It's been about 10 days since I quit drinking, and I can't sleep. I feel like I'm on caffeine and have only been able to sleep about 4 hours of broken sleep a night.

Has anyone tried that new "Z-quil" stuff? I need to get some before I turn into Ed norton and start a fight club :)

You are most likely suffering from a common condition called "Alcohol Withdrawl Syndrome" wiki it! You will continue to feel this way until the gabba receptors in your brain return to normal functioning. Basically they are in healing mode and the insomnia is part of it. You may feel slightly shaky; wired and anxious as well. Symptoms maybe last between a few weeks or a few months depending on how much and how regularly you drank. Good luck and congrats!

I can't sleep for @#$%& either.

I won't go so far as to say I feel great though.

Tired all the time. I'm not drinking. And I'm not "using" caffeine either.

Just can't sleep for @#$%& right now.

Every once in awhile my sleep cycle gets interrupted, maybe a stress at work (a few times per year) and I start waking up at 2 and 3am. A small dose of Ambiem (sp?)..is a miracle for me. Best night sleep ever.

When I went to a sleep doctor one time I told him I take diphenhydramine and it works but I always feel drowsy the next day.

So he prescribed Ambien and said it won't have the same side effect. So I took an Ambien on a Friday night.

I didn't wake up until Sunday morning.

He was right though, I didn't feel drowsy at all. Sleeping through an entire Saturday didn't sit very well with my wife though. I suppose I could try a smaller dose, but I haven't touched the stuff since.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2012 03:57PM by bc.

Oh my, I cannot sleep as well.
3-4 hours of broken sleep is
about as good as it gets....
Ain't it a peach?
At least I am not alone:)
Usually guided meditation/breathing exercises work,
but not so much lately.
Hang in there guys, you're not alone.
You're on my mind :)

It's very permanent, chronic, and probably genetic.

Try melatonin, it works great. I used to do the same and now I sleep very well.

Because I have not had a drop to drink in two decades (and never much before that, either) AND because God just LOVES to f*ck with me, I have cirrhosis of the liver. No, really.

The whole dying thing sucks and all, but the weirdest stuff is the stuff you DIDN'T expect. One of the things that end-stage liver disease causes is "day-night reversal." It's exactly what it sounds like. I USED to be a morning person and went to bed, even as a teenager, quite early. NOW, the sun goes down and I get perky. Sun comes up, birds chirping merrily and I can barely keep my eyes open. It makes making doctors' appointments interesting, since I eat at night, but nothing during the day. All the procedures seem to have different dietary requirements. "Don't eat for 6 or 12 hours or 3 days, depending on the procedure. Don't eat anything red for two days. No liquids for 12 hours." (I live in SoCal...it's 105 degrees and No water? ARG!)

So stay awake and watch "The Patty Duke Show" with me!

Wish I could give you a good idea, but I just pretend I'm a Vampire. It's okay...I only want 10% of your blood!LOL

Some days you just have to wonder, why, why do I keep trying to do the right thing, b/c it doesn't seem to matter.

I'm honest, but the liar at work who sleeps with the boss gets the promotion.

Don't drink, don't smoke, exercise -- was perfectly healthy until they got hit by a car on their morning jog.

Girl at work just had a 9 day migrain, she started to think "God just hates me".

Many people just move addictions around. Stop drinking to over eating, start smoking to lose weight, stop drinking start taking perscription meds. Recovery is not simply moving your addiction.

Got one at work, used to drink and run all the gambling pools and bring home bar hounds, now he's Super Christian, goes to gospel concerts and retreats and church all the time. Just an all around "I'm better than you" pain in the butt.

He's still not honest with himself, all he does is take everyone else's inventory to prove how superior he is.

Just like Mormons, addicted to religion because it makes them better, than the rest of society. And the evidence is that they don't drink, smoke or sleep around, and they have faith and believe in something, those that don't have what they have are beneath them.

I just googled ZZZquil and all it is is diphenhydramine. AKA Benadryl. It's what's in most over the counter sleep meds. You could get the cheapest store.brand of diphenhydramine and do as well. I don't want to be.giving medical advice online, so follow the label directions.
I use it sometimes and get good.results.with it. Another you might try is Alteril, a supposedly natural sleep aid. It has melatonin and l-tryptophan and I have.found it.helpful. Again, follow the label directions.

Susan

Same thing as Tylenol PM.

When I went to a sleep doctor for insomnia he recommend Tylenol PM as the best over the counter solution for most people. Along with minimal side effects, high effectiveness, he said that the Tylenol helps reduce minor, itches, scratches, & discomfort that can prevent sleep.

I would be careful how much acetaminophen you take. It can really screw up your liver.

That's why I prefer straight diphenhydramine... Cheaper, too...

Either one, I'd check with my doctor and ask about how much acetaminophen I can take to keep from screwing up my liver...

Good point. I rarely take it.

I was just going to post this. BigPharm adds acetominophen to EVERYTHING in order to poison it. But only if you take too much. The idea was to keep you from having too much of an opium-based drug...otherwise you'd die!LOL

They don't seem to get that when you're in that much pain you don't really CARE if you die. Since there is no "max dosage" on most opiates (dosage depends on weight, amount of pain, tolerance, etc.) which is why we give Morphine to dying people.

