TheMan

Hey all ... this seems like a great forum. Here's my question: I want to quit drinking but I can't seem to be able to sleep without it. For the past 5 years I've been drinking anywhere from 6 to 12 drinks every night. Last week I tried to just take over the counter sleeping pills to fall asleep and I was in like this half-concious/half-awake state all nite and exhausted all the next day. If I could sleep normally without alcohol I would have no problem quitting drinking. Any tips anyone? I would be forever in your debt....
Thanks!

Unknown03

I have this same exact problem. In fact, thats why I'm up right now.. I've been laying in my bed for the last hour and a half.. I think I might make some sleepy time tea

DayWalker

I had the same problem. i use to try Excedrine PM as well as other over the counter pills. All can say is this...it gets better. The first month I stayed awake till about 6am every night no matter what time I went to bed. About 4-5 weeks after being sober, I started sleeping very easy without any problems.

Although its 3am right now lol.....thats just because I have been sick and slept for the past 2 days all day long lol. It gets better though just tuff it out. I know it sucks, but it does get easier.

Steve

nelco

In afraid it took a little more than this for me. My head was full of the past , the future, the not knowing. I got a sponser and working started on the steps.....started dealing with what was going on for me. Some of the stuff I did to aid sleep while I was doing that ...was ....I ate properly, walked in the fresh air (exerise)worked in my garden... had long baths with lavender in and a warm drink of co co or milk before bed. read something soothing. Got a routine. took vitamin b tabs ( my nervous system was shot) took time to recover physcially.

Hope that helps

FightingIrish

It is my OPINION that if you drink enough that you cannot fall asleep when you do not drink you have a BIG problem. Time to call the doctor.

In detox units they usually give you a benzo and something like trazodone, which help you sleep. My sleep patterns were disturbed for about a year.

beingjenagain

Yeah I thought I needed to drink to fall asleep ( and to wake up and to get thru the day) but all I was really dong was passing out. I would wake up at 3 am and drink a couple more so I could "fall asleep" till 7am. It probably took about 6 weeks to really get a consistent straight thry night sleep. But even my interupted sleep started making me feel more rested in as little as 3weeks. Now 1+ years and I sleep like a baby, bounce up , get the coffee going and love and enjoy my day!!!

justanothrdrunk

My experience has been that you just have to gut it out for the first few days. I have no tips to share except to plan for no sleep for a couple days.

CarolD

Please check out this link.....perhaps it will help

Insomnia? 42 Simple Tips to Help You Get to Sleep - Insomnia treatment, cures

Glad you are thinking about qitting alcohol
it causes damage to everyone who drinks.

Welcome to SR...

flutter

Yeah, you're passing out.. you're really not sleeping well at all.

I also mistakenly thought I had problems sleeping and "needed" to drink or take pills to get a good night's sleep. The sleep I've had since I quit drinking and taking any pills has been better than any sleep I have ever had, that I can remember. I also thought I had anxiety and drank to correct it.. imagine that, I quit drinking and both my insomnia and anxiety disappeared! It took me a week or so to clear my head a bit and relax a little.. the withdrawal from alcohol makes your body feel as though you need it.. the anxiety about recognizing you have a serious problem and need to quit, well that will last a bit too and likely effect sleep.

I used the herbal suppliment Sleep MD at first, and it worked like a charm for me, but I quit that asap as herbal or not, I did NOT want to be dependent on yet another thing!

HappyMia

Carol - that was an awesome resourse - thank you!

This is my second attempt to quit drinking in about a year and a half. The first time I went about 7 days with one slip up and then dove right back in. Sleeping is one of the bigger things with me too. Last night I decided not to drink - it was just one day. I taught 2 hours of aerobics last night, came home, took a shower and then ate some soup. It was really relaxing and that's what I focused on. I was snuggling with my cat who is shedding horrible, so I took a benadryll and that got me really sleepy - but not high or drunk.

OTC sleep aids always made me feel jittery. Some other things that work for me is counting back from 1000 really slow, meditation, herbal tea and sex with myself. Sorry I know it's TMI but it's the truth! Reading a boring book also works - but it has to be boring

Good luck to you and to me on taking a stab at sobriety.

LilyMarie

Like others have said, the first week or so was very hard for me to sleep no matter what I tried (minus using sleeping pills).
But I find that Sleepy Time tea, melatonin, being calm and quiet an hour or so before bed, and some deep breathing or meditation helps when needed.

Best of luck to you and your sobriety.

Gypsy Feet

Haha no wai Jess me too, get out of my head!!! I also make sure to get in some aerobic exercise every day now, helps me in so many ways, I don't think I would stay sober without it

keithj

This is a lie.

