Sleep

[Guest [ha...]]

Does anyone have info on Remeron? I'm due to see psych tomorrow and haven't been sleeping much; like less than 3 hours if that for the past week. Are there start up side effects? I wish there was a gentle, non-drug product that wouldn't have adverse side effects.

[[me...]]

Oh my hardtocope--the LAST thing you need is another psych drug to add onto your misery, and then you have to taper that. PLEASE don't go that route, you will regret it!

 

I'll apologize in advance if I sound harsh, but you just need to get off clonazepam! You could have been off of it for about 10 days by now and well on your way to healing. I took it briefly and also did not sleep well, it just doesn't work well for some people. Once you get off you will sleep better, absolutely no need for a sleep drug.

 

You've done well getting down to .5 mg. Aim to get off in 10 days--you can do rough cuts with a razor blade, just estimate 1/10 more of the pill every day, no need to get all scientific about it! It is not going to be pleasant, you haven't done well on this drug, so just get off. The more you fart around, the worse things are going to get. You are not a long term benzo user (yet) and most of what you read here does not apply to you.

[Guest [ha...]]

Thank you...I appreciate the sound advice...I'm just terrified; don't know what to do...no sleep...and the withdrawals I've had coming down this far have been horrible....I'm just torn...I get advice from people who say slow and steady=less side effects and withdrawals...then others who say to hurry through....I'm just miserable..

[[me...]]

I understand how confusing it must be, getting advice all over the place. The problem here is that very few read your signature and realize that you haven't been on the drug that long. They also assume that at one time you were stable on the drug and feeling "okay". From my understanding, you never felt "okay" on clonazepam. Because of that, the chances of you being able to hold and feel better are not good. There is no point in holding if it is not going to make you feel better, especially as your usage just doesn't warrant it.

 

You also need to understand that the clonazepam is making your anxiety worse, and this makes it harder to make good decisions. You are not going to have terrible withdrawals after the fact unless you continue to stay on the drug. The faster you get off, the less likely you are to have any longer-term issues. I think if you can make a plan--I am going to taper off in "X" number of days, by this date, by chopping this amount every day--and stick to it, don't get derailed, you are going to start feeling better and less anxious. I don't think you are going to feel "good", or even "okay", and sleep well, until you are off this drug as it was never a good fit for you. But fortunately you don't have to be on it much longer.

[Guest [ha...]]

Thank you...I appreciate the insight and that's where I've been torn all along; those big cuts I made in the beginning were horrible and done without awareness...I think with the exception of no sleep, I feel semi-functional at .5....I definitely don't want this to rock on but I need to be half-functional too..lots of hard decisions..

[[Ru...]]

I have been so shocked how people on BB suggest other drugs whilst getting off benzos. ALL drugs can cause harm and sometimes it is jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

 

We are all so desperate but I wish people could offer support as opposed to suggesting other drugs.

 

Nothing personal of course 

[Guest [ha...]]

Definitely not wanting more medication; just have been without sleep and wondering what to do....

[[bl...]]

Don't do it. Just try as best you can to cope without it.

 

I'm on Remeron, currently tapering, it does induce sleep, but honestly it's pretty toxic. I've been all over the place with it, vivid dreams, nightmares, hallucinations. I've dropped from 15mg to 1mg in a little over a month but seems like I'm stuck. No matter how tired I am (so so tired), I can't seem to nod off. I'm beyond frustrated. I just wish I'd sucked it up and dealt with the benzo insomnia.

 

Meowie is 100% right, just stay strong and do your best to get through this without adding another drug to your repertoire.

[Guest [ha...]]

Thank you LeslieAsh and Blandthrax....I didn't even make it to appt today; going to try alternative ...maybe Melatonin....

[[al...]]

Hardtocope,

It is nice to think that there is a shortcut out our sleeping mess, but it my experience that only time will get you out. I tried and endless list of tricks to shorten my withdrawal insomnia, but I can't say that anything really provided much more than a placebo effect. Although pretty hard to do, I think that the best approach is to just accept your situation and try to get as much rest, light sleep and occasional actual drop-offs as you can get each night. Getting too freaked out about it or fixating on finding a cure only seems to make things worse. You will learn to make do with whatever sleep you get and it will start to feel "normal" to you.

[[bl...]]

Hardtocope,

It is nice to think that there is a shortcut out our sleeping mess, but it my experience that only time will get you out. I tried and endless list of tricks to shorten my withdrawal insomnia, but I can't say that anything really provided much more than a placebo effect. Although pretty hard to do, I think that the best approach is to just accept your situation and try to get as much rest, light sleep and occasional actual drop-offs as you can get each night. Getting too freaked out about it or fixating on finding a cure only seems to make things worse. You will learn to make do with whatever sleep you get and it will start to feel "normal" to you.

 

How is your sleep now Aloha? Is it healthy and deep and wonderful?

[Guest [ha...]]

Thank you AlohafromHawaii...I'll try....

[[al...]]

Hardtocope,

It is nice to think that there is a shortcut out our sleeping mess, but it my experience that only time will get you out. I tried and endless list of tricks to shorten my withdrawal insomnia, but I can't say that anything really provided much more than a placebo effect. Although pretty hard to do, I think that the best approach is to just accept your situation and try to get as much rest, light sleep and occasional actual drop-offs as you can get each night. Getting too freaked out about it or fixating on finding a cure only seems to make things worse. You will learn to make do with whatever sleep you get and it will start to feel "normal" to you.

