2 years off of Benzos, sleep still rough

[[cu...]]

I’m in a wave at the moment as well. I haven’t posted much here, but I’m a 24 year old medical student. 1.5 years ago I got prescribed Zopiclone for sleep, after just a couple of poor nights of sleep caused by exam stress. Mind you I have never had sleep issues before, and those “bad” nights were nothing compared to the withdrawal. I used Zopiclone sparingly for 3 months before my sleep got so bad that I decided to come off the drug. After that I was in acute for 6 months, and then things got a bit better. But now I’ve been in a wave for a couple of days and my sleep is pretty bad (0-3 hours per night). I’m worried I won’t be able to continue studying and I don’t know what to do. When I’m better, my sleep is still not as good as it was before the drug. I wake up a lot and have off nights here and there. But when I’m worse, it’s inhumane. Should I take a break from my studies? Should I consider doing something else? I think this is going to last longer than I thought and I really don’t know what to do with my life. 

Edited January 4 by [cu...]

[[Pa...]]

10 hours ago, [[c...] said:

I’m in a wave at the moment as well. I haven’t posted much here, but I’m a 24 year old medical student. 1.5 years ago I got prescribed Zopiclone for sleep, after just a couple of poor nights of sleep caused by exam stress. Mind you I have never had sleep issues before, and those “bad” nights were nothing compared to the withdrawal. I used Zopiclone sparingly for 3 months before my sleep got so bad that I decided to come off the drug. After that I was in acute for 6 months, and then things got a bit better. But now I’ve been in a wave for a couple of days and my sleep is pretty bad (0-3 hours per night). I’m worried I won’t be able to continue studying and I don’t know what to do. When I’m better, my sleep is still not as good as it was before the drug. I wake up a lot and have off nights here and there. But when I’m worse, it’s inhumane. Should I take a break from my studies? Should I consider doing something else? I think this is going to last longer than I thought and I really don’t know what to do with my life. 

Hi @[cu...], I have some thoughts about your situation, and I’m sure others do too so I hope you’ll start a thread of your own so we can do our best to help you sort this out.  Please, please don’t make any major decisions about this until we get a chance to discuss it, remember, not all is as it seems, fear and despair oftentimes override our logical thoughts when we’re going through this. 

Pamster

[[Th...]]

Late insomnia waves are somewhat common.  I am going on 8 years off and still get an  insomnia wave one or two times per year.  Some last for up to 6 weeks or more but most are just one off nights or a few poor nights spread out over a week or so.  They always even out over time.  My story was similar to yours.  I had a few bad nights of sleep so they put me on Xanax which worked great for about 6 weeks, then I had to constantly increase the dose.  My PCP then switched me over to Clonazepam (Klonopin) and a few weeks later added Temazepam (Restoril).  My sleep was terrible for about 9-10 months and then came back in fits and starts, sort of like the stock market.  Have you tried CBT-i or CBD or any of the OTC sleep remedies?  Early on, nothing helped me short of an non-Benzo Rx drug like Seroquel or Mirtazepine, but today I get decent relief from 25mg of Doxylamine (Unisom) on those one off nights.

I worked through my withdrawal and took sick days as needed.  I was amazed at how well we can function on very little sleep.  Don't lose hope.  You'll get past this!

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