Insomnia setback at 8.5 months off

[[...]]

Hi all,

At 8.5 months of being off xanax I hit a rough patch with my sleep again.

Things were pretty good during the last 2 months, I started meditating and yoga and they really seemed to help, I was mostly sleeping fine, with one not so good night per week on average, but even that was not terrible, I got 3-4 hours of sleep on those days too.

A couple of weeks ago out of the blue I started to have the dreaded zero nights again (haven't had them for several months). I have absolutely no idea what I did to trigger them - if anything. My anxiety is through the roof on the days after these nights and I'm dreading the coming night to find out whether I'll have another sleepless night or not.

I know it's a rollercoaster as I've been on it for quite some time now, but still I'm freaking out right now, as I was getting quite comfortable with my life these last months, and now things are starting to look dark again. Some words of encouragement would be appreciated from someone who had similar issues this far out and made it through.

Bests,

mikl

 

[[Do...]]

Hi there. I’ve been having sleep issues as well and I’ve been off Xanax for 7.5 months. I was using olly goodbye stress gummies and Benadryl to help with the poor sleep. I’ve stopped the only vitamins and now am using liquid Benadryl but I’m having terrible sleep. From a lot of success stories and people who have had setbacks like us with sleep, it seems like it only lasts a few weeks. I think we both need to be patient and remember that even if you lay in your bed and can’t sleep you might have micro sleeps that will sustain you until things get better. Sending big hugs this is absolutely miserable.

[[Th...]]

It's fairly common to have insomnia setbacks after sleeping well for weeks or months.  I had them on and off over the past 8 years after my CT.  My worst one lasted almost 2 months at 18 months off and that was after sleeping well for 6 months with no zero nights.  That 2 month wave or setback produced many zero nights and lots of 1-3 hour nights with good nights mixed in.  The same thing happened at least 4 or 5 times since then and they lasted anywhere from a week to 6 weeks or so.

The key thing is to "accept" them when they happen and know they will eventually end.  Don't waste your time trying to "connect the dots" or figure out a reason for why it happened?  It will drive you crazy.  If you haven't read this lengthy post, I'd take the time to read it.  It could answer a lot of your questions?  Peace

https://benzobuddies.org/topic/270442-2400-days-off-my-insomniabenzo-advice/page/4/#comment-3508811

 

Edited April 30 by [Th...]

[[...]]

Thanks @[Do...]  I wish you strength to get through this as well, and hope you'll be at a better place soon. I know the micro sleeps will sustain me, so I'm not afraid of dying or anything, it's just that the physical discomfort and the anxiety is so strong the next day after these really bad nights that I feel it's actually making it a lot harder to get to sleep. I know these episodes end fairly quickly, but my brain keeps telling me that this is it, you're back in acute, etc. 

 

@[Th...] thanks for your kind affirmation. Acceptance comes pretty hard for me, but I'm on it, and I have plenty of practice opportunities now as well

 

[[Kr...]]