Sleeplessness from opioid use

[TrapZeppelin]

Can anyone give me any GOOD recommendations for sleep aids, while using opioids? I am prescribed 60mg of Hydrocodone per day. In the past, I took 10 mg ambien to help me fall asleep and would usually wake up 4 hours later. I’d take 0.5 Xanax and then I’d fall right back asleep. I would wake up on time for work, no issues, did this for many years.
Then shit hit the fan. Opioid/benzo/hypnotics laws changed in my area. I cannot be prescribed the pain meds with anything else I mentioned above.
I am dying from no sleep over here, but stay on pain meds for a chronic pain issue. I go to bed at the same time every day, exercise, eat healthy, meditate, all the simple solutions. Would Kratom help? Valerian? Any really strong herbal teas? Any other meds that work well with opioids/insomnia? I need a miracle. Please help! Thank you!

(I should add- I’ve tried melatonin and CBD oil/gummies at fairly large doses to no avail. I’ve also tried trazadone, belsomra, and silenor - nothing. Remeron is the only thing close to helping me catch some REM but I can’t stay asleep on it, I wake up every 20 minutes or so all night long. I have already passed any kind of withdrawal from the Xanax, it was not too hard as I always kept my daily use below 1mg. I will use it on occasion when I come across it, but it must be out of my UA come monthly drug test time. I am STUCK in the trap)

 

[HoldBack]

Can anyone give me any GOOD recommendations for sleep aids, while using opioids? I am prescribed 60mg of Hydrocodone per day. In the past, I took 10 mg ambien to help me fall asleep and would usually wake up 4 hours later. I’d take 0.5 Xanax and then I’d fall right back asleep. I would wake up on time for work, no issues, did this for many years.
Then shit hit the fan. Opioid/benzo/hypnotics laws changed in my area. I cannot be prescribed the pain meds with anything else I mentioned above.
I am dying from no sleep over here, but stay on pain meds for a chronic pain issue. I go to bed at the same time every day, exercise, eat healthy, meditate, all the simple solutions. Would Kratom help? Valerian? Any really strong herbal teas? Any other meds that work well with opioids/insomnia? I need a miracle. Please help! Thank you!

(I should add- I’ve tried melatonin and CBD oil/gummies at fairly large doses to no avail. I’ve also tried trazadone, belsomra, and silenor - nothing. Remeron is the only thing close to helping me catch some REM but I can’t stay asleep on it, I wake up every 20 minutes or so all night long. I have already passed any kind of withdrawal from the Xanax, it was not too hard as I always kept my daily use below 1mg. I will use it on occasion when I come across it, but it must be out of my UA come monthly drug test time. I am STUCK in the trap)

You have tried all of the typical hypnotics, and if they haven't worked I highly doubt you will find anything that helps you. I would try gabapentin first. Pretty much any ailment I recommend trying gabapentin first. Like there's no real downside to it.

Try hydroxyzine, it's a good antihistamine that doesn't have the hangover feeling that most antihistamines do.

Finally, you can try seroquel. That's probably the only thing that might help.

However, also try gabapentin and hydroxyzine because you want to find the least powerful drug that's effective and there's at least a chance these will work for you.

All of these are unscheduled and a doctor will write an rx for without second thought. Most UA's check for psyche meds and Seroquel will come up (typically a doctor would want this to come up to show the patient is complying with the rx's).

 

[TrapZeppelin]

Thank you for the response. I have tried hydroxyzine, I forgot to add that to the list. It gives me a sense of sleepiness, but it’s restless. Maybe I need a higher dose.
Also, I tried seroquel once with a friend. I ended up hallucinating all night and thought I was going to stop breathing. He had to rock me like a baby so I would relax. I saw lots of flashing lights, heard noises. It was like sleep paralysis but lasted until sunrise. And I only took a quarter of a big yellow pill.
Is there anything else you can think of? Possibly an herbal remedy? I was going to go by the head shop/health store so I could experiment the next couple of nights. But I can’t even get up the energy to get out of bed. I’m thinking the pain meds are going to have to get cut back. The lack of sleep makes the pain even worse really. But then again, cutting back will cause some amount of withdrawal and additional insomnia ((

 

[TrapZeppelin]

Is gabapentin the same as neurontin? Side note - about 15-20 mg of ambien does keep me asleep all night. It’s just impossible to find on the street. And the drs won’t write for it with opiates anymore