Hi all,

Every year I lose my sleep pattern once or twice a year. Stress, staying up too late over Christmas break, etc. I then go and see my Dr, and they write out a script for Temazepam (T) 25x10mg. This annual cycle has been going on about 5 years.

I then fall back on T as a sort of crutch. Take one or two every night. And am grateful for being able to hand pharmacology the heavy lifting for getting me to sleep.

At a rate of 1-2 tablets per night, I work through a packet in about 2.5 weeks. I can’t recall any withdrawal symptoms previously.

Anyhow, cut to now.

I finished my pack roughly on the weekend. On Sunday morning at 4am, I woke up with diarrhoea and nausea. I assumed my punishment for visiting a kebab shop at 11pm the night before. But after initial bout of diarrhoea and nausea, I was able to get back to sleep. No 24-48 hour nausea.

Monday: Felt quite excitable, but not manic. Unusually, had a compelling idea for writing a feature news story (I used to be a journalist). Saw a friend’s play reading that night. I was on a high, but again, not manic. Had to be up unusually early at 6.30am for work. I end up not really being able to sleep. But not entirely unusual if I’m dreading an early morning rise.

Tuesday-Thursday: nausea. Fatigue. Some issues with sleep, though not insomnia. Did a Covid test today just in case. Negative. Dawned on me tonight that possibly it’s withdrawals. I haven’t had other side effects like depression or anxiety.

I’m wondering how likely it is to be withdrawals? And why I’d be experiencing withdrawals now, when I haven’t previously?

For reference, I’m a generally healthy 38yo man, 100kg, but with no history of substance or opiate addiction.

Many thanks in advance 🙏