Insomnia 4 months in

Hi biohack9,
I feel you with the insomnia, although mine might stem from another issue. My brain doesn't shut up when I want to sleep because of pesistant annoying earworms. But I've developed a couple of things that work for me, so maybe they help you too. Though most of them are also in other posts and maybe you have read or tried them already.
Anyway, exhaustion is key, if I had a good workout sleeping the next two nights comes easy. Good sleep hygene is also important and I don't mean clean sheets (but that helps aswell), it means the right temperature in the room, don't lay in bed before you really want to sleep and darken the room as much as possible. Additionally most nights I listen to an audio book, atm it's lord of the rings, where I don't mind if I miss a chapter or two.
And if all that fails I've gotten some melantonin pills which I try not to take that often, like once or twice a week. I tend to set myself a time around 2am, if I'm not asleep by then I will take one. They work rather well and I kind of know before if it will be a difficult night or not.

I wish you all the best and a good nights sleep

Thank you, I’ve tried it all and actually any kind of exercise makes it even worse. Even long walks seems to affect me negatively. Lifting weights guarantees a horrible night especially since I find it difficult to fall asleep on those nights. I have that exact same ear worm issue!!! This makes it soooo difficult!

Then give the audio books a try, it is by far the best thing to concentrate on something else.
But the earworms man...
Do you also have them during the day? For me it is petmanent for 5 months now... It's my last symptom 6 1/2 sober but a constant reminder. I've read that's a known and common symptom with benzo withdrawal but the time when this will pass differs from person to person. I feel like I linger too much on them and trigger myself over and over again.
Sometimes I'm not sure that it will pass but I have to believe!

Yeah I do podcasts which get me through the night. When I feel myself drifting off I just turn it off and seem to get some light rem filled sleep.

I do get them during the day but nowhere as pronounced as at night. My mind just loops and I ruminate about past traumas. I may have issues that I was self medicating with but don’t know for certain since I’ve used cannabis for so damn long now.

I can’t believe you’re experiencing this so far into the process! Fortunately it’s your last symptom so that’s a positive! Hang in there and let’s just keep going.

I am somewhat of an expert on sleep issues as I have suffered from them for decades. I used to think a good indica strain helped, but in the long run I think it made it worse. I have found that any problem that supposedly helped by THC is eventually made worse by the drug. I think that hi-jacking your endo-cannabinoid system is not the way to achieve homeostasis as there are natural ways to achieve this.

I have found sleep patterns got back to normal for me at the six month mark of cannabis cessation, but everybody is different. Most importantly for me is sleep hygiene, and have found these habits to really help my insomnia. Make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary, only use it for sleeping, no TVs or electronics, no eating in bed, leave your phone out of the room or at least 10 feet away and use an analog alarm clock. Make sure it’s dark and quiet(use a sleep mask and ear plugs if you have to), if you don’t fall asleep right away don’t dwell on that, stay in your sanctuary, keep your eyes closed and only think nice thoughts like fun things you like to do( hiking, biking, laying on the beach, your last vacation etc)

Good luck to you and I hope it gets better for you, keep up the good fight and think positively of all the good stuff that comes from not using weed.

I agree that cannabis hijacks the ECS and causes an imbalance in homeostasis. However there are sometimes times where an endogenous substance is required. Also can’t underestimate the big elephant in the room that is artificial light and a lack of natural morning and daily sunlight impact on circadian rhythm in terms of lifestyle and sleep hygiene.

Check this out. It talks about how some of us might be screwed because of pre existing issues or just damage from long term chronic exposure. Sometimes full recovery just isn’t possible for some.

https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.com/a ... 016-0056-7