Does anyone have advice for managing insomnia from when they take opioids? This has always been a challenge for me. Nothing to do with rls keeping me awake. Opioids have always made me a little bit wired.
I have an appointment with the pain doc coming up and before starting one I want to make sure it won’t be trading one problem for another. Thanks !
I'm sorry I don't have any advice to offer but I'm in a similar situation. Tramadol, oxycodone/naloxone and codeine all give me insomnia and also make me feel just a little weird (difficult to describe).I will be trying buprenorphine shortly. I tried it previously and managed to sleep although had severe nausea.
From memory, some people on this forum report that their opioid induced insomnia lessens with time. Others report that for them it never resolves.
I hope you get some useful advice here.
Have you tried a small dose of pregabalin or medical cannabis?Opioids give me anxiety and panic attacks and when I emailed Dr. Buchfuhrer for advice, he suggested pregabalin. I found it helped the anxiety/wired feeling and had a sedating effect at night.
I use 25mg every now and again and I also use medical cannabis oil with 20%THC and that sends me into a deep sleep.
Thanks, I’m interested to hear that people are having trouble with these. I’ve only so far been able to try co-codamol and tramadol really meant for other conditions. I’ve noticed co-codamol can keep me awake but I wonder if it’s because of the paracetamol. I’m extremely sensitive to serotonin and I believe paracetamol can increase it slightly, but the codeine probably does it, as well. Tramadol can also do that unfortunately. Other opiates also have a slight serotonin increasing effect. So maybe this is the reason. It would be good to have an opiate that only worked on opiate receptors but they don’t exist.
I’ve tried many different opioids. They all give me insomnia except methadone. Tramadol was the worst for me.
The insomnia I get from opiods is a feeling of being mentally awake but actually asleep. I feel like I am tossing & turning trying to get off but my partner says I have actually been deeply asleep & snoring. I don't wake up feeling tired so it must be true. I have used Zopiclone but that lingers too late in the morning to be used regularly.
Hi, I find that all opioids make me more alert. I am currently using buprenorphine patches and for two years, was unable to sleep deeply. Finally I read here, sorry I can't remember who posted, that gabapentin can quiet the brain so asked my GP to prescribe it for me in a low dose. I experimented with 100 mg which helped but not well and finally settled on a dose of 300 mg per night. For the first time for two years, I started to dream again! I still have some nights where I'm not soundly asleep but it's so much better than before. I hope this helps someone. 
I too have used Zopliclone but find it creates night-time eating issues, almost without realising I'm doing it, if I wake up, and leaves a nasty taste in my mouth all day which makes me feel quite ill. The gabapentin I can tolerate far easier with no apparent side effects.
I think the same reason opiods work so well and for so long for RLS is the same reason some of the side effects never go away. You take the good you take the bad it seems.
I have insomnia not related to the Oxycodone that I take (I had insomnia before the Oxycodone). I have been using 100 mg of CBD two hours before bed which has helped. The last few nights I’ve experimented with Delta 8 THC (not Delta 9) gummies two hours before. I tried 1/2 of a 25 mg gummy but increased last night to 3/4 which worked better. I still woke up a few times and I felt quite “stoned” but fell right back to sleep. A work in progress…
If you live in the US or any other country where cannabis is legal, I would suggest indica edibles. I take 10 mg of indica gummies and it helps me get to sleep and stay asleep for several hours.
My neurologist will let me have a two week supply of 15mg Restoril twice a year. She didn't want me taking it continuously so I get two weeks to take at the same time every night and wake up the same time each morning. It helps to get my sleep back on track for a couple of months. Then I'm back to 3 to 4 hrs of sleep a night until the next time. I take methadone but it didn't really effect my sleep either way. I have just had cronic insomnia my entire life. Im in my 2nd two weeks of the year right now and I feel great because I'm actually sleeping about 6 to 7 hours all the way through.
I've been on trammadol for some time l no the wired feeling you describe my dr put me on trazodone to help with sleep l add some herbal stuff and it works for me hope this might be of some help
I know it's contraindicated for RLS, but when my my insomnia is bad I take a 1/4 to 1/2 tab of hydroxyzine. Otherwise, generally I use herbal Hylands Calms Forte.
I take a few weed gummies which have very little thc they help me pass out whether I’m on an opiate or not.
I started taking Buprenorphine 5 weeks ago. I am not exaggerating when I say it has been a life changer for me. We are still working on the dosage. When I started I was violently ill for two days. Nausea stopped after about 4 days. I started at 20 MCG, then trialed 10MCG for 2 weeks. I found I could not sleep and it made me wired. I have gone back to 20mcg and maybe wake up 3 times a night( amazing for me) and go right back to sleep. I am going to try 15 MCG next and see what happens.
Yes, 20mcg. The first 2 days were hell vomiting and headaches. It got better after that. Then cut down to 10 mcgs, I couldn't sleep and felt wired. I am back up to 20mcg and feel great. I am going to try 15 mcgs just to see what changes happen. When I augmented to cabergoline it was such a terrible experience I lost my job, nearly destroyed my marriage damaged friendships I never want to repeat that. I am in Australia so I don't know if there are differences in names but I am taking NORSPAN
Thanks for that. Are you taking the Norspan in tablet form or in patch form (i.e. a transdermal patch)?
And are you sleeping okay on the 20mcg?
I'm in Australia also.
patch form. I have heard if you take the tablet it can cause your teeth to rot. I wake up about 3 times a night, twice to urinate, and go right back to sleep. I also dream at night. I used to thrash so badly that I slept in a different room to my wife and my sheets were all over the place. I am sleeping next to my wife again and I hardly move
Are you in Sydney, if so there is a doctor in Miranda who specializes in opiates, I initially went through the Woolcock clinic in Glebe, but they referred me to this guy in Miranda because of the opioids.
Changing meds from rotogotine nupro patch to pramipexole
Insomnia
Insomnia 
