been going through since i quit benzos ,ambien and now zoloft  i did about 4 hours one night and then nothing the next couple nights i would say it been six moths total of this shit.with no end in sight

I'm waking up every hour. I think people can die from sleep deprivation cant they?

 

Hootie, You will not die from sleep deprivation. I sometimes went multiple days in a week with zero sleep and still went to work and lived my life. I felt miserable, no doubt, but you just gotta take one day at a time, one foot in front of the other, and just power through. Sleep will eventually come back. Ambien may give you a temporary relief valve, but then what?

I'm waking up every hour. I think people can die from sleep deprivation cant they?

 

I think that if you were forced to stay awake via electric shock or something you would eventually die from lack of sleep, but if you put in your time in bed you will be resting and more than likely getting a lot of short doze-offs that you are not even aware of. Your brain will ensure that you get at least the bare minimum sleep needed to get by on. I went 5 consecutive nights without any perceived sleep and months on end with mostly 2 hour nights. I did not die and did not even catch a common cold. Lots of folks reported the same thing.

Hello

 

I am now getting around 5 hours which is good tbh, I wake at 4am every morning it’s a real drag laying there and the symptoms kick in along with some anxiety but I can cope with 5 hours , I think cbd oil has helped me I know you say you have tried it though, I have a 40% one I take two drops in the morning and two at bedtime I think it’s helped with anxiety too.

 

When my sleep was horrendous I used to stick a Micheal Sealey sleep hypnosis on using little ear headphones , a good long one, it did help I think, he has loads on YouTube, I often fell asleep way before the end of the track.

 

Apart from that I think sleep issues do resolve over time , it’s hard I know.

 

Wishing you well and sleep !

Have you tried Magnesium? I would avoid Ambien at all costs. I have avoided meds for 2.5 years+ and now sleeping 6-7 hours most nights. It does get better if you let your brain heal...

I'm waking up every hour. I think people can die from sleep deprivation cant they?

 

If people could die of it I would be dead.

 

I went a solid week ( i think 8 or 9 days) with zero sleep last winter. I would not wish that on my worst enemy. I was in the ER twice. But i was on a medication for 30 year and pulled off of it in about 5 weeks or so.

 

The good thing is that you are sleeping even if you are waking up every hour.

 

Mine was getting so bad that when I laid down I would be laying there thinking "did I just fall asleep?" and I would be "yep I did I just had a dream" . I would fall asleep for a couple minutes at a time and the only way I knew was if I rememer a dream that I just had. Was a weird time.

I know going without sleep is torture but your playing with fire if you take ambien.  Don't do it!  It is a "Z" drug.  Z drugs are very hard to discontinue just like benzo.  I would be afraid to even try it like drinking in fire of triggering w/d sxs.  Just my opinion.

 

Miss Bella

i have been going through since i quit benzos ,ambien and now zoloft  i did about 4 hours one night and then nothing the next couple nights i would say it been six moths total of this shit.with no end in sight

 

531290 dog. We have a similar sleep pattern if you can call that a sleep pattern. I'm determined to put up with this and continue my taper but it's getting me depressed and feeling tempted sometimes to updose, rescue dose, anything. I've recently been in severe withdrawal so that didn't help. I wonder if you have any advice as to accept this, how you spend the sleepless nights without going crazy (that's the hardest part for me). I could to some king of activity but due to lack of sleep usually I'm too exhausted. Then I get depressed.

I'm waking up every hour. I think people can die from sleep deprivation cant they?

 

I think that if you were forced to stay awake via electric shock or something you would eventually die from lack of sleep, but if you put in your time in bed you will be resting and more than likely getting a lot of short doze-offs that you are not even aware of. Your brain will ensure that you get at least the bare minimum sleep needed to get by on. I went 5 consecutive nights without any perceived sleep and months on end with mostly 2 hour nights. I did not die and did not even catch a common cold. Lots of folks reported the same thing.

 

Alohafromhawai, during the months that you slept 2 hours and 5 days with zero sleep (I feel I'm in a similar stage, though it hasn't lasted months yet), did you work? did you go on with your life? I'm too exhausted and cancelling some work appointments. I get depressed I don't know if maybe, continuing with life with no sleep is possible and I'm thinking it isn't. I'm 51 by the way, so it's not like in my 20s when I could party for two days straight and then go to work after a shower.

I'm waking up every hour. I think people can die from sleep deprivation cant they?

 

I think that if you were forced to stay awake via electric shock or something you would eventually die from lack of sleep, but if you put in your time in bed you will be resting and more than likely getting a lot of short doze-offs that you are not even aware of. Your brain will ensure that you get at least the bare minimum sleep needed to get by on. I went 5 consecutive nights without any perceived sleep and months on end with mostly 2 hour nights. I did not die and did not even catch a common cold. Lots of folks reported the same thing.

