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can't get more than 4 to 5 hours sleep ...


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Can't get more than 4 to 5 hours of unrefreshing easily interrupted sleep, two years ago i quit benzo cold turkey after 7 years of use and five months ago i finished tapering my ssri after 15 years of use.

 

How am i gonna heal if i can't get enough sleep , i am worried what if lack of sleep damaged my brain cells ..? i was reading some article on some website that says insomniac have a higher risk of developing heart diseases and other health issues then i freaked out .

 

How long this is gonna last, anybody knows ?  i was doing better three months ago.

 

Thank you for reading ... 

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I started taking benzos because I was only sleeping 4-5 hours a night.  Fast forward 12 years (6 years of use; 6 years after withdrawal/recovery).  I consider myself fully healed.  I still sleep 4-5 hours a lot of nights (6 hours on a good night).  It's always light sleep - any barking dog in the neighborhood will wake me. 

 

That may sound bad, but it seems to be all the sleep that I need.  I used to think that I was 'supposed' to sleep 8 hours which brought on anxiety/anger when I found myself awake at 4 am.  Now, I'm good with what I get.

 

You may be similar.  There's actually a strong negative correlation between IQ and sleep duration.  Maybe you're just MENSA material.

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I think diet is super important with people like us who have been on medications and have had to taper. There are foods are neuro stimulators like alcohol, MSG, nicotine, gluten etc. I try and steer clear of all of them. I also eat and drink stuff that detoxes me.

 

Maybe, if you havnt already, make sure there is nothing in your diet that nots interfering with your brain healing.

 

Good luck.

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Hey there!

If you are 5 months off your SSRI, may I ask if your were sleeping before that?

Like you are 2 years off benzos, did you start sleeping again?

And then now off SSRI and not sleeping?

If that's the case then could be a bit of SSRI withdrawal?

Which can be longer than docs usually say.

But if it is SSRI wd, then it will pass too

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4 to 5 hours sleep a night is fine

 

many folk sleep less than that

 

the constant message that we must get 8 hours sleep a night otherwise there's something wrong with us is male bovine excrement

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I concur with others...4-5 hours isn't bad, even if it is broken sleep.  I still get off nights of sleep.  I got about 7 hours last night but only about 2 hours the night before.  I normally get 5-8 hours most nights with an off night every month or so.  You are healing regardless of your sleep hour total per night.  It's not like there's a magic number for sleep where you heal and if you don't reach that amount you don't.  As long as you are off of Benzos and other Rx drugs, you are healing even though it may not seem like it.  It's very nonlinear, Up and Down for sometime for most.  ADs can have a problematic WD as well and you are only 5 months off of that. 

 

The best thing to do is not put a timeline on when you think you should be sleeping better.  Be grateful for 4-5 hours per night.  I used to get 5-10 hours per week for months and months.  Be grateful for any and all sleep you do get.  It's about gratitude, not attitude, if you want to get past this.

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I think diet is super important with people like us who have been on medications and have had to taper. There are foods are neuro stimulators like alcohol, MSG, nicotine, gluten etc. I try and steer clear of all of them. I also eat and drink stuff that detoxes me.

 

Maybe, if you havnt already, make sure there is nothing in your diet that nots interfering with your brain healing.

 

Good luck.

 

I agree with you about the importance of diet, too much caffeine can trigger a wave BUT sometimes i don't have a choice but gluten containing food .

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Hey there!

If you are 5 months off your SSRI, may I ask if your were sleeping before that?

Like you are 2 years off benzos, did you start sleeping again?

And then now off SSRI and not sleeping?

If that's the case then could be a bit of SSRI withdrawal?

Which can be longer than docs usually say.

But if it is SSRI wd, then it will pass too

 

Thank you for reply, a doctor told me that ssri withdrawal can't last more than a month, it's so hard to convince them otherwise 

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4 to 5 hours sleep a night is fine

 

many folk sleep less than that

 

the constant message that we must get 8 hours sleep a night otherwise there's something wrong with us is male bovine excrement

 

Thank you for reassuring, and for reply

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I concur with others...4-5 hours isn't bad, even if it is broken sleep.  I still get off nights of sleep.  I got about 7 hours last night but only about 2 hours the night before.  I normally get 5-8 hours most nights with an off night every month or so.  You are healing regardless of your sleep hour total per night.  It's not like there's a magic number for sleep where you heal and if you don't reach that amount you don't.  As long as you are off of Benzos and other Rx drugs, you are healing even though it may not seem like it.  It's very nonlinear, Up and Down for sometime for most.  ADs can have a problematic WD as well and you are only 5 months off of that. 

 

The best thing to do is not put a timeline on when you think you should be sleeping better.  Be grateful for 4-5 hours per night.  I used to get 5-10 hours per week for months and months.  Be grateful for any and all sleep you do get.  It's about gratitude, not attitude, if you want to get past this.

 

Thank you for your precious advice and for your information, i will be practicing being grateful no matter how little sleep i get,, i think the ssri thing is making it even more complicated .   

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I started taking benzos because I was only sleeping 4-5 hours a night.  Fast forward 12 years (6 years of use; 6 years after withdrawal/recovery).  I consider myself fully healed.  I still sleep 4-5 hours a lot of nights (6 hours on a good night).  It's always light sleep - any barking dog in the neighborhood will wake me. 

 

That may sound bad, but it seems to be all the sleep that I need.  I used to think that I was 'supposed' to sleep 8 hours which brought on anxiety/anger when I found myself awake at 4 am.  Now, I'm good with what I get.

