Quit Weed-Been 4 Weeks- Can't Stay Asleep

Hello

I also get insomnia from time to time, ever since i was a kid. Although mine is never falling asleep. Eventually i get so fed up and realize the futility of even trying to sleep and just get up.

I now have a real love affair with the small, quite, gentle hours when the rest of the world sleeps. I guess over the years i've found a bonus in my insomnia.

Worrying about it and getting stressed about it definately makes it worse. There's no hope of sleep then!!
I've also come to realise that missing some night's sleep is okay, coz when i do next fall asleep, i go into a deep, restful sleep where my body makes up for the loss.

Your insomnia is obviously different. Must be so frustrating to fall asleep only to keep waking.
Is this something new?? Did it start when you quit weed?? If so, then don't sweat it. Really. Just give your body the time it needs to readjust and settle down.
From other posts here, it seems symptoms average at around 3 weeks. So you're not average. That's all!!!

Try not to get upset or anxious about it. That'll only worsen matters for you. You are getting some sleep. Its possible you're going into deep sleep and getting the rest your body needs.
In my humble opinion, i'd resist medication and stick it out a bit longer. If there was still no change, i'd ask for a referral to a sleep clinic which specialises in sleep disorders to investigate further.

Hope it gets better for you. Try not to get stressed. Oh, and stay away from caffine ... tea as well as coffee.

All the best to you,
Magic XSX

I sleep good the first two weeks and then went through a couple of nights like you described-falling asleep okay, but then waking up continually every 1-2 hours. I now try to lay off anything with caffeine in it after 2pm (saw that on a Doctor's tv show) but the most effective thing I tried and worked was drinking one beer in the evening and it helped me. Now, I'm not professing drinking, because I usually go weeks in between a beer, but for the last week the ONE beer thing lulled me into a regular sleep. Take it for what you will........

For what it's worth this all started almost exactly one week after I initially quit. I felt really proud of my decision, strong, and resolved to stay clean for the first seven days. It might just be a coincidence but then there was one Saturday night where I stayed up all night partying with some friends(not smoking at all!), came home the next day, had a little nap, but then later that night it all started. This was exactly 3 weeks ago tonight.

At no point over the past month have I physically craved a joint. Really. I still don't, but I guess subconsciously there is no doubt I still the effects.

I'm aware that stressing about it is doing much more harm than good right now. The doctor told me as much. It's so hard, though, to shake that expectation that when you close your eyes you'll be opening them again in an hour. And then an hour after that. And then an hour after that.

I'm so frustrated. I generally don't drink, but my father actually told me to try the single beer thing as well. So, who knows, I may go that route yet.

did you try light sport 3-4x a week?

Hello again.

I can genuinely hear the frustration in your words. You know what's coming, and you also know you're powerless to stop it or change it. Maddening!! Its enough to frustrate anyone.

But it also really seems to be a temporary thing. Reading what you've written, i personally don't feel this will go on and on indefinately.

Try exercise. Try some beer too if it'll cheer you up ... but do be wary of substituting one addiction for another. If the worst comes to the worst, then hey ... take a couple of sleeping pills. At least to get some rest if you're feeling really stressed out about it all.

Chances are, if you're really, really tired - then your body will just crash and you'll sleep without interruption anyway.

I guess also that nothing in this life is for free. There is a price (in some form) for everything in this world. Every post here speaks of the prices paid for addiction. Every post also tells of the prices paid for regaining health. Some suffer more than others. Some addictions were more intense than others. We have all gone thru our own private little hell in some form or other. We have all paid a price to get where we are today ... and it is the very payment - the actual sacrifice - which makes victory so sweet and so pertinent and so, so, so worthwhile.

If there was no pain, there would quite literally be no gain.

I find this theory in my life helpfull. BUT ... i am no sadist. I'm NOT suggesting you should be cruel to yourself. Maybe just to keep one eye on the bigger picture, and to take the rough with the smooth - within reason.

You sound like you kinda think this way anyhow.
Its the powerlessness that's so hard to take. But actually, you are in complete control really .....

I wish you sweet dreams,
Magic XSX

Thanks for all the kind words. Really. This site is the best.

So last night I went on a 30 minute run after supper, came home, went to bed at 12 pm and slept straight through until 5 am!! Of course then I woke up and lay there until around 6:30 am, but I eventually did get back to sleep until 9:30 am.

Eventually I think I'll get this thing under control. I guess exercise really is the key.

