Days with out sleep

For those who have gone many days with out sleep in a row can you tell me how you functioned and how you were able to finally fall asleep. Did you start to hallucinate? What kept you from going to the er?

 

I've been getting hypnic jerks in my chest every time I try to fall asleep through out the night. They never let up the entire night. For those who had the same what did you do in order to get some sleep? Is there anything you take that helps get rid of them? My fear is that no matter how many days go by I won't be able to fall asleep because of these along with adrenal rushes.

 

 

Not getting sleep is the absolute worst.  It makes everything so much harder.  I am so sorry that your body is not allowing you to sleep.  I know it can be maddening!

 

Your body will eventually sleep.  Dealing with the exhaustion while waiting will not be easy.  I have not found anything that helps other than acceptance and just sleeping when I can, wherever I can.  I know it is really really hard.  I’ve paced, cried, screamed and begged and only found relief after months of waiting.  Now I get sleep about every other night.  It just takes time for our bodies to heal.

 

I never really hallucinated tho I do not feel sometimes I have a good grasp on reality.  I dont go to the ER because I know there is nothing they can do.

 

This will pass.  You will get better.  There is hope.

The longest I've gone is 3 days before I go mad and had to take drastic measures. Some people say they get no sleep for 6 days in a row even and that scares me. I just don't know how anyone can function with no sleep for that long.

 

 

I had at least 10 times (maybe more?) where I went 3 days (nights) without any sleep and 2 times I went 4 nights in a row without any sleep (perceived).  I did not hallucinate.  I went to the ER 4 times in one month and found out that ERs are for stabilizing care, not for insomnia.  Plus most ERs will NOT prescribe an Rx drug to help you sleep (at least they wouldn't where I live).  I got accused of being a "drug seeker" during those ER visits.  Please stay away from ERs, as I said, they are for stabilizing care, not the treatment of Benzo induced insomnia or any other WD symptom.

 

I was able to function and go to work even after 3 nights of zero (or no perceived sleep).  There was ZERO chance I was going to nod off behind the wheel, or anywhere else for that matter, as I just couldn't sleep during those nights.  The first 3 or 4 times I had the 3 zero nights in a row, I stayed home and wallowed in self pity.  That only made things worse.  Then in a post where I convinced myself I needed to stay home, other buddies said it was possible to go to work, so I did that.  And it was better, in fact, much better than staying home and focusing on why I was at home and dreading the night that would soon arrive.

 

I had the same jerks and what felt like "electric shocks" that would jolt me awake on the nights when I did start to doze off.  Those eventually faded and then stopped completely.

 

I thought I'd never heal.  Time heals you.  Things get BETTER

 

Eventually you get an "exhaustion sleep."  Those were the best, but having to wait for them was brutal.

 

As others have said, "ACCEPTANCE" is key.  But how in the world can you accept not sleeping for that long?  Super easy to say, but very hard to do.  BUT if you can accept your situation as being

temporary, it's a lot easier to deal with the sleepless nights. It took me 6 months of very little sleep to finally "accept" that I wasn't going to sleep much until I did.  It is what it is and ends when it ends. 

 

Today, I sleep at least 6 - 8 hours every night....

 

It's been over 5 years since my last Benzo and/or other Rx drug designed for sleep.

 

I live my life the way I did before Benzos with the addition of being much more grateful and thankful for each day!

 

You'll get there too....promise! 

I’m another of the recovered veterans of hard core insomnia. I found that a weighted blanket helped some with hypnic jerks, and this helped me get a little more sleep than I normally would. They take a little getting used to, and my legs would hurt some the next day. But it was worth it to get a little extra sleep.

I’m another of the recovered veterans of hard core insomnia. I found that a weighted blanket helped some with hypnic jerks, and this helped me get a little more sleep than I normally would. They take a little getting used to, and my legs would hurt some the next day. But it was worth it to get a little extra sleep.

 

how long did the hypnic jerks last?

I’m another of the recovered veterans of hard core insomnia. I found that a weighted blanket helped some with hypnic jerks, and this helped me get a little more sleep than I normally would. They take a little getting used to, and my legs would hurt some the next day. But it was worth it to get a little extra sleep.

 

how long did the hypnic jerks last?

 

Hi!

 

It wasn't steady, but kind of up and down. But for sure was paired up with my insomnia being worse. I probably didn't realize how much it was happening until my wife told me. That's when I tried the weighted blanket, and it helped keep me asleep a little better most nights. Mainly because it kept my body from jerking so violently. My guess is that the worst of it probably lasted a few months each time I had a setback. I still do it a little to this day, but it's so much milder that it doesn't keep me awake. I probably did it before benzos and just never realized it.

Nine years off, many nights without sleep at all due to fast heart rate and constant inner vibrations and restlessness. Got much worse over last nine months maybe after vax and severe congestion so can’t breath at night. I am considering reinstating a low dose of Valium. Never solved the sleep problem and tried melatonin, Phenergan, herbal tablets an so on. I’m exhausted and bedridden most of the time now.

Hey there, I was a hardcore WD insomniac!

Similar to theWay2, I would go 3 days no sleep, then get an hour or some kind of micro sleeps. The hypnic jerks were constant! Had them for months unfortunately. I didn't function but that was because I had a compounding issue of severe nerve pain and muscle weakness. So much so that I could not walk. So even when I finally started getting a bit more sleep I was awakened by the pain.

For me the pattern started with getting 1 hour sleep then eventually 2 hours and so on.

I'm 2.5 years off and I sleep 6-9 hours a night.

The most I ever sleep without waking though is 6. But I can wake and roll over and back to sleep.

It seems unsurvivable...but somehow it is!

I had nocturnal hallucinations, like your brain starts dreaming before you are asleep type thing. But no actual hallucinating during the day or anything.

@[ S...]

 

So glad you are getting 6-9 hours now...that's awesome! 

 

I get 6-9 pretty much every night too, but I have yet to get past 5 hours in one block.

 

I'm 58 and have that I need to get up and pee thing during the night so that's usually why I never got past a block of 5 hours, but

I can almost always fall back to sleep fairly quickly so I don't worry about how many hours of consecutive sleep I get but rather how I feel the next day and I almost always feel fully rested and ready to "crush" the day....LOL

 

Take care.

Hey Way!

Thats funny that we both can't make it past 5 or 6 hours straight without waking. But yeah I feel the same way, can always go right back and get a few more hours and feel good in the morning!

@ SouthernBelle08

 

So glad you are getting 6-9 hours now...that's awesome! 

 

I get 6-9 pretty much every night too, but I have yet to get past 5 hours in one block.

 

I'm 58 and have that I need to get up and pee thing during the night so that's usually why I never got past a block of 5 hours, but

I can almost always fall back to sleep fairly quickly so I don't worry about how many hours of consecutive sleep I get but rather how I feel the next day and I almost always feel fully rested and ready to "crush" the day....LOL

 

Take care.

 

5 hours of sleep in a block and then a pee stop and another little sleep block seems perfectly normal.

My normal sleep, before any Xanax or WD or anything was to sleep about 3 or 4 hours, then pee, then another 3 or 4 hours. Sometimes I would get up and pee twice.

With my WD recovery, I am at a point where I don't sleep more than 1 to 1.5 hours before I have to get up and go pee. It also takes me hours to fall asleep! Last night, it took me 3 hours to fall asleep.

 

What I hate just as much as the insomnia is the cortisol/anxiety rushes in the morning. Geez, I hope that goes away at some point.

 

HM