spoon48

i recently quit taking oxycodone and methadone on a daily basis. today is my 8th day clean and i still have extreme sleeplessness. my doctor prescribed me ambien, then lunesta to help me sleep. to be honest it doesnt work that well. how long do withdrawls generally last? i feel weak to the piont where walking takes so much energy. in need of guidance.

lawrence943

Hi Spoon,

I happy to hear that you are on day 8, congratulations!

Question: Are you getting any support on what happens when you go off of these type of medications? It sounds like you did it "cold turkey"??? If sleepiness is the only withdrawal, looks like you are in good shape, but that sleepiness may mean more. Do you have a doctor that you cant talk to specifically about "DETOX" and "it's" side effects?? I hope so.

Good luck to you! You certainly have a beautiful place to take your mind and let it rest there in HI. I lived there about 7 years ago, and found the beaches and the islands very therapeutic.

Good luck, stay close with professional help!

spoon48

thanks lawrence. i have talked to my physician and he said im probably better off just doing it cold turkey. so cold turkey it is. i just want this sluggish feeling to subside. at one point my doctor also prescribed me xanax to combat the anxiety accompanied with my sleep aide to help me sleep. i stopped taking the xanax for fear that it would take me back to square one. what a day, what a day.

lawrence943

If I may ask a question: Why did your doctor tell you it "would be better" for you to do cold turkey?? Just curious. Have been in the medical profession 25+ years, and I have never heard that suggested as a good thing? Have seen ******* drs do it to patients, and I have been the one to see them suffer through it, not good. Usually had to refer them on further to get some help. Are you ok with that cold turkey, are you health and young, strong heart?
Oh.... the Xanax, avoid that crap the best you can. I almost broke my foot kicking my desh coming off of that, that stuff is NASTY NASTY!

Good luck, if you need a chat, hope I can help! : )

lawrence943

opps, guess I should not have called the dr a "body part", my apology! It was clean, but I guess not approperiate! ; )

spoon48

he referred me to a clinical psychiatrist because i told him i did not want to go through a detox facility. when will this insomnia end?

spoon48

any advice regarding how to cope with the insomnia?

lawrence943

Insomnia, what a creature!

Well, I am trying to use the new sleep aids, Ambien and Lunesta. I feel like a different women when I have had consecutive couple hours of sleep, even if it's just 3-4, helps the muscles relax, and the brain function better. My pain doctor did give me a "more natural" sample of sleep medication called: Rozmeren. Never heard of it, but will try it when the Ambien runs out, way toooooooo much $$$$$.

There is also a tea that I found that is sold in New York, called "Sleep Mix". If I had the number off hand I would send it, but do not know where it is. You can find it on the internet, the phone number that is, no website currently on the tea. It is like 5-6 herbs. Many de-tox facilities use it for people coming off the heavy stuff. If I find the number I will send it to you. Due to my own de-toxing right now from Klonazepam, I am in a disorganized mess trying to keep my head straight. My girlfriend thinks it works, but I can't say for myself yet.

Exercise? Are you up for that? I was pacing the floor today and my skin was crawling and my mind racking, and I MADE myself go for a walk, felt much better for a couple of hours. The sun and the fresh air was a nice change to the living room floor! Are you close to a beach, ...... you gotta be! : )

Gosh, hang in there, I know that insomnia is hell, I have had it for more years than I care to count up. As soon as I go to sleep, my brain comes knocking. Hate that!

Keep us posted, and if YOU find any sleep miracles, please by all means let me know!

Take care!

spoon48

thank you so much lawrence you have been a great inspiration. my physician presribed 7 3mg tablets of lunesta for me to try. the copay came out to $27!! for 7 pills! i was definately shocked. i am keeping myself busy with work but when i come home it seems my body is ready to go to sleep but my mind isnt. could be because the usual time i would take oxycodone/methadone would be in the later evening hours. day 9 so far and im hoping this coming week will be better. i just keep on asking myself how long does this last? more importantly whats been on my mind recently is what is the procedure when someone checks into a detox facility due to oxycodone/methadone addiction?

spoon48

has anyone tried melatonin to help them sleep? i saw it at the grocery store. wondered if it would help with my insomnia. much thanks.

