"dope insomnia"

Thanks for responding to my other questions and posts. Here's an update on my man, I went to the "old neighborhood" and found him, Thank God. I took him home and he''s still there.  We are going to the doctor on friday to see a "shrink" and get him meds for depression and adhd. Saying that, the question I want to ask is: How long does it take to finally get some sort of regular sleep pattern back?  I can't sleep and I call it "dope insomnia". When I was an active user I had no problem going to sleep (opiate head). 72 days clean and I look like the walking dead.  I feel like it too. Advil and Tylenol PM's dont really work anymore.  HELP! And remember, there is never a dumb question that the right person cant answer.
thanks and God bless,

Carrie

[Savas]

This is a tough one. Are you sleeping at all? The tricky part is the quality of your sleep (sufficient REM), not quantity. Three hours of REM deep sleep is better than 10 hours of restless sleep.

I would suggest avoiding prescription sleep med's that are long term usage drugs. They're VERY destructive to your overall ability to sleep, especially without them. IF you can control yourself, I'd suggest taking a one time sleep aid (No OTC, those are terrible) once, twice a week just to get some relief. try the Amino Acid regime listed in some of the threads here. I'll pull the post to the top of the threads so you can find it.
But this is one of those things that takes time. You can speed it up with some work and effort, like the above mentioned, but it is a matter of time.

[Greatgreebo]

Greebo here....how long were you on drugs and getting good sleep? A month or a year? If you were on the pills for a long time and getting 'good' sleep it will probably be a long time while off the pills before you get some good sleep. That's what stinks with our addiction. We spend years digging this hole with a backhoe and then when we are handed a teaspoon to fill it back in we are like "WTF?"
Hang in there. I don't sleep either. I've always had problems sleeping and it's 10 fold worse now. Like they say (whoever 'they' are): THIS TO SHALL PASS
Hang in there and keep posting.
From one sleepless zombie to another,
Greatgreebo