Arura

Folks, well this seems to be the genrel take for most in Recovery, is lack of sleep.!
For me i find it difficult to stay asleep, from nightmares n genral unease.!

It would be nice if any of us who are up watching the clock go round and the sunrise, to talk about it...!

This is my 2nd night oif seroiusly disutbebed sleep so anything thats good ideas would help...!

baths ,teas, breathing and even temazepam dont work for me anymore...???

So if your feeling as dispondent as me about this, i hope you can relate...Am i trying hard enough , it feels like i crak the whip on my back anyway, so i will also beat myself up because i carnt sleep.
MY first thoughts are always scarry and things i dont want to think about anymore...!

How long will it take for someone who has been on opiates most my adult life, start to sleep in some normal way...AS im craking up now..!

Thanks for the vent as ive also totally had enough of trying , n truing and not seeming to make any difference to things...! apart from not useing...!

soz about the spelling...!

Dreamz

I couldn't sleep for ages after I stopped - I found the best thing that worked for me was valerian - you can get it over the counter at chemists!

You should speak to Chloe06 - she's having trouble sleeping too - you guys are probably going through the same thing at the same time - You might be able to help each other out!!!

bob123

02:30......its these bloody support forums.... ban them I say...

Arura

This and the t.v instead of just the t.v,...! errmmmm this and t.v please.

Not just the damn telly anymore HAHAHA...!

just fed up of seeming to get nowhere with the sleeping thing...!

Sorry if i sound edgy..its not ment ...!

Arura

Good Night ..., I do hope i get an uninteruped sleep...!

I really need one now...!

ZzZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...! finger crossed.!

Nevyn

I understand where you are at. Having the same problem. Wanting something so badly seems to make it harder and harder to attain. Are you getting much exercise? That seems to help.

Sugah

I still have trouble once in awhile sleeping/staying asleep. It's weird....I can tell most nights when I go to bed if I'm going to sleep through the night. Doesn't seem to be anything that different between the nights I do & don't, but there must be something in my physical/mental well-being that is signaling the thought. But I digress.

I had someone tell me early in recovery that "no one died from lack of sleep." The worst thing for me is to lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. If I pray and try relaxation techniques and they don't help, I have to get up, move around, play some solitaire or other mind-numbing game (if I watch a movie, I have to watch the whole thing, so I leave the television off unless I'm wide awake and don't have to get up early the next day). That (the solitaire) often blanks out my thoughts (from nightmares or just general squirrel-cage spinning) enough that I can lay down and let my head go to sleep with my body.

It does get better. I was a garbage head, but when I detoxed, it was primarily from opiates and benzos. Your body will eventually adjust and begin to slip into some more normal patterns. The one suggestion I was given early on, which I wasn't always good at following, was that no matter what time I got to sleep or how much I was up in the middle of the night, to keep a regular wake-up time. That would help my body regulate and be tired enough to sleep through the night. It's a great temptation to sleep in late, though, after a restless night!

Take care, and keep the faith.

Peace & Love,
Sugah

Erin

All I can suggest is Melatonin (which knocks me out within an hour of taking it). Exercise even if it's just a walk. A book that I've read 50 million times before. Certain movies (Independence Day - for whatever reason puts me to sleep same with Star Wars).

I think this is pretty common for a lot of people in recovery.

Arura

Thanks ALL who responded last night,..As it is so many of us now have to suffer unsettled sleep,..seem to be one of them side affect to long term drug abuse...!

Some one said last night, you carnt exprct it to get back to normal straight away...! My body has forgotten what that is...! I woke up 3 more times again after going to bed about,...5am again...!

I have to re-program my body to sleeping...This is going to be hard, as the best way is to tyer yourself out completly...Well itis for me...!

Ive got college today, so got to feel bright eyed n bushy taied today...

Anyhow I got some sleep just not much...! its 8.40am now...so on with the day..with a mission to tryer myself out...I think i can manage that one..:Jumprope:

Wishing you ALL a great day...!

Arura

Its been a tough day for me today,...Ive woken up again at 3am, with deep pains in my side again...!

All the damn worry, dont help none...!

Just wanted to bump up the Late night thread for those who dont get the sleep they need...!

Sleeping tecnequies are ALL well come...!

As i seem to need a base ball bat over the head to put me to sleep.:uzi2:

...

Live

thanks for reminding me that every morning, I say, darn the bed feels so good, why do I stay up so late?

