Insomnia

[[Do...]]

I have been trying to sleep for hours it is 12am  I was up half the night as my brother's step son woke me up and played loud music by my room fromv3am to 6am  I have severe indigestion and feel like throwing up.  I had chowmein or ojbmake me sick.  I took sleepeze which might have made me sick.  I have anxiety because I have an indigestion and need to get a Job.  I have to travel 2 hours home at 6am on Tuesday to see my doctor.

[[Do...]]

It is 120am and can't sleep.  I threw up all over and diareah.  I also have an infection and taking a antibiotic cream for staph.for that.  I wonder if the medicine  made me sick.  I am scared.

 

[[sl...]]

You're not really trying to look after yourself are you, fast , greasey food will often cause vomiting, you need to start eating good food

[[Do...]]

Well i started on some medicine for an infection which made me throw up all over and be up all night.  The nurses line said to go to the hospital.  I am going to go tovthe walk in in the morning.  I still feel nauseous and just want to sleep. 

[[Do...]]

I only slept 2 hours and keep waking up

  I have diarea and indigestion. I have panic.  I am going to the hospital after I rest

[[Th...]]

Just some advice about hospitals...especially Emergency Rooms.  ERs are for stabilizing care only...not for treating the symptoms of Benzo WD including lack of sleep.  I know from firsthand experience as I visited 4 ERs in 4 different cities over a 1 month period.  All I did was waste their time and rack up expensive bills due to a $250 co-pay per ER visit.

 

They could not help me and they won't be able to help you or anyone else.  You need to find a good counseling center or an out-patient clinic that is familiar with Benzo WD. 

 

Good luck.

[[Do...]]

Thanks I went to the hospital just to make sure I want throwing up blood.  The doctor ordered a bowl test and told me to keep taking the antibiotics cream.  I was so panicky that when they said they were sending a psychiatrist o thought they meant for me since I was freaking out.  I have had bad indigestion ever since I abused the restoril And my mom died.  I was just afraid I had a serious medical condition.  The doctor was nice though.

[[Be...]]

A friend of mine got sick one time eating Chinese food, so maybe it's a just a case of food poisoning and it will go away.

[[Do...]]

Yeah, I think it might have been food poisoning as my brother's girlfriend let's hamburger sit in the fridge when she makes chowmein.  I was so tired from bring up all night the day before last that I slept all yesterday and went to bed early.  My sister said I lay in bed a lot since my mom died and that's why my back is bad.  I was so afraid of not sleeping last night.  I wish I didn't have the infection.  The doctor said to try the cream for a few days.  My health is run down from abusing the pills.  I have been to the hospital twice since Feb throwing up and colds last 2onths.  I am Stressed out as I need a job and I don't know if I can work with my bad back.  Also have a legal problem.  I really wanted the doctor to give me an Ativan yesterday as I was panicking, but he didn't say anything about being Stressed out.

[[Do...]]

I traveled 2 hours home on the bus at 6am.  I woke up at 3am  I had to go to a doctor's apt.  I got in an argument with my brother on the phone he is mad at me.  I have to stay on my apartment and cant sleep.  I slept about a half an hour and then woke up.  It is 1235am and fear I will be up all night.  I am going back to my brothers tomorrow if he isn't mad.  I am stressed out as I need a job.  A place hired me in a server job  but the job fell through.  There are no jobs where my brother lives besides cashier and they all bother my back and cause severe pain.

[[Do...]]

I was up until 130 and woke up at 7 with my back killing Mr I think I am getting waves 4 months off. I am going to see if my brother will let me come back and stay at gis place today.  I am getting anxiety and want a pill

[[Do...]]

I woke up at three and can't go back to sleep.  My friend sent a nasty text.  Another one sent a nasty text.  I blocked both of them as they are not friends.  I have an interview at 830, but can't do the jib cooking , cleaning  and serving food with back pain.  It is hard with no friends now.  It is almost 5 and can't sleep.  I drank some coffee at 3.

 

[[Be...]]

Dom, what are you saying to people in texts that they get nasty with you?

[[tr...]]

"Just some advice about hospitals...especially Emergency Rooms.  ERs are for stabilizing care only...not for treating the symptoms of Benzo WD including lack of sleep.  I know from firsthand experience as I visited 4 ERs in 4 different cities over a 1 month period.  All I did was waste their time and rack up expensive bills due to a $250 co-pay per ER visit.

 

They could not help me and they won't be able to help you or anyone else.  You need to find a good counseling center or an out-patient clinic that is familiar with Benzo WD." 

 

 

I find this to be super unhelpful. One person's experience is one person's experience, and should not be generalized and applied to an entire population.

