Just curious if anyone understands about sleep and withdrawl
 

I hope I am getting to the end of my rope here as far as how long I can pull this off. I am absolutely sick as **** of this. Quitting would be far easier if it were not for the nights. I can not pick up all day, but night comes and my already, naturally insomniac body, turns into hyper insomniac. I cannot even doze off till 8 A.M and when I do, the cold sweats are so bad. I have those weird muscle spasms and the anxiety is so bad. Any idea as to why nights and trying to sleep are so much worse than daytime? Or am I the only weirdo to experience this?

Hi babycat, It's very common to have insomnia. So far I've heard: exercise, vitamins, relaxation techniques, soft music, warm bubble baths, and a warm drink before bed such as sleepytime tea or warm milk. It will get better in time. Best wishes. Congratulations on your sobertime.

I think we all suffer insomnia in withdrawal and early sobriety to some degree. For me the insomnia was horrible torture. But it did get better. As did the hot and cold running sweats, frozen hands and feet, shaking, spasms and anxiety. It all went away with time. Fight your way through it, you'll find that it does get better and sobriety is so worth it. I promise.

Babycat ! It's so nice to see your name.

I'm so very sorry you are struggling so much. I know you have had a rough go at as of late.

I had all of those things. The most inexplicable anxiety and those awful muscle jerks. I can say, unequivocally that when i got some dry days behind me, those maladies lightens up. It's that alcohol reeking havoc on our CNS.

And, not to scare you, but once you get to this point, it doesn't get any better.

I'm so glad you are back.

Be well dear one.

I think insomnia is pretty common for anyone in withdrawal. It would take me anythign from a few days to a week to get back into some kind of regular sleeping pattern again - usually by 2 weeks I was good again :)

If insomnia impacts you greatly in your day to day life it's probably best to check in with a Dr for advice babycat.

D

I copped a fair bit of brain damage in my journey and one of the consequences of that is I am not very good at remebering dates and the order of events. But I do remember having terrible trouble sleeping just like you describe. I guess it lasted about two months. I also remember well the first good night's sleep I got. It was the night after I took my 5th step. Slept like a baby:)

Thank you all guys. It has been super rough lately. I posted about my little brother's death that happened a few months ago and how I have got to get my **** together. The opposite has happened. I am just so sad and miss him so much that I just want to sleep or drink so I don't have to feel anything. I have been seeing a consular that I like, it does not seem to be actually helping. I always feel so much better after 2 days of not drinking, but it is those 2 days I have to get thru. God, I hate this so much. I am so sad always.
And right now my anxiety is thru the roof with the the coming holidays. As much as some of us in my fam have had private struggles, we have always been a very close loving family. I don't know how I can handle this coming Christmas.

Awe sweetie. My heart goes out to you. I know this pain.

There is no way around, but through.

The longer we make attempts at pushing it down and away vis a vis drinking, the longer it will stay and loom. This is painful, heart busting anguish you are dealing with. In fact, the pain is so inexplicable, the word "pain" is almost inadequate. There are no words to describe what you are feeling. And, so, we drink. To try in absolute desperation to numb something, anything, and be able to breathe through another dark day.

May the peace that surrounds him as he steps into the Light, on the next phase of his souls journey, wrap you in its gentle warmth and carry you through, until you meet again...

Blessings to you my friend...

XO AO

I know how you feel about the lack of sleep.
I swear I haven't slept well since I was about 14!

I'm 17 days clean now and already I am sleeping a bit better.
In the past I would drift off for about 10 minutes then wakeup again. At my worst times the anxiety, spasms and racing heart would be so bad that i'd drink to calm them, so that could be at something like 4am or 5am in the morning, so drinking at that time i'd turn up to work drunk.

I have no idea how I managed it sometimes as I was on auto-pilot a lot, but eventually that auto-pilot gets sick of things and gives up, then you're in trouble.

It does get easier tho. The first part of withdrawal is horrible and it's tough, but it does get better.

I haven't tried this yet but I read somewhere (and been desperately trying to find it to post), the Epsom salts, in as hot a bath as you can cope with, is good for insomnia.
From memory, it was something to do with magnesium? I'll keep trying to find it.

PS found it :)

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin...salt-baths.htm

You are in the early stages, and it is horrendous. We all remember and are with you 100%

The way you are feeling is why most people dont manage what you are attempting. It is just too hard.

You are not most people though. You are one of us, and you will ride the pain through to the end. It will take time, and you will be taken into a darkness you never knew could exist, but you will come out the other end.

You have no choice now.

We are here for you.

Do it.

Insomnia was the hardest part for me too. I ended up talking to my doctor and getting a prescription for a non-habit forming medication which helped me a lot. Though there are less than safe medications which can help there are also safe ones. I would talk to your doctor and research on your own before taking anything he prescribes to make sure it is safe and non-habit forming.

I was looking into Epsom salts the other day and i'm going to buy some next week and see what it's like.

I'm so sorry about your brother's death. The insomnia does go away after some time of sobriety. But with so much going on right now in your life, maybe you should see a doctor that can at least help prescribe something to help you for now get sleep. Be honest about your recovery; sleep is very important.
There's so much support on this forum, and so much great advice and love on SR. Keep posting, stay strong, alcohol will only worsen the situation.

Sleeping is the toughest part of early sobriety for a lot of people, but it does get easier. I'm 52 days sober and it does get easier to sleep and better overall. You just gotta hang in there and get through the worst of it.

I also struggled to fall asleep at night and would be up until the sun came up and it was easier to fall asleep, so no your not a werido. My sleep schedule got completely messed up in early sobriety and I'm still trying to fix it. Trouble sleeping is normal.

OMG.. I close to a month in and just started sleeping last week. I went to Walgreens and got a non habit forming generic sleep aid. I take it about 2 hours before I go to bed and voila.... atleast 6-7 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I and alot of us have been where you are. The beginning is the worst. I would like others have posted stay up until the sun rose and go to bed for an hour or 2. I truly hated that. I know the zombified feeling you have and your body feeling like its about to shut down, yawning all day, full of anxiety just wanting to snooze. It's all necessary to get you to the next level.

I'm right there with you. In fact, I posted the same type of thread about 40 minutes ago. I'm glad to see all these responses. Don't get me wrong, I'm not glad that any of you had to go threw these AWFUL, sleepless nights. I'm glad that I'm not the only one (I kind of thought I was just losing it in my head) and it gives me inspiration to continue on the sober path, since I now know this is very common. Thank you all for your responses to this question, you have no idea how much it helped me.