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Does anyone have a pattern of sleep like this?  I also have intense and vivid nightmares each night as well. I’ve always had trouble sleeping but it was always about falling asleep, I never had multiple weakening before until withdrawal. I wish I could just sleep through the night without waking up so many times. Has anyone had this pattern that got better?
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It's very common to have disturbed sleep and vivid dreams / nightmares are common too. Not to minimise your problem but some would love to be able to say that they woke up multiple times every 2 to 3 hours because that suggests an acceptable amount of sleep in total. Some have one chunk of sleep that lasts 3-4 hours and very rarely get another solid chunk. I had a spell like this when I reduced too quickly and it's horrible.

 

Withdrawal and recovery doesn't work out the same for everybody. What I would say is that almost universally, sleep is an issue to some degree throughout tapering and for a while after you've stopped taking any benzo. I seem to get 5-6 hours sleep most nights if I don't take any supplement or less if I have just recently reduced my dose. I realise that others have it worse and I'm grateful for what I get but it does catch up with me. I make sure that I go through periods where I suck it up and get natural sleep even though it doesn't feel like enough. It seems important to let that happen sometimes. I also go through periods where I use cannabis almost every night which is a great relief at first. I think that at a moderate dose, it puts me to sleep for an extra hour on average and if I choose, it'll reliably get me back to sleep if I wake up before I feel ready to. After about a month, my tolerance is such the amount I need for the same effect starts to get a bit silly. The trick to vape a little to get back to sleep in the middle of the night doesn't work as well because I have to get really stoned which seeps into the next day too much. I've ordered hemp flower to vape which is legal in most places and is essentially cannabis bred to have <0.3% THC. I'm pretty excited to see how well it works as I've read good things. In theory, it should be very helpful. It's not a snake oil product, you're vaping the bud rather than an extracted product where some of the benefits are lost. If it works well and especially for sleep, I intend to post about it here.

 

The other thing I sometimes take is melatonin at a pinch. If I do that, I can often sleep 7-8 hours total with a solid block of about 5-6 hours then a lighter period of 2-3 hours with a lot of stirring. It might help you sleep through if you take it occasionally. I'd advise against taking anything for sleep every single night ad infinitum.

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It's very common to have disturbed sleep and vivid dreams / nightmares are common too. Not to minimise your problem but some would love to be able to say that they woke up multiple times every 2 to 3 hours because that suggests an acceptable amount of sleep in total. Some have one chunk of sleep that lasts 3-4 hours and very rarely get another solid chunk. I had a spell like this when I reduced too quickly and it's horrible.

 

Withdrawal and recovery doesn't work out the same for everybody. What I would say is that almost universally, sleep is an issue to some degree throughout tapering and for a while after you've stopped taking any benzo. I seem to get 5-6 hours sleep most nights if I don't take any supplement or less if I have just recently reduced my dose. I realise that others have it worse and I'm grateful for what I get but it does catch up with me. I make sure that I go through periods where I suck it up and get natural sleep even though it doesn't feel like enough. It seems important to let that happen sometimes. I also go through periods where I use cannabis almost every night which is a great relief at first. I think that at a moderate dose, it puts me to sleep for an extra hour on average and if I choose, it'll reliably get me back to sleep if I wake up before I feel ready to. After about a month, my tolerance is such the amount I need for the same effect starts to get a bit silly. The trick to vape a little to get back to sleep in the middle of the night doesn't work as well because I have to get really stoned which seeps into the next day too much. I've ordered hemp flower to vape which is legal in most places and is essentially cannabis bred to have <0.3% THC. I'm pretty excited to see how well it works as I've read good things. In theory, it should be very helpful. It's not a snake oil product, you're vaping the bud rather than an extracted product where some of the benefits are lost. If it works well and especially for sleep, I intend to post about it here.

 

The other thing I sometimes take is melatonin at a pinch. If I do that, I can often sleep 7-8 hours total with a solid block of about 5-6 hours then a lighter period of 2-3 hours with a lot of stirring. It might help you sleep through if you take it occasionally. I'd advise against taking anything for sleep every single night ad infinitum.

 

Thanks for your answer.

 

I understand, I’m very thankful for the sleep I do get. I was put on clonazepam for sleep to begin with. In early withdrawal I had the many days in a row with 0 hours of sleep. I’ve just never had broken sleep before so I was wondering what causes it or the science behind it.

 

I’m glad that you have methods that work for you. I don’t plan on taking anything although I have tried melatonin a few times in the past, it just hasn’t worked for me.

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I had this pattern and still wake up 2-4 times per night.  It's no big deal now as I get 6-8 hours of sleep each night. 

 

Sleep returns like the stock market; very UP and DOWN for some time for most.  It comes back in Fits and Starts.  I thought if I didn't get 8 hours every night something bad would happen to me.  That is complete BS.  A lot of people can function just fine on much less.  I learned to function on 5 - 10 hours per week for months.

