Need some help with weird sleeping habits

Well first off I'm 26 years old. I was an opiate user from the age of 17 to 22, with 19-22 being a daily user of IV heroin. I got clean February 9th, 2009 and got on Methadone which I am still on to this day.

Since I stopped using, my sleeping habits have become very weird and strange. I twitch a lot when falling asleep and also while sleeping. Sometimes they are violent spasms and scare the crap out of my partner. Sometimes I'll sit up in my sleep or start running my fingers through my hair. All these actions are completely unconsciously made while I am sleeping and I'm only really aware of the twitching but the rest I only know because my partner tells me. She has to sleep in another room sometimes because its so bad on some nights.

I am wondering, has anyone else experienced this or something along these lines? Is there any OTC medication that I can take to make me less twitchy while sleeping? I have heard to try melatonin but I've tried 6mg and 9mg on two separate nights but they didn't seem to help. Idk if I should try to take a larger dose or try something else.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if its in the wrong section. I wasn't really sure where to post this.

Hey davelikestacos.. Welcome to BL. after looking into this a little there seems to be a clear correlation between methadone and sleep disturbances.. Here is come scholarly work that is being done on this phenomenon. Do you feel you are ready to get off the methadone at any point soon. I came off 150mg methadone pd as well as a whole bunch more last august and I feel better now than I did at any time on all the medication. Long term methadone can have some really negative aspects despite what the methadone clinics sometimes say. Are you planning to stay on this medication for the rest of your life. If you are not why not try and get off it.. its a little rough in spots but in five or six months you can be free..

the sleep methadone work >here<

Thanks for the reply. The thing is I used to experience this even before I was on methadone. When I would start to get sick about 12 hours after my last bag of dope, I would do the same thing. Violent twitches would jolt me awake before I could even get to sleep.

I have been on Methadone since 2009, so I will be looking to slowly taper down very soon. I'm doing good now, working, living on my own, so I'm going to have to take it very slow to avoid any kind of withdrawal and possibly switch over to Suboxone at 30mg or so.

I just wish there was something I could do to try to subdue these awkward sleep disturbances. It's really annoying knowing that my girlfriend can't get a good night's sleep next to me.

Do they go away when you increase your dose? sounds like it may be restless leg syndrome.. happens in withdraw or if you stop increasing your dose because of tolerance.. research that and see what you think and let us know.

I haven't increased my dose in about a year now so this may be the case. The anxiety in my legs was always the worst part of withdrawal for me so that could be it. Are there any OTC medications that can help with RLS? I'm waiting for my medical insurance to kick in so going to a doctor isn't really an option right now.

Sounds like Hypnic jerks to me

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk