Afraid to go to sleep

[[La...]]

I jumped 49 days ago and I have been dealing with insomnia. I dread night time and put my head on the pillow. I get heart racing, panic and scary and intrusive thoughts while laying down to sleep.

I procrastinate the act of laying down to sleep as much as possible. I keep scrolling on the internet or watching TV shows, which makes things worse. Besides benzo withdrawal I have a major addiction to screens and internet, so it's very challenging.

Does anyone relate?

[[Th...]]

Unfortunately what you are experiencing is fairly common especially when insomnia is your top or one of your top symptoms.  I developed a "temporary" fear of going to sleep as well mainly because I didn't sleep much for months and months.  It goes away when sleep slowly starts to return.

The other thing to keep in mind is most people get a period that typically lasts from 30-90 days after they jump called "acute withdrawal."  This is where symptoms and symptom intensity are usually at their worst.  My worst insomnia didn't start until month 3 after I jumped.  That doesn't mean it will play out that way for you too.  If you didn't have insomnia prior to Benzos, then I doubt watching screens is going to make any difference for Benzo-induced insomnia.  However, it is a good idea to develop good sleep hygiene for when your sleep does start to return.  

There isn't much you can do for Benzo-induced insomnia short of taking another Rx drug that isn't a Benzo.  Many people have success with Hyrdoxyzine, Seroquel, Mirtazepine, etc.  I am not pushing drugs, but if you cannot make it through without taking something, you might want to consider something that isn't a Benzo for sleep.  Now that you are off, avoid Benzos at all costs.  It takes more time than we'd like but things get better over time.  Peace!

[[Ma...]]

Sometimes Magnesium Glycinate can help calm you down and help with sleep. Everyone responds differently but it might be worth a try.

[[PE...]]

On 23/02/2024 at 04:58, [[L...] said:

I jumped 49 days ago and I have been dealing with insomnia. I dread night time and put my head on the pillow. I get heart racing, panic and scary and intrusive thoughts while laying down to sleep.

I procrastinate the act of laying down to sleep as much as possible. I keep scrolling on the internet or watching TV shows, which makes things worse. Besides benzo withdrawal I have a major addiction to screens and internet, so it's very challenging.

Does anyone relate?

I'm in this mess because of insomnia. Sleep got better when i accepted I was not going to have any sleep and just went to bed for stretching out. 

[[...]]

When i was tapering and in the acute, i'd go to bed as late as possible, at about 5 am and then i'd lie with eyes shut sometimes for hours, counting whatever i could or thinking of a dreamy place for happily healing. But it was difficult to just lie like that. Every now and then i jumped up with racing heart and ran to check something - it was sort of "hello" from my ocd developed while tapering.

Oh, and now i'm much better, although still go to bed later than i should. I'm afraid to sleep more than 7 hours to repeat the sleepless nights next time.

Edited February 24 by [...]

[[Kr...]]

You went to bed at 5am on purpose?  I have to be at work by 7:30.

I guess you didn’t have early morning commitments!

 

[[...]]

9 hours ago, [[K...] said:

You went to bed at 5am on purpose?  I have to be at work by 7:30.

I guess you didn’t have early morning commitments!

I couldn't work then and not sure can do it now, although really need to. At first it wasn't on purpose but later yes. Sleep is a tricky thing for me. If i sleep more then 6-7 hours i feel worse.

No, no too strict morning commitments. I get up at 9 am.

I can't imagine how people manage to work while withdrawing. You're kind of heroes for me, really!) 

Edited February 25 by [...]

[[Kr...]]

Wish I felt like a hero. No super powers, but if I had any, I would heal us all and instantly make benzos disappear forever.

[[Ma...]]

I signed up last spring but had to postpone my taper due to a family crisis so I'm just getting started.  Yes, I have that, especially after a nasty bout of insomnia.  I'm probably older than most people here and have struggled with insomnia for 25 years.  The only time it seemed to go into remission was when I first started benzos but eventually; tolerance withdrawal caught up with me.  

Things that have helped me are exercising, forcing myself to avoid screens for 30 minutes before bed, earplugs, and white noise.  I tend to get adrenaline rushes around bedtime so guided meditation does help a bit.  I find it super hard to stay away from screens but when I do, on average I probably sleep an extra 30-40 minutes.