So is this.

You don't know yet that they are lies, but they are. If you take the steps required to recover, you will see them for the lies they are. Trust me. I believed the same lies for a while. And I believed countless other lies I told myself so that I could stay drunk. Telling myself lies was easier than admitting the truth. The lies allowed me to avoid taking any action.

It's just the truth, my friend.

joedris

Sleep problems are a given for an alcoholic who get sober. We all experience it. I went 4 days w/o any sleep when I stopped, but after a while it does get better. Your body has to re-adjust itself. But keep in mind that you won't die from lack of sleep. It takes a while, so get used to it and don't worry about it.

TheMan

Wow. I'm completely overwhelmed by the amount of responses. Thank you so much!

To the guy that said it's a lie: it is not. On the nights I've tried not drinking I just lay there in bed, unable to keep my eyes closed. I've tried meditation, I've tried chamomile tea, melatonin, and OTC sleep aids. NOTHING helps. I have a job so I can't go without any sleep...

Anyhow, thanks again everybody. I didn't see any solutions to my problem but I did see a helluva a lot of support.
TM

Lenina

I started drinking because I couldn't sleep. I didn't know then that alcohol doesn't help you sleep. You might get drowsy but you don't get good, restful sleep. If anything, alcohol messes up the body chemistry and makes good sleep harder to get.

I have a sleep disorder. I've been to many doctors, tried many things. One doctor who was a neurologist told me the best thing for sleep is a regular schedule. Get up at the same time every day, eat on a regular schedule (big breakfast, medium lunch, light dinner) exercise early in the day and go to bed at the same every night.

Avoid caffeine and try herbal teas. Have a bedtime routine. Turn off the TV, computer and keep the bedroom a place only for sleep or sex. (yes, he said this!)

This seems to work for most people. I use meditation tapes and they seem to help me at least rest if not get solid sleep.

I can absolutely promise you, from my experience, alcohol does not help sleep.

Love,

Lenina

Rad44

If the insomnia is holding up your recovery you may want to see your Doctor about meds they can prescribe. Roasrum is all natural and non addictive. It takes a couple of days to build up but does a decent job keeing asleep for a night. Ambien is stronger and can be addictive. I have found it to work extremely fast (10-15 min) to put me sound asleed for around 5 hours.

sfgirl

If anything over the long run stopping alcohol helps your sleep amazingly. Alcohol also like other people have said while it may help you fall asleep does not give you a good quality of sleep. Every night I drank, which was pretty much every night falling asleep was easy but then like some others said I would wake up around 3 or 4 and have a little fight to go back to bed. Your body is in a period of readjustment in the beginning and you just have to let it do its thing. If you are only giving it one night off and then one night back on of drinking then you are not giving it its shot to heal itself. You have got to bear it out.

Same bedtime every night. No caffeine. Exercise a few hours before bed. I personally would avoid most over the counter sleep aids. A lot of them have medicines in them that rev you up. I cannot take Tylenol PM and the like because like Sudafed they contain the ingredient that increases your heartrate and gives me massive panick attacks. I therefore think that they must be sort of like alcohol with sleep. They help you get there but the quality can't be as much. If you need some aid for readjustment in the beginning I would see a psychiatrist who could prescribe benzos or something similar to help the transition phase.

I just started doing Bikram Yoga (the hot one where it is 105 degrees in the room) um, if you want to be exhausted try that. Every day I get back from class I feel like I could sleep for a century.......

chip

Welcome to the forum, TheMan.

Quitting drinking is tough for those of us who became dependent upon it. Sleep is always an issue for those of us who quit.

I can relate to being in a situation where I needed to drink to sleep, and I needed to sleep to do my job. It was just one example of how much I depended on alcohol. It was also another way that I justified my drinking. For years, I didn't want to quit because it would disrupt my life.

Things got to a point for me that I needed to quit, and I accepted the fact that it would disrupt my life....in the short term....for long term gain.

Getting sober is tough in the short term. Getting sober is a long term solution to any alcohol problem. The sleeping was rough for me during my first several months, but it soon smoothed itself out. I sleep better now, sober, than I did when I was drinking.

A sleep specialist will confirm that quality is better than quantity with regards to sleep. The "type" of sleep you get from drinking isnt' as effective as the deep sleep you get in sobriety.

I hope you find the resources you need to quit drinking. Drinking kills.
chip

coffeenut

Lots of good advice in this thread.

I used to use lack of sleep as an excuse to drink, too. I used it as an excuse for a lot of things.

You can sleep sober. But, you gotta get sober, first.

Welcome to SR.