Opioids Trouble sleeping, hypnagogic hallucinations, nightmares, waking up often while using?

[dopiejay]

As the title says, while I'm using opioids (especially oxycodone) if I don't go to sleep within the first hour of dosing, I'm wide awake and up for hours even if ive been up all day or had a busy day. I first noticed this when I was using heroin around 5 or 6 years ago although I had been using opioids prior. When I would try to sleep at night after using i would never be able to fall asleep. it would always be very poor quality, broken sleep, which was fraught with nightmares and frequently waking up.


Has anyone on here ever noticed this before or is it just me? I have wondered for many years why opioids cause this to happen and it doesn't seem to be common, to me at least.


I once took a high dose of hydromorph after working a 14 hour night shift, and I COULD NOT SLEEP! Like not at all. I was supposed to be a at work at 7 the following night and when 7 rolled around I was still up and had to call in sick.


The reason I'm posting this is because last night I took a moderate dose of oxycodone for my back pain and began nodding right away. I got up to do a few things before bed, played some video games and then bam I was wired. I stayed up til around 2am (5 hours after I took the dose) and even then I could not fall asleep, was waking up to hypnagogic hallucinations all night long (strange figures in My room, people speaking to me, etc.), and having very odd and very vivid dreams (my childhood friends and I as children sitting on the roof of my old elementary school smoking cigarettes, my landlord giving me a see thru colt 1911 pistol and telling me to kill someone, my dad getting arrested for assault, etc.)


Now I understand the real meaning of 'pipe dreams'. Hallucinating and having vivid dreams off the opium pipe. But by all accounts known I'm the only one this happens to with modern opioids and it happens with all of them. My friends think it's crazy that I can't sleep on opioids.


Can someone provide some insight as to why this happens, and if so how common it actually is? Does it happen to anyone else? Side effect of respiratory depression (chemical induced sleep apnea)? I love opioids for my pain and recreational purposes but I'm sick of having nightmares and shitty sleep!

 

[chompy]

Sometimes you just get so high you cant sleep. It happens.

 

[dopiejay]

Sometimes you just get so high you cant sleep. It happens.

Happens to me constantly tho. Happened again last night. Almost got stuck in sleep paralysis sitting up on the couch and couldn't wake up. Remember trying to slap myself and my 'dream arm' coming up to my face and flopping over while my real arm didn't move. Weird as fuck

 

[Gorillaboy21]

I?m not going to lie I?m really shocked to see your thread. I literally have the exact same thing on point the same details. If I don?t fall asleep or lay down to kinda let my nod go, right after I shoot up, I won?t fall asleep if an hour passes and I try then.

I also get constant nightmares and no matter how much of a dose I shoot up with before bed. I mean if I do an insanely insane huge dose okay maybe I won?t but that?s not typical and I?m talking shooting up 3 times my normal amount in order to achieve that. I just woke up from a nightmare at 3:30 am and was in full blown withdrawals and I did a good shot at 10 pm which makes no sense. My nightmares are always so vivid beyond belief and realistic that I always feel that it?s real life during the nightmare.
Sometimes it?s not necessarily a horrific nightmare but it?s just so over whelmingly realistic and unpleasant to dream that way.

My dreams always consist of something I regret I did, I?m ashamed happened to me, or something that?s making me feel really guilty/bad at that moment. I always see enemies in my dreams, like last night or tonight I guess (it?s 8 am now I?ve been dying since 3:30) I saw multiple of my friends who became enemies and it?s always a bad situation in the dream either guilt that I?m not as successful as I should be and they laugh at me or fighting type dreams.

Also I get the waking up while using always. It?s almost become a ritual now to keep a little bit for when I wake up at 2-4 am no matter if I go to bed at 8 pm or 12 am I?ll wake up at 1-3 am most likely.

Before I used to always just shoot up at night no matter the amount and fall asleep for sure until at least 6-7 am and I wouldn?t have nightmares EVER. I actually didn?t dream really the first few years of addiction. I think it?s like marijuana but more intense. What I mean by that is when you smoke weed everyeday as a stoner you don?t really get dreams or nightmares and when you quit you get massive rebound nightmares or just intense dreams.
I think opiates and opiate tolerance over the years has done the same thing and it?s gotten to the point where the dreams and nightmares have to happen one way or another cause you suppressed them for so long. So you start gettting weird shadow people type hallucinations, but personally I get those very rarely and only while in withdrawals. I?m just theorizing here, but that?s what it feels like to me.
It?s bad enough I do opiates hardcore everyday but I?ve also been smoking weed for 10 years daily it?s bad. My entire sleep cycle is fucked from those two plus my benzo use that sometimes gets to the point of benzo withdrawals doesn?t help either.