Okay, so, I'm sorry everybody but I think I am going to have to go back to the mary jane. At least before bedtime. I really wish I didn't have to, but I can't take this sleep disturbance anymore. Now I am sleeping 12 am - 4 am every morning, and then after that I awake every. hour. on. the. hour. Sometimes twice an hour.


It really gets me down that all this hard work is going down the drain but I just want my sleep back.

Whoa there Freed!

You're doing so well, don't let insomnia beat you.
Have you tried a relaxation CD when you wake up? Have you tried saying the word 'the' over and over again and really focusing on it while you chant it? (A friend of mine told me that was a recommended route, haven't tried it myself). I do suffer with the odd night of restless sleep, I have a brain that goes into fully switched on mode the minute I wake up and then continues to fill my head with worries about money, people, kids, the usual middle of the night paranoia stuff. But what generally happens, is that I'll have a bad night, be tired all day then sleep like a baby for the next few catching up on zeds!

I don't mean to trivialise something that's obviously bothering you, but do hang in there because I think you'll find a bedtime hit will become an after supper hit. The after supper hit will become a wind down after work hit etc etc and before you know it, you'll have undone all your hard work.

Rooting for you

Hebes

Fight it man, it'll pass. Don't take that toke. You have to go through the pain to quit it. It sucks I know, but the only way for you to make that jump is to stay off it. You gotta respect the power of that drug and the pull it has on you. It's gonna take a while to get that negativity out your life.

Shucks Freed,

Don't cave in now!!! You're probably half way thru the disturbed sleep thing by now - if not more.

Just think, you'll only have to start at square one and go thru it all again.

Sleep deprivation can make people CRAZY .... I mean, its even used as a torture/interrogation method. You're not thinking clearly. You're having a panic.

If you're this stressed, have a sleeping pill and get some proper rest. THEN, when you're thinking clearly, make your decisions. Don't make knee-jerk decisions when you're tired and grumpy.

You've come such a long way Freed. I know it doesn't feel like it, but you've accomplished a lot here. What about the exercise? That seemed to work for you ... tho i can hardly blame you for not wanting to go pounding round the block every night. Don't think anyone really wants to do that.

Hang in there my friend. It'll get better. Promise.
Magic XSX

I've got to agree with the others-if you cave now, you'll be back at square one. I'm only at 36 days, but with determination you can gain your sleep back. I still wake up 2-3 times a night after the every hour thing early on and it IS part of the detox process. Smoking only at night will be feeding the craving and you'll lose any ground you have gained thus far. Get up earlier, stay up later, take walks or exercise, meditate or do anything you can think of first to make you more tired and you'll have more of a chance to succeed!

Freed dont do it mate, i have had the same trouble with sleep as you,
heres a couple of tips i have picked up over the years, some way help.
1. go to bed at the same time every night.
2. get up the same time every day. That means no layins. ever.
3. there's only 2 things u should do in bed , 1's sleep, i think u can work the other one out, dont watch telly or read in bed. If u do wake up early, get up dont stay in bed. Do something, read, diy any thing except lay there in bed.
And dont go back to bed till its the right time that night.
4. exercise will really help, start easy and build it up. Try not to do it to late at night tho, at least 3 hours before bed.This gives ur body time to recovery and cool down.
5. dont eat or drink any thing at least 2 hours before bed.Also look at ur diet, its true u are what u eat
6. make sure ur bedroom isn't to hot,
You have to get ur body back into the routen of sleep, i dont know how old u are but u may be thinking what about when u got out, dont want to be saying got to go now its my bed time. But just make sure u get up at the same time.
As for the beer i personally wouldnt go down that road, after a while it'll be 2 beers before bed, and if that was me i would be up all night going to the toilet, also alchol increase ur blood sugar, and when it drops while ur sleeping it will wake u up.
Every body my self included get all this 8 hours a night in ur head, the thing is u may not need 8 hours a night.
You say in ur last post ur sleep 12 till 4am, well at for 4 get up, may be go for a walk. but dont go back to bed till that night.
p.s. sorry if this post is to long and doesn't make sence, but im 2 days clean now, had litle sleep and feel all over the place.

try and resist it mate..you are sooo close now!! my sleep patterns returned too normal after about 6 weeks, hang in there!

Ok, I did smoke 2 or 3 hauls on Saturday night and consequently slept like a effin baby. No more since then, and really, no more desire to do it since then.

I really mean it when I say I can control myself. I am not going to fall back into habitual use. Unless of course 3 months from now and I still can't sleep. Then we'll have to see what happens.

It was more of a test to see what would happen/ what a full nights sleep would feel like. 1 joint in 40 days is not so bad right?