KidsEverywhere

Day 10 in the books, but I am having random sleep issues. I take a benedryl and half a melatonin and go to bed around 10pm. I generally fall asleep and sleep good. But about every other night (like tonight) I wake up in the middle if the night wide awake. If I can fall back asleep, I am real sleepy when it comes time to get up at 630.
Maybe this is just normal

Dee74

Like I said in another thread (maybe it was one of yours?) I didn't take any medications and my sleep issues settled down in about 10 days.

I'm a good sleeper now

D

helpimalive

Did you talk to your doctor about the melatonin? I know a lot of people use it, but it can actually mess up your sleep cycle instead of helping. That's what it did to me. I don't use it now, and I sleep great again.

Soberwolf

Congrats on day 10 kids that's amazing

I have used sleep aids in the past and it has helped but the drawback was RLS my legs always felt like they needed stretching

The best way I know to get to sleep is reading a book and good sleep hygeine is

Turning lights off
Logging out of SR an hour or 2 before bed
Turn off tv
Meditation

This works getting me to sleep but I also wake up sometimes via dreams

sugarbear1

I just heard that benadryl can lead to rebound insomnia........

Like soberwolf mentioned, look into your sleep hygiene and start there, maybe?

biminiblue

I just toughed it out. When I would wake in the middle of the night, I would have hot cocoa and toast, and could usually go back to sleep. I had decided I was done "taking something" to "help" with anything. Back to natural was my plan.

The sleep issues passed in a couple weeks.

KidsEverywhere

Thanks for the feedback. Obviously, this is a small issue in the grand scheme of the addiction world. I would wake up all the time in the middle if the night when i was drinking. I thought it was my body coming down off the alcohol. Someone mentioned melatonin and sleep cycles. It seems to exaggerate the cycles. In melatonin, deep sleep cycles become deeper sleep and the when I wake up, I'm more awake. I fell back into a deep sleep last night after being awake for a hour and a half in the middle of the night.

ScottFromWI

It took several weeks for my sleep to start getting back to normal. Be aware that taking supplments/sleep aids can also have side effects of their own...especially mixing them like you seem to be doing with melatonin and benadryl. That's really something you should be consulting with a doctor about.

ccam1973

It took me quite a while before my sleep pattern returned to what I would consider normal. I also tried melatonin but it didn't work for me. I would be careful mixing medications even if one is natural. Who knows what side effect it will have on you specifically.

The way I look at it is even when I am up half of the night by staying sober, I won't be as groggy, useless, empty, lazy or disgusting as if I had drank the night before.

Hang in there, your body is adjusting to life without alcohol and thanking you for it.

FreeOwl

This happened to me a lot too... Especially around 10 months...

This year at almost two years it's happening again. I am suspicious it has more to do with seasonal disruption than recovery for me.

Are you in a far northern location? Seasonal shifts could also be a part of it.

DaisyBee

Exercise may help with sleep as well as a good balanced meal in the evening. Some people like sleepy time tea. I also use an app called Relax Melodies that helps me stay asleep. I hope you get back to good sleep soon.

ozzy66

Sleep withdrawal is just one of the many tools addiction has to get you to use again.