quitforme79

On day 9 and the insomnia is awful. I am still thankful for being sober though, so I am not realllyyy complaining but hoping for some pointers. I remember sleep getting better a month after being sober in the past. Hopefully I won't have to wait that long lol When I saw my Dr last week at the "beginning" she gave me a script for ambien w the belief that "sleep is very important" and she knew I'd be struggling with it for awhile. I was so scared to take it and had my pride haha but finally filled it yesterday, took it and NADA. Didn't even make me sleepy one bit. So nothing to be scared of there but didn't work anyway. I've been running every day, no caffiene after 3 and reading in bed rather than the tv thing. Any other suggestions?

DarkDays

I was once on sleep drugs for 18 months...it escalates the problem believe me.

I had therapy, if you do not sleep for 3/4/5 days or whatever, do not worry just carry on the worst you will feel is very groggy, I promise you I was the worst sleeper ever..If I do not sleep I do not care because I still function albeit a bit groggy. Just let the fear go and you will be ok I PROMISE.

isabella1bella

I had same last night but I wouldnt allow myself get up because I knew if I did i'd be wide awake so I lay there thinking about all the positives of being sober .. at about 4am I was sick with tiredness so took a panadol night(tylenol pm) and that sent me off for a few hours .. best of luck with your sleep and recovery hun xxx

DarkDays

ForGot to add The average GP knows sweet fa about sleep problems they just go on guidelines.

I went from 3 ambien a night to zero after 18 months use..It was hard that first week believe me. But Please from experience, ride it out not matter how long it takes and let your body adjust.

Also forgot to add LoL, that all my problems in life regarding sleep and sleep patterns have been down to alcohol.

quitforme79

Thanks for responding guys. I at least am not tired so hopefully this will last throughout the workday. Still going to keep my gym regimen up and hope that my body will eventually adjust like you said darkdays. I was also given klnopin for anxiety which I took the 1st 3 nights after I stopped drinking. Worked like a charm but definitely do not want to rely on benzos to get sleep. And anyway, they made me feel tired the whole next day. Isabella, I will try that tonight...thinking about the positives as you said. Sometimes my mind keeps going and worrying about all I need to accomplish and I am sure that doesn't help.

isabella1bella

our minds at the moment can be our best tool and worst enemy

desertsong

Reading in bed has been helping me, along with hot baths, herbal tea and making the room as dark as possible. I've found I can't just go from watching TV with the hubby and kids straight into bed .... I have to have a "calming ritual" before bed and that has been helping a lot. I've never been a very good sleeper anyway - suffered insomnia on and off for years - but a lot of that was due to my alcohol consumption screwing up my natural sleep patterns.

It does get better, eventually, so hang in there. And just think of it this way : It's better to wake up tired after a crappy sleep than to wake up hungover or, God forbid, still drunk from the night before!

Butterscotch

Try taking Valerian about an hour before you go to bed. I have problems sleeping when I'm not drinking and this works for me.

InsertNameHere

I tend to lie in bed thinking to much, Ie replaying senarios in my head and things like that. I find that it helps if I force myself to think of a relaxing song not actually listen to it on the sterio or anything like that just think about it and play it out in your head. It helps me anyway to kill whatever train of thought I was on and force me to "woosah" calm down. Dee74 has posted a link to several sleep tips a couple of times in diffrent threads that I have checked out. One I picked up was making your bed a place only for sleep and nothing else (even reading).

INH

Peter G

You can also check out Insomnia Cures. That site helped me a lot for info and techniques to use when I couldn't get to sleep. Also sells some binaural beats CD that I picked up ages ago which, oddly enough, works to this day.

I was whacked out on Ambien and Xanax for a long time due to PTSD and a lifetime of insomnia, and I can agree fully with Dark Days. It is better to just not sleep than to look at chemicals for a solution.