Sleep

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Slept two nights this week. The ativan stopped working, no taper yet. Any suggestions for sleep aids?

[[ns...]]

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I'm not able to muster the courage to taper. There are only intrusive thoughts racing in my head. I see a psychiatrist on Tuesday. But i need some sleep.

[[An...]]

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15 years. Started at lowest dose, currently at 3mg. For sleep and anxiety. Tolerance began in October last year. Constant lightheadedness, tinnitus, twitches, one sided head and eye ache, double vision at times. Dpdr couple of times recently and again this week. Insomnia. I don't feel good at all. Will switching to long lasting benzo help? What are my options, including updosing? I'm desperate. Have lots if open issues in life.

[[An...]]

Will your medical provider switch you to valium? I personally don't think updosing on the ativan will not work. It may take a little while for ativan to leave and the valium to start working and providing relief. That was the case with me when my klonopin quit working after nearly 13 years. 

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8 hours ago, [[A...] said:

Will your medical provider switch you to valium? I personally don't think updosing on the ativan will not work. It may take a little while for ativan to leave and the valium to start working and providing relief. That was the case with me when my klonopin quit working after nearly 13 years. 

It was certainly good while it lasted. 🤔 I will ask the doc.

[[or...]]

@[...] you asked for suggestions for sleep aids. On my taper I took Unisom . . . half a 25 mg sleep tab. Start with 1/2. You can always go up to 1. It worked great. You can buy it at Amazon. (Don't buy the sleep gels in error). I still use it sometimes. It will lose effectiveness in a couple of weeks, so I used to switch to 2 mgs of melatonin and 25 mgs of CBD gummies. Take them both in bed about  2 hours before you want to sleep. You can buy the CBD gummies from Lazarus Naturals or Charlotte's Web. Both are reliable, reputable mail-order dispensaries. Then I went go back to Unisom. Eventually, you won't need anything, but  for me it took awhile. Oh, chamomille tea was helpful, too. I used to brew it double-strength.

Hope this helps. 

[[el...]]

 

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Edited March 20 by [el...]

[[Th...]]

If 3mg of Ativan is not giving you much, if any sleep, then you reached tolerance on that dose.  In my experience, nothing short of another Rx drug will induce sleep at this point.  I must warn you that most psychiatrists are going to want to put you on even more drugs.  The symptoms you are experiencing are "inter-dose withdrawal symptoms."  At this point, you can increase your dose or taper off!  You could try something such as Seroquel or Mirtazepine for sleep.  There are other Rx drugs your psychiatrist might recommend?  

Trying something like Unisom right now will most likely be a complete waste of time because if 3mg of Ativan doesn't give you much sleep, then an OTC antihistamine isn't going to either?  But, since everyone is different, give it a try, but at this point anything OTC is most likely not going to work?  Peace.

Edited March 9 by [Th...]

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I'm in India so i don't have access to the sleep aids suggested. I will try the chamomile tea though. Will switching over to a long lasting benzo help recover sleep? I can't start the taper until June. My son has his graduation ceremony in May in the usa. I may or may not travel but my husband has to. I don't want to be mid taper traveling or home alone.

Advise pls!

[[ns...]]

[[...]]

I'm feeling ill. My hand tremor is increasing 

[[Ka...]]

So sorry @[...] ahead of your appointment if you haven’t already seen it then Ashton manual is a good starting point. 
If you can’t taper yet but need to stabilise, & of course sleep, then consideration to cross over to a longer acting benzo diazepam may be beneficial. 
https://www.benzoinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Ashton-Manual.pdf

[[em...]]

If you are in India, you can find not only chamomile tea but also other soothing herbal teas. I remember that a friend brought me tea made from various herbs from India, after which my sleep improved. I hope you will feel better!

[[re...]]

Oh boy here we go again another psych med pooping out as usual. I completely agree with The Way!!!!!!!!! Psychs are gonna lab rat you, please be careful, but definitely seek help if you must. 

I also agree with Antibenzo. See if your doctor can switch you to Valium and go from there.  Here is a link of benzo wise doctors who should at least be able to help you start a taper who are familiar with, at a minimum, Heather Ashton and a safer taper schedule: Daily microtapers seem to be better tolerated, but cut and hold seem to work for many as well especially in the beginning. 

http://www.benzosupport.org/benzo_wise_doctors.htm

 

On a positive note. I think once you start tapering SLOWLY at first then gauge it from there you will see your natural sleep start to return as you taper. It will most likely be lots of REM at first as Benzos take that away from you big time. Then you will possibly every once in awhile get deep sleep until you get back to normal. 

I had a severe case of insomnia due to an Emergency room mistake that put me in an extended status epilepticus and medical induced coma which 1 month post ICU stay made me lose the ability to sleep and had many days in row with zero sleep that created hallucinations. I developed a scary myoclonus hypnic jerk condition beyond what is humanely tolerable. 

Some tips that have helped this lost soul: 

1. Try and moderately OUTDOOR exercise (brisk long walks, hiking, cycling, swimming etc no matter what. If all you can do is a gym then so be it. But I find being around all those NORMAL people may mess you up if you are tapering and in withdrawal. Find someone to go outdoor with if it makes you feel better.  It may rev you which is supposed to happen as your body is getting used to this new stress of exercise. It will die down as you acclimate I promise. This will not be a quick fix (but sometimes can be)  and most studies on exercise where it starts to show real positive results are about 16 weeks I believe. The time of day you exercise according to the studies didn't matter much as we are led to believe although intense exercise later in the day I wouldn't recommend. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3370319/

2. Get OFF the damn computer. I mean it. At least limit it to maybe an hour a day if you can.  I don't care about the blue light argument or whatever. As humans we were just not meant to evolve to the assault screens have had on our brains and spiritual health. If you have a job that requires constant computer use then i apologize here. But maybe this is a deeper calling to consider another method of employment if it is causing this much stress. 

I mean the info overload is enough to drive us mad. But I feel the screens themselves are very dangerous to brain function.  This is going to be realized as an epidemic in time for mental health. Less is more in this problem of brain health. 

I would try from when the sun sets to be in a dark room for a couple hours or more every night just to produce that natural melatonin. I tried all the synthetic melatonin strains as well the sleep herbs and teas and feel they are very dangerous long term.  Don't necessarily worry about sleep when you are in the dark. Just be in complete darkness and think positive thoughts. I know that last one seems so insane, but it will help for real. 

Foods that help sleep and have helped me a little are Skyr (Lower sugar but still enough carb) Yogurt with turkey. Tart Cherry Juice, Banana and peanut butter maybe some saltines if gluten is ok for ya. Just something with tryptophan protein and carbs to push the serotonin in your brain.  Try and eat your carbs later in the day and more proteins earlier in the day. Unless you exercise earlier. Then you will need some carbs before and after exercise so you don't bonk (crash) and get muscle fatigue.

 

Hope this helps and keep on going.