weed withdrawal Insomnia.... :(

hi.

i've really had it with this withdrawal..
i'm on day 9 or 10....

in 8 days i had 3 nights worth of sleep...
i'm going 36-40 hours inbetween sleep currently..

the doctors prescribed me hydroxyzine for sleep.. which has had intolerable side effects and a half-life that leaves me trashed the next day.
i tried to get some melatonin from the pharmacy but thats prescription only!? so i'm going back to the doctors today to try and get a new script...

they won't give me sleeping pills due to prior 'substance abuse'....
which ironically; just me telling them my insomnia is from quitting weed would disqualify me from getting sleeping pills anyway.. (sigh...)

i've today woken up at 1.00am having slept from 2pm in the afternoon..
and i don't know what to do with myself.
i've quit alchohol for a month... ; and will never drink again...


and whats really pissing me off. is i've just found out my next round of therapy; due to budget cuts. won't be at the maudsley but at a lesser institute for mental health. -> and the icing on the cake is; my last round of therapy at the maudsley hospital was cancelled because my mental health was too bad to engage in therapy..
so i've made all these changes... quit drugs.... moved out from living with my NPD alchoholic father...
and now i'm told i won't be re-engaging therapy were i left off... but have been bumped down to a; sub-par therapy course.
i've been told if the 'sub-par' people don't have the necessary skills to help me they will then refer me back up to the maudsley.
so far these 'sub-par' people have failed to even respond to my doctors ref feral for over 2 months...
he's re-sent my refferal, and my doctor has still not had any response from them, and is now going to give me their contact details; lest i have a better.../ actually get a response from them.!!!!!

i don't know how much longer i can take not sleeping...
plus my BDD and OCD have got so much worse, its ridiculous.
i feel so let down, that i've put in all this effort... ; and am now not going to have therapy for a good long while... hell, i don't even know if i'm on a waiting list anymore or not.

I hate g.ps. the first thing they offered me; as usual, was piriton.
piriton is a hayfever medication; chlorephenamine maleate.
it is a first generation antihistamine; with sedative effects.
it also acts as an SNRI; which the doctors refuse to believe me about...

Hydroxyzine is also a first generation antihistamine with stronger sedative effects than piriton.

i just don't know what to do.
and don't seem to have any help available.
this SUCKS.
and seeing as i've smoked everyday for a decade; who knows how long this withdrawal will last for me.
i don't think i can do this, not without help...

so i'm back to; 'need to quit weed for therapy, need therapy to quit weed'
or at least a medication that doesn't suck hard.
so far my doctors have given me: Fluoxetine, Sertraline, Clorephanamine maleate, Hydroxyzine and buspar. - Thanks a F*ing lot...
all of those aforementioned drugs have made my life so much worse..
especially the ssri's...
^none of which i take any longer.

arhghhggh what to do.

hi circles

it's not easy withdrawing and the nhs is never much help as you know, it's always catch 22.

hope you manage to hang in there though.

NA might help if you're willing to go. or AA. so many of us had the same symptoms. i didn't sleep hardly at all the first 30 days. these 12 step programs are free and i found it was like free therapy too. don't look back. stay focused in today and look to the future and what it will bring...sobriety from weed. you can do it. and posts when you need our support too. we do care.

Hi,

I'm going on week 3 weed free. I wake up everynight at 3 or 4 am and don't dream?! It is driving me crazy too. The ambien wears off in 3-4 hrs anyway so it doesn't help. I fought and fought against the "cult" of AA & NA for years. Today I go to meetings, got a great sponsor, and the obsession & fog is lifting. My medication works so much better and I'm productive.

I smoked weed for over 20 years morning, noon & night. I still miss it, but I'm not obsessed. It was harder to quit weed than cigarettes and alcohol combined. But today I don't sit around sucking on a bong talking smack about all the **** I'm going to do.

Don't give up the fight - it gets easier I promise. PM me anytime!

Peace & Hugs,

TnT

hi all,
thanks for your replies.

i'm stil battling it.... - smoked 160 pounds worth in 5 days
so, thats gotta stop for sure.

i have however restarted, i'm on day 3 now.. and i'm getting to bed at 6.00am
without fail....; which is actually a marked improvement on normal...

i tend to go 48~ hours between sleep when i normally do this.
------------------

thickntired; congratulations on getting to week 3 (+)

and thanks everyone for the support.

>

just thought i'd like to share whats working for me at the moment..;
I just re-discovered digging!!! shovel + earth = calm.
i've been taking valium since day 1..
while it doesn't exactly send me to sleep, it at least keeps me calm and enables me to sleep (at some point in the night)

but the main thing is excersise.... - i had become so apathetic that... i wouldn't brush my teeth, wash, leave the house.... i couldn't even be fussed to watch t.v... or a film..
just play ps3 until my thumbs hurt..

but due to the immediate success of working in the garden; (digging a stupidly big hole)
i've /// well i'm considering volunteering for a 'digging place..??'
or helping out in a volunteering project,, provided theres digging involved..

as being physically exhausted makes sleep hard to evade,, let alone impossible to achieve.

i know quitting weed (at least for now) is what i need to 'initiate Plan Life'
as then i'll have the energy and motivation to sort out my anxiety disorders and build up some self confidence; which i have near nil.

so, once again thanks for the kind support.
and keep at it thickntired.
it is so nice to be able to think straight and do stuff

all the best.
Circlesx

oh yeah; - on the AA/NA front... i too am currently adverse to turning up for a session...

my bdd makes contact with anyone incredibly taxing.
i can't look people in their eyes encase they see the whole contour of my face and, well thats as far as i get... but its far enough to make me freak out

my ocd makes me think i'd go there and mess up everyone elses recovery or try and score drugs off people who are in recovery...

^i just put so many things in the way of going to one of these sessions...
i forgot to mention i have Social Anxiety disorder too..


but, just recently i'm getting my inner strength back, and my resolve to make things better.. - so i will certainly check out the local N/A's and try and get myself down there..
but boy will that be some serious stress for me.
however, i can really see meeting other people in similar predicaments could drastically improve my view on things.

so thankyou for those suggestions. I'll get researching tommorow... - or later today ;/ - its 04.00 am and i'm not sleeping for a while yet

Gnightx