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Suggestions for insomnia specific forums?


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Friends,

 

It's been for me a year on 3 to 4 hours.

 

I think I must have read everything here and I came to conclusion that my insomnia is at this point caused by the tinnitus (that I got as a result of withdrawal from clonazepam and amitriptiline).

 

I checked tinnitus talk but the advice there is mostly to turn to drugs which I obviously after my horrible experience don't want to.

 

I was wondering if you guys know of any insomnia forums where I could look for more advice.

 

I feel I read it and tried it all but I don't want to give up so I just keep looking for help.

 

Thanks so much for your suggestions!

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Wagen, I assume you've looked at our Insomnia board?  If not, here is the link:

 

Insomnia

 

In particular, I found this post really helpful and so have many other members:

 

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

 

I know firsthand how desperate you can feel from the problem of insomnia since I had it terribly after I got off Klonopin.  It took 12-18 months for natural sleep to return to me consistently.  I sleep well now but that first year was really rough.  People here told me that it would take a while but that good sleep would return but when you are in the throes of it, it is hard to believe.  You have my sympathy but I do know that this dreadful phase will end for you because it ended for me and many others here.

 

Kate

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Thank you, Kate,

 

I think I studied almost everything on this board :(

 

I did suffer from the typical withdrawal in the beginning but at this point I think it's more severe anxiety from the tinnitus and pgad from this whole experience.

 

Thats why I'm looking for some other forums online to look for help.

 

Im really glad that you sleep well now. I can't even imagine how it is not to feel exhausted.

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For some, insomnia can take 2 years or longer to resolve.  So you are well within the time frame for it to still resolve on it's own.

 

I would stop trying to connect the dots.  I drove myself crazy doing that.  I thought my sleep was poor because I ate this or exercised or got up on the opposite side of the bed or wore certain clothes or went to bed at the wrong time or got out of bed at the wrong time, etc. 

 

I'd give it more time.  Time is the healer....

 

A guy I work with and have worked with for 9 years lives on 3-4 hours per night by choice.  He works 2 jobs from 6:00 am to midnight 5 days per week and has been doing that for 10 years.  He said he is use to it and sometimes he gets 5 hours on the weekends but only 3-4 (or less) Mon - Fri.

 

Good luck!

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Wagen,

 

Keep posting and getting support! It helps! Your insomnia will improve.

 

TheWay2,

Thanks for sharing the story about your coworker who lives in 3 to 4 hours of sleep and 5 on the weekends. That helps me feel better as I am back and forth, as you know. I also know a couple people who live on little sleep. One has been getting 2 hours of sleep per night for years. Hard to believe, but he says it's true! Another man I know gets about 4 hours of sleep a night and he has been doing that for years too and he is fine with it.

 

My sleep got bad the minute I started my taper May 1st 2021 and it has been 8+ months that I have been battling, although it is getting better slowly.

 

Thank all of you for your posts.

 

HM

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Wagen,

 

I know the short sleep sucks. I went through years of short sleep (2-4 hours, especially at the two hour mark), quite frequent zero (awareness, anyway) nights, and very poor quality sleep even when I slept. I also have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so the exhaustion and despair was terrible. Here's my success story: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=219611.0

 

Theway2 is so right about letting go of finding reasons and learning to focus on other things. Part of what helped me find sanity was when I stopped focusing on it as a sleep problem and instead shifted to seeing it as an over activated nervous system. With or without sleep, my nervous system needed to learn to be quieter, calmer, etc. So I stopped waiting around to get well and pursued activities that would help despite how I felt-exercise, yoga, meditation, and therapy. One quick and dirty technique is 3-3-6 breathing. It activates the rest and digest parasympathetic nervous system by having the longer exhale (polyvagal theory). You inhale over a count of 3, hold for 3, then exhale over a count of six. 

 

This is an ongoing work in progress. I let myself backslide during the pandemic so I've picked yoga and meditation back up. Most of the time my sleep is manageable-6 or 7 hours-but after 3 bad nights in a row this week I know I need to up my game and also be patient because it will pass if I don't obsess about it. All of this is hard. Give yourself time but also consider how you might soothe your racing, triggered, hyperactivated nervous system.

 

MT

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I'm at 11 months and my sleep is still broken. I have tinnitus pretty bad also. I'm pretty sure that my tinnitus and insomnia are connected. I think that when my ears stop ringing, my sleep will return also.
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Hopefully that is the case for you?  I had severe insomnia and tinnitus too.  My tinnitus stayed with me (albeit in a mild form) for about 6 months after my sleep started to return, so my tinnitus didn't go away with better sleep.

 

Good luck!

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