 

Alohafromhawai, during the months that you slept 2 hours and 5 days with zero sleep (I feel I'm in a similar stage, though it hasn't lasted months yet), did you work? did you go on with your life? I'm too exhausted and cancelling some work appointments. I get depressed I don't know if maybe, continuing with life with no sleep is possible and I'm thinking it isn't. I'm 51 by the way, so it's not like in my 20s when I could party for two days straight and then go to work after a shower.

 

During the initial very bad stage of withdrawal insomnia I actually took some time off of work under the Family Medical Leave Act because I was barely functional, but after that I just muddled through. I mostly work out of my home, but I tried to pull myself out of bed when the alarm went off every morning anyway (didn't always succeed). We had a family trip planned and paid for before the sleep really shut down and I was going to stay home due to fear of not sleeping, but I went and had a pretty good time. I will be turning 60 at the end of the month so I was not young when I went through all of this (I actually think that young people need more sleep). You really have to try your best to live your life regardless of how little sleep you get. Nobody thinks that they can do it, but I think that most actually can.

I'm waking up every hour. I think people can die from sleep deprivation cant they?

 

I think that if you were forced to stay awake via electric shock or something you would eventually die from lack of sleep, but if you put in your time in bed you will be resting and more than likely getting a lot of short doze-offs that you are not even aware of. Your brain will ensure that you get at least the bare minimum sleep needed to get by on. I went 5 consecutive nights without any perceived sleep and months on end with mostly 2 hour nights. I did not die and did not even catch a common cold. Lots of folks reported the same thing.

 

Alohafromhawai, during the months that you slept 2 hours and 5 days with zero sleep (I feel I'm in a similar stage, though it hasn't lasted months yet), did you work? did you go on with your life? I'm too exhausted and cancelling some work appointments. I get depressed I don't know if maybe, continuing with life with no sleep is possible and I'm thinking it isn't. I'm 51 by the way, so it's not like in my 20s when I could party for two days straight and then go to work after a shower.

 

During the initial very bad stage of withdrawal insomnia I actually took some time off of work under the Family Medical Leave Act because I was barely functional, but after that I just muddled through. I mostly work out of my home, but I tried to pull myself out of bed when the alarm went off every morning anyway (didn't always succeed). We had a family trip planned and paid for before the sleep really shut down and I was going to stay home due to fear of not sleeping, but I went and had a pretty good time. I will be turning 60 at the end of the month so I was not young when I went through all of this (I actually think that young people need more sleep). You really have to try your best to live your life regardless of how little sleep you get. Nobody thinks that they can do it, but I think that most actually can.

 

Thank you aloha, that's very encouraging. Did you have insomnia due to very intense emotions that were too sad and scary to let you sleep? That's what happens to me. Electricity through my body and emotions multiplied by 1000 that keep me from relaxing.

I'm waking up every hour. I think people can die from sleep deprivation cant they?

 

I think that if you were forced to stay awake via electric shock or something you would eventually die from lack of sleep, but if you put in your time in bed you will be resting and more than likely getting a lot of short doze-offs that you are not even aware of. Your brain will ensure that you get at least the bare minimum sleep needed to get by on. I went 5 consecutive nights without any perceived sleep and months on end with mostly 2 hour nights. I did not die and did not even catch a common cold. Lots of folks reported the same thing.

 

Alohafromhawai, during the months that you slept 2 hours and 5 days with zero sleep (I feel I'm in a similar stage, though it hasn't lasted months yet), did you work? did you go on with your life? I'm too exhausted and cancelling some work appointments. I get depressed I don't know if maybe, continuing with life with no sleep is possible and I'm thinking it isn't. I'm 51 by the way, so it's not like in my 20s when I could party for two days straight and then go to work after a shower.

 

During the initial very bad stage of withdrawal insomnia I actually took some time off of work under the Family Medical Leave Act because I was barely functional, but after that I just muddled through. I mostly work out of my home, but I tried to pull myself out of bed when the alarm went off every morning anyway (didn't always succeed). We had a family trip planned and paid for before the sleep really shut down and I was going to stay home due to fear of not sleeping, but I went and had a pretty good time. I will be turning 60 at the end of the month so I was not young when I went through all of this (I actually think that young people need more sleep). You really have to try your best to live your life regardless of how little sleep you get. Nobody thinks that they can do it, but I think that most actually can.

 

Thank you aloha, that's very encouraging. Did you have insomnia due to very intense emotions that were too sad and scary to let you sleep? That's what happens to me. Electricity through my body and emotions multiplied by 1000 that keep me from relaxing.

 

I think that I had those emotions and thoughts at night because I couldn't sleep and that gave me plenty of time to let my mind wander in bad directions. My sleep switch was just broken from the Ambien so I was not going to sleep no matter what, until exhaustion gave me some degree of recovery sleep.

Nothing has worked. I want to try melatonin tonight but I'm at my breaking point and thinking about trying ambien. Not getting sleep is the worst part of withdrawal in my 2.5 years of hell. And it especially sucks knowing that I'd feel fine if only I could muster up a decent sleep.

I feel the same exact way. When I can sleep, I feel so much better the next day. Have you even tried melatonin yet? A tiny amount (just 1 mg) helps me sometimes.