18 Days of No sleep..

[luvabugga]

I'm on Day 18 and haven't slept more than 2-3 hours a night...and I'm about to die!!  Physically I feel great, besides the fact that I'm dragging myself around all day.  Withdrawal symptoms are all gone and I still struggle with my daily back problems, but I'm working through that.  I just can't sleep and I don't understand it.  I go to bed exhausted and the minute I hit the pillow my eyes are wide open....and my mind takes over.  I've never watched so much David Letterman in my life....and now I hate him!!

[Teresa1717]

Sleep eventually returns! Just turn ur phone off, make it really dark and cool. Keep the animals off of you :) and really, u need to try Alteril. Its going to be better than whats ur getting right?

Proud of you for the 18 days! You're doing such a great job! :)

[bama88]

Have you tried melatonin??. And sleep will come.

[selfinduced]

As Teresa said, Keep the animals off of you, including your husband (couldn't resist). This helped me. Get plenty of exercise during the day. Wake at a reasonable time each morning regardless of how much sleep you have had. Get early morning sunlight. This will help reset your inner body clock. Avoid caffine after 3pm. Avoid late afternoon sun. Make room dark and cool, NO tv in your bedroom. Hot baths before bed. Sleepytime tea 30 min before bed. Magnesium and calcium supplements in the evening. Only lay in bed for 30-45 minutes. If sleep doesn't come get up and fold laundry or some other mindless chore. Next hop in bed and start praying. By the time you've prayed for all your medhelp friends you'll be snoozing like a baby. Give it a go.....lemme know how you do. Much luck

[Ballgame]

Good work on your time! How did you get to 18 days? CT or ween?

[Andie015]

All good advice here...I'm at 74 days and still don't sleep more than 4 or 5 hours a night an I often have nights where it's much less. I look at it like this...I spent years pumping tons of pills into my system and its going to take a long time to reverse the damage I have caused. 18 days is awesome!!!! Don't let lack of sleep deter you...it will get better....
How's it going Teresa!!!!

[nursegirl6572]

I agree that it will come, and actually, it's a common misconception that we NEED 8-10 hours of sleep a day.  It's BETTER to be able to get at least 6 per night, but many people fully function on much less than that on a daily basis, maybe getting only 4 or 5 hours.  You ARE recharging yourself, so that's good.

I'm sure that's frustrating, just hang in there and be patient...you've gotten some great tips here.  A few to add...

Make sure your bedding is comfy and clean..choose a dryer sheet that smells inviting, and dry your bedding with that, to add to the atmosphere.  I fiond the "clean" smells very inviting, like "spring breeze", "linen", etc.  Same with jammies...comfy, non-restrictive, clean and with a calming and inviting aroma.  Keep the room temp average, not too hot or too cold.  Extremes will definitely interfere with your sleep.

Don't eat late, a small snack an hour or more before bed is fine, no liquid for at least 2-3 hours before bed. Even that nighttime cup of tea may wake you to piddle, so try to fit it in as early as you can.

Try reading.  NOTHING puts you to sleep faster than a book, lol.  That's true for me anway.  If you find you're waking up through the night, try very hard to ignore the urge to get up.  Stay in bed, reposition and recover yourself, and try to go back to sleep.  That's one of my biggest issues, I wake up at least 5-10 times a night, but I get up...I'll pee, eat, smoke, ugh!  That's the WORST thing I could do!!!

Listen to your body.  If you feel tired during the day, or afternoon, lie down for a nap.  Keep any naps short though, an hour at the most.  Half hour to an hour is a perfect nap duration.  Obviously, the only time you'd want to avoid a nap is close to bedtime.  Naps can be very refreshing...so if you feel tired, lie down!  Even if you don't actually fall asleep...if you can zone out a bit and relax, that helps too.

I've struggled with horrible insomnia for a good 14 years now, with it being at it's worst since about 2008, when I started a steady nightshift job that I had for several years.  So, I comiserate bigtime, sweetie...insomnia STINKS!  It really does!  Sending you positive thoughts and some zzzzz's.

[luvabugga]

That made me laugh...hard!  Yeah the animals are a bit of a problem.  The husband...not so much!  I have no problem slapping him, but I can't slap the cats!  Let's get this straight....I am NOT getting up to fold laundry...ever..lol.  I'd rather just lay there all night!  Just me, David Letterman...and 15 hours of reruns of Friends and Seinfeld.

Andie...you scare the crap out of me!  I'm always afraid to read your replies about sleep...lol.  There's no way I'm make it like this to 74 days!  I'm already a zombie!

