r/DSPD • u/insufficient_nvram • 1d ago

Insomnia with DSPD?

I’m going on 24 hours of no sleep after getting ~5 hours the last time I slept. My body is tired af. I’m super doped up right now after 1000mg Gabapentin, 75mg Hydroxyzine, 1mg Ativan, 1mg Xanax, and smoking a 1G joint. But my brain is wired!

I was recently diagnosed ADHD/ASD/Alexithymia/Sleep Apnea. I take 30mg Lisdexamfetamine. Need at least 50mg to regulate.

Stimulants are not the cause, as this has been my normal cycle for as long as I can remember. 3-4 days of 5.5 hours to 7.5 hours of sleep starting no earlier than 2am, followed by 3-4 days of very fitful sleep to no sleep. I’m in my mid 40’s. This is worse in fall/winter and under stress (double whammy right now).

I have night terrors too when I do sleep. I’ve accidentally hit my wife during one of those fits. She’s scared to sleep next to me sometimes and usually build a pillow wall between us as well as sleep on my arms, on my stomach to restrain my self in case I have a terror.

I do not wear a CPAP. My Apnea is mild and is well controlled by exercise and keeping my weight down. I do not have PTSD. Severe RSD though.

Is anyone else like this or have any ideas to deal with this? I’m tired literally and tired of this cycle.

7 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/bad_ukulele_player 1d ago

I just read the comment you wrote on my post and checked your posts to see what you meant. We are indeed alike. However I think I know what your issue might be: your benzos. I went through months and months of insane insomnia and indescribable horrific anxiety because I had grown tolerant to a tiny dose of Ativan. When I went up slightly, the insomnia went away. What I went through, and what I think you're going through, is what's called "inter-dose withdrawal". I'm going to attempt to go to sleep now so I can't get into it. But, I'll leave you with this - if this is the case, there's HOPE! You can slowly and safely withdraw from both your benzos using the protocol outlined in the Ashton Manual. It's free online. And it saved my life. I withdrew many years ago. I tried to do it on my own and messed up my brain. But, if you follow the protocol you very likely won't mess up yours. While I withdrew I took Mirtazepine for sleep. It really helped. If I could do it all over again, I would have taken Trazodone or Belsomra. Anyway, do your best to relax and get some sleep. Listen to an audiobook to distract yourself before bedtime and use only dim amber light a couple hours before bed. Talk later.

1

u/insufficient_nvram 1d ago

I usually don’t take benzos, because they give me a weird hangover, but the last few months I’ve been under a lot of stress and take at least .5mg of Ativan daily. But I’ve had a script for .5-1mg daily for the past 20 years. I’ll go months without taking them and I have quite the stockpile. I haven’t had a Xanax in years though. I almost feel better knowing I have them, than actually taking them. I have oodles of various controlled medications. I had a painkiller addiction in the early 2010’s (self medicated when pill mills existed) and now enjoy my control over having them and not taking them. I plan on cutting out the Ativan again soon though.

About the only thing that doesn’t make me feel like hammered shit the next day is Gabapentin and THC. Ambien worked well, but made night terrors significantly worse.

Thanks for the suggestion and reply. I finally passed out around 5am and woke up at noon

1

u/bad_ukulele_player 1d ago

Yay! Glad you slept. If the insomnia keeps happening and you can sleep on a higher dose of Ativan or Xanax, that means that one or both of them are CAUSING the insomnia. I understand the comfort of knowing they're there though.

Do you have access to THC and Gabapentin? If so, why don't you use that instead of the benzos?

1

u/insufficient_nvram 1d ago

I have a script for 1000mg of Gabapentin a night and thankfully I’m in a weed legal state, it just helps, but doesn’t fix the problem

3

u/bad_ukulele_player 1d ago

Those terrors - do you have Rem Behavior Disorder? If not and you have PTSD related nightmares, Prazosin might work. Hope you sleep tonight. Distract yourself before bed. Helps me.

2

u/insufficient_nvram 7h ago

I do not have ptsd, but I have tried prazosin-no luck. I picked up one of those Verilux lights, so I’ll see if that does anything