 

It will slowly even out over time, especially since you never had this issue before.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had this pattern and still wake up 2-4 times per night.  It's no big deal now as I get 6-8 hours of sleep each night. 

 

Sleep returns like the stock market; very UP and DOWN for some time for most.  It comes back in Fits and Starts.  I thought if I didn't get 8 hours every night something bad would happen to me.  That is complete BS.  A lot of people can function just fine on much less.  I learned to function on 5 - 10 hours per week for months.

 

It will slowly even out over time, especially since you never had this issue before.

thats good news, I have the 2-3hr wake ups and its exhausting bc I also have trouble with temperature  or I'm to cold or to hot ... I also take a small dose of ssri,  I wonder if that is affecting my sleep aswell I'm still tapering  I'm scared my sleep with get worst  I can't sleep in the day either
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This topic encouraged me.

 

I also wake up every 1 to 3hours, but I can totally sleep 7-9 hours every day.

 

It seems to be good not to be anxious for this, that also distubs sleep.

I say "OK, fine, its just healing process. thank you my body, my brain" at every frustrating wake-up.

And I try to do mindfullness and CBT and slow comfortable breathing. In 5-10 minutes, I can sleep again.

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Yep, I consider it actually a step in the "back to normal sleep" direction! Mine was like 2-3 days at a time zero sleep for months, then the sleep but wake every single hour for weeks, then wake every 2 hrs for weeks, then started getting 2-3 hours straight, now I have most days of sleeping 8 hours and I might wake barely once or twice! And a few nights a month I will have what I call a rough night...waking a bunch. But overall much much better! I am 12 months from CT rapid wd.

So you could just be at the start of getting longer and longer blocks of sleep! Ya :)

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  • 1 month later...

 

The other thing I sometimes take is melatonin at a pinch. If I do that, I can often sleep 7-8 hours total with a solid block of about 5-6 hours then a lighter period of 2-3 hours with a lot of stirring. It might help you sleep through if you take it occasionally. I'd advise against taking anything for sleep every single night ad infinitum.

 

Doesn't melatonin help with tapering? I've read a study where scientists monitored a 40 year old patient who took a melatonin each time with the benzo and it decreased their need for it gradually. I know that when I would take my clonazepam, if it didn't knock me out right away I'd take a melatonin and sleep for hours, wake up a bit more refreshed and not crave a pill for a while longer. This is just my opinion, and I could be totally wrong, so please someone correct me if so, but I think it could help with getting used to a lower dose while tapering.

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I would be careful with melatonin.  It is a hormone that your body makes nightly.  Too much continuous supplementation at too high of a dose can cause it to become ineffective.  Also, too high of a dose can work paradoxically and can keep you awake.  The recommended dose is 0.3mg and then go up from there.  Also, most forms on the market are synthetic.  Herbatonin is a natural, plant based melatonin that comes in 0.3mg capsules.  Remember that melatonin can help you fall asleep, but it won't keep you asleep.
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I would be careful with melatonin.  It is a hormone that your body makes nightly.  Too much continuous supplementation at too high of a dose can cause it to become ineffective.  Also, too high of a dose can work paradoxically and can keep you awake.  The recommended dose is 0.3mg and then go up from there.  Also, most forms on the market are synthetic.  Herbatonin is a natural, plant based melatonin that comes in 0.3mg capsules.  Remember that melatonin can help you fall asleep, but it won't keep you asleep.

 

You are absolutely right about all of that, and I would only use melatonin as a last resort if I couldn't get to sleep via the benzo. I too have noticed if I were to take more than 3mg it works less and less. The only reason why I even suggest it is that on one occasion I slept great after taking melatonin, and woke up refreshed to where I tricked myself into thinking I didn't need my meds. I ended up taking them too late in the day and had the rest of the day ruined fighting off anxiety. But my point was that there is supposed to be a link between melatonin and aiding against benzo dependence. I think, I could be totally wrong and read the study wrong.

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I have been taking melatonin for 4 years now every night. I started during a terrible nervous breakdown where I was re instated on valium and I took it all the down my taper of it.

I don't even want to think to get off it.

It has been very effective for me. I hope it will stay this way.

I might taper it at some point but I even not sure when.

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I have been taking melatonin for 4 years now every night. I started during a terrible nervous breakdown where I was re instated on valium and I took it all the down my taper of it.

I don't even want to think to get off it.

It has been very effective for me. I hope it will stay this way.

I might taper it at some point but I even not sure when.

 

Now that I think about it, melatonin was the only thing that could put me to sleep during the worst of my withdrawals a week ago. I mean I still woke up every three hours or so but at least it let me sleep.

There definitely is something there that needs to be explored more, IMO

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If anyone is curious, I just nibbled on a melatonin, I mean a minute piece not even worth 1mg, and it actually helped tame some symptoms. I was able to complete an expense report for work and actually concentrate. I’ve also not craved or just thought about my next dose, or worried about my future taper.
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I think it has to do with telling our brain that it is time to whine down, so our body doesn't produce that much cortisol.

 

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