Opiate withdrawal insomnia

[Whitelily]

This site certainly has helped to get me to day 7 now with no pain meds. I was on them for 2 years and was up to 100mg a day for the last five months and took myself off cold turkey. Clondine patch helped me tremendously for the first 4 days and I slept most of the time, except the night I tried to take Benadryl to try to force myself to sleep, the RLS and basically all over restlessness got way way worse. Now on day 7, I have slept a total of 40 minutes in the last two days and I am feeling like I will never sleep again. I have tried melatonin, sex, movies, reading, Benadryl makes it worse, and sleep time tea.

Now I do not want to get sick from lack of sleep and it's making my heart race not sleeping like this. What can I do? How long will this last?

 

[simco]

Welcome to BL and Sober Living, Whitelily! And huge congrats on making it to day 7.

Insomnia from acute opioid withdrawal varies widely from person to person, opioid to opioid, and even from one kick to another. So unfortunately it's hard to say how long it will last. One thing I *can* say is that the insomnia will get better gradually. It's likely that you'll start seeing significant improvement soon. Though it's also likely that you'll have less-than-perfect sleep for a while yet. But whatever timetable it follows, you definitely will sleep again...try to remember that, as the anxiety about insomnia can definitely fuel the insomnia itself.

In terms of ways to relieve your symptoms, if you could get them, a prescription for a benzodiazepine like klonopin, diazepam or (in a pinch) xanax would almost surely help. You'll want to be cautious with these to avoid trading one habit for another. But they do work wonders, and many doctors would prescribe them on a short-term basis without much fuss.

If you can manage it, a little bit of exercise during the day is also likely to help your overall outlook.

Finally, breathing exercises and other mindfullness-based relaxation techniques can be really helpful during times like this. You might check out toothpastedog's thread on Mindfullness-based harm reduction (it's right at the top of the Sober Living forum page). He's gather tons of good info on the subject.

Good luck, and let us know how things are shaping up!

 

[KraziKat]

I had some success with about 2000 mg each of valerian root and tryptophan, in a similar situation as yours. Kava was also good for a night or two. Rigorous excersice by day then coupled with one of the above supplements or something else may help. I feel your pain. Insomnia sucks. I wake up every night around 330 am.

 

[cj]

Don't take benadryl it increases the restless feeling. I take small doses of seroquel to help me sleep 25-50mg. But the honest answer is that it will take some time for your body to readjust. But it will. What your going through now is the hardest part. If you can just get through the first 60 days you will start feeling so much better. Hang in there your doing great!

 

[Jabberwocky]

Don't take benadryl it increases the restless feeling. I take small doses of seroquel to help me sleep 25-50mg. But the honest answer is that it will take some time for your body to readjust. But it will. What your going through now is the hardest part. If you can just get through the first 60 days you will start feeling so much better. Hang in there your doing great!

This is. Gabapentin (which treats RLS among other things) and a non-gabaergic sleeping med like Seroquel or Trazodone (for insomnia in particular) made the difference for me after getting off methadone.

I think I took gabapentin for about a month or two after cessation and then used Trazodone and melatonin for help with insomnia for six or seven months post cessation.

What helped me the most though was learning to live with my sleeplessness when I couldn't avoid it. Medication made things pretty bearable generally, but invariably I'd still have nights where I couldn't sleep normally (an uninterrupted 7-8hrs) like I wished I could, where I could either meet my experience of insomnia as some problem to deal with, with aversion and frustration, or I could meet it compassion and creative, as an opportunity to learn/grow.

Although perhaps a tad more helpful during the actual methadone withdrawal (where not much short of propofol will help with sleep), learning to make the most of my time when I can't sleep normally has actually helped me establish more regular, "normal" sleep patterns.

Almost exactly a year after getting off methadone, I no longer need any sleeping meds whatsoever and have learned lots of useful tools and skills to managing sleeplessness and nighttime anxiety/frustration/fear (which has a lot to do with my issues with insomnia).

 

[cj]

Gabapentin is an excellent suggestion.

 

[the last dose]

pregabapentin was my best sleep aid. I was using xans and over the counter stuff, xans gave me 3 or 4 hours sleep only and over the counter did nothing for me. So i noticed when i took pregabapentin i got better sleep. Little by little sleep will return to normal after a month it started to get better. Now im 6 months and my sleep is normal actually i sleep longer now than during years on opioids. hang in there!

 

[KraziKat]

Just back from a walk-in doctor visit, and boy do I feel dirty. I told the doc I am having horrible insomnia, which is true. I can't string together more than 2 hours in a row, and I'm lucky if I get 4-5 hours of interrupted sleep a night. I've tried everything – if it's OTC or it's been reported to have any success anywhere online, I've tried it.

So I went to the doc and told him I have crippling anxiety and insomnia. He looked at my file (I'm in NJ), and pretty much without coming out and saying it, called me out as a drug seeker. I have probably gotten a handful of percocet and xanax scripts in the last year from a couple dentist friends of mine, and it all came up on the computer.

He said I need to see a shrink if I want something. He said he'd write me a script for 5 .5 xanax. I didn't want that, and told him so, and he relented and gave me 10 10 mg ambien. Much better. So I'm going to try and make that last as long as I can.

What if I'd told him the truth, that I'm a recovering junkie pillpopper and now I'm on kratom but plan on quitting? I Just Want to SLEEP at night.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I take it your intentions in seeing the doctor were limited to getting something to treat your insomnia? I don't see anything wrong with that.

It's a shame with how drug users and former drug users have to tiptoe around a lot of doctors when they try and seek some kind of help with substance use related stuff, so it isn't surprising you felt uncomfortable disclosing the substance use issues outright.

Good doctors understand that coming out about substance use issues explicitly is entirely up to the patent, and respect this. Unfortunately, most doctors probably don't qualify as "good doctors" when it comes to working with substance use related issues. Sometimes it feels like an entirely different level or approach to care, compared to less stigmatized conditions.

 

[d3athadone]

Just go to a different doctor lol. Bro don't worry about it. I felt this way just a week ago and now I am sleeping much more normally!! It comes back man. You will sleep again!! Good Work!

 

[lucifersam666]

I would think gabapentin, benzo, or diazepam would tremendously help. If you don't have access to that, I would suggest kratom and soaking in a hot bath/shower for the aches and RLS. Also, supplements like potassium, magnesium and multiB vitamin may help, too. Good luck and keep it up!

Cheers,
LS