Hi all,

I am in Nalmefene (selincro) since a short time. However, I get terrible sleeping problems from it (twitchy limbs, not being able to fall asleep, waking up or getting up completely knackered). Is this usual and how long will it stay this way?

Is it just temporarily? I hope so...

How long is a short time? My side effects on naltrexone were very bad at beginning and now maybe 5% after 3 weeks.

Hi girlamsterdam, you don't have a signature of when you started, drinks, units etc which would be helpful to you and us. You can add that under User Control Panel/Profile/Edit Signature as you can see mine below. It is really good to track so you can see how you are progressing. Anyway as the side effects of sleeplessness, twitching, anxiousness etc lasted for me into week 2 but I am a woos at taking any Meds and usually have bad side effects. The good news is that your body will get used to the Nal over days or a couple of weeks in my opinion as it has done for me. Hang in there and follow the golden rule! There are quite a few of us on here just in the early stages of TSM so it's a good time to join.
Welcome to the group.

Hi girlamsterdam

I'm also taking Selincro (have been for about ten days now). The first few nights my sleep was horrendous, had awful vivid nightmares, kept waking suddenly feeling like I couldn't breath, got cramp and twitches in my legs and sweated like a pig (although that's not true as apparently pigs don't sweat! )

In the last few days, I feel tired earlier and have been going to bed at about 10.30 - 11 pm - this feels early, but pre TSM I usually passed out on the sofa at some point in the evening and woke up at about 1am and crawled to bed. In the morning, I wouldn't remember what I had watched on TV or even remember going to bed. So embarrassing - my husband would tell me about the programmes that he watched and say 'you were asleep so missed most of it'.

The last couple of nights I've slept really well, but struggle to get up in the morning. I have constant, very slight dizziness. Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time since taking Selincro and had to stop and take a break when on the cycle machine as I suddenly felt really dizzy like the room was spinning. After a drink of water it settled and I was able to carry on.

I think it's a bit of a learning curve for us all - particularly with Selincro as it's quite a new drug.

Keep posting - it's great to hear how you're getting on.

Hi all,

Thanks for your reactions. I have been taking Naltrexone before, but because I was not compliant and took alcohol to sleep through the night it did not work for me in the end. I have had sleeping troubles a lot during the last couple of years, before that never. I made the horrendous decision to take diazepam in combination with alcohol to sleep (for about nine months), but at this moment I feel exhausted and tired and have no energy.

I am tapering of diazepam now, but taking Selincro at the same time might not seem a good idea I think... concerning the side effects I am experiencing.

@Snapdragon, I recognize your side effects of twitching muscles and staying awake by that the whole night. At this particular moment, I am sick home from work and my brain feels very woozy, as if all my brain capacity has been taken away by the combination of medications and alcohol. Furthermore, I feel really depressed because I have too much time on my hands to think and