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Could an AD help if its sleep anxiety?


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Of course...Insomnia.

Part of the reason I was stuck on Ativan was because of insomnia, due to Zoloft. Quit Zoloft after 9 days last summer. Never had I somehow before. Since then it morphed into anxiety about sleeping. Stupid question: once done with Ativan, would one actually recommend an AD to assist in overcoming of the nighttime sleep anxiety?

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no i wouldn't recommend an ad for anxiety.. as it doesn't work for a lot of people..

 

i take the ad mirtazapine but directly for sleep, ie it is the type which has a sedating effect. i only do it about once per week to rescue me when i really can't sleep.. i don't take it more often because the dose would soon stop working then i would have to take more, and then what...? re sleep anxiety acceptance and patience is really the key, below is a post i wrote some time ago which might help. You might also want to consider a good psych/counsellor who knows about sleep anxiety issues.

 

HI all,

 

For all of you (including me) suffering insomnia (due to benzo's or not) this source might help:

 

https://thesleepschool.org/

 

Dr Guy Meadows talks about how some of insomnia is fear based, ie the more anxious we are about not sleeping the less we tend to sleep and advocates accepting your insomnia as a way to improve it. Essentially you have to learn to not give a dam because the more you worry/obsess about sleep the more you put it up on a pedestal and the more pressure you put on yourself to sleep (which means less sleep). Your struggle against insomnia just makes it worse so you have to give up the struggle. The method is by no means a magic pill and can take a while to work but certainly it's worth a try. This approach is also no different to what many people have said (who have recovered or doing better) which is that worry makes insomnia so much worse and that you need to accept the current situation as a way of moving forward and improving it.

 

Guy has also written a nice book on the subject "The Sleep Book" which is an easy/fast read :)

 

Hope this helps

 

luv and hugs from down under

 

XOX

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I was given Lexapro for anxiety by my know-nothing doctor who could not figure out that my anxiety was withdrawal induced. He thought that it would help me sleep. To be honest, I absolutely loved the way I felt during the couple of days that I tried it. I was so alert and feeling good, but it turned my horrible insomnia into total insomnia. I read the listed side effects and insomnia was one of them. I was told that the side effect would probably wear off in a couple of weeks, but that was about 14 days too long for me to wait at the time.

 

I would be a little wary about treating a chemically induced imbalance with more chemicals unless your doctor happens to have a lot of experience in treating people going through benzo withdrawal (probably doesn't).

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Hi Pumpkin, in the early weeks after I got off Klonopin my doctor prescribed Nortriptyline (which is an anti-depressant) to try to help me sleep. I tried it for two nights and it didn't help me at all, so I stopped taking it. It's just one data point, but for me it didn't help.
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Which is all true. There are sedating ADs out there an am hesitant on trying anything else. I actually fear going to bed right now. I never had sleep problems until I was prescribed Zoloft for anxiety...Then boom it hit. Now tapering ativan. Can't meditate for sleep...Symptoms from tapering too ramped. Catch 22 I suppose.

Thank you each for your replies. Checking out the link now too!

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I also want to add that sleep anxiety when suffering from withdrawal induced insomnia is pretty much a given for most people. From my experience there really isn't much that can be done about it externally. At the start of my withdrawal issues I saw 4 different therapist in the hopes of finding some sort of cure. They all preached acceptance and they were totally right on the mark. Unfortunately, acceptance comes from the inside and only when you are ready for it. I got so tired of hearing about not wasting energy fighting the current, especially when I was convinced that the current was taking toward a huge waterfall.

 

We humans are actually very adaptable when we have to be. In time I realized that there was no waterfall so the concept of just floating along with the current began to make more sense to me. I certainly never enjoyed not sleeping, but I became less fearful of it and saw it more as pain in the ass than a threat to my existence. During the time that it took to come to this awareness, my insomnia began to release some of its grip on me.

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excellent reply aloha :)

 

I also want to add that sleep anxiety when suffering from withdrawal induced insomnia is pretty much a given for most people. From my experience there really isn't much that can be done about it externally. At the start of my withdrawal issues I saw 4 different therapist in the hopes of finding some sort of cure. They all preached acceptance and they were totally right on the mark. Unfortunately, acceptance comes from the inside and only when you are ready for it. I got so tired of hearing about not wasting energy fighting the current, especially when I was convinced that the current was taking toward a huge waterfall.

 

We humans are actually very adaptable when we have to be. In time I realized that there was no waterfall so the concept of just floating along with the current began to make more sense to me. I certainly never enjoyed not sleeping, but I became less fearful of it and saw it more as pain in the ass than a threat to my existence. During the time that it took to come to this awareness, my insomnia began to release some of its grip on me.

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I am experiencing what Aloha described. Nothing has helped my sleep anxiety more than time, and the gradual abatement of the insomnia itself. The more often you go through the cycle of bad night being followed by a reasonable night, the more your brain comes to accept that it isn't a life threatening situation, just an irritation.

 

Last night was the first night I really felt like I had accepted it. Up until now, I thought each bad night was going to turn into a series of total insomnia nights like acute withdrawal, but it hasn't. I also accept that my feelings of acceptance may not last ! ;)

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I still have WD insomnia, the broken, interrupted sleep, of waking up every 2 hours BUT the WD sleep anxiety symptoms left at about 26 months........once that sleep anxiety left, I have acceptance now, that is it no big deal if I can't sleep, I always have a good book to read. I do recall that sleep anxiety though.....it was brutal......

 

What's in these dam drugs? They really have screwed us up! But with time and more time we will be OK.

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Tell me about it! Before zoloft for that nine days and then this freaking Ativan I slept perfect every night, through colds and everything! Heck, truthfully I went through post partum depression with my child and had no meds what so ever, but these freaking drugs they plopped on us....for anxiety...
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