Anyways just wanted to add my input because I always thought I was alone in this one but the way you described things was on point exactly what I felt

 

[dopiejay]

I?m not going to lie I?m really shocked to see your thread. I literally have the exact same thing on point the same details. If I don?t fall asleep or lay down to kinda let my nod go, right after I shoot up, I won?t fall asleep if an hour passes and I try then.

I also get constant nightmares and no matter how much of a dose I shoot up with before bed. I mean if I do an insanely insane huge dose okay maybe I won?t but that?s not typical and I?m talking shooting up 3 times my normal amount in order to achieve that. I just woke up from a nightmare at 3:30 am and was in full blown withdrawals and I did a good shot at 10 pm which makes no sense. My nightmares are always so vivid beyond belief and realistic that I always feel that it?s real life during the nightmare.
Sometimes it?s not necessarily a horrific nightmare but it?s just so over whelmingly realistic and unpleasant to dream that way.

My dreams always consist of something I regret I did, I?m ashamed happened to me, or something that?s making me feel really guilty/bad at that moment. I always see enemies in my dreams, like last night or tonight I guess (it?s 8 am now I?ve been dying since 3:30) I saw multiple of my friends who became enemies and it?s always a bad situation in the dream either guilt that I?m not as successful as I should be and they laugh at me or fighting type dreams.

Also I get the waking up while using always. It?s almost become a ritual now to keep a little bit for when I wake up at 2-4 am no matter if I go to bed at 8 pm or 12 am I?ll wake up at 1-3 am most likely.

Before I used to always just shoot up at night no matter the amount and fall asleep for sure until at least 6-7 am and I wouldn?t have nightmares EVER. I actually didn?t dream really the first few years of addiction. I think it?s like marijuana but more intense. What I mean by that is when you smoke weed everyeday as a stoner you don?t really get dreams or nightmares and when you quit you get massive rebound nightmares or just intense dreams.
I think opiates and opiate tolerance over the years has done the same thing and it?s gotten to the point where the dreams and nightmares have to happen one way or another cause you suppressed them for so long. So you start gettting weird shadow people type hallucinations, but personally I get those very rarely and only while in withdrawals. I?m just theorizing here, but that?s what it feels like to me.
It?s bad enough I do opiates hardcore everyday but I?ve also been smoking weed for 10 years daily it?s bad. My entire sleep cycle is fucked from those two plus my benzo use that sometimes gets to the point of benzo withdrawals doesn?t help either.

Anyways just wanted to add my input because I always thought I was alone in this one but the way you described things was on point exactly what I felt

It happened again last night. I nodded off on the couch after taking some oxy (very nice nod btw) and just kinda went with it and fell asleep. Then I 'woke up' and seen the light on in the other room across from me, hallucinated my girlfriend getting pissed and storming off, and then heard something laughing in the adjacent room.

Have you ever been 'hagged'? That's what it was. I could feel her presence and see her back on in the doorway laughing and muttering to herself (I wasn't actually awake I was experiencing sleep paralysis again).

I snapped out of it before the hag came to me. I mean it's harmless afaik, it seems like a pipe dream from opium. But it's making opioid use sooo unpleasant in the evenings that I'm honestly afraid to go to sleep.

Does anybody a thing all know any kind of pharmacology/physiology/ANY KIND OF SCIENCE behind why this happens? It seems so uncommon.

Edit: I first noticed this when I started using heroin actually. But now I'm even noticing it with codeine. It's crazy that you experience the same shit but no one yet has an explanation.

 

[ComfortablyNumb95]

strong opioids give me extreme insomnia. if i use heroin even hours before going to sleep, i'm just gonna lay in bed for hours on end incapable of falling asleep.
it's alright if i'm still high and can catch a good nod, but extremely frustrating if i'm barely feeling anything yet cannot for the life of me sleep for several hours
also, especially if i'm not very high, i can definitely feel weird and unpleasant sensations or even feel scared like someone is there with me or something. idk it's hard to describe but it can be rather unsettling

my theory is that while you're high your CNS is so depressed that your body has to produce extreme amounts of norepinephrine just to keep you alive (which is part of why withdrawals suck so bad, your body keeps producing those huge amounts for a while after you stop your opioid intake), so when you go to sleep your body is doing everything it can to keep you awake with those huge amounts of adrenaline. it's just a theory though so idk if it makes sense

 

[dopiejay]

strong opioids give me extreme insomnia. if i use heroin even hours before going to sleep, i'm just gonna lay in bed for hours on end incapable of falling asleep.
it's alright if i'm still high and can catch a good nod, but extremely frustrating if i'm barely feeling anything yet cannot for the life of me sleep for several hours
also, especially if i'm not very high, i can definitely feel weird and unpleasant sensations or even feel scared like someone is there with me or something. idk it's hard to describe but it can be rather unsettling

my theory is that while you're high your CNS is so depressed that your body has to produce extreme amounts of norepinephrine just to keep you alive (which is part of why withdrawals suck so bad, your body keeps producing those huge amounts for a while after you stop your opioid intake), so when you go to sleep your body is doing everything it can to keep you awake with those huge amounts of adrenaline. it's just a theory though so idk if it makes sense

I've had the same feeling of someone being there with me many many times. Weird how you say that because that is exactly what it feels like.

