Sleepless nights after 5 months of stopping Benzos

[[Buddie]]

I was on medication for insomnia and some anxiety disorder for 8 months  from (March'2020-Oct'2020) - Clonazepam 0.5 mg prescribed once at night , tapered to 0.25 mg and i stopped it in October'2020. Till  February'21 i was getting 5-6 hrs sleep daily with intermittent disturbances in night and no other symptoms existed. From March'2021,my sleep gradually decreased and was getting sleep of about 3 hrs one day, 2 hrs another day and abt 5 hrs on some days, and zero sleep some days. Afraid of Insomnia striking back, I again started Clonazepam during April'2021 and followed tapering schedule I quit it completely in Oct'2021 (7 months). Up to April' 2022 for the past 5 months, I was getting average sleep of about 5- 6 hrs with some 3-4 hrs sleep couple of days in between. Just when I thought everything is over for me,from the beginning of this month (May'2022) I got sleep disturbances again .Most of the nights I am sleeping only after 2 am and couldn't sleep after 6-6.30 in morning. How long this is going to continue? I am pretty sure I wont start benzos again,thanks to the advise of wellwishers in this forum . But what is the way out ? Is this going to continue forever? Any advise for lifestyle changes most welcome. Pl suggest guys

[[Buddie]]

At five months off benzos, I was exactly where you are.  It was so discouraging and scary.  But to answer your question, no this does not last forever.  It took about a year to 18 months for this problem to straighten out for me.  I sleep well now, actually better than when I was on benzos because the benzos had quit working for me.  I was having to take another dose in the middle of the night just to get a couple of hours sleep.

I do take a low dose of Trazodone now which I was very reluctant to do and it has helped.  I am sorry you are there and I so empathize but it won't last forever.

[[Buddie]]

No one knows how long your insomnia is going to continue, but like a long boring movie, it eventually ends.  At 5 months off, you're still sort of "early" in the healing and recovery process.  It is foolish, IMO, to go back on Benzos after a wave of poor sleep.  Benzos are a dead end road and can't treat or cure anything.  They only mask symptoms.  They work like putting a piece of electrical tape over your vehicle's "check engine light."

I would avoid Benzos like you avoid RAT POISON.  Benzos work until they don't.  I took Benzos for sleep issues too.  I'll be off 6 years on August 5, 2022 and my sleep is 10 times better now than it was after coming off of Benzos.

The only way out of this mess is to let time heal you.  Let your body recover.  Your body knows exactly how to repair the TEMPORARY damage caused by Benzos.

Most people alternate between windows (periods when your sleep is fairly good and symptoms are not very intense) and waves (periods where sleep is poor and symptoms are much more intense).  Eventually the windows last longer than the waves until the waves finally disappear. 

Most start to feel better somewhere between 12 and 18 months.  Some earlier and some later.

I'd read this post: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=235100.0

Good luck! 

[[Buddie]]

Tnq vry much [...] & [...] for giving ray of hope... I m jst afraid if my sleep becomes bad to worst in coming days i.e,,Zero sleep nights makes me worry  ....Otherwise reading the posts of many of buddies I am getting lots of hope..

[[Buddie]]

I had about 70 zero nights or nights of no perceived sleep over 9.5 months and then sleep started to get a lot better at the beginning of month 10 and slowly improved from that point.  In fact, it improved so much that I wrote a success story in early November of the same year.