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  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | paranoid android

How to overcome insomnia from GHB?

M

milfhunter

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Joined
May 25, 2009
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So, I've had an extremely stressful week at work. I needed to sleep because I had to give performances for crowds everyday. That's why I knocked myself out with ghb for 5 nights in a row. Two large doses per night, which gave me 6-7 hours of solid sleep per night.

Now, this week is over and I don't plan to take ghb anymore. But I just CAN'T fall asleep now. Last night I took 4mg of etizolam and 20mg of zolpidem. It made me feel very wasted but I lied awake all night, nevertheless. I'm afraid the same thing will happen for the next few nights.

So, how do I overcome this ghb induced insomnia?

Do I take even larger doses of benzo's?
Do I lie awake for a few hours and then take just 1 dose of ghb to give me about 3 hours of sleep?
Or do I just deal with it and sleep will eventually come after a few nights?

Because I don't really have anything to do the next couple of days (don't need to be well-rested for work or sth), I'm thinking the third option. But the thought of lying awake all night frightens me.


Thanks!
 
What you're experiencing is rebound insomnia, which is very common after even short periods of regular GHB use. Your sleep will return to normal in time, but I would recommend good sleep hygiene practises in the meanwhile. There is a lot of information online regarding that topic, but to summarize: falling asleep is a learned skill, and we can take advantage of our bodies' love of habits to make this easier. Good sleep hygiene is basically setting the stage where the conditions when you go to bed are always the same, so that it acts as a signal for your mind to go to sleep. Behvioural psychologists call this a 'discriminative stimulus', and can actually be useful in a number of different areas of life.

Good sleep hygine includes, but is not limited to:

  • Having a period of about a half-hour of diminished light prior to going to bed (including no computer or TV)
  • Always going to bed at the same time - knowledge of your circadian rhythms helps with this as well
  • Not doing anything except sleep (or sex) in bed
  • If you can't fall asleep within a half-hour or so, get up and do something else. Don't just lie in bed, tossing and turning!
  • Develop a regular ritual before going to bed, preferably in dim light. For me that's flossing/brushing teeth/putting in splint/10 minute sitting meditation

I used to self-medicate with GHB years ago to get a decent night's sleep. Once I was able to get in a good habit with regards to sleep hygiene though, it became less necessary. Which was good, since my supply had dried up by that point!

If you're having a lot of trouble falling asleep, a small dose (more for the taste than anything else) might help.
 
Dave summed it up really, you're just suffering from the Dopamine rebound. I've found it effects some people more than others, I'll bet if you take a large dose to sleep you wake up a few hours later, and the only way you'll get back to sleep is with more G?
Same thing, Dopamine rebound :)

If you haven't got anything to do for a few days I would take advantage of that and just deal with a few restless nights, it shouldn't take more than 2, maybe 3 nights before you can sleep soundly again.
 
Update on what happened these last two nights.

Two nights ago: 2mg of etizolam + 20mg of zolpidem + 3 beers made me sleep for about 3 hours (the time it took for the zolpidem to wear off, I guess). Took one dose of ghb to fall asleep again till about 6am.
Last night: 2mg of etizolam + 5 beers, which made me sleep till 3am. I woke up and took one dose of ghb to fall asleep again till about 6.

My plan for this night: 2mg of etizolam, nothing else. And fuck it if I lie awake all night.

I have the feeling that I'm going slowly but steadily in the right direction.
 
Sounds like you're getting there mate, keep at it!
Definitely don't take any G tonight, I'd plan for a night with little - no sleep, so make sure tommorrow you haven't got anything too important to do (don't go too far in that direction though, keep active throughout the day if possible to encourage sleep that night).
I'd also try to stop the benzo use sooner rather than later. Tonight will be fine and maybe 1 more night if you need them (try sleeping without, f it gets to like 3-4am then take 'em then), but after that I'd just stop and deal with the final bits of insomnia :)
 
Yeah, that's my plan alright. 2mg of etizolam tonight. No g whatsoever, I even stored it in the attic so I wouldn't be able to access it at night because I still live at home. Tomorrow I'm going to hit the gym (or do some jogging if I had very little sleep), which should enable me to fall asleep without any aids tomorrow night.
Thanks for the support mate!
I'll let you know how it went.
 
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