Recovery Normalising sleep after years of heavy meth use

[bc1258]

Hi all, I been a heavy meth/tweaker for over 10 years. Have had some periods of abstinence but generally the stuff has been around too long.
I understand that establishing a normal sleep pattern will take time, but would be grateful to hear from ex-users what has worked for them. Tired the usual array of pharmas (which I don't like) and natural too - melatonin & magnesium powder.
I'm taking 200mg of modafinil as soon as I get up, but can sleep / nap on it during the day. I actually sleep better during the day - wonder why!
Thanks in advance.

 

[Jabberwocky]

My meth experience is limited to near daily use binges of between 6 and 12 months a few times. However, my biggest problem in recovery has been chronic insomnia after the second week of quitting.

I can go days on end with literally no sleep and feel myself psychologically fraying around the edges and moving towards anger or psychosis the longer it goes on.

At first I used 25-50 mg seroquel at night but left me retarded the next day. I tried valium and zolpidem and they helped me just lie in bed and chill or relax for a few hours but not really sleep. Still they stopped me going crazy from insomnia.

Perhaps the best pharmaceutical thing I tried was agomelatine but apparently it is not approved on the US.

However, the very best thing was swimming lots of laps every day. It tired me out physically but it also works like meditation to really calm the mind and relax you so you can get natural sleep.

 

[bc1258]

Thanks for getting back to me. I am actually taking agomelatine / valdoxan, but it isn't cheap here in Australia - about $70 AUD for 28 tabs. I do get drowsy, but still get up and during the night. I actually sleep better during the day.

Your comment regarding swimming is a good idea as I am still very hyper during the day and some exercise might just wear me out.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Thanks for getting back to me. I am actually taking agomelatine / valdoxan, but it isn't cheap here in Australia - about $70 AUD for 28 tabs. I do get drowsy, but still get up and during the night. I actually sleep better during the day.

Your comment regarding swimming is a good idea as I am still very hyper during the day and some exercise might just wear me out.

Shit. I didn't even notice the price when I bought it because I bought a whole bunch of stuff at the same time. So not on PBS yet.

I've also started listening to audiobooks on Audible as I'm trying to sleep. I don't really try and follow the story closely but it seems to stop my brain racing around on its own. I find the best ones for getting relaxed and drifting off are narrated by Stephen Fry. I just set the timer to automatically stop after one hour. Often I don't remember it stopping so presume I was asleep.

The swimming is meditative so it slows down your brain as well as making you physically tired.

 

[ControlDaddy]

Shit. I didn't even notice the price when I bought it because I bought a whole bunch of stuff at the same time. So not on PBS yet.

I've also started listening to audiobooks on Audible as I'm trying to sleep. I don't really try and follow the story closely but it seems to stop my brain racing around on its own. I find the best ones for getting relaxed and drifting off are narrated by Stephen Fry. I just set the timer to automatically stop after one hour. Often I don't remember it stopping so presume I was asleep.

The swimming is meditative so it slows down your brain as well as making you physically tired.

Exercise helps the most IME. I could only exercise for 3 minutes then I could feel the damage and neglect keenly, so I targeted exercise for 3 minutes 5 times a day.

Before bed I take melatonin, which you mentioned, helps me in the 10mg range. I would also make a strong (4 teabags) cup of chamomile tea (drop some milk thistle in there for your liver). Magnesium also helped me when taken before bed, and smoothed out the dreams when I did sleep.

I have a love/hate relationship with Seroquel. It is easy to get it prescribed by almost any doctor. It is one of the better "knockout" pills I have tried, even high doses of Trazadone do nothing for me. The problem with Seroquel is if I don't fall asleep quickly, soon I am up making midnight snacks especially if I am currently a stoner. Even if I didn't raid the fridge I gain weight taking Seroquel, I've been told it has that metabolic effect. And then there is the hangover the next morning, and be careful jumping out of bed. A few times my legs were not ready or something and my doctor told me that was a known side effect, so get out of bed slowly. I avoid Seroquel if I can. My dosage was anywhere from 100mg (somewhat effective) to 200 mg (effective, but stronger hangover).

Probably the best sleep aid is smoking about a half gram of indica in the evening with the last bubbler toke right at bedtime. I can't always do this for various reasons.

Soporific audio that works best for me: natural ASMR sounds e.g. ocean waves, Ken Burns documentaries, Alan Watts lectures, baseball games (at a low volume where I can just barely hear it), binaural beats in the delta or theta ranges. I rotate through them, using the same one for two long makes it harder to drift off for some reason IME.

Sweet dreams!

 

[Jabberwocky]

Exercise helps the most IME. I could only exercise for 3 minutes then I could feel the damage and neglect keenly, so I targeted exercise for 3 minutes 5 times a day.

Before bed I take melatonin, which you mentioned, helps me in the 10mg range. I would also make a strong (4 teabags) cup of chamomile tea (drop some milk thistle in there for your liver). Magnesium also helped me when taken before bed, and smoothed out the dreams when I did sleep.

I have a love/hate relationship with Seroquel. It is easy to get it prescribed by almost any doctor. It is one of the better "knockout" pills I have tried, even high doses of Trazadone do nothing for me. The problem with Seroquel is if I don't fall asleep quickly, soon I am up making midnight snacks especially if I am currently a stoner. Even if I didn't raid the fridge I gain weight taking Seroquel, I've been told it has that metabolic effect. And then there is the hangover the next morning, and be careful jumping out of bed. A few times my legs were not ready or something and my doctor told me that was a known side effect, so get out of bed slowly. I avoid Seroquel if I can. My dosage was anywhere from 100mg (somewhat effective) to 200 mg (effective, but stronger hangover).

Probably the best sleep aid is smoking about a half gram of indica in the evening with the last bubbler toke right at bedtime. I can't always do this for various reasons.

Soporific audio that works best for me: natural ASMR sounds e.g. ocean waves, Ken Burns documentaries, Alan Watts lectures, baseball games (at a low volume where I can just barely hear it), binaural beats in the delta or theta ranges. I rotate through them, using the same one for two long makes it harder to drift off for some reason IME.

Sweet dreams!

The collapsing when you get out of bed is because seroquel lowers your blood pressure - particularly in your brain I believe. Basically you stand up and go hypotensive long enough to collapse.

 

[bc1258]

Shit. I didn't even notice the price when I bought it because I bought a whole bunch of stuff at the same time. So not on PBS yet.

I've also started listening to audiobooks on Audible as I'm trying to sleep. I don't really try and follow the story closely but it seems to stop my brain racing around on its own. I find the best ones for getting relaxed and drifting off are narrated by Stephen Fry. I just set the timer to automatically stop after one hour. Often I don't remember it stopping so presume I was asleep.

The swimming is meditative so it slows down your brain as well as making you physically tired.

Thank you for all this. Much appreciated.

 

[bc1258]

The collapsing when you get out of bed is because seroquel lowers your blood pressure - particularly in your brain I believe. Basically you stand up and go hypotensive long enough to collapse.

Thank you so much for all this. Very grateful.