I keep waking up consistently at 3 to 4 am

A little background: I'm 29, male. I've been on Xanax for 2 weeks, but abused it a little bit and ended up taking around 5 mg during that time (10 doses of 0.5mg). Most of the withdrawal symptoms subsided in the subsequent couple of weeks, except insomnia. I've been clean 15 days now.

I keep waking up at 3-4 am, doesn't matter if I've gone to bed earlier. It's not particularily annoying because I go back to sleep almost immediately after, but I'm starting to get worried that I might develop chronic insomnia, and I'm very aware that deep, uninterrupted, sleep is very important for many regenerative triggers.

Can anyone give me any insights as to what to expect?

Thank you.

Sleep disturbance is a very common withdrawal symptom.  I had a similar pattern to yours early in my withdrawal - after a couple of months in improved.  Although it may take time to fade away, I wouldn't worry that you'll develop chronic insomnia.

If you do have any trouble getting back to sleep, listening to soothing music or guided relaxation can help.  As your brain recalibrates from the disruption caused by benzos your sleep will very likely slowly settle back into your regular patterns.

Sleep disturbance is a very common withdrawal symptom.  I had a similar pattern to yours early in my withdrawal - after a couple of months in improved.  Although it may take time to fade away, I wouldn't worry that you'll develop chronic insomnia.

What do you mean by "improved"? Like going back to baseline sleep pattern? Or do you still experience some disturbances?

If you do have any trouble getting back to sleep, listening to soothing music or guided relaxation can help.  As your brain recalibrates from the disruption caused by benzos your sleep will very likely slowly settle back into your regular patterns.

Thankfully, I've no problem going back to sleep after waking up. However, I've noticed I'm not tired at all during daytime, only a bit dizzy, but not enough to disrupt my schedule. I'm not sure if this is a withdrawal symptom or it's the fact that I got into a healthier lifestyle as of late.

Anyway, thanks for your answer. It's helpful.

Hi. You said you wake up at 3 and 4 am but

you go back to sleep. So that is good and sounds

kind of normal. When I was on benzo and coming off

and even now sometimes I woke up at that time

and would not fall back to sleep, unless I took

more tiny piece of med.. I think that is better now

but not totally confident. Take care.

 

What do you mean by "improved"? Like going back to baseline sleep pattern? Or do you still experience some disturbances?

 

Sorry that was vague- over a period of a couple of months my sleep returned to normal i.e. baseline.

Insomnia is a pretty common WD symptom.  It happened to be my worst symptom.

Waking up between 3:00 and 4:00 am is also very common.  It happened to me for a long time.

Sleep evens out over time.  But expect it to be very up and down.  It returns in fits and starts, like the stock market.

Insomnia is a pretty common WD symptom.  It happened to be my worst symptom.

 

Waking up between 3:00 and 4:00 am is also very common.  It happened to me for a long time.

 

Sleep evens out over time.  But expect it to be very up and down.  It returns in fits and starts, like the stock market.

I'm not sure if you can call one waking after which you go back to sleep right away insomnia. I think this is normal at the age of 29.