Need mod help with sleep problem/broken brain

[[ma...]]

I am starting to get scared that there is something wrong with my brain. I am 8+ mos off temazapam and absolutely can not sleep without some drug or supplement. Melatonin has worked well for me thru my taper and now again the last several months...but now it is making me nauseous and headachy and miserable so I can't use it. Last nite I tried to sleep with only epsom salts bath, oat straw tea, lavendar on pillow and arsenicum homeopathic and rescue remedy sleep.....NO SLEEP. No sleepy feeling. I was calm from listening to sleep tracks and Dr Amen hypnosis but could not cross that barrier into sleep, period. What can I do to sleep?

I don't want to take Benadryl or Unisom everynite but without it or melatonin there is no sleep. In sleep restriction they say to stay up till you are tired. I would never go to bed. I'm tired or exhausted, but can't go to sleep. I know I am a mess. Before I was doing fine with melatonin. I even cut the dose in half to 1.25. It still helped me sleep, but not well. But it still made me nauseous and headachy.

Is there any answer for this? I need to sleep. Am I healed from the benzo and just have a brain that doesn't know how to sleep on its own anymore. I am post menopausal and many women have trouble at this stage of life. How am I going to get sleep? Help.

[[li...]]

I don't have any easy answers.

 

Melatonin worked for me till I became dependent on it and I decided to stop taking it.

On the long run it made things worse.

 

There are plenty of drugs that may work but they all have a downside.

 

Supplements that are more likely to work: l-theanine (but it can easily make things worse, especially if you take it frequently), hops capsules and if you're lucky Valerian. But they all act on GABA.

 

Have you tried exercising in the late afternoon ?

[[ma...]]

Thanks Liberty. I exercise in the morning because most people said to do that. I only do the treadmill...not so much exercise.

Valerian has the opposite effect on me.

I like hops but have not used it alone, only with passionflower and skulcap. I tried that combination 2 nites ago and it did nothing. Last nite I had it in a tea with some other things along with tryptophan and I did get some sleep.

I don't know why the melatonin started making me sick after 1 yr. It really worked pretty well.

Do you know if tryptophan which makes serotonin and ultimately melatonin works on the same gaba receptors? I know the hops and valerian do. Will this impede receptor healing?

I want to heal, but I also need to sleep.

[[...]]

I'm glad I read your post today because tomorrow I need to go refill my Estring. This is an estrogen ring that goes in, well, it's like a diaphragm. It release estrogen slowly over 90 days. It seems to have helped my post-menopausal sleep problem.

 

You may have a combination of hormone and w/d related sleep issues. Don't despair. I was out of options too not long ago, then had about 3 weeks of real good sleep. Thinking that my new Estring will end the current trouble sleeping phase.

 

It took a month after my other w/d symptoms disappeared for me to sleep without a sleep aid. It helped me to know that my body really does want to fall asleep normally.

[[ma...]]

Well I think you are so lucky to be sleeping at only 4 mos off the benzo. I am over 8 mos, and not. It is so frustrating not to be able to sleep naturally. I was happy with the melatonin. Sure wish it didn't make me nauseous and headachy all of a sudden.

I'm sure hormones would probably help but I had so many problems I had to stop after 5 years. I think that is the amount of time they say you can safely take them.

[[On...]]

Maltesemom,you could try progestorone cream by emerita and they also make a phytoestrogen cream to....The good thing is they are considered bioidenical not synthetic like the doctors give.....I started the progest today and the co said if no relief after a month get the phytoestrogen to....The best prices for both are on amazon.....Hope your having a good time on vacation!...

[[ma...]]

Onmypath, I used bioidentical hormones for 5 yrs and had nothing but problems with them and had to stop. I'm pretty much done with hormones except for vitamin d. I have several friends using hormones and while they helped with sleep at first, now they don't. They didn't help my sleep much either but I know my sleep is worse now.

Guess we all just have to keep trying and hope something works for us. Melatonin was really a good solution for me for a year...then it started making me sick. Don't know why. I've ordered the zzz glasses that are supposed to help your body make melatonin. Hope they help. I'm so tired right now. How come that doesn't happen when I'm in bed at nite?