 

You may be similar.  There's actually a strong negative correlation between IQ and sleep duration.  Maybe you're just MENSA material.

Thank you for your reply and for information , best wishes

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  • 3 weeks later...
The 4-5 hours you people are saying is “enough” is not enough for me. I wake up at 4 am every single night and feel like I am dying due to sleep deprivation every day, all day.
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The 4-5 hours you people are saying is “enough” is not enough for me. I wake up at 4 am every single night and feel like I am dying due to sleep deprivation every day, all day.

 

Me too Buddy, if i only get a three to four hours sleep i often wake up feeling extremely tired exhausted and sick but i am learning that i should accept what is, fighting the situation and adding more negative emotions wont help .

 

I have found out recently that reading a book that i enjoy for two hours before sleep helps me sleep deeper and longer,  try it !!!

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It’s not even close to enough. I’m so exhausted I’m nauseous some days. My body vibrates from sick fatigue. I know when I’m not getting enough sleep, and 4-5 hours is not enough. I don’t care what anyone says.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, survivor. I read before bed every night.

 

 

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[df...]

I started taking benzos because I was only sleeping 4-5 hours a night.  Fast forward 12 years (6 years of use; 6 years after withdrawal/recovery).  I consider myself fully healed.  I still sleep 4-5 hours a lot of nights (6 hours on a good night).  It's always light sleep - any barking dog in the neighborhood will wake me. 

 

That may sound bad, but it seems to be all the sleep that I need.  I used to think that I was 'supposed' to sleep 8 hours which brought on anxiety/anger when I found myself awake at 4 am.  Now, I'm good with what I get.

 

You may be similar.  There's actually a strong negative correlation between IQ and sleep duration.  Maybe you're just MENSA material.

 

Thanks for this badsocref.  It was very helpful to me :-)

 

Best,

 

Kate  :smitten:

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It’s not even close to enough. I’m so exhausted I’m nauseous some days. My body vibrates from sick fatigue. I know when I’m not getting enough sleep, and 4-5 hours is not enough. I don’t care what anyone says.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, survivor. I read before bed every night.

 

So sorry for your struggles brother, i hope it will get better for you eventually, we all in this together and it's transient, have you ever before considered supplements ? Some people report success with them  .....

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It’s not even close to enough. I’m so exhausted I’m nauseous some days. My body vibrates from sick fatigue. I know when I’m not getting enough sleep, and 4-5 hours is not enough. I don’t care what anyone says.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, survivor. I read before bed every night.

 

So sorry for your struggles brother, i hope it will get better for you eventually, we all in this together and it's transient, have you ever before considered supplements ? Some people report success with them  .....

 

Thank you. I’ve tried every supplement.

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As for me, I recently started taking [url://www.weednews.co/best-cbd-gummies/]CBD gummies[/url], and I have to say that they help me sleep better. What do you think about such CBD products? Maybe you can recommend something to me here too? I would appreciate it :)
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  • 2 weeks later...

Can't get more than 4 to 5 hours of unrefreshing easily interrupted sleep, two years ago i quit benzo cold turkey after 7 years of use and five months ago i finished tapering my ssri after 15 years of use.

 

How am i gonna heal if i can't get enough sleep , i am worried what if lack of sleep damaged my brain cells ..? i was reading some article on some website that says insomniac have a higher risk of developing heart diseases and other health issues then i freaked out .

 

How long this is gonna last, anybody knows ?  i was doing better three months ago.

 

Thank you for reading ...

 

This is such a hard place to be in...I remember it well. You're feeling sleep deprived, wrung out, exhausted and raw. The mind loves to say things to us in this state about how we can't take it anymore and it's never going to end. Then these thoughts affect the nervous system in such a way (sympathetic activation, cortisol release, etc.) that revs us up and makes it even harder to sleep. I can assure you it passes but when you're in the thick of it, those words can feel like a fairy tale.

 

Some words of genuine comfort about the research linking insomnia and other health conditions: there's a well known weakness in the medical research like this. It almost never controls for lifestyle factors. In other words, most insomniacs take terrible care of themselves-they eat like crap, don't exercise and engage in minimal stress reduction. Those 3 factors are responsible for/contribute significantly to most, but not all, health conditions. It's *very* hard to exercise and eat healthy when fatigued. I understand. Sleep deprivation also alters your appetite hormones of ghrelin and leptin, leaving most of us hungrier and with carb craving. That's the bad news. The good news, is introducing some exercise in your life (you can start small and work up), eating a bit more cleanly (not perfect but reduce sugar, processed foods, chemicals, etc.) and reducing whatever stress is under your control will not only help with your insomnia/wd but it will help you live a healthier (physically and emotionally) and longer, life.

 

When I went into wd I was overweight, rarely exercised and ate So.Much. Crap. My mental health/stress reduction habits were pretty bad. I'm a very different person now. Not perfect, but healthier, and more stable, than I've ever been. I still have plenty of work to do.

 

I believe in your ability to survive this, get better, and make whatever changes you need in order to come out the other side in a healthier, wiser, place.

 

MT

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These health articles we read are always telling us we must get 8 hours sleep or we are some kinda freak. That is such baloney. If you was to do a random survey about how many hours of sleep folk get, I guarantee nearly all would be less than that.

 

Worry about sleep is worry and nothing else. You don't need to search for a reason for it. If you sleep few hours then you sleep few hours. What does it matter any roads.

 

Teru

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