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2nd attempt at sleep with no aids


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I have to work a night shift tonight. So I'm likely to be pretty exhausted tomorrow morning (Wed). I plan to try and sleep with nothing that night, and I'll try it the next 2 nights as well.

 

The last time I tried this, I got 7hr the first night, and 5hr the 2nd night.  But a couple of weeks later, I tried one night with nothing, and didn't sleep the whole night.

 

So this time I'm trying it the entire rest of the week. Posting it here gives me a bit of courage. We'll see how it goes.

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Try to stay off this time maybe andros? I know it’s easier said than done but u will never know if ur taking something. But I know it’s easy to say when ur the one going thru it.

 

Good luck x I really hope it sticks this time x

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Try to stay off this time maybe andros? I know it’s easier said than done but u will never know if ur taking something. But I know it’s easy to say when ur the one going thru it.

 

Good luck x I really hope it sticks this time x

 

Yeah, I don't really have a choice but to try. I could be fine now, but psychologically attached to my regimen that has somewhat been working for me. I'll guess we'll see how this week goes.

 

How have you been holding out?

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Yeah I know it’s a psychological battle for sure. Yeah my insomnia has been pretty horrific but last night I got 4-5 hrs. In and out of sleep. I’m on .25ml now so soon I’ll be off. It’s probably gunna be rough for a while so I’m just trying to cope as best I can. I’m going to see weed dr next week. I got a script for mert but I doubt I’ll fill it.
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Yeah I know it’s a psychological battle for sure. Yeah my insomnia has been pretty horrific but last night I got 4-5 hrs. In and out of sleep. I’m on .25ml now so soon I’ll be off. It’s probably gunna be rough for a while so I’m just trying to cope as best I can. I’m going to see weed dr next week. I got a script for mert but I doubt I’ll fill it.

 

I know you are afraid of more drugs. I'd still recommend you try Mirt again, but start with 1/4 (use a pill cutter). I also really hope the THC helps you, once you get it.

 

I'm not sorry that I've used these meds. If I am good, and my insomnia is purely psychological, then at most I'd suffer a couple of days sleeplessness. If I'm still not recovered physically, then I can just go back on the regimen and try again next month.

 

If I hadn't done it, I would have had to quit my job. I can't handle the technical requirements if I'm sleep deprived for more than 2-3 days.

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So it's morning for me, and I'm pretty exhausted, but I'm having a large coffee, which will work for about..............3-4 hours, lol. We'll see how it goes tonight, but I am yawning like crazy. Something I haven't done in a while.
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By the sounds of it you work shifts. A lot of people struggle to get proper sleep on shift. It takes me a good few weeks to settle into a routine, then I can't get out of it.

 

If you are working just the occasional night shift, it might be part of the problem and not all down to the drugs?

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By the sounds of it you work shifts. A lot of people struggle to get proper sleep on shift. It takes me a good few weeks to settle into a routine, then I can't get out of it.

 

If you are working just the occasional night shift, it might be part of the problem and not all down to the drugs?

 

Thankfully my night calls are very few. Maybe 2 or 3 a month. It's random, since I'm basically on call. But on average it's about 2 calls a month that are all nighters.

 

I've been doing it for over 10 years now, and before the Z-Drug, I would come home exhausted after a night call like this, and go to sleep for 3-4hr, then I'd be able to sleep a full 6-7hr at the regular night time.

 

Today I almost fell asleep in my chair just like 20 min ago. I had a large coffee and it had almost zero effect. I think if I were to go to bed right now I'd probably fall asleep for a couple of hours.

 

But I'll force myself to stay up until my regular sleeping time and see how it goes.

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Fair enough. I won't share my trick for sleeping after nights, it's not the best for recovery 😂

 

Does it involve copious amounts of alcohol? ;-)

 

I was never a heavy drinker, maybe socially I'd have a few shots. Now? Forget it, I don't plan on a drop of it for the next 2 years at least. I do miss having a Bacardi cooler, but sleep is 100x more important.