Anyway...acetominophin=bad...I don't CARE what "they" say.

mtgrizzly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would be careful how much acetaminophen you
> take. It can really screw up your liver.
>
> That's why I prefer straight diphenhydramine...
> Cheaper, too...
>
> Either one, I'd check with my doctor and ask about
> how much acetaminophen I can take to keep from
> screwing up my liver...

3000mg is the max amount of Tylenol recommended in a 24 hour period. I would not bother with Tylenol PM, but rather go to Costco as someone else recommended and get the big bottle of diphenhydramine for cheap. If you need Tylenol, just get the store brand/generic version, acetaminophen.
However, with your history of drinking--and I don't know how bad it was--you should probably avoid Tylenol/acetaminophen altogether. I would also strongly advise seeing your doctor with regard to the quitting alcohol and insomnia.
Not every med works for everyone, just one reason there are so many medications out there. They can all be poison if taken incorrectly.
Good luck and sweet dreams.

Susan

Go to Costco,if you can. You can buy a huge bottle of diphenhydramine for about $4...

You might want to talk to your doctor. There are things he can do to decrease the symptoms of withdrawal... That don't get you addicted to something else..

Docia - Are you listed on the donor registry? I would think that you would be a great candidate, since you never have had a drinking problem... Then there is lobular transplant from a relative...

They don't do living transplants anymore...30% donor fatality rates. I'd be sitting pretty, otherwise. None of my blood relatives (at least the one's I've found - adopted - whole 'nother story!) have my blood type. But I have lots of friends and (non-blood) relatives chomping at the bit to donate.

At last check I had a MELD score of 9 ~ you need to be at least a 10 before transplanting is a possibility. And, the truth is, you are often in the 30's or 40's and almost dead by the time you make it far enough up the list. Since I'm almost 56 and have no living children, I'm no one's first choice.

I DO miss great wine, though.

My doc called in Trazodone this morning, so I'll see how that works.

I didn't know there were so many of you who can't sleep either!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2012 02:32PM by Lost Mystic.

for some intense and vivd dreams then. I dated a guy who would shake and roll dice in his sleep on Trazadone, lol.

Trazadone made me feel like i'd fallen into a black pit from hell. I didn't sleep either. It was instant depression for me.

It's different for different people, but that was my experience. I only took it once.

Uh oh! I'm nervous now. I guess I'll find out tonight!

Sleep disturbances are a primary symptom.

Please don't take medical advice from the internet and please don't take any substance unless it's prescribed by a doctor. The only place you should go is to your primary care physician who can give you some kind of medication to ease the withdrawal symptoms (like Librium). It is very easy for alcoholics to switch addictions.

If you are truly 10 days out, you are probably finished with the worst of the physical withdrawal symptoms. You are now experiencing what is known as the "pink cloud" phase. If you feel as good as you say you do, just be careful that you don't talk yourself into thinking you can handle just "one drink."

I strongly believe that alcoholics should check into a medically-supervised detox center, followed by in or out-patient rehab when they are truly ready to quit. If you are hell-bent on doing it by yourself, then at least go to a web-site with more solid information about alcoholism and it's side-effects. I recommend SoberRecovery.com, a great place for recovering alcoholics.

Good luck,
Shannon ;o)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2012 10:18PM by shannon.

Let us know if you're sleeping tonight. Obviously i'm not. I'm up way past my bedtime.

I've been following your story. I so badly want it to all be a good story for you. I think about you every day.

Sweet dreams, I hope.

We can't sleep because we are on the computer. The bright screen simulates daylight, and our brain tells us to wake up. It is 3:00 AM, and I don't feel sleepy. Even reading a book under a bright light, or watching TV at a safe distance is better than the computer.

What works for me: Sometimes I take 1/2 dramamine, which is an antihistamine, and it works like a charm. I know two doctors and a rocket scientist that swear by Dramamine, and they are very sharp the next day. A pediatrician I know gives antihistamines to his children to make them sleep in the car. (I would NEVER do that to my kids.) Stay away from bright lights, meditate, listen to music, play solitaire (not video games), bore yourself, don't start projects, don't start figuring things out (RFM is bad that way), don't make plans, don't overeat, don't do aerobics after 6:00 PM. Stay completely away from caffeine.

Be careful with meds. Ambien causes the body to stop making its own natural melatonin. I took Ambien for some sleep tests, for 2 weeks. When I went off of the pills, I couldn't sleep for four days--made me so mad, that I will never take sleeping pills again. Different meds work differently on different people. Excedrin PM, Tylenol PM, and Benedryl give me the jitters.

Congratulations on getting sober!

This is quite common when people stop abusing alcohol.

It usually goes away after a few weeks.

Hang in there, and spend some time studying how things actually work when people stop drinking. There is a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there (and here) most of which is the outrageous claims of the AA faith marketed as medical fact.

Google the orange papers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2012 01:12PM by deco.

The best sleep aid is herbal, safe, and unfortunately illicit.

As for your health conditions, try Liverite + Milk Thistle to help rebuild liver function.

An alcohol damaged liver will likely repair itself. The damage from Tylenol though, is permanent.