Nurse...piddle?  Yeah that made me laugh too..lol.  All good advice.  Love the clean smelling sheets...but again..that sorta involves laundry.  Might have to just suck that one up though.  I do love a clean and comfy bed!

[luvabugga]

Yes I did.  Puts me to sleep for about an hour but then...boom...wide awake for hours!

[luvabugga]

Did you really just say turn the phone of???  lol

[nursegirl6572]

....I am NOT getting up to fold laundry...ever

LMAO...Amen.  I don't fold it during waking hours, I'm certainly not going to do it at bedtime...lmao.

Love the clean smelling sheets...but again..that sorta involves laundry.

You and I would be fast friends in real life...lol.  I despise laundry too...and anything else that requires me to do something.  I manage somehow, I amaze myself some days...though, not sure how I pull it off.

Glad you got some laughs from your thread!

[luvabugga]

OK...now I just busted out laughing at the 'anything that requires me to do something' comment!  That's exactly how I feel!

Maybe we can meet up one day at the laundry drop off service...lol.

[bama88]

Fluff and fold is a modern miracle

[Andie015]

I'm sorry...I didn't mean to freak you out ;). I just know how tough it is to deal with no sleep and walking around in a fog the next day. Honestly though, I would sleep 1 hour a night if that's what it takes to keep pills out of my life...it's s welcomed trade off for me.

[clean_in_ks]

Boy, I REALLY needed that deep belly laughing experience this mornin!!
Thank you both for that!!!  I even had to get Klx for my eyes and nose I was outloud enjoying this so much!  
Luvabugga.....since you came on MH 18 days ago (YEAH YOU)  I have had a blast laughing with you......you have an AMAZIN and FUN sense of humor!!  What a gift you have...
You go girl....as for me today.....I have to do some laundry LOL

[Teresa1717]

Im peachy!  Thanks for asking girl :)

[weaver71]

During my 3 wks of no sleep, I would get up and stretch real slow and walk around the house a little and then lay back down. My mind was keeping me awake, so I counted down from 100 over and over, trying to think of nothing. I found myself skipping numbers, losing track of where I was in counting, then I would wake up a couple hours later. I almost caved and then I started sleeping 4 hrs in a couple days. It starts getting better faster.

Also, forcing myself to do things I didn't feel like doing, even 30 minutes at a time through the day, made me feel more relaxed. I had to split and stack 6 cords of firewood, 30 minutes at a time, with legs that felt like lead and half a  brain. You're so close, keep up the fight.

[luvabugga]

I do love miracles...but have to admit my thoughts took off a little bit there..lol

Andie...No you didn't freak me out.  I've watched you give great advice and I really appreciate it.  I have a bit of a warped sense of humor, and being so tired kinda escalates it to another whole level!  Laughter is very therapeutic for me...and I LOVE to laugh!

[Teresa1717]

Yes! Turn off ur dang phone or else u will need a 12 step program for that! :)

[luvabugga]

Nothing like a good belly laugh right!!

And you have fun with that laundry!  I'll be thinkin' about ya...I'll wait here for you..lol.

[luvabugga]

Phones on now.

[Teresa1717]

Well theres ur sleeping problem!  Lol

P.s mines on too! :)

[kyle505]

As you've read, what you're going through is absolutely normal, albeit a pain in the rear.  In fact, I posted more about my not sleeping than I did about my time in detox hell. But it sounds like you've got a great outlook on the whole situation. Your eyes may sting, but you're clean and moving ahead with your life.  Just and FYI - this past Saturday my wife came in and woke me up at 10 a.m.  Yes, there is sleep after detox.  

[selfinduced]

Ok so Luv, you and nursegirl drop your laundry at my place and go have lunch. I will be well rested from doing all MY laundry at 1 am.... hahahaha! I actually went to a sleep specialist for this issue cause I thought I was going to die. He told me, "none has ever died from no sleep"...YEAH? Really? ,Maybe he'd like to race me on I95 after day 3 of no sleep. I was seeing moving objects out of my side vision that we not there. Anyway, I promise it does level out. Dr. did say no napping during the day. I didn't listen to that one.

[luvabugga]

10:00 am sounds so foreign to me.  I could only wish!  It's just so difficult to function on such little sleep...and still try to work.  Which is why I'm home today!

Self....you will so regret that laundry offer!  That's how I feel....like I'm going to die.  And I'm almost ready!  And btw I totally understand the moving objects...and I'm very familiar with I95 up here.  And did I mention I also have road rage??