 

How is your sleep now Aloha? Is it healthy and deep and wonderful?

 

Hi Blandthrax,

Some nights come close to that description, but that is a pretty high bar at 13 months out. Actually the last couple of nights have been very rough. I had to get up at 4 am to fly to another island to spend the day meeting with clients for work. Of course that put a lot of pressure on me to sleep the night before so of course I didn't. It was almost a zero night except for a few short dreams that killed a little time. I think that I saw the clock pass through every hour and ended up getting up before my alarm went off.

 

Strangely I felt fine the next day and the trip went well. I was beyond tired when it was time to go to sleep the next night, but even with a relaxed mind I just drifted in and out of light sleep all night and spent a lot of time tossing and turning. I guess that waves will continue to happen from time to time until this whole mess is completely over. How have your nights been?

[[bl...]]

All over the place. It's been a bad week. Sleep had been pretty consistent for a couple of weeks. It will sort itself out.

[[Mi...]]

I'm going to throw my hat in the ring here and heartily recommend Remeron (Mirtazpine) for sleep.  I wish to god I would have found it before starting on benzos years ago for insomnia.  I was taking 7.5mg for a long time and it made me sleep the best sleep I had since being a teenager.  But, like a dolt, I stopped taking it thinking my insomnia was fixed.  It wasn't, but when I went back on the Mirtazapine I found it wasn't as effective, so I went back on Ambien a little over a year ago.  Now I'm on 4.5mg Valium trying to taper off over the next month or so.

 

If I just would have stayed on the Mirtazapine I would have been fine.  No side effects (aside from a 10 pound weight gain that I actually needed) and great sleep.  I would have been fine staying on it for the rest of my life.

 

Keep in mind that Mirtazpine is more sedating in lower doses, and the first few nights will knock you on your ass.  I took 15mg my first night and slept for 16 hours!  After a few days I got used to it and only slept 8-9 hours.  Very restful sleep.  Still groggy in the morning, but that burns off after a cup of coffee.  After a few months I went down to 7.5mg and still had great sleep. 

 

I keep a pretty detailed sleep journal in an attempt to look for correlations in my nutrition/actions and my sleep quality.  I have found that high intensity exercise, both aerobic and weight-lifting, give me the best sleep and lowest symptoms. 

[[ci...]]

aloha, I always love your posts, so true, every word.

[[Pr...]]

Great for sleep, causes a lot of weight gain...8lbs per month for me. Also it made my eyes look real red. So that was when I got off.

[[al...]]

Yeah, I hear that Mirtazapine is famous for weight gain. When I tried it for awhile it left me with a heavy drugged feeling all the next day, along with a weird persistent feeling that the world had turned gray or something. It was not for me.

[[8d...]]

My first suggestions would be to cut off the psychiatrist. Maybe that is just my personal experience, but I find that they generally only have an answer that includes pills. I think psychiatry is a sham.

 

I'd suggest using the support of this community and any family and friends that you have. Maybe even find a psychotherapist that can help you talk things through and find some comfort there.

 

Your only way out of this is to get off the drugs over time, and stay off of them as you heal.

 

When I did my CT, I had to tale something, so I used Seroquel for a few months and then quit it as quickly as I could when sleep started to slowly come back.

 

As Aloha said, there is no short cut here.

 

Be strong and be kind to yourself

[[bl...]]

My first suggestions would be to cut off the psychiatrist. Maybe that is just my personal experience, but I find that they generally only have an answer that includes pills. I think psychiatry is a sham.

 

Totally agree. The last shrink I saw told me he couldn't do anything for me unless I was on medication. No more shrinks.

[Guest [ha...]]

Thank you for the input; I appreciate it

[[al...]]

My first suggestions would be to cut off the psychiatrist. Maybe that is just my personal experience, but I find that they generally only have an answer that includes pills. I think psychiatry is a sham.

 

Totally agree. The last shrink I saw told me he couldn't do anything for me unless I was on medication. No more shrinks.

 

I don't think that shrinks will do anything other than prescribe medications. They leave the psychoanalyzing to the what they view as lowly psychologists. You don't go to shrink if you don't want meds the same way you don't go to surgeon if you don't want an operation.

[[bl...]]

I don't think that shrinks will do anything other than prescribe medications. They leave the psychoanalyzing to the what they view as lowly psychologists. You don't go to shrink if you don't want meds the same way you don't go to surgeon if you don't want an operation.

 

Which just goes to show that psychiatry is indeed a sham. I suppose if I had to do it all over again, I'd go to medical school and become a psychiatrist so I didn't have to do any real work.

[[He...]]

Please help!

I am usually only sleeping 3-4 hours a night. How can I  survive if I don't find something to help me sleep? I'm a mess! I don't want to take any more psych drugs but what is the answer?...

[[bl...]]

There is no answer except to endure. It's really hard, I know, but the only way to get through this is to get through it. Focusing on sleep only makes it worse. Distract yourself as well as you can. Try to exercise, eat right, and take the emphasis off of not sleeping. You're getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night, so really you might want to count yourself lucky. So many others get no sleep at all.