I feel lost :(

[Guest [Li...]]

De

 

I had a pretty comfortable taper with only a few rough nights. I was sleeping pretty well on my last dose 0.1 mg of lorazepam. I made the jump last night and I’ve barely slept. This might be because I was reallyw anxious.

 

I still take 100 mg of Trazodone but it truly never helped me out. So I might start tapering that too.

 

Does everyone have tips? Or maybe just some words of encouragement…

 

 

[[Sh...]]

If you were sleeping pretty well at .1mg, then I think you have a good chance of recovering your sleep cycle without it being a prolonged time (I mean like months and months and months).  Your benzo usage sounds similar to mine. After I took my last pill 3 months ago (and even before that), sleep was absolutely horrific and I went multiple nights with zero sleep.  This continued for 2 1/2 months where it was hit or miss each night with no rhyme or reason.  The first 1.5 months, I was especially freaking out about it. I felt like a sick, drunken person who couldn't get sober. Eventually, I had a weird sleep pattern that I call "Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde" because I would sleep only 0-2 hours for one night, followed by 5-6 hours the next night.  I felt like my gaba levels had to build up in me to make me tired enough to sleep.  By two months out, I had come to better terms with my non-sleep (accepting that this could last awhile, knowing that I wasn't going to die, and being able to possibly have an occasional night that made up for the loss of sleep).  For the last 10 days, my sleep seems to have been changing for the better and maybe my brain has been slowly healing the whole time that I didn't think it was.  What has been helping me:  accepting that it's ok not to sleep, distraction (reading --when I able to concentrate enough, watching Downton Abbey or something else kinda soothing).  Sometimes, I feel that I've developed an association with my bed with some type of PTSD or Flight or Fight syndrome and so it has been helpful to just try to relax on the couch where there was "no pressure" for me to fall asleep. I also do take some vitamins and supplements, and I try to do anything which increases BDNF in my brain to heal it.  This includes sitting outside in the sun 30 minutes a day and trying to move around (walking --which was hard at first--and then riding my stationary bike for very short periods and always in the morning). The other thing I noticed is that my mind was looping thoughts over and over when I laid down to sleep. I have been trying to replace that with imagining a story, or a good memory from long ago, or thinking about the book or tv I was just watching,(as long as it was anything other than thinking about myself and my sleep problem -- easier said than done!) Anyway, that's just some of the things that seem to be helping me, although I do know others that have found breathing, and meditation helpful, but this has not worked for me.

[Guest [Li...]]

Thank you so much Shedust. I hit tolerance on 1mg and wasn’t able to sleep at all for a week. I decided to taper and it was rough at the beginning but while lowering my dose I did get around 5-7 hours a night (choppy but ok). 

 

The last 2 nights I have slept for 5 hours but still choppy.

 

I am going to try to accept the fact that my sleep isn’t great at the moment. I hope I will see improvement soon.

[Guest [Li...]]

Thank you!

 

[[gr...]]

Hi - I'm feeling quite lost today. Cold turkeyed off of 12 years of prescribed klonopin 8 months ago.  Vacationed in Mexico and stupidly got some Xanax because my sleep was bad. Now having to go through withdrawals again 3 weeks later. Giving up the booze was far easier then the pills. Oh well.

[[ia...]]

De

 

I had a pretty comfortable taper with only a few rough nights. I was sleeping pretty well on my last dose 0.1 mg of lorazepam. I made the jump last night and I’ve barely slept. This might be because I was reallyw anxious.

 

I still take 100 mg of Trazodone but it truly never helped me out. So I might start tapering that too.

 

Does everyone have tips? Or maybe just some words of encouragement…

 

Hi Lisa,

 

I read your post. I'm so sorry you're struggling with sleep and anxiety. I just shared some of my best sleep tips with another member. I'm going to share some things that have helped me. Some of these things you may have already tried - so if so, please disregard. Note - some of these will take time to impliment. They don't take effect overnight, but over time... you with consistency, I believe you will see improvement.

 

-Waking up with the sun - while eyes are closed or open, egaze into the sun (yes, I know, sounds counterintuitive. Our entire lives we are told the sun is 'bad'. It's not. Google 'sun gazing'). There's something about the chemicals released in the brain when we get early morning sun that penetrates into the pineal gland - that supports our cercadian rythm.

 

-Light exercize if you can. For me this is walking, but I sleep best when I walk and lift weights lightly. I know that's not an option for everyone. So if you can get 20 minutes of brisk walking outside, earlier in the day - again, the sun early in the day helps with sleep.

-Melatonin (I'm sure you've tried this - just in case, supposidly the LOWER doses actually support better sleep. I reccomend 5 mg. one hour before bed)

 

Best tips I received while in treatment:

-Have a 100 calorie snack before bed that includes carbs and protien. Releases chemicals for sleep.

-Hot shower half hour to one hour before bed - as the body cools down, again, hormones are released that tell the body to be tired.

-Light reading or medititaion before bed/I listen to a guy on YouTube; Joe Tracey. He's my favorite. But I also listen to the meditation podcast by Mary Maddox.

 

When I do ALL of these things consistently - even when tapering, I can usually sleep. Some nights I get 5 hours - some longer. Some less. I often feel like doing these things is like a full time job, but I also know that our body heals best, when we get rest. I hope this helps. Thinking of you... hang in there.