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Need help with extreme sleep deprivation

Cloudburst

Cloudburst

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Messages
521
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Moving
Yes, I do get manic but the fact I've been up a week straight now should not be happening. No breaks. I close my eyes and meditate every day. I take 60mg of temazepam (ridiculous dose, but still rx'ed legally via loophole) with a benadryl for good measure. It does absolutely nothing at all. The reason I seem so lucid is because I am so used to this. 5-7 days is nowhere near rare for me, and I know that is incredibly unhealthy. I've stayed up as long as 14 days even. No stimulants. I've been scripted every single sleep aid basically at the highest possible dose and the only thing that has ever worked was 5g of indica kief tea (yes, 5g). Regardless, even for maniacs this cannot be normal. I just indicated psychiatry as a measure of severity. Valerian root, melatonin, blah blah won't work trust me. I've tried it all.

Any advice please? I've read most people die between 8-11 days and regardless this is ruinous on my body and mind.
 
I must have been about 17 at the time. Looking back at that time, I had made the transition from substance abuse to severe full-blown addiction and I've pretty much recovered after 3 years. No dependency on anything.

My eating patterns are extremely erratic. It is based on my moods. When manic, I NEVER eat and therefore use meal replacement drinks for calories and whatnot. It's impossible to predict how long it'll last as well. When depressed, I eat like a cow.

EDIT: I'm eating drastically healthier now compared to before I had the sleeping problems, ironically. Very limited sugar, lots of fruits and vegetables, water and juices, protein, etc. I'm really disgusted by junk food at this point.
 
So, when you're depressed, do you sleep a lot? Generally, I find it difficult to sleep when I'm hungry. Perhaps you might find your life a bit easier if you regulate your metabolism to a certain path of regularity. So, try to force yourself to eat, if you can. Also, do you participate in cardio-vascular exercise? At this point, it might not be a good idea to do that until you've slept. But, that should help keep your appetite up.
 
I hope that my advice helps, I know that I'm not offering any good drug-oriented advice, but it sounds like you've tried everything. I've gone through a period of my life where I tried every sedative out there, and nothing worked after a while. But, I find it easier to sleep now that I've stayed away from everything except for the occasional kratom. Just remember, focus on healing, and not what could go wrong. I hope everything goes well for you.
 
It did help but I can't help but be a little melancholy over this. No doctor can figure this out anyway. Actually, none of them have ever really believed me either. I'm assuming that my brain is still recovering after I must have fucked it up seeing as it takes years to reset in most cases.

EDIT: I just forgot some extremely important info. I am actually phobic of falling asleep. Regardless I am on benzos and antidepressants, it's frustrating but perhaps a psychiatrist will know what to do if I bring that up, which I always forget to.

Brain fart to its max, huh?
 
Ah, yes. I was afraid to sleep too after the 3rd day of being awake. I found that the only way to get over it, was to give up control of my mind to the natural forces that persist in the darkness. What got me through it (now, I'm being perfectly candid here, and am not suggesting anything, but this is what worked for me) was to think of my death, and that it is something I could have ultimate control over if I needed to. Eventually, I saw sleep as exposing myself to the process of death.
 
Apostacious said:
Ah, yes. I was afraid to sleep too after the 3rd day of being awake. I found that the only way to get over it, was to give up control of my mind to the natural forces that persist in the darkness. What got me through it (now, I'm being perfectly candid here, and am not suggesting anything, but this is what worked for me) was to think of my death, and that it is something I could have ultimate control over if I needed to. Eventually, I saw sleep as exposing myself to the process of death.
Click to expand...

I like that. Very philosophical. Maybe you could try writing as therapy, I have a great library book called 'The Therapeutic Potential of Creative Writing: Writing Myself' by Gillie Bolton - im not sure where you are in the world but it might be worth trying to get hold of a copy?
 
Thing is, up till yesterday, I was suicidal (which may not be the right way to look at death) to the point where it would keep me up all night because of how distraught I was. Also another rationale behind my phobia was I perceive sleep as death. Even if it is momentary and your body is functioning fine, you are essentially going through the same "anti-experience" for the vast majority of the sleeping experience, at least in my philosophical/religious view, although I know that is catastrophizing it, that's phobia for you. That frightens me almost as much as my recent suicidal ideations (yes they happen when you're full blown manic too).
 
Could you give us a list of every prescribed medication that you've been given for sleep, and the dosages?
 
This is day 8. From what I have read, most people generally die from being awake 8-11 days. So I am in trouble and technically dying, I suppose. 120mg temazepam tonight. Won't kill me, my benzo tolerance is quite huge.

dokomo said:
Could you give us a list of every prescribed medication that you've been given for sleep, and the dosages?
Click to expand...
Temazepam = 60mg
Chloral Hydrate = 1000mg
Zaleplon = 10mg
Zolpidem = 10mg
Countless antipsychotics in actually medically prohibited doses. Like 30mg Zyprexa for instance.

All I can remember in this stupor.
 
Cloudburst said:
This is day 8. From what I have read, most people generally die from being awake 8-11 days. So I am in trouble and technically dying, I suppose. 120mg temazepam tonight. Won't kill me, my benzo tolerance is quite huge.


Temazepam = 60mg
Chloral Hydrate = 1000mg
Zaleplon = 10mg
Zolpidem = 10mg
Countless antipsychotics in actually medically prohibited doses. Like 30mg Zyprexa for instance.

All I can remember in this stupor.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is a solid dose of Chloral Hydrate. Did you ever try taking more than the 1g dosage?

I'd recommend halcion (triazolam) but the equivalent dose of it to the 120mg of temazepam you're taking is 3mg, which is 6 times the maximum medical dose. With that benzo tolerance, it will make treatment with benzos next to impossible I'm afraid :(

Have you had any sleep studies done? There are some more exotic sleeping medications that I'm not too familiar with, such as ethchlorvynol (placidyl) that might work. If you have seriously not slept in 8 days, I would go to a hospital and get some professional help there man, being awake for that long is absolutely disasterous (as I'm sure you already know.)

Best of luck, keep us updated
 
Have you tried going to a sleep study so that at the very least if they don't have a solution you can prove it to the drs so that they can start taking you as serious as they should be?
 
Have you ever tried a tricyclic antidepressant for insomnia and mood disorder? Mirtazapine comes to mind. The thing about it is you must take a low dose for insomnia. Take the higher dose, and the mood-stabilizing effects overpower the sedative effects.

Zolpidem is usually a short-term solution for insomnia. Zaleplon and chloral hydrate, especially when combined with temazepam and zolpidem, should knock you the fuck out! Maybe a tricyclic is the way to go. It will help treat your manic episodes which are probably the underlying cause of your insomnia (as you already know).
 
youll start to get confused way before your body will start to shut down if that is what your afraid of. um its hard to say because u have to sleep. But sounds like ud need alot of meds to sleep. if you went to a hospital id imagine theyd give u some benzos, something to bring down the mania, and an antipsychotic. So dont think about dosing this yourself id have to say especially cause you need to re-establish your whole sleep pattern and body clock. this is serious its your mind id say go to a hospital.
 
You will not die after being up 8 days or 11. Are you of italian descent? fatal famillial insomnia. You can be tested for it, its a death sentence on a light note its very rare.
 
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