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No trouble falling asleep, but can't stay asleep more then 1-4 hours.


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I am on day 4 off 3 mg Valium. The biggest issue I am having is that I can not stay asleep for more that 1-4 hour blocks. I am pretty sleep deprived by now, it's not fun at all. I am normally a heavy sleeper and sleep 8-10 hours.

 

What can I do to alleviate this? How long can I expect to not be able to stay asleep?

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It really just depends, everyone is different. My insomnia was horrid for months. I finally got to the point of sleeping most nights 6 hours just recently. Hang in there, things will get better it just takes time. I hope things improve very soon for you.
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What helped me was coming up with ways to get back to sleep after waking up.  Sometimes it took and hour or more at the beginning but now I can do it in 15 minutes or so.  I went through a couple of bad patches of little sleep but they eventually became few and far between. 
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Just recently I haven't been able to fall back asleep as easily.  It's a real pain after having been able to sleep relatively well for the last 2 months.
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Hi Shdw!  (love the Igor avatar btw!)

 

I can definitely relate to that.  Insomnia is definitely no fun, as you said. 

It's my main w/d symptom.

For me, tossing and turning is just too frustrating when I awaken after trying to sleep.  So I'll usually turn on the light and read a book or magazine until I'm ready to start over.

 

Hoping you get a good night's sleep :)

 

 

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It took me about 7-10 days before I began sleeping longer hours.  It isn't perfect but for the most part has gotten much better.  Hang in there, it will get better.

 

Robin

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Wow, 8 hours.  Good deal.  How about the following nights?  Still good Shadow?

 

Hey, you should do a signature for background.  Found on the profile page.

 

 

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Wow, 8 hours.  Good deal.  How about the following nights?  Still good Shadow?

 

Hey, you should do a signature for background.  Found on the profile page.

 

 

 

The following day after the post I couldn't sleep again, lol. Now at 15 days it has improved to a point where with some hard work and melatonin I can sleep 'almost' enough.

 

Here is what I posted in another thread:

 

"Benzo free for 15 days now. First 5 days I could hardly sleep more than 1 hour per day. Now I am sleeping 6-8 hours most nights. Usually go to sleep around 10-11, wake up in the middle of the night sometimes 2 am, sometimes 4 am, move around for a half hour, take a 1.5mg melatonin and fall back asleep until 10 am.

 

It's still a fight to get to sleep and stay asleep through the night. Melatonin helps. I find it's good to keep a sleep journal as well. Helps to keep track of your progress and sleep hygiene. Also I think it's important to have a really dark room to sleep in, the light from my electronic alarm was actually waking me up."

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Wow, you are doing great.  It is hard to reteach the body how to sleep normally.  You are making progress, like I did, one step forward and so on.....do you like white noise?  give a listen to the site in my sig line.  It is free.
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Wow, you are doing great.  It is hard to reteach the body how to sleep normally.  You are making progress, like I did, one step forward and so on.....do you like white noise?  give a listen to the site in my sig line.  It is free.

 

Thanks! Even though it's still very tough, I take comfort in the fact that it could be worse.  ;D

 

The white noise seems to have a calming effect, begins to sound like rain or waves crashing on a beach after a while. Thanks for that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello,  I'm going through similar sleep problems, able to get to sleep, for about 3-4 hours, then wide awake heart beeting @ 3 am or so.  Thinking of trying Melatonin, is it best to take when I wake up to get back to sleep?  What dose should I start with?  I thought the smallest they sold was 3 mg, but that could be wrong. 

When I wake up at 3am, I think/hope it must be 7 or 8 o'clock everytime, but it never is... I've got to find a way to sleep through the night.

Thanks.

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Hello livininfl.

So sorry to hear of your sleep problems.  As you'll see here it is common symptom.  I found Melatonin to be helpful for a little while.  I took it for about 10 days while I was having my worst insomnia.  .5 mg worked best for me.  It stopped working for me after 10 days.  Supposedly it is best taken for a short while and then you should take a break from it.  I've taken it from time to time with pretty good results since then.  Many doctors say 200-300 micrograms (1 mg = 1000 mcg) is the ideal dose.  I found that Sundown brand sells a 300 mcg at my local grocery store.  Walgreens sells a 1 mg - you could cut that in half.    Others here have had luck with higher doses.  Its probably best to start low and work your way up only if you need to.

Best wishes to you!

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