One night of sleep in 5 days

[[ce...]]

Even with 800mg gabapentin the other night I still did not sleep plus taking a load of cortisol lower supps - niacinamide, mag, taurine, relora x 2 etc.  And then I do not feel tired - I just feel hyped up and constantly wide awake.

 

I take all this stuff and just lay there wide awake.

 

This cannot go on - I am loosing it and crying and in severe distress.  I am wide awake but weak and feel like I am going to pass out.  Do I up my gabapentin intake or what...

 

Just wish I could get my hands on some MMJ but living in the UK that is not going to happen.  I've already been stung trying to get something on the dark net.

 

I am soooo close to reinstating.  I even took 10mg of baclofen last night and nothing.  I can't take amitryptaline (spelling) as it does not agree with me.  I have ordered a antihistamine from the US ( one we cannot get here in the UK) in the vain hope it will help.

 

Any suggestions, anything to help.

 

Desperate...

[[Es...]]

Pdoc ASAP. Sleep specialist. You may need heavy antihistamine stuff. Like ADs: Remeron, Sinequan etc. Or APs: Seroquel, Zyprexa etc. All depends on your diagnosis.

 

Therapy. Determine the cause. These may be emotions. Emotions get in the way of sleep.

 

Once you realize your emotions and tackle them, you may be able to get some sleep.

 

Take care ❤️

_____________________________________________________________________________

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." [soren Kierkegaard]

"Do not dwell on the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." [buddha]

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[[ce...]]

Hi Estree,

Thanks for your reply.  I have already been taking mirtazapine at a low dos and now I cannot even feel any effect after taking it - nothing at all.

 

The only emotions I am dealing with are those related to withdrawal - distress and depression.  The issue is I just don't feel tired even with lost sleep.  I just don't understand it.

[[al...]]

Ceejay,

What you are going through is not at all unusual for someone who just recently got off of benzos and is probably somewhat sensitive to medications. Not being able to sleep, always feeling amped up, being depressed and feeling very anxious is very unpleasant, but also very understandable. Your brain chemistry is still out of balance from the benzo that you were taking so it is not producing calming biochemistry and this is causing it to remain stuck in a fight or flight mode. As bad as this all is, things will get better in time once your brain begins to regain its equilibrium. Unfortunately, this often tends to take along time, but it does happen.

 

My personal experience and my having been on this forum for a long time have taught me that there just are not any viable short-cuts to speed up this process. Reinstating will take away the hard won healing that you have already gone through (even if you don't feel any) and will probably just set you up for a worse time in the future so that really is not an option. Other drugs really don't work much and side-effects could weaken you further, or perhaps even interact with your brain chemistry problem in unexpected ways. Once you realize that there is not a wonder cure, you will stop spending all of your energy looking for one and redirect your attention toward finding ways to better adapt to this temporary problem.

 

It seems to me that you have two issues that need dealing with. The first and by far the most immediate is your current withdrawal-induced insomnia, which will resolve itself over time regardless of how well or how bad you are able to cope with it. The second, is the insomnia problem that required medication in the first place. It is very possible that what you learn from the first problem might help you out with the second one.

 

For now, all that I can suggest is to put in your time in bed even if it seems that you are not sleeping. I think that we actually survive our withdrawal insomnia thanks to all the light micro sleeps that slip in without our being aware of them. They won't happen while you are out of bed moving about. Next, do what you can to take care of your body since it is under stress and you don't want to add any additional problems to the mix. Exercise in whatever amount that you can handle is a good idea. Try to live as normal of a life as possible. Being busy distracts you while dwelling on feeling bad tends to make you feel worse. Just don't push yourself too hard or allow things that aren't really all that important to cause unneeded pressure on you. I would also say don't live for the future when things are better, because we are always in the present and there are always bad things that need dealing with. This can perhaps be one of the most valuable lessons that you can learn from this experience. My final advice to getting though this is to find someone to share your burden with. Human companionship has a tremendous healing power. Personal messaging people on BenzoBuddies is helpful if you have no one else to talk too (even if you do).

 

Sooner or later you will need to find alternatives to drugs for the original insomnia issue(s), but you will have learned a lot to help out with that. At the very least you would have learned to better deal with a bad night's sleep.

[[ri...]]

Hi Ceejay,

I am in the same situation as you are. The benzos changes your brain's architecture. I only sleep with a combination of drugs. Baclofen is one that helps.

As far as getting out of this I don't understand how it is done.

Alohafromhawaii,

Can you explain how were you able to taper from Ambien and get any sleep at all? I would love to hear your experience. Also, what do you mean by severe insomnia? Days without sleep?

 

[[ri...]]

By the way, I take 40mg of Baclofen

[[al...]]

Hi Ceejay,

I am in the same situation as you are. The benzos changes your brain's architecture. I only sleep with a combination of drugs. Baclofen is one that helps.

As far as getting out of this I don't understand how it is done.

Alohafromhawaii,

Can you explain how were you able to taper from Ambien and get any sleep at all? I would love to hear your experience. Also, what do you mean by severe insomnia? Days without sleep?

 

rivelino,

I did a rapid 10 day taper because I just wanted to get off of the Ambien, benzos and Lunesta that I was taking. I would have done a true cold-turkey, but I was afraid of getting a bad physical reaction like a seizure. Once off I threw out all of my meds so I would not be tempted to use them. Since I was getting so little sleep while on the meds I figured that I didn't have much to risk.