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I got a solid 8hr. No drugs, no supplements except zinc and magnesium.

 

The real test will be tonight and tomorrow, but I am rested enough that I don't fear if I don't sleep tonight or tomorrow. I may yet be writing a success story soon.

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Got 5hr last night. It took me 4hr to fall asleep but I had to wake up by 9am, otherwise I could have gotten more. I felt it was the lingering fear of not sleeping that prevented me from sleep. I fell asleep around 4am because I started doing some meditation. Tonight I do the meditation right off the bat and see how it goes. No drugs or supplements specifically meant for sleep. I will take my multivitamin and Vit D in the morning, and Zinc/Mag at night, as I always did before this whole thing.
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Will probably take a little while for your brain to remember how to sleep without meds/supplements, but you'll get there I'm sure.

 

Meditation is good. I just tell myself to shut the F up and think about that shit tomorrow. Concentrate on my breathing for a while, and seems to do the trick. Luckily insomnia hasn't been a big thing for me tho

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Will probably take a little while for your brain to remember how to sleep without meds/supplements, but you'll get there I'm sure.

 

Meditation is good. I just tell myself to shut the First up and think about that shit tomorrow. Concentrate on my breathing for a while, and seems to do the trick. Luckily insomnia hasn't been a big thing for me tho

 

I knew I was healing because approx a month ago, With the same amount of Remeron, I was sleeping 2-3hr more. Before I'd get 6hr, and wake up and that was that. But one night I got 9hr, and I was shocked, and the next night I got 7hr, but went back to sleep for another 2hr. So that's when I suspected I was healing, but didn't have the courage to try until now.

 

So we'll see how it goes tonight. If I can get another 5hr I can probably do the same all next week. I may finally be out of this mess. I figured part of it was my brain learning to sleep on its own again. Stupid subconscious. Too bad I can't beat it up for being such a thorn on my side.

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Got 5hr again. Exactly the same as before. I tried meditation, but it didn't really help until 4am.

 

But I'm getting enough rest that I can try for the next few days and see if it improves.

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Sounds like ur clock is just out of whack now. You could look into cbti to correct it? 5 hrs is awesome x so happy for u
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Sounds like ur clock is just out of whack now. You could look into cbti to correct it? 5 hrs is awesome x so happy for u

 

Sleep onset was always the hard thing for me, even before this whole fiasco. It would usually take me 1hr or so to fall asleep, and things had to be perfect basically.

 

I've been following most of the CBTi protocols religiously for the past 5 months.

 

1. 2hr before bedtime, dim my bedroom lights to 10%, and turn them amber.

2. Same with my computer monitors, dim them to the minimum and turn them amber.

3. Go to bed at the same time every night. Usually 12midnight for me.

4. Get up at the same time in the morning (This one was hard to do on the Remeron, and with supplements to sleep. They always left me drowsy and I had to fight to get up, even if I was wide awake. I did force myself to do it the last month or so.) That time is usually 9am.

 

There's more to it that I haven't really done much. I haven't really done much of the meditation protocols (like the stretching, and practicing to be in the moment, etc). I've been trying the breathing, which does help a little bit.

 

Maybe I'll incorporate some of these strategies, but I'm thinking of just hammering out another month on my "Remeron/Cannabis" rotation. I mean I can't get worse, and sleeping more than 5hr will probably accelerate my healing even more.

 

But 5hr is totally survivable. I'm waking up refreshed enough that I barely notice I'm still tired. If I could get one more hour, I'd consider myself healed.

 

But not that I'm complaining here, in Feb I thought I was going to be stuck taking drugs to sleep the rest of my life.

 

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Yeah I’m not doing to much of the cbti, but I read most nights so no screens anyway.

