• BASIC DRUG
    DISCUSSION
    Welcome to Bluelight!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Benzo Chart Opioids Chart
    Drug Terms Need Help??
    Drugs 101 Brain & Addiction
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums
  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

5 mg Valium twice a week for a year. How severe is this?

Have you tried anything besides phenibut for the insomnia? Doxylamine, diphenhydramine, and kava are all OTC remedies that are definitely worth a shot.
 
emr123 said:
So these are in fact withdrawals?
Click to expand...
doubt it. insomnia is so easily caused relative to how painful its effects are. a lot of things could be keeping you up, and probably not just one. gabaergic drugs do mess with sleep. like drinking can throw your sleep off, even when you're far from drinking to the point of significant physical dependence.

life's not going to be sweet a week or two after quitting benzos. they treat more than their withdrawal symptoms. neither physical dependance nor acute physical withdrawal are required for quitting to suck. stick with it. count days and take pride in the number until your far enough away to stop caring.
 
It's been 6 days since I had a benzo.

How many days would you say until I feel normal when in bed again? Just want to note that this is all I really seem to be experiencing
 
no idea. you were originally prescribed benzos for sleep and anxiety. it makes sense that you're having trouble with them without benzos. and it sounds like using benzos the last number years and then recently quit is exacerbating your problems. give it a couple months and see how you feel. do count and take pride in the number if it helps, but don't try to wait out the clock. moving on will be a proactive thing, as it isn't some iron grip of physical dependence thats holding you to benzos. physical withdrawal isn't the biggest barrier even for many of those who are significantly physically dependent.
 
Last edited:
I went several weeks without a benzo back in oct/nov/dec and was sleeping great. Then I had a stressful week and took too many in a week. Haven't been the same since.

Maybe this isn't even benzo related. I have had some relationship woes as of late that I'm having trouble being at peace with
 
Couple of months? I can't go on like this for that long. I thought the rebound symptoms peak within 2 weeks
 
i don't know really know what rebound symptoms are. to whatever extent your problems are benzo related, it's not physical. a couple of months was just a guess at how long it'd take you to stop thinking about them at night.
 
Oh I see

I'm definitely shooting myself in the foot by overthinking it. I start stressing about it as it gets close to bed time. Not wildly. But it is persistently on my mind
 
are you doing everything else you're supposed to for insomnia? don't read or watch in bed. no screens before bedtime. some say don't work out right before bed, but i think that actually helps me fall asleep. the lists on google go on. i think the lists are just items that might make it worse, and the cause is usually something bigger than reading in bed. one thing that definitely does help me is consistent bedtime and wakeup time.

insomnia comes in bouts for me. certainly triggered by things happening in my life. and sometimes drug use. though sometimes it feels completely random. it's terrible when it's happening.

whatever's keeping you up, hope you're able to overcome it soon.
 
Last edited:
I do all the things you're not suppose to do in bed: play on iPad, watch tv, read, etc. It never was problematic.
 
emr123 said:
I do all the things you're not suppose to do in bed: play on iPad, watch tv, read, etc. It never was problematic.
Click to expand...

This might actually be the culprit. You should avoid doing anything but sleeping and having sex in your bed. Youre brain will naturally begin to associate your bed with sleep. Make sure you're getting enough exercise and everything. Avoiding alot of light before bed might also help alot.

Alot of people have insomnia issues these days from simply practicing poor sleep hygiene.
That should be the first thing you try to correct
 
I've always done that though. I would do this back in oct nov and early dec when I was sleeping great too
 
I called my doc and she recommended gabapentin or ambien to get away from the benzos. I'm thinking ambien since with the gabapentin you have to dose everyday for effects. What do you think?

It occurred to me last night that this whole issue of mine may not even be related to benzos. I typically take 1000 IU's/day of vitamin d3. I bumped the dosage up to 3-4000 IU's a day for the last 2 moths. I remember doing this a few years ago because it gave me insomnia, constipation, rapid heart beat (to the point where I couldn't run due to fear of panic occurring), and a pounding heart at night. I ceased this dose and went back to 1000 units and everything was fine. Which is what I'm doing today, in fact, I'm not taking any vitamin d for a week or two since it's fat soluble and takes time to eliminate. But for now I'm thinking ambien. By the way there are countless internet stories of people taking d3 and suffering all the side effects
I listed above which led to them
Stopping the vitamin (which interestingly enough is not a vitamin but a pro steroid)
 
Gabapentin doesn't need to be taken every day to get an effect from it, and it's less of an addiction liability than ambien.

I really wouldn't reccomend taking drugs to improve your sleep without first trying to get into a healthy sleep routine though. Even if you could sleep well before without a healthy sleep routine, it might solve your situation now.
 
indeed, just because sleep habits are not the root cause of your insomnia doesn't mean adjusting them won't help.

stopping the vitamin is a good idea. i'd do that and everything else before resigning to starting a new or continuing to take a medication for insomnia. gabapentin isn't something you want to just take. it inhibits the formation of new synaptic connections in your brain, to the extent that i've seen papers arguing that's its primary mechanism of action. unless they're something you need like only 3 times a year during travel, "sleeping pills" are a bad idea in general. they do not cure anything, so consider the long-term plan when deciding if you want to take them.

i don't really understand how either of those drugs would help you get away from benzos. if you do go that route, ask your doctor to flesh the plan out with you fully first. as in when and how are you going to stop taking them and why will it then be any easier than now.
 
Last edited:
It's got to be the vitamin d3. I was reading personal accounts of people suffering exactly what I'm going through as a result of vitamin d supplementation. Even with modest doses. I'm ceasing use for a week or 2. I told the doc to send over gabapentin in case something arises. It's not a benzo, so it will at least provide relief if necessary while I deplete my lymphatic system of d3.
 
hydroazuanacaine said:
indeed, just because sleep habits are not the root cause of your insomnia doesn't mean adjusting them won't help.

stopping the vitamin is a good idea. i'd do that and everything else before resigning to starting a new or continuing to take a medication for insomnia. gabapentin isn't something you want to just take. it inhibits the formation of new synaptic connections in your brain, to the extent that i've seen papers arguing that's its primary mechanism of action. unless they're something you need like only 3 times a year during travel, "sleeping pills" are a bad idea in general. they do not cure anything, so consider the long-term plan when deciding if you want to take them.

i don't really understand how either of those drugs would help you get away from benzos. if you do go that route, ask your doctor to flesh the plan out with you fully first. as in when and how are you going to stop taking them and why will it then be any easier than now.
Click to expand...

IMO, this more hype/attention grabbing than a real worry. Attenuation of abberant synaptogenesis isn't as scary as it sounds. It's a therapeutic MOA. It can negatively affect cognition like almost every other sedative, but it's not particularly bad when it comes to learning and memory.

I would argue that taking sleeping pills can be alot better for your brain than not sleeping. Like always, it's a matter of weighing benefits vs costs for the individual.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top