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zero sleep

Q

queenscarlet88

Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
191
I don't feel like I drink enough to have a "problem" but am really suffering because of my drinking right now. After a night of drinking I am guaranteed to be awake for a long time. I will not sleep that night and often I will not sleep the next nights either. Then, over the next several days, I'll start to sleep for a couple hours here and there, but the sleep is so light and fragmented that I actually feel worse when I wake up. This problem is worst when I drink a large amount, but even a single drink usually has the same effect.

The end result is I am drinking twice a week but getting almost no sleep throughout the entire week. I start to feel so depressed and run-down from the lack of sleep that I cave in and drink again, restarting the cycle. I am miserable and don't know how to stop drinking and start sleeping again.
 
Sounds like alcohol might be effecting you differently than most. You sleep somewhat normally when no booze present? When I stopped drinking after years of drinking nightly I suffer from extreme insomnia, not the other around.
 
I get terrible insomnia from alcohol as well.
Like you, even one drink in the afternoon would totally fuck up my sleep that evening. I would find that i could fall asleep, but that i'd always wake up after an hour or two and not be able to get back to sleep again.

In the end i decided it was a side effect i wasn't prepared to put up with, so i stopped drinking altogether (almost 8 years ago now).

I sometimes feel like i miss out a little because i can't/won't/don't have drinking sessions with my friends any more, but i just smoke weed instead and it doesn't disrupt my sleep.
 
^Yeah, I seem to get some kind of alcohol rebound and suddenly wake up like four hours after falling asleep on alcohol.

OP: this is exactly how people become dependent on drugs like alcohol. You're going to have to learn to sleep without. Slippery slope and all that...
 
Thanks guys. Glad I'm not the only one, although sorry that others also have a similar problem. I have a history of benzo addiction; maybe that contributes to the anxiety-inducing, sleepless effect that alcohol has on me. Have not had anything to drink in the past few days and am sleeping more normally though still not enough hours. It will get better!!
 
I'd imagine. Learn to clear your mind of all thoughts when going to sleep, and stick to proper wake up/sleep times.
 
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