 

So my sleep is suddenly better and I’ve done 2 things that I think contributed (besides being on next to no Benzos)

 

I walk 10km a day. And I am listening to ASMR. It’s soooooo wierd. But....  I’m sleeping? Most nights.

 

The one I was listening to last night was a lady talking about hair and makeup. She whispers and there sounds on the background. It sounds really strange but there’s heaps of research in it saying it helps anxiety.

 

Maybe give it a try? But be open minded coz like I said it’s pretty out there.

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Yeah I’m not doing to much of the cbti, but I read most nights so no screens anyway.

 

So my sleep is suddenly better and I’ve done 2 things that I think contributed (besides being on next to no Benzos)

 

I walk 10km a day. And I am listening to ASMR. It’s soooooo wierd. But....  I’m sleeping? Most nights.

 

The one I was listening to last night was a lady talking about hair and makeup. She whispers and there sounds on the background. It sounds really strange but there’s heaps of research in it saying it helps anxiety.

 

Maybe give it a try? But be open minded coz like I said it’s pretty out there.

 

 

Hmm, maybe I will try the sleep cd thing again, or maybe the asmr stuff. Knowing I can get 5hr naturally takes a lot of stress off my mind. I'll give it a go for a couple more days with nothing, and see how I fare.

 

BTW I'm glad you are starting to get sleep again. My heart goes out to everyone on this board. I was lucky to be a short termer. I feel so bad for those of you that have been long on this stuff. There are very few things worse that being alive and not being able to sleep, to add on top of that all the other symptoms these drugs bring with them.

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The thing was initially I didn’t even use them every night. Maybe 2 a week. But then it was like it just shut my receptors down anyway. That’s when I had to use them every night and I had no idea what was going on. Then the drs said there was no way they would cause severe insomnia...  so the polydrugging started. Then when all that failed and I realized I was right it took me that long to wd from all the shit they had me on.

 

I can’t believe that people can use z drugs for 20 years and still haven’t reached tolerance. That blows my mind. They still get a full nights sleep. Bizarre

 

Anyway Thanku andros I’m glad things are settling down for u. Totally unfair for such short term use x

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well, I got zero last night, lol. So I guess it's not over yet.

 

I'm just going to go back on my regimen for another month and try again, see how it goes. But I'm still happy, as being able to sleep on my own means I'm healing, it's probably just going to take longer to be 100%.

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Bummer. But I’m sure u have read the ways story, it took a while for him. He still had lots of zero nights, even after he started sleeping a little better.

 

I’m so sorry for ur zero. They hurt. But hopefully that will mean u have a really good night tonight.

 

I absolutely wore myself out yesterday. Walked 14km then Went to bed at 8 slept til 12. I couldn’t keep my eyes open another second. So greatful for any sleep honestly but it’s so strange I’m still exhausted but cannot get back to sleep. Tonight I might try the routine over with asmr and see if it gets me back to sleep. Probably not tho.

 

When I sleep 5-7 again I am going to be so happy. I miss big sleeps! I miss napping.

 

Can u nap yet andros?

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Bummer. But I’m sure u have read the ways story, it took a while for him. He still had lots of zero nights, even after he started sleeping a little better.

 

I’m so sorry for ur zero. They hurt. But hopefully that will mean u have a really good night tonight.

 

I absolutely wore myself out yesterday. Walked 14km then Went to bed at 8 slept til 12. I couldn’t keep my eyes open another second. So greatful for any sleep honestly but it’s so strange I’m still exhausted but cannot get back to sleep. Tonight I might try the routine over with asmr and see if it gets me back to sleep. Probably not tho.

 

When I sleep 5-7 again I am going to be so happy. I miss big sleeps! I miss napping.

 

Can u nap yet andros?

 

That's how I was last night. Exhausted. I thought I was going to fall asleep quicker. Did not expect to still be wide awake at 5am.

 

I could never nap even when I was fine. I've tried it off and on, and napping for me only worked when I had long work nights.

 

 

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