Benzos "Rebound dreaming" after ceasing benzo's?

[milfhunter]

Hey BL

I did 2-3mg of etizolam every night for the last 8 days. Last night was the first night I went to sleep without them, which actually went surprisingly well (probably because I had a great squat session at the gym).
Anyhow, I had so many dreams last night! And not the Alice in Wonderland kind, but very realistic ones.

I know that benzo's lessen the amount of REM sleep (which is the phase in which you have dreams, right?), so I thought that maybe I had all these dreams because my brain had some REM sleep catching up to do?
Or was this all just a coincidence?

What do you think?


Milfhunter

 

[rizmatter]

Im a milfhunter too

 

[Renz Envy]

As far as I know, quitting benzos will lessen deep sleep. There may be someone with more sophisticated knowledge or explanation, but having done so myself I experienced shallow/vivid dreams.

 

[xpensivtaste]

i seem to sleep very deep on etizolam, same dosage as you pretty much and i don't dream at all, on the days i don't take it i tend to have nightmares or weird vivid dreams. wouldn't say it was coincidence since you sleep so deep when you take them sorta like if you were to drink a load of beer and pass out, i just wake up and think, damn! what a good night, i slept all the way through [rare for me as i am an insomniac]

 

[RobotRipping]

I definitely had vivid nightmares after quitting benzos but i was using them for a much longer period than 8 days. Probably just a rebound effect of having your sleep hierarchy all messed up from etizolam.

 

[ErgicMergic]

Dreaming takes place during REM sleep, and there is an REM rebound from discontinuing benzos, due to all the REM stages they suppressed while you were on them.

I experience a similar REM rebound (vivid dreams, deeper sleep) from quitting weed, since cannabis also screws up your REM sleep.

Slow wave sleep (delta wave sleep) is the most restorative stage of sleep (when we get most of our rest and recharge), and benzos and alcohol significantly reduce the time you spend in Delta-wave sleep, so there is also a SWS rebound during benzo discontinuation, leading to the best quality sleep you've had in a while. SWS has nothing to do with dreaming, iirc.

Cannabis and benzos will knock you out, that's for sure, but they're poor insomnia medications due to how harshly they screw up the quality of your sleep. Melatonin (1mg or less, taking more is counterproductive), chelated Magnesium at 300-600mg, Zinc at 30mg, and Potassium at 300mg should all be explored before moving on to benzos for the purpose of getting some sleep.