Theone: Withdrawal insomnia

[Theone127]

My doctor prescribed me 50mg of Sertraline roughly 5 year's ago because I was suffering from slight depression and anxiety, I continued to take the medication up until the 12 of march but decided to quit cold turkey. I was unaware of the need to gradually taper the dosage..

 

Ever since I stopped taking the Sertraline I have been suffering from Chronic Insomnia, prior to this I have never had any problems regarding sleep and have slept 8-9 hours my entire life. My sleeping has been completely disrupted, the transition from 8-9 hour's a night to 1-4 has been extremely distressing and difficult. For the first 3 weeks after I stopped taking Sertraline, I would wake up every night at 2AM and wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep.

 

Things gradually improved and I started sleeping for longer periods of time ( 3-4 hour's) and when I woke up I was finding it easier to drift back off. This continued for a short period of time and it was blissful, I thought that it was the start of my recovery and things would start to get better from then on.

 

I was very wrong, after 2 week's of improved sleep I suddenly started waking up after an hour, This has continued for a few week's now, I'm scraping together 1 hour here 2 hours there most night's.

 

After reading a few thread's on this forum, I have come the conclusion that I'm experiencing a "wave". **** me, I thought things were supposed to improve with time not get worse! I don't know how much longer I can go on being this sleep deprived, It's having a detrimental impact on every aspect of my life. Is there any thing I can do to improve sleep? Even though I'm barely sleeping, I don't get tired and seem to become more awake the later it gets. I really don't know what to do except try and ride it out...

Edited May 27, 2017 by scallywag
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[Madeleine]

Welcome to the forum. You could also try to reinstate and hold until you etabilize then taper off slowly. Mods here can advise on reinstatement amount if you want to pursue that course of action.

[PoetJester]

hey theone,

 

welcome to the sertraline withdrawal insomnia land.  it is not much fun.  I quit 100 mg of sertaline cold turkey 3 years ago.  the insomnia and fatigue and cognitive problems have been severe since then.  like you my first year was full of 3-4 hour sleeps with vivid depressed dreams.   i would have a day a week with no sleep and occasionally manage rare naps.  i was staggering around quite a bit from exhaustion and my memory got pretty spotty.   there are quite a few of us on this site who stopped sertraline and now have a very poor quality of sleep even years later.   we all wish for our old lives back when sleep wasn't something we had to  You might try a reinstatement.  a lot of people have pretty good success restoring their sleep through going back on something or you can always try riding it out too.  i found long nightly walks to help with sleep.  i wish you luck how ever you do chose to proceed.   you might try reading the intro's of Jayson, Raven530, Tyler and Lakelander82, on sertraline wd or even mine too.

 

 

Poetjester     

[Theone127]

PoetJester, I've tried to send you a private message but it's failing to send.

 

Did you experience " Windows and Waves" at the start?

 

I wasn't expecting my sleep to deteriorate after a period of improvement, I was perplexed but after reading a few threads on this forum it made perfect sense.

 

I'm only 23, the thought of suffering like this for year's causes massive anxiety.

[PoetJester]

Hey Theone,

 

sorry, my inbox is full.  I end up keeping  a lot of messages and conversations for reference.  don't like to throw any out.  yeah, this not being able to sleep well thing is an horrible way to suffer. Who knows, your sleep might start coming back.    some people have success with magnesium supplements and fish oil in wd.  i am sure one of the mods will come along and give you better advice than I can, but  you also might try reading Excuse's introduction.  he made a strict detailed list of what worked for him and there are other success stories of sticking to wd without going back on the pills on this site but it seems to take a long time.    otherwise reinstatement can often be successful if done early enough and if it's your first wd.   success in wd by riding it out  seems a kind of hit or miss prospect and for many of us the mental faculties and physical health take a beating.  I am so tired after 3 years.  some days are tolerable and other days are mostly torment.  it's not fun.  My dreams at night are awful, like they come from some strange depressed region of the brain now.  constant confrontations/fights/ demented imagery in my dreams  , which is just the symptom of a depressed mind.

 

 I never really had waves and windows, it seemed mostly periods of some kind of stableness and then declines and then leveling off again for a little and then a decline again.  it's just my sleep is about as bad in quality now as when I started and now it's causing problems with my digestion big time.  anyways

 

Poetjester.

[PoetJester]

theone

 

i deleted a message on my inbox so there is room to send me a message if you want.  i don't know of what help i can be.  i am dead on my feet right now after another bad stretch of sleep and the return of summer heat and don't feel like much. 

 

poetjester

[Eleven10]

Hi.

I would try a reinstatement too. I'm well over 3 years off a cold turkey and I still can't sleep longer that 1-2 hrs at a time, all very poor light sleep, waking 6-7 times a night including waking very early. You may get sleep back or you may get stuck with bad sleep.

 

Good luck x