4 months clean of weed, suffering insomnia need advice

Benzo withdrawal is hellish and I recommend against taking them, I'm not a doctor though. I had bad insomnia and couldn't sleep for a few months, eventually I could sleep again but would wake up multiple times throughout the night. I'm 18 months sober now and I sleep like a baby, I wake up once in the middle of the night once a week or so which was normal for me. I think it's just time that helps, the beginning is rough tough. Something that really helped me was blocking all blue light a couple of hours before bed time, I think I've always had issues with screens and lights messing up my sleep, which probably led to my chronic smoking in the first place. All of the blue light blocking lenses are not created equal, I don't think I can post a link to the ones I got but they block 100% of the blue light and makes everything look amber-ish. Was strange at first but it was the last piece to me getting solid 8-9 hours of sleep per night.

leavepawsbehind wrote:Benzo withdrawal is hellish and I recommend against taking them, I'm not a doctor though. I had bad insomnia and couldn't sleep for a few months, eventually I could sleep again but would wake up multiple times throughout the night. I'm 18 months sober now and I sleep like a baby, I wake up once in the middle of the night once a week or so which was normal for me. I think it's just time that helps, the beginning is rough tough. Something that really helped me was blocking all blue light a couple of hours before bed time, I think I've always had issues with screens and lights messing up my sleep, which probably led to my chronic smoking in the first place. All of the blue light blocking lenses are not created equal, I don't think I can post a link to the ones I got but they block 100% of the blue light and makes everything look amber-ish. Was strange at first but it was the last piece to me getting solid 8-9 hours of sleep per night.

You mean i should rough it out right? Not being able to sleep is really very depressive and i am so scared of anxiety and panick attacks. Also my blood pressure got up 160/100 from the insomnia. Pls help to advise how u survived those months of no sleep

It was...tough. I worked through it as well. I would spend the money to uber/lyft to work instead of driving so that I didn't hurt myself or anyone else on the road because I didn't trust myself to drive through it. I went to bed at the same time every night and didn't nap, regardless of what else my body did. I tried to do all that I could in terms of sleep hygiene. On nights that I couldn't sleep, I would try not to fight it and get upset, but would just lay still and hope that I could get whatever rest I could. Eventually after probably 3-4 months of terrible sleep, I started getting some nights of more restful sleep. I tried melatonin but didn't notice a big difference. Everyone online told me to rough it out and that it would eventually get better, so I did and it did. It was simple but it was really hard.

leavepawsbehind wrote:It was...tough. I worked through it as well. I would spend the money to uber/lyft to work instead of driving so that I didn't hurt myself or anyone else on the road because I didn't trust myself to drive through it. I went to bed at the same time every night and didn't nap, regardless of what else my body did. I tried to do all that I could in terms of sleep hygiene. On nights that I couldn't sleep, I would try not to fight it and get upset, but would just lay still and hope that I could get whatever rest I could. Eventually after probably 3-4 months of terrible sleep, I started getting some nights of more restful sleep. I tried melatonin but didn't notice a big difference. Everyone online told me to rough it out and that it would eventually get better, so I did and it did. It was simple but it was really hard.

Thanka for the great advice i have so much hope now...will discuss with my doctor that i need to taper off the benzos and the anti depressants and rough it out.

Go easy on yourself and try not to fear the night when it's time to try and sleep again. Avoid operating anything that could pose a danger to you or others when you're deprived. Lots of other people have gone through what you are experiencing right now and have made it through!

leavepawsbehind wrote:Go easy on yourself and try not to fear the night when it's time to try and sleep again. Avoid operating anything that could pose a danger to you or others when you're deprived. Lots of other people have gone through what you are experiencing right now and have made it through!

leavepawsbehind wrote:Go easy on yourself and try not to fear the night when it's time to try and sleep again. Avoid operating anything that could pose a danger to you or others when you're deprived. Lots of other people have gone through what you are experiencing right now and have made it through!

Thank you so much, you’ve made me see the light at the end of the tunnel, I was crying yesterday in front of my wife that I wanted to make things right for the family but seems things have gone horribly wrong and got so much support from my wife and today I have made another good friend “leavepawsbehind” so life is really not so depressive after all when you have all the support from your family and people out there are willing to help, thank you so much once again

Hang in there. Unfortunately with weed, withdrawal symptoms last different amount of time for different people. I had a month with 1-2hrs sleep a night, the second month I got 3-4; the third, 4th, months I got 5-6 hrs. I'm in my fifth month and still get only 6 hrs, usually feel tired and always wake up at least once during that 6 hrs (initially I woke up every hour).

Not sleeping is by far the worst withdrawal symptom because it makes *everything* else worse. I tried a few different sleep aides and muscle relaxants (nothing helped), but never tried anything potentially addictive like benzos, since (as leavepawsbehind said) it will have it's own withdrawal. But honestly, I was getting 1-2 hrs of sleep a night at least. If you really get 0 hours of sleep a night, then it may be required. But I would really, really try to take low doses, just enough to get a few hours of sleep. Just think after all this suffering, you had to go through another set of withdrawal from the benzos...