I find I'll also wake up a few hours after I fall asleep as well, it's just like clockwork.

 

[Painful One]

One thing you guys can try is meditation. It really helps to go through some kind of fantasy creating in your mind and to concentrate on letting your cells just come apart. Like...become water . I also like to think of the Northern Lights and think of myself just floating and drifting with the lights. Just make different relaxing scenario's in your mind.

Throw out all thoughts that are fearful or have anxiety.

I can totally relate on the vivid dreams and nightmares being painfully vivid almost and real.
I was diagnosed with what is called an REM Sleep Behavior Disorder.
The things you guys are saying fit in with what I experience also.

The specialists told me that there are two things that help. I learned this condition actually brain damages you ever time it happens. So it is important to prevent it. BTW. The two things that helped were either melatonin or clonazepam. The melatonin made both my dad and I who have/had this condition all messed up. Whacked out. We thought we were going to have to go to the hospital.
So, we both had to take the clonazepam. I take 1 mg clonazepam before bed and it stops that from happening.

I hope this helps. Good luck guys. It is not a comfortable thing to live with.

 

[FunctionlJnkieGal]

I have sleep paralysis too every once in a blue moon. The phenomenon is hard to explain by science. It could be simply due to stress or lack of sleep, but some people even believe it could be due to extraterrestrial contact. Could be. Seems like something worth researching. I've had experiences that could be related to alien abduction, like waking up with deafening tinnitus and finding mystery marks like a cut/scar on my scalp and waking up with weird bruises (though opiates seem to make me bruise easily for whatever reason). When I take a hefty dose of opiates I try to stay awake to enjoy the high, rather than falling asleep. If I sleep through it, I feel as though I wasted my money.

 

[apocalypse_when]

I have sleep paralysis too every once in a blue moon. The phenomenon is hard to explain by science. It could be simply due to stress or lack of sleep, but some people even believe it could be due to extraterrestrial contact. Could be. Seems like something worth researching. I've had experiences that could be related to alien abduction, like waking up with deafening tinnitus and finding mystery marks like a cut/scar on my scalp and waking up with weird bruises (though opiates seem to make me bruise easily for whatever reason). When I take a hefty dose of opiates I try to stay awake to enjoy the high, rather than falling asleep. If I sleep through it, I feel as though I wasted my money.

Dude, if you seriously believe that sleep paralysis is caused by alien abduction then perhaps you should lay off the drugs for a while lol

 

[Speed King]

Dude, if you seriously believe that sleep paralysis is caused by alien abduction then perhaps you should lay off the drugs for a while lol

Qft,lol. OP, on top of what ComfortablyNumb95 said, you are triggeriging dopamine with those drugs. That will lead to you being less likely to fall asleep.Dosing earlier would help,right?

 

[MeraxesValyria]

Opiates flood the brain with serotonin, the chemical your body typically produces when you wake from sleep. This will definitely contribute to your problems falling asleep whereas melatonin does the opposite, and is what your body produces to help fall and stay asleep.

The original poster also said "played some video games and then bam I was wired". When your eyes are exposed to light (especially blue light from phones and TVs), a signal is sent to your brain to start producing serotonin, similar to when you first open your eyes after sleeping. The fact that you have Oxycodone plus other sources influencing your brains serotonin levels, I'd be pretty confident in saying that this is what's keeping you up.

I myself can never sleep on Oxycodone. I enjoy the nod way too much and simply can't turn my brain off. If I take a small 2mg dose of Circadin (melatonin), I tend to fall asleep anywhere between 30 to 90 minutes after ingestion. That or some weed and Valerian root.

 

[dopiejay]

Opiates flood the brain with serotonin, the chemical your body typically produces when you wake from sleep. This will definitely contribute to your problems falling asleep whereas melatonin does the opposite, and is what your body produces to help fall and stay asleep.

The original poster also said "played some video games and then bam I was wired". When your eyes are exposed to light (especially blue light from phones and TVs), a signal is sent to your brain to start producing serotonin, similar to when you first open your eyes after sleeping. The fact that you have Oxycodone plus other sources influencing your brains serotonin levels, I'd be pretty confident in saying that this is what's keeping you up.

