Insomnia Now My #1 Symptom

[[bo...]]

Much like in acute, insomnia is back as my number one symptom. It all started the day I took a probiotic and fish oil. I was depressed before and having intrusive thoughts and anger, but now the insomnia is crowding out all those symptoms. No idea what I can do when I can't sleep and have to work every morning. I'm 13 months off so I don't understand the sleep setback. I was just starting to get sleep back after like six months. Now I'm not even tired when I go to bed. Guided meditation used to knock me out but it's doing nothing now. What can I do?

[[Fo...]]

Sleep issues are a cardinal sign of depression. And sleep probs then make it worse.

You can search on here for insomnia and look at different ways of coping.

If things are dire and you are having suicidal ideation then I would prefer that you see your doc for help.

Medication may not be the key at all.

I had 5 years of 3 am starts after bereavement and started a small dose of antihistamine until I suddenly found 5 am or 6 am was the norm and the depression was less harsh and intrusive.

Best wishes

Dick

[[Ch...]]

Symptoms can pop up for no reason at any time during withdrawal. It may have been from the supplements or it may be for no particular reason. No matter why you're having insomnia, it's a phase and it will pass. There's no point in trying to figure it out because there probably isn't any clear explanation.

 

Anyway, I've had several of those phases and I remember how bad it sucked. All you can do is double down on good sleep hygiene and some sleep exercises (at one point I found "The Sleep Book" helpful) and eventually things will click back into place. I occasionally take a low dose of melatonin, and other take a Tylenol PM or antihistamine or something, but I'm not telling you to do that, as everyone is different. Sleep supplements really screwed my recovery for awhile and I will say that I don't think it's a good idea to rely on any substance for sleep on a regular basis. And of you really think the supplements are causing your sleep issues, it's probably a good idea to re-evaluate whether their benefits outweigh your lack of sleep. Your depression will resolve without fish oil and so will your gastro issues... eventually. Personally, I'm a fan of taking only the bare minimum, which in my case is the very occasional Tylenol and melatonin. I'm afraid of pretty much anything else.

[[bo...]]

Thanks for those that responded. Just hard going backwards in the sleep department when I was making some clear improvements. It feels like it did in acute now where I'm just not tired around bedtime. I ended up staying awake until three in the morning last night before falling asleep for a couple hours. Before, I was falling right to sleep and sleeping until like four on good nights. I would prefer falling asleep at 10:30 or 11:00 and sleeping until 4:00, obviously.

 

I'm not having suicidal ideation at all, just pure exhaustion. It makes work damn near impossible to be productive at. I will go ahead and look into the sleep book. For now, I'm off the supplements. I have been thinking of trying an antihistamine for a while now. Maybe I will.

 

[[Go...]]

Ive never suffered with insomnia until now and I’m almost 17 months off. I’m pregnant though and insomnia is common in pregnancy so I dunno if it’s just from pregnancy. Depression causes insomnia as well. Hope you can sleep soon. Can you maybe diffuse some lavender essential oils or take magnesium? I know some have issues and some don’t with magnesium. I personally chose not to take anything for it for now.

[Guest [NM...]]

I dunno... most probiotics are trash anyway and don’t survive in the stomach. Fish oil from my research shouldn’t affect sleep unless you take too much and get diarrhea. I’d say these are not related to your insomnia at all. I know when I have a bad night or more I’m likely to try to find an outside cause when it’s probably just a period of not so great sleep.

[[Sa...]]

Are you able to get some light exercise to wear you out?  Insomnia is so difficult, I’d say temporary since you had been sleeping.

 

May sleep improve for you.

 

SaraSue 

[[bo...]]

Godsmyhope, my wife had a real struggle getting sleep during her pregnancy. If it's the first time you've had issues with sleep, I'm sure it's from the pregnancy.

 

I've been depressed the entire time since quitting benzos, but I was still sleeping. The weird thing is sleep deprivation seems to help my mood. I always feel better. Maybe it's because I'm not focused on the depression component of it anymore. I need try and exercise as much as possible, but it's hard when fatigued.

 

This is exactly how I felt last year at this same time during acute. Insomnia was my number one symptom after quitting the meds. It lasted for a couple months. Then I sat in front of a UV light one night for an hour and my sleep came back. I will be sitting in front of the UV light tonight. I hope this is the end and this plays out like acute. This time I won't be foolish enough to drink like I did at two months off if I start sleeping again and feeling better.

[Guest [mi...]]

Hi Boomb!

 

When I have insomnia, exercise, cold showers and stomach breathing helped me tremendously. If exercise, just a long hard walk is enough. Don't do it close to bed time! Cold showers, sound like torture but the secret is that it helps to lower your body temperature and clears your mind. It's tough at the beginning but you can try going down on the temperature gradually. You just have to do it right before bed time. The stomach breading is easy just inhale air 4/5 second using your diaphragm (belly up) hold for 4 sec and then exhale slowly 7 sec or so. That work wonders for me. Hope it helps!

Regards,

Miguel