I used to just lie in bed, with my eyes closed, trying different mental techniques to fall asleep. Count backwards from 100; try and remember everything you did that day in reverse order, focus on the menial mental task and it would help me get to sleep...eventually after many hours. I sometimes got frustrated and just worked for a few hours, but it o ly kept my mind on things that would prevent me from sleeping. Other times I'd watch TV but that too just made it harder to get to sleep. The withdrawal makes it really hard to sleep, so you need to try and put yourself in the most sleep-inducing atmosphere, and actually try to sleep. It takes effort, which is strange at first but I got used to it.

Unfortunately my friend, there is no easy solution, other than time. Meds may help but they are not a long term solution, and can lead to other withdrawal issues later on.

Hang in there, try hard to sleep naturally even if it's just for a hr or two. Best of luck.

This is a great thread with lots of excellent advice. Sparklefly12 touched on meditation which is what really helped me - 11 years since my last toke and I still do simple meditation when I’m having trouble getting to sleep.

All I do is repeat (whisper) the number “one” whilst slowly breathing in and out. The word is whispered on the exhale. Amazingly this usually sends me to sleep within a couple of minutes.

There are lots of other simple meditation techniques to be found on the web. Google “simple meditation for sleep”. Hope this helps.

SparkleFly12 wrote:Hang in there. Unfortunately with weed, withdrawal symptoms last different amount of time for different people. I had a month with 1-2hrs sleep a night, the second month I got 3-4; the third, 4th, months I got 5-6 hrs. I'm in my fifth month and still get only 6 hrs, usually feel tired and always wake up at least once during that 6 hrs (initially I woke up every hour).

Not sleeping is by far the worst withdrawal symptom because it makes *everything* else worse. I tried a few different sleep aides and muscle relaxants (nothing helped), but never tried anything potentially addictive like benzos, since (as leavepawsbehind said) it will have it's own withdrawal. But honestly, I was getting 1-2 hrs of sleep a night at least. If you really get 0 hours of sleep a night, then it may be required. But I would really, really try to take low doses, just enough to get a few hours of sleep. Just think after all this suffering, you had to go through another set of withdrawal from the benzos...

I used to just lie in bed, with my eyes closed, trying different mental techniques to fall asleep. Count backwards from 100; try and remember everything you did that day in reverse order, focus on the menial mental task and it would help me get to sleep...eventually after many hours. I sometimes got frustrated and just worked for a few hours, but it o ly kept my mind on things that would prevent me from sleeping. Other times I'd watch TV but that too just made it harder to get to sleep. The withdrawal makes it really hard to sleep, so you need to try and put yourself in the most sleep-inducing atmosphere, and actually try to sleep. It takes effort, which is strange at first but I got used to it.

Unfortunately my friend, there is no easy solution, other than time. Meds may help but they are not a long term solution, and can lead to other withdrawal issues later on.

Hang in there, try hard to sleep naturally even if it's just for a hr or two. Best of luck.

Thanks for the encouragement, will see my doc today and start a taper plan off the be zos

I was getting 2-4 hrs of sleep for the 1st 2 months of weed with vivid dreams but 3rd month comes zero sleep for 5 days straight, it was hellish. A little bit fearful of going back to zero sleep again but then u r right i will be facing another withdrawal again after the benzos, life is really tough but as i learnt from many of u here time will heal

HDog455 wrote:This is a great thread with lots of excellent advice. Sparklefly12 touched on meditation which is what really helped me - 11 years since my last toke and I still do simple meditation when I’m having trouble getting to sleep.

All I do is repeat (whisper) the number “one” whilst slowly breathing in and out. The word is whispered on the exhale. Amazingly this usually sends me to sleep within a couple of minutes.

There are lots of other simple meditation techniques to be found on the web. Google “simple meditation for sleep”. Hope this helps.

Hi HDog455

I am from Thailand and had been going to buddhist temples to learn meditation with the monks, it is not helping my sleep but at least it helps me to put down my worries and feat aside, monk told me if u r not afraid of death then nothing is fearful anymore, that sure did help me to let go of all the worries and anxieties from work and family but no sleep is really hard but i will not give up and will try to be at ease nobody what my brain and body is doing to me!

Hi I wanted to know how you got on as today's date is 27/05/2021 and I am really suffering after 2 monthes

You should try "box breathing" for 10 minutes before you try to fall asleep.

The technique I read about goes like this:

-Breathe in for 4 seconds
-Hold your breath for 7 seconds
-Breathe out slowly drawn out for 8 seconds
-Repeat

I don't know exactly how it works, something with the vagus nerve, and decreasing cortisol. Google "box breathing" for more info on it, there are a few different techniques for different situations, but as far as I know, 4-7-8 is the best for falling asleep.

Good luck!

Can't edit again for some reason.
One thing I forgot.

It's 4 second inhale through your nose

7 second hold

8 second exhale through your mouth

Repeat