can't sleep

[albertawind]

Once again I wake up at 4:00 in the morning and can't go back to sleep. My first thought is about alcohol, and I'm glad I'm still sober. I've only been getting 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night lately. Anyone else experience this type of insomnia the first couple of weeks?

Wish I still smoked, but I quit that too. Some people think I'm crazy to quit smoking and drinking at the same time, but to me it was important to get rid of both addictions simultaneously. I don't know... that cig sure would be nice right now.

[blossom]

I suffered terrible insomnia for about the first 6 months of my recovery, i would typically feel so tired all day, but when it came night time and everything was quiet i found that my head used to keep me awake. The first thing i did was share it with someone in the fellowship because i thought it was just me and became scared that there was something else wrong, so once i did that and found that actually lots of peoples sleeping patterns were all mixed up i felt better, it took the fear away.
I always share this about my sleeping as well, only because again i thought i was wierd and the only one that did it, and then found out i wasn't (how wonderful this fellowship is, to never have to feel alone) anyway straying slightly - i couldn't sleep in my own bed for the first 7 months of sobriety, i would sleep on the settee in my lounge with tele on all night and i had a huge fear or block of sleeping in my own bed, even now i'm not sure why, but i felt safer sleeping on the settee - i think i found the tele a comfort, just to have background noise, it would drain the committee of people i ahd in my head. But all of that was ok, in fact it was more than ok, because i wasn't drinking - and thats what it comes down to - i learnt to be more gentle with myself and not be so rigid in saying right its nighttime i have to be in my bed sleeping, if i slept great, if i didn't then i would try and grab a nap in the day or even just rest my body. I learnt to give my body time to recover all that i had put it through and eventually it did all settle down and now i can't stay awake much past eleven and am up by 6 (so much for the night owl i always thought i was).

Love Blossom ;D

[blossom]

Also just on the smoking thing - i can understand why people may be saying its crazy to give up both addictions at the same time - it is a tough thing to do.
But only you can decide whats right for you and your body, but when i did give up smoking in sobriety after two years and i found those cravings pretty immense and the head side of things quite tricky too, i don't know whether i would have wanted to have both cravings at the same time (incidentally i am now smoking again after 12 months - fell for the old 'one would be ok' will i ever learn),

Lots of luck

Love
Blossom ;D

[albertawind]

I sleep every night with the TV and half the lights on. I'm almost afraid to go to sleep. I stay up as late as I can and get up very early. Good to hear I'm not the only one. I guess in time my sleeping pattern will become more normal, once the withdrawl symptoms lessen.

Thanks Blossom and take care,

Graeme

[Carol87]

Graeme I've been sober for many 24 hours and I still have trouble sleeping.? Might be 'getting older' for me though!? :-\? ?
And I almost always fall asleep in my recliner with the TV blaring.? Then sometimes turn on the bedroom TV when I finally go to bed!
Your post also reminded me ... last week I shared in a meeting 'I woke up at 4:00 A.M. ... ' and proceeded to talk about the feelings/emotions at that moment.? I was told after the meeting that 3:30 - 4:00 A.M. seems to be the 'magic' hour for waking up with emotional thoughts/feelings !!? ?? ::)

I admire your stamina in trying to stop two addictions at the same time ... I know for me one at a time is all I can handle!? In fact, I stopped smoking about two years before I stopped drinking.? For me, that was more difficult than not drinking.? At least when I stopped drinking, I could replace the liquid in the glass with something other than scotch or wine ... I drank gallons of iced tea!

Good luck ... you will settle into a routine that is right for you ...

[samf]

I had trouble sleeping, too. And my head raced. My cure for that was just to get through it. I read myself to sleep today. And one of my favorites used to be watching tv until I dropped off to sleep.

Today if I wake up and can't go back to sleep from somewhere around fifteen mintues to a half hour, I just get up. (I tend to freak and be frustrated, if I stay laying there.) Then I play on the computer or read or do something. Sometimes I get sleepy again, and sometimes I don't.

But if I had predicted, I would have thought I would never fall back asleep.

Sam

[MIKEYBEEF]

Ya I take about an hour to an hour in a half to fall asleep and I have to have my fan on high,not only for the coolness,but also for the noise.I also take 3mg of malitonin,which is a sleeping aide that or body naturally produces,but for many people,it doesnt produce enough. Its hard to shut my mind off when i go to bed.

[angussdundee]

I've never yet heard of anyone actually dying from lack of sleep. But I think we can all compound the problem by worrying about it.
I sleep best when, I get up early, keep myself busy all day, take regular meal breaks, don't drink caffeine after 6 pm. don't eat carbohydrate after 8 pm, dont drink too much fluid after that time either, go to bed after thanking God for guiding me through another sober day, read a few pages of whatever I feel like reading whilst listening to the world news or classical music down very low........thennn.....I.. usuallyy... jussstttt... starrrttt.. to.. Sssnnorrrreeeeeee.......Before WHAM! :o the next door neighbors kid comes home and slams their front door right off it's hinges... :-\ Then I usually get up and log on to this site to see who's awake.....
Good night everyone. :D

anguss.

[Karma Dancer]

"Who needs sleep? You're never gonna get it
Who needs sleep? What's that for?
Who needs sleep? You're never gonna get it
There's a guy that's been awake since the second world war......"
-- Barenaked Ladies, "Who Needs Sleep"

Take a listen. It's from another one of Us who's been through the same thing. Further proof you're never alone in the program, lol :D

I read before bed. If I'm really feeling mixed-up and wierd, I'll read something scholarly to "bring me back to earth." If I'm feeling entirely too serious about myself, I'll read something funny (like Terry Pratchett -- he's outstanding). But reading......man, that's great. Does it for me every time :)

It was something I really had issues with when I first got sober. My sleep schedule was just plain wierd -- I'd be up all night and want to sleep all day. It took a lot of work (and some seriously grumpy days) to get back to what the rest of the world would consider normal.