Discouraging people from seeking urgent medical help when they are in serious potentially life threatening distress is irresponsible and dangerous. Counseling centers and clinics familiar with benzo WD do not exist in remote/rural areas. This is not a contest to see who can be the toughest and suffer in silence the longest. Some can handle two years of not sleeping. Some can't. We each need to know where we are on the spectrum. Toughing it out, getting comfortable being uncomfortable, accepting a complete lack of functionality due to extreme exhaustion had me on a path to self destruction. It took me a long time to recognize the very serious trouble I was in because of not sleeping. Comments like the one above put me in the really dangerous mindset that I must stay the course no matter what and the medical community was of no use to me.

As a sequelae to long term severe insomnia brought on and maintained throughout a years long withdrawal that I could not withstand, extended sleep deprivation was causal to increased anxiety and an extremely low mood - I'm not a doctor so I don't know that self labeling "depression" is appropriate, but it was severe. Severe enough to consider the alternative to living long term in this condition. Severe enough to affect appetite and eating to the extent that it caused significant weight loss and malnourishment. Significant enough for the very people who insisted I come off the benzo to strongly suggest I go back on the benzo, because lack of sleep was leading me down a very dangerous path. Ultimately, I was not able to accept going days without sleep and the effect it was having on my health, quality of life, relationships and now the most basic life sustaining action: eating.

 

That also is one person's story. It's my story. It's the story of how trying to come off a long term doctor prescribed benzo did in fact create a life threatening situation. I'm the person who avoids medical settings, even as I need medical care. By the time my doctor called me in for a wellness exam, and saw my condition, there was cause for alarm. Long term severe withdrawal insomnia had interfered with my ability to think clearly and caused extreme mood and appetite fluctuations, where none had previously existed, that have seriously threatened my health.

 

I'm not saying that every time someone has benzo withdrawal insomnia they should run for the emergency room. I'm saying we need to know ourselves, what our triggers are, when our health and well-being is threatened, and when to seek care. Resist concepts like what you "always should do" or "never should do". I get that people are here because their experience in mainstream medicine has not given them what they need to stop benzos. There are however times when stopping benzos puts some at such extreme risk that 1)seeking immediate medical attention is not only okay, it's essential and 2)it may just not be possible to stop benzos, at this time.

thank you

[[Th...]]

That's true if  people truly are in a life threatening situation, but you took what I wrote out of context.  I said it is for stabilizing care (yes that means life threatening) not for treating the symptoms of Benzo WD!  But if your WD somehow created a life threatening situation that called for stabilizing care, then yes, you should go to the ER.

 

Plus the advice I gave was specific to Dom81 and not general advice. It was in his thread, so that's why I responded the way I did.

 

This is what Dom81 wrote after I said some advice about hospitals:  "I only slept 2 hours and keep waking up

  I have diarea and indigestion. I have panic.  I am going to the hospital after I rest"

 

I made my post after his post above.

 

Then he wrote: "Thanks I went to the hospital just to make sure I want throwing up blood.  The doctor ordered a bowl test and told me to keep taking the antibiotics cream.  I was so panicky that when they said they were sending a psychiatrist o thought they meant for me since I was freaking out.  I have had bad indigestion ever since I abused the restoril And my mom died.  I was just afraid I had a serious medical condition.  The doctor was nice though."

 

He went to the doctor anyway...so he listened to his body and made his own decision based on his symptoms...which is what everyone should do.

 

The entire point of my post was and still is that it's a lot easier to work with your PCP, then wait to go to the ER and expect some sort of relief.  Sure, most ERs will offer you Benzos, but then that most likely will only prolong your suffering and WD? 

 

Each person is different and should know when to seek medical help and not try to live their life off the advice provided on this forum.

 

I live in a remote/rural area with a population of less than 5,000 people, but I am one hour away from a counseling center that does understand Benzo WD.  And it had a board certified psychiatrist (also an MD) so I was seeing a medical doctor.  Better advice would be to work with your PCP during your WD and if your health deteriorates, don't wait until it is life threatening to see a doctor.

 

If you need to take something non-Benzo for sleep, you don't need to go to an ER.  You can go to your PCP and he/she can write you a script for Seroquel, Hydroxyzine, Trazodone, Mirtazepine, etc.

 

I had a very similar story to yours regarding not sleeping and the anxiety, depression, claustrophobia, and other symptoms from not sleeping were made much worse.  I had suicidal ideation as well.  Again ERs cannot treat Benzo WD, especially if the ER doctor doesn't believe in it, but if you're in a life threatening situation, by all means go to urgent care or an ER.