How bad will this make me going forward

[[Ti...]]

Ok I was on 3mg ativan. I'm on 1.25mg now. I was put on for sleep, it's been 3 years of and off ativan and 13 years prior I was on klonopin. At 3mg I stopped sleeping so I've been tapering. Now for a week I didn't sleep and I was so needing relief. So I took 4mg ativan before bed last night along with an antipsychotic and thc. I feel like I need to cold turkey from where I am because I don't sleep at all and nothing reallt gets me to sleep except a large benzo dose. How long can one be awake for? I've gone up to 6 days and needed a med to make me sleep. My brain doesn't shut off, I can never sleep. Had all testing done, all blood work, etc. etc. 

[[Ti...]]

I also have tried all other sleep meds, and psych meds for sleep and none work for me at all.

[[tr...]]

Hi @[Ti...], I'm tapering from Xanax and the first couple of nights, my sleep was pretty crappy. I hope someone will have knowledge and will be able to help. I would imagine tapering would be your best bet to avoid any additional withdrawal symptoms. My mom has been taking xanax for 15 years to help her sleep at night because her brain also doesn't shut off. Sometimes the xanax doesn't work (she never upped her dose from one .5 pill a night) and she said the only medicine that will actually get her a good nights sleep is the Mucinex Night Shift (liquid). If you can power it out, without the medicine, I would image thats better. Natural is the best route but you need to do what is best for you. I've read many things here on BB and noticed sleep disturbance for many many people. Weeks without sleep and they eventually started getting some sleep, even a few hours, and eventually healed. Our bodies are magical machines that can power through a lot, even while we feel like absolute hell at the time. 

I usually keep the TV on very low in the background with my eyes just closed to distract me and make me bored, usually cooking channels.

Hope you get some sleep soon!!

Edited September 18, 2023 by [tr...]