Well, as is usual, I forgot all about taking my mental meds at a reasonable time, like 7-8pm. Now it is 3 hours later.
And I get to thinking, that this is MY time. The only time I have for me and to hang out.
I have always liked to stay up way late anyway and my idea of a really hanging loose is to lie awake all night absorbed in a book.
But my schedule is not my own...I have work and deadlines and damn, I get tired of waking up 3 hours behind schedule!
I should take my meds and go to bed now!
SIGH

Arura

I know that feeling well (((Live))) im off to do the same,...poor b/f thinks ive abondeoned him...for a key board...,! I just took my pain med for my womb..as thats what woke me up so they will work soon,..so im off to the land of nod n cuddles.,...

Good night folks...

mygirls_mylife

Hey late nighter here, its only 11:30 my time, but.....I usually dont even get drowsy until 1:00 am. Then I go to bed and my mind starts racing like crazy. I do my best thinking in bed LOL. I always have. I will lie there and balance my checkbook, have mental conversations with people. I am so bad and scatterbrained that when I am praying, I often forget and start thinking about other things. Then I am like.....Oh wait I was praying. GEEESH

My biggest problem is I wanna sleep ALLLLL day. I dont have a license so I am virtually a prisoner in my house. I have gotten so annoyed with this that I dont even care to go to the pool anymore. I want to be able to take my daughter to the library for story time and to the fountains to play. I wanna go walk the mall and go hang out at dunkin donuts with the "older crowd" LOL and have coffee. I want to take her to gymnastics on friday and dance on tuesday. I am going FREAKING INSANE!!!!!

SOOOOOOO depressed so i sleep more during the day. I sleep WAYYY to much. On nights that I work, I work until 10:30 then I want to come home and surf the netand watch tv for a while.

I just keep hoping that when i get my license back in a couple of weeks that my sleeping habits (as far as sleeping too mych) will change.

OHHHH and I sliced the crapola out of my finger at work tonight. I stopped the bleeding and wrapped it up tight, now I don't want to go to bed, because I know it is going to THROB like crazy!

shwew ok I will quit now,; I am rambling. Sorry. :-)

caligirl770

I am on day 82 being opiate free and I still have to take otc UNISOM to help me sleep. I have been taking it every night since I quit popping pills and I still sometimes wake up in the middle of the night. I think I will soon have to detox from unisom..............lol.
Great idea for a thread, lots of people on here have sleeping problems.

Hope you all get some sleep

chloe06

The reason I have been so desperate is that I literally havent slept for nights, not one wink. My dr thinks I have built up a tolerance to sedative drugs because of sleeping tablet abuse/addiction. I dont sleep at all during the day. He has prescribed me a drug which is an AD but the usual dose knocks most people out for the night and the next day(100mgs) I started on 20mg and have increased it under his instruction to 60mg and still not 1 wink of sleep so he has increased it to 100mg as I am not having any hangover feeling and he feels I really need the AD side of it and that the depression is making the sleep worse. I try to stay in bed even if I dont sleep, so at least I am not sat downstairs alone feeling helpless...I am so desperate to sleep which is probably half the problem...I have also become hypersensitive to side effects of meds so I am not allowed to take anything over the counter or herbal, so I am going to try the new dose tonight. I know I need to excersise but having no sleep means my body feels close to collapse, very weak,dizzy etc but I have to force myself if it means I will sleep.

Chloe

Arura

Thanks ALL the late nighters...! yep its very comomn that addicts in Recovery have great difficulty sleepin...!

I dont know,..we need some good ideas for relaxation teuqnices...! Beathing thro in thro the nose and out thro the mouth ,while counting ,and concentrating on your breath, can really help to stop the ming racing while asleep...!

I also take temzapam for sleep, but ive been takeing them for years so....,They dont work anymore...!
I find i struggle to stay awake, during the day, I know if i sleep during the day at any point ... that is the result, unless im awake half the night...!

I dont know but im gona try to find us the contents of the 'National Fish Fryers Assc' handbook....! or some car manual...! That would also do it...LOL...!

Any Ideas for extra info on sleep on this thread could help US,...as so many of us are awake in the wee hours of the morning. AND they can be long nights like that...!
Especially in the early days of detox...!

Excercise, gets your bodys nervuos system going again, if your detoxing from an opiate, and drink..! and tyers you out to boot.! :Jumprope:

Anymore .....I will go have a good look for us ...!

As by hell it affects your awaking life, and we need the best start in Recovery we can find for ourselves...!