Got two hrs of sleep last night

Woke up every hour, only got two consecutive hours of sleep, and just dozed the rest. It’s odd and discouraging for me, because even when I’m at my most stressed and anxious, I can generally sleep. But the past few weeks have been rough, especially last night. It almost caused me to have a panic attack. But for the most part I just wake up and am…up.

 

It wasn’t even this bad when I first got off benzos. I really hope I sleep tonight…so tired…

What you are describing is pretty typical coming off of a Benzo...

 

Not to toot my own horn, but rather than rewriting what I already wrote, please read this post

 

It has a lot of good advice and tips

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=235100.0

What you are describing is pretty typical coming off of a Benzo...

 

Not to toot my own horn, but rather they rewriting what I already wrote, please read this post

 

It has a lot of good advice and tips

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=235100.0

 

Great read! Kinda reassuring, kinda not…considering this started randomly after several weeks off, rather than right off the bat. Sucks because I feel like I have to put my life on hold as just try to make it day to day.

My worst symptoms and worst sleep didn't start until I was 3 months off from a CT, so it's pretty common.  It's also pretty common to have symptoms fade or disappear completely only to return later or have new symptoms appear out of the blue. 

Theway,

 

  How long has it been since you have dealt with insomnia? I read your post several months ago "Sleep will return." when I had several months of NEVER getting more than 2.5 to 3 hours of sleep. My sleep IS (as you said it would) slowly getting better. I have had several 6 and 7 hour nights over the last 2 months. But I am afraid, based on what your saying, that it will go back to being bad. I still have nights of 2 and 3 hours of sleep but I haven't gone more than 4 nights in 2 months without getting at least 5 hours so I want to stay on that track. What do you think? I am seeking reassurance.

 

Thanks,

 

HM

HM,

 

I had a pretty good bout of insomnia in January and February this year.  It lasted 6 weeks.  I had 3 zero nights and a bunch of 2-4 hour nights, but I also had a bunch of "normal" 6-8 hour nights mixed in.  If I had a zero or poor night, I'd always get a decent amount of sleep the next night, so it wasn't the same as what I went through during the thick of my WD, but it wasn't fun either, especially the zero nights.

 

I've slept pretty well since then with a "one-off" night every few months that produced a 3-4 hour night of sleep.

 

Sleep does even out, it's just very up and down (nonlinear).  It doesn't play out like a broken bone (gradual improvement until it's healed).

 

You're sleep could go back to being worse for awhile, but it might not either and even if it does, it won't stay like that.  It will slowly keep getting better. 

 

At 18 months off, after sleeping pretty well for 6 months in a row, I got hit with a 29 day bout of insomnia with zero nights and 1-3 hour nights...lots of them and this was after I wrote my success story.  It felt just like month 4 or 5 after I jumped CT. 

 

But then I found that it's not uncommon to have this happen.  Other BBs said they experienced the same thing.  It evened out and then I went for over 1.5 years with good sleep and no bouts of insomnia other than a 3-4 hour night every 2 or 3 months.

 

Your body is on track to recover how it will recover and that might mean x amount of time with sleep issues, until they finally resolve and you get a lot more decent sleep than poor sleep.

 

Even after I started getting 4 and 5 days in a row with 4 or 5 hours of sleep, I'd still get hit with a rough patch of several days and even a week or two in a row of poor sleep.  But eventually the amount of good (or decent) nights exceeded the poor nights by a long shot!

 

 

Theway,

 

Thanks for the gracious response. I'm not sure how my sleep will play out in the long run but, at least, it is improving over what it was 3 months ago. I average about 4 hours a night now whereas it was more like 2 hours. I also get some 6 to 8 hour nights mixed in on occasion. It is just SO hard waiting for my brain to heal. I am off to bed in 15 minutes! Wish me luck!

 

HM