I myself can never sleep on Oxycodone. I enjoy the nod way too much and simply can't turn my brain off. If I take a small 2mg dose of Circadin (melatonin), I tend to fall asleep anywhere between 30 to 90 minutes after ingestion. That or some weed and Valerian root.

Nice I'll have to give it a try. There's a bottle of melatonin in my drawer too and I've never thought of using it. Thanks for all the answers guys, cool to see how many other people are actually experiencing this.

And who knows maybe it is aliens lmao

 

[spacejunk]

yeah, opiate insomnia is awful. such a fitful state - not really wakefulness but more exhausting even than not going to bed at all.

i would echo the melatonin and weed advice - but also just say that you should avoid the temptation to use benzos or any other CNS depressant.

 

[dopiejay]

yeah, opiate insomnia is awful. such a fitful state - not really wakefulness but more exhausting even than not going to bed at all.

i would echo the melatonin and weed advice - but also just say that you should avoid the temptation to use benzos or any other CNS depressant.

I find with opioids, especially those derived from thebaine, that they make me too anxious to smoke weed when it's coming up. And I've tapered down so low on Valium that you could barely say I'm even taking it anymore. The only opiate I find helpful for sleep is morphine/codeine. Everything else just keeps me up all night.

I find oxycodone great for pain but I honestly don't see how people find it recreational? The side effects are many and are very unpleasant. The only opioid that feels recreational to me is heroin, but then street heroin is supposed to do that. I haven't had a recreational effect from any pharmaceutical opiate/opioid besides morphine and maybe smoked fentanyl gel.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

yeah, opiate insomnia is awful. such a fitful state - not really wakefulness but more exhausting even than not going to bed at all.
.

I used to love the twilight sleep effect myself. Cycling between gouching out and waking up to have another toot and a cigarette, but never really sleeping. Unfortunately, the best way of overcoming this issue is tolerance - and weed...

 

[dopiejay]

I used to love the twilight sleep effect myself. Cycling between gouching out and waking up to have another toot and a cigarette, but never really sleeping. Unfortunately, the best way of overcoming this issue is tolerance - and weed...

Thing is I'm only using occasionally now for chronic pain. So what I would have seen as a good time a few years back, I now see as an inconvenience. Lol. It's nothing like my heroin days, I don't even find it recreational. It just a tool to help with nerve pain now, vs being a crutch like it used to be. *cough* heroin *cough*. I keep the use to 2-5 days apart whenever possible to avoid withdrawal. It's been a few months and So far I haven't been even slightly dopesick.

 

[Prescottdave]

Using earlier in the day and sleeping on your side can help. Sleeping on your side will help with the twitching and jerking awake to catch your breath. Cutting out other CNS depressants is also really important.

 

[FunctionlJnkieGal]

Apocalypse_when, I'm not saying that it is, but there are some things that happen that are stranger than fiction. Besides, I don't use psychedelics anymore. Weed and opiates don't cause large cuts to appear out of nowhere, bruises and sleep paralysis maybe, but not large gashes and deafening ear-ringing. If you woke up with missing time un-related to drug use, feeling confused and scared with your ears ringing along with wounds you can't account for, perhaps you wouldn't be joking about it. I have my own beliefs, but I'm not an irrational person in spite of my drug use. I know that logical explanations need to be taken into account first, but in some rare situations there are none. You could have just ignored my comment if you didn't agree or like what I said, but for whatever reason you felt compelled to insult me. I hope being rude to people does more for you than it does for me. I'd rather just stick to pain meds when I need instant gratification in my life, but that's just me...

 

[spacejunk]

I used to love the twilight sleep effect myself. Cycling between gouching out and waking up to have another toot and a cigarette, but never really sleeping. Unfortunately, the best way of overcoming this issue is tolerance - and weed...

it depends how often it happens.
sometimes i used to like it, but if i was exhausted and needed a good sleep it could be frustrating as hell.
the were some nights where i just wanted to get to sleep so i could function at work in the morning, and it's like being tangled up in a net when you really just want to waltz into dreamland.
i mean, you go to some kind of dreamland, but not a very restful one in my experience.

but early on i enjoyed it, especially on really hot muggy summer nights, which you may or may not be able to relate to

I find with opioids, especially those derived from thebaine, that they make me too anxious to smoke weed when it's coming up. And I've tapered down so low on Valium that you could barely say I'm even taking it anymore.

that's an interesting observation - and i would say the same. bupe, oxycodone (both thebaine derivatives) and pst were the worst for me.
pod tea less so, and i think that may have something to do with the sort of pharma crop in tasmania the seeds originated from; the stimmy effects seemed to increase at some point, which i assumed was related to the 'norman' strain of poppies being used.