Benzo withdrawal and insomnia

So I posted about this before but I wanted to seek some empathy as I am on the road to recovery. I have been taking Xanax for years and it stopped working for me around May 1st, 2021 so I had to start tapering.

I had heart pounding, restless leg syndrome, loss of orgasm, loss of sensation for bowel and bladder, air hunger and the biggest one INSOMNIA. From May to July of 2021 (this year) I never slept more than 3 hours. Sometimes I slept 0.
I am on a website called benzobuddies and they told me ā€œHang in there, sleep with come back.ā€ Well, about 6 weeks ago, my sleep started to improve and I was able to get 4 and 5 hours of sleep. Fast forward to the last 2 weeks and my sleep is all over the map. Saturday night, I got 8 hours of sleep but then last night I only got 2. Last week I had an 8 hour night followed by a zero night. My sleep is very unpredictable and it makes it hard to pursue my goals because sleep is so essential.

Pray for me that my sleep gets better soon! Even if your atheist is agnostic, send me some positive vibes.

Thank you!

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Iā€™m on 1.5mg of clonazepam (Klonopin) for insomnia. Iā€™ve been on it for about 5 months but I feel like it isnā€™t as effective as it use to be. I use to sleep 8 hours a night, now I am down to 7 or 6. I feel like I am slowly developing a tolerance. I canā€™t sleep at all without it because of olanzapine withdrawal. I donā€™t know what I will do if I cant sleep.

Iā€™m agnostic but my heart goes out to you :heart:, insomnia is the worst thing I have experienced, mine is extreme.

Benzo withdrawal isnā€™t fun, I went through it about 2 years ago. Iā€™m back on them now for insomnia. I hope your sleep problems settle down soon and you can catch some :zzz:

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I hope youā€™re not building up a tolerance. Thatā€™s what happened to me. I was on 4mgā€™s a day! a HUGE dose! and now I am down to .6mg a day. I miss when it worked for me. It was nice to take a bite off this little pill and have my panic and anxiety melt away and go to sleep for 8 hours. I really miss it.
I have to wait for my organic sleep to come back and it is taking forever.

Thanks for the well wishes :slight_smile:

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I hope you succeed. Remember benzo withdrawal symptoms will wax and wane. Theyā€™ll come and go. Itā€™s not a straight line unfortunately.

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When I was withdrawing from benzos I was very eager to get off them, but I learned slow and steady wins the race. Donā€™t rush it or the withdrawal symptoms will only be more intense. I took it insanely slow, and at the end I was taking little tiny bits each day, they had no therapeutic value but they prevented the withdrawal symptoms. When I finally went to zero I had 3 weeks of withdrawals then I was fine.

Iā€™m going to have to go through it all over again at some point because I am pretty sure I am dependent on benzos again at this point.

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Believe me, I can sympathize and empathize. I didnā€™t sleep any last night. Iā€™ll go to bed very early tonight. It sucks that you have to tough out such difficult sensations from coming off benzos. I was taking Klonopin, but then I told my pdoc I had given a couple of my Klonopin to a girl, and he took me off the medication - tapering, of course.

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I appreciate the empathy :slight_smile: Much appreciated!

Iā€™m going through the same thing right now. I switched meds from zyprexa to latuda. Some days I have got 3-5-6-7 hours, but also a few nights with 0 hours. Doc doesenā€™t want to give me a sleep aid on the side because of possible interactions. Iā€™m taking a few supplements hoping they do me some good.

My problem is that my phsysical health is already pretty weak so I donā€™t think I can handle insomnia for very long. Going back on the zyprexa I think will be the end of me. Because I was already getting ā€œfalseā€ sleep on it, was unable to relax at all probably because of too heavy receptor blocking, and also my brain has been unable to pick up critical health signals from my body. Switching to latuda all my senses have been drastically improved, including body-brain communication, and Iā€™m suddenly understanding that my body is in a lot worse shape than I thought.

Just got to stay positive though. Take one day at a time.

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Me too, I stared transioning from zyprexa to latuda about 2-3 years ago, I have been off zyprexa for over 4 months now. I was on both for a couple years.

I have brutal insomnia since quitting zyprexa. My doc and pdoc had no problems letting me try meds for sleep. In fact I would suggest one I read about, they would prescribe it and I would try it. I tried Trazodone, zolpidem, zopiclone, gabapentin, promethezine and ativan, none of those worked satisfactorily, then I finally found 1.5mg of clonazepam which I have been taking for about 5 months now. I never had any problems with interactions with any of those medications.

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Iā€™m sorry youā€™re dealing with the same thing. Thatā€™s rough. I hope you get more consistent sleep soon. About 5 years ago, I tried Latuda and it didnā€™t work so I got off of it. For 5 days straight, I had zero sleep and I went to the ER. All they did was give me IV fluids and send me home. To the best of my remembering, I was able to start sleeping again shortly thereafter but that was the first time in my life that I had insomnia. About 15 years ago, before MI and Xanax, I would fall asleep in 5 minutes and sleep for 8 or 9 hours. Canā€™t wait to get back to that! Good luck :slight_smile:

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I went through Ativan withdrawal and it was living hellā€¦ intense anxiety, insomnia, heart palpitations, anhedonia, twitching.

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Do you exercise? 30-40 minutes of moderate intensity exercise helps. Are feeding yourself properly? Vitamin D? Get some sunlight on skin. Or else supplements. They have function in melatonin activity and overall sleep. No screens two hours before bed.

It is likely you have already got this advice.

Recently spoke with my doc. I am adjusting to having stopped meds.

Benzo withdrawal is more troubling.

I was used to sleeping north of 9 hours a night so doc said it will take few weeks to figure things out. How much sleep do I need.

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Thatā€™s awful. A lot of my symptoms have eased up but I still have the insomnia. I used to have heart pounding too. I still have intense anxiety but I hope that it eases up as I get further along in my withdrawal from Xanax.

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Wishing you all the best @non-average

I didnā€™t taper off of Clonazepam because I didnā€™t take it everyday. But lately, Iā€™ve needed one. I took a Xanax bar and slept soundly on it. Apparently thereā€™s an addiction crisis in this country where damn it if you knew what was going on weā€™d all have a klonopin.i hope you get through it all. Hugs

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Thank you! I used to be able to take Xanax and sleep all night too :slight_smile: Not anymore. I have about 3 weeks until I am off of it.

Thanks for the hugs :slight_smile:

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Iā€™ve been taking benzoā€™s for 10 years. I was on 30 mgs of valium a day. I quit cold turkey and went 2 months. I experienced severe withdrawals. My anxiety was at full tilt so I went back on it.

My mom was on 8 mgs of xanax a day and she was able to quit.

My anxiety has improved. I sleep a few hours in the night and then again in the day. I worried it was a lack of discipline, you know my rock and roll lifestyle. I was on zyprexa and slept most of the ten years I took it. I took navane for awhile and had very deep sleep for about four hours. Iā€™d go so deep someone would say ā€œokay get up thatā€™s too deepā€. I would not suggest navane. I take Latuda for my ap and mood stabilizer and itā€™s pretty good, a little sedative. I never thought about it before I came here but my sleep was never as good after zyprexa but then I slept ALL the time it seemed. It was nice too, what I needed then.

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I now take 2 mg Valium twice a day. I would NEVER go cold turkey off.

Well, last night I got 8 hours again. I go from 8 to zero and back just like ā€˜thatā€™.
I hope i have many more 8ā€™s coming. I need this insomnia crap behind me!

Have a great day :slight_smile:

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