Blake

Hey spoon,

I was an oxy/heroin/methadone addict and I can fully relate t oyour insomnia. The problem is that methadone is a long acting opiod, it last a long time, so unfortunately the wd's last a long time too. I was on 120mg/day of methadone and I did a cold turkey detox also, for me the sleep problems were the last of the WD symptoms to subside. I had a really hard time sleeping for about a month and a half, then i was able to sleep more and more in continuous streches. At 3 months clean my sleep cycle was relatively back to normal. I have 11 1/2 months now and I still have trouble sometimes with the sleep thing but it is a whole lot more manageable than it was right when I was where you are at. Congrats on the 10 days too! that is awsome! You are over the worst part...

Have you considered NA? It has helped me stay clean for almost a year and I had never been able to do that before with out it.

Good luck,
Blake

(P.S. melatonin does help some people with sleep, others it doesn't do a thing for. I'm lucky so it helps me get good restful sleep, you might want to check it out as a non-narcotic sleep aid....ambien can be dangerous if used for long periods of time...)

(P.S.S.-Most detoxes, with excetion of the really expensive private ones, wouldn't take you at 10 days clean off oxy/methadone.....the state detox facility wouldn't take me at 3 days clean b/c they considered me "out of medical harm" at that point even if I disagreed.)

spoon48

thanks for the guidance and advice blake. wow a month eh? i have been taking ambien but recently switched to lunesta. both i find not to help at all. it has been nothing short of hell. i think the urge to sleep makes me want to go back on oxy/methadone. but i know right from wrong. im going to give the melatonin a shot tonight with the recommended dosage to help me sleep and ill keep everyone posted on how it goes.

thanks again

Blake

It's important to go stright to bed as soon as you take it...no t.v. or computer or cigartettes or anything, it has a short window for working.

Sweet dreams!!!!

spoon48

thanks blake. will do. if it doesnt work... ill be here!

spoon48

well blake it didnt seem to work. im still up right now after i took the melatonin and its 0325am. what non-narcotic sleep aides are out there?

Blake

Damn....sorry it didn't work, insomnia sucks ass...

What I used when I was getting clean was melatonin and tylenol pm (as directed and sparingly). I think I heard the lunestra is non-narcotic, however anything that makes you go to sleep, is habit forming by nature, spend too much time taking anything to go to sleep and eventually you can't go to sleep without it, narcotic or not.


Good luck, hope you get some sleep...
Blake

Lbad

Hi Spoon and Blake,
I don't know what help I can offer that Blake hasn't already said. Time. It just took time. I tried everything from Seroquel to Xanax to Ambien nothing worked except time. It took about two months for sleep to be "ok" many months for it to get "normal". Insomnia was for me too the most protracted and frustrating problem. The hope that I can offer is that I felt totally hopeless about my insomnia. I thought it would never get any better. Well it did. It just took time. I very quickly stopped all the pills and stuff and just waited it out. I had a lot of support though too. I posted here all the time and had a huge support system in AA and NA. People kept telling me that it would get better. I believed them and it did. I hope this helps and I hope you keep reaching out for support and help. I can totally relate to the problem. I know others here can too. It sucks. I hated it. It got better. I promise your will too.

spoon48

thanks for the support. wow it seems everyone took a month or two to get over the insomnia. im a full time student right now, do you think taking the semester off would be a wise decision? im sooo tired, and longing for some sleep.

Blake

I took the semster off when I got clean this time, I'm going back in the fall this year so actually I took a year off....school will allways be there, the less stress you have to deal with, the better in my books.

Lbad

Good Morning Spoon,
Just checking in to see how your feeling. I don't know about the school thing. I wasn't working or anything when I detoxed. All I had to do was take care of me for awhile and that worked for me. I know others who have worked or gone to school and they survived ok. Do you go to meetings? Do you know anyone who knows your situation well that you can talk to about it? Good luck and I hope you have a good day.