 

Initially I had a 5 night period where I was not aware of having any sleep at all. After that I started to get a little on some nights, but I also had plenty of zero nights. Windows of better sleep came and went over the first year, but I also had some pretty bad waves. Now at almost 28 months off I tend to have one or two week runs of perfectly normal sleep along with runs of not so great sleep (but still better that the good nights initially). It was hard, but I am getting over the withdrawal. Strangely, my immune system functioned better than normal while sleep deprived as I only caught a couple of small colds during the whole ordeal. I also think that I came out of the experience as a better person than when I started.

[[ri...]]

You are my hero!!!

I tried a similar approach but could not pass the 3rd night. Too much physical and mental pain.

[[ri...]]

Yes, my immune system works great. It's like my nervous system is so wired up that it works at it's maximum power.

Thanks again for your reply. You are an inspiration.

[[ri...]]

alohafromhawaii,

At what point did you start to get 4-5 hours of sleep?

[[al...]]

alohafromhawaii,

At what point did you start to get 4-5 hours of sleep?

 

rivelino,

I really don't recall when that much sleep began to return for the firs time. Sleep was so broken up and hit or miss for so long that it is almost impossible to recall. Even now it is sometimes hard to figure out how much sleep I get because I can sometimes wake up so many times in a night, but as long as I fall back to sleep fairly fast I'm okay. Besides, everyone is different.

 

The problem about tapering is that the drugs are always within reach and can be very tempting. Tossing all of my pills was the only way to go for me. Keeping them in the house would be admitting that I planned on possibly using them again. I have used this analogy before on this forum, but Cortez knew that his men would want to mutiny in order to return to Spain so he burned all of his ships at the beach. Having no where to go but forward, they ended up conquering the entire Aztec nation (not so good for the Aztec's).

[[me...]]

Ceejay,

There is a point when you just have to quit taking stuff. Your body is very confused. Sorry I'm in a lot of pain tonight and can't explain more, but I think you would be best off just getting rid of the whole lot right now. That is what I did and it was the smartest thing I've done in a long time.

[[al...]]

Ceejay,

There is a point when you just have to quit taking stuff. Your body is very confused. Sorry I'm in a lot of pain tonight and can't explain more, but I think you would be best off just getting rid of the whole lot right now. That is what I did and it was the smartest thing I've done in a long time.

 

Meowie is very right. Your body needs to learn how to sleep on its own and your mind needs to psychologically stop depending upon taking a pill at bedtime.

 

Sorry that you are in a lot of pain Meowie. Feel better soon!

[[ce...]]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for your feedback and support, it is much appreciated.  I can understand your advice about stopping all drugs but unfortunately hashimoto's thyroiditis is renowned for causing insomnia.  Many thyroid patients have to take something to help sleep even when not dealing with sleep drug withdrawal.  Usually they take magnesium, herbals and melatonin and many of them resort to drugs for sleep.

 

I do have to take stuff to reduce my cortisol as my last spit test showed it was off the charts all day and probably all thru the night as well and is adding to the awful anxiety. 

 

I have had very poor sleep for nearly 2 years and my body is suffering really bad. The only time I was able to sleep thru my withdrawal was when I had some MMJ but unfortunately I can no longer get it.

 

I am now 29 days post jump and going thru a bad time with other symptoms - pain, anxiety, DP/DR etc.

 

I just hope I can get some improvement soon.

 

thanks again.

[[ri...]]

Hi Ceejay,

How are you doing?

[[ce...]]

Hi Rivelina,

 

Thanks for asking how I'm doing.  I actually took 10mg of baclofen to get some sleep last night and it helped but I think it has made my blurred vision and DR/DP worse.  But I am waiting for my antihistamine to arrive in the post.  Hopefully here tomorrow.  I am just so spaced out and suffering bad DR/DP.  Working hard to keep anxiety in check with theanine.

 

Take care.

[[ri...]]

I am glad the baclofen helped. 10 mg of baclofen never helped me. I started with 30mg. Now I am at 40mg.

How much sleep are you getting? Minutes? Hours?

[[ce...]]

Hm most nights no sleep unless drugged up and taking lots of stuff to get cortisol down.  Last night 2 hours - woke - took theanine to reduce cortisol again and slept another 3 to 4 hours.  Like many people I just don't feel sleepy or tired even when I loose a night sleep.

 

I don't think I could cope with the side effects of 40mg baclofen but I hope it keeps working for you.

[[sl...]]

Hm most nights no sleep unless drugged up and taking lots of stuff to get cortisol down.  Last night 2 hours - woke - took theanine to reduce cortisol again and slept another 3 to 4 hours.  Like many people I just don't feel sleepy or tired even when I loose a night sleep.

 

I don't think I could cope with the side effects of 40mg baclofen but I hope it keeps working for you.

 

wow, be happy theanine is helping you so much to get so much sleep. Makes my very hyperalert if I take it

Getting by with 2 hours a night for a long time now. This is very hard to handle this insomnia. If I ever get 4 hours I feel soooo much better and happy... while before all this I slept 9 hours straigth.

 

Good luck...