But for now, don't let it worry you too much. This, too, shall pass :) Just being able to not have a drink today, that is a miracle all its own. So the rest will come when it's ready. Be patient with yourself.

Be well, and best of luck to you,
-- kd

[MIKEYBEEF]

Albertawind,trust me this will work! Take maletonin and something called 5HTP.Look into it.Its all something you body already produces.It just might not produce enough..You will feel refreshed the next day.

[albertawind]

That's OK, I don't need any drugs - I'm sleeping fine now. Infact, I'm usually out by 10:00pm.

[WolfM]

Dear Albertwind,

It has been a long time since I had that problem. I have learned that staying awake is not good for me. If I find my mind racing thinking about the future, the past, the present, I say a little prayer and ask for peace. Then I try to clear my head of all thought and the next thing I know, it is several hours later and I am getting up to take a leak or something. Then back to bed and then the alarm clock.
The program teaches us ways to deal with all of life's problems, the things which usually keep us awake at night. Whether it is fear, or resentments, or guilt and shame over things we have done. The steps literally WALK us through all of this.
Once you have dealt with it all, sleep comes easier. That is not to say that something new will not crop up. I am not perfect. Never will be. But if I deal with life as it comes along and do not procrastinate, then I do not carry these burdens into my sleep.
WolfM

[albertawind]

Well I certainly haven't gone through all the steps of the program yet - but I'm happy to report that I'm sleeping perfectly well now. I go to bed around 9:00pm and read until 10:00pm, and sleep uninterrupted until 6:00am. A good solid 8 hours! I feel great.

[R.Long]

O'm new on the site and im just figuring things out, but not being able to sleep is what has been getting me lately, ive been sobre for 19 days and im doing everything to take off the pressure, i listen to calm music to try and sleep to and have been eating healthy too. but all these things still arent helping me to sleep, and i cant figure out how to get through it.

[kremjk]

Hi R.Long, jim k here.

I'm wide awake at a time of night that I usually go to bed. I just got up from a long nap that will make it hard for me to get much more sleep tonight. I will likely go to work a bit tired. Meanwhile I will rest as best I can. I was tossing and turning and did not want to disturb my wife and so I am at the computer and checking in on AASL.
I woke up after a dream that got me thinking a lot.(and tossing and turning) and there is a bit of adrenaline in my blood now which is why I am so awake. I know better than to take in any caffeine for the rest of the night because my heart races when I have both adrenaline and caffeine at the same time.
I am quite familiar with "up all night" so I am not disturbed that I am in this situation tonight. I was blessed with there being other sober insomniacs in my life when I was newly sober and we ran around burning off energy together till all hours of the night. In time I calmed down enough to get some sleep most nights.
Tonight I am blessed with a topic on this site that speaks to me where I am right now. " can't sleep"
The only post that I had not read yet when I signed on a few moments ago. The welcomed sight of a blue glowing icon and behind it a post from someone that has the same problem that I do.
I remember having to learn to focus enough to read when I was newly sober. I wasn't much of a reader and when I tried to read my mind would race off somewhere other than the words in the pages, that my eyes were still scanning. I would stop looking at the book and ask my brain, "what did you just read?" and my brain would say,"Read?"
It bothered me that I could not grasp what was on the pages because I was distracted by rambling thoughts and so I would make an effort at re-reading the pages. One sentence at a time I would attempt to envision the message there. If the story was about a boy throwing a ball I would have to pull into my mind's eye the image of a boy throwing a ball. Then I was ready for the next sentence.
It came with time and practice and now I am able to read and comprehend. It is one of the things I do when I can't sleep. I'll turn on a light and read until my eyes flop shut again or until I calm down some.
Anyway, these are some of the things I have used to help me get through it. Friends to be awake with that I made at AA meetings and reading. I did not have TV for the first years of sobriety but today I use that as a place to sit and rest my body when I can't sleep.
Thanks for sharing and letting me share. jim k

[angussdundee]

I found that the more I worried about not getting enough sleep, or indeed sleeping too much, then the worse it got. I still am not the greatest sleeper for reasons like Jim has put so well. My sleep pattern had been so severely disrupted by chemicals for so long in my drinking that I had absolutely no idea what a 'normal' sleep pattern actually was and I wasn't about to find out so early into my recovery.
My mind and body were bouncing all over the place trying to adjust to the lack of chemicals now absent from my system. It takes time for the brain to rehabilitate itself now that it's not being bombarded with booze etc. and it may take weeks or months for a new more natural pattern to establish itself within us. On the positive side, I've never heard of anyone actually dying from the lack of sleep in early recovery. The more I got on with my recovery, like getting a sponsor and getting on with the twelve steps, getting lots of exercise and getting to bed at a regular time and reading the big book and other AA material then the more the fear and anxiety slipped away and the better I slept. Sleep medication was not the answer for me although at times I was tempted with it, especially after being awake for what felt like a month. Get to meetings and learn the tips from the experts is the best advice I can give.

Sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite. Anguss

[R.Long]

I go to bed every night at 8:00 or 8:30 i wake up in between 3and5 every morning yearning for that one drink, so i drink kool-aid, it satisfies for a while but i still toss and turn and look ant myself in my mind and say to myself"you dont need one" but the more i think about it, the more i feel better about being sobre.
R.long

[kremjk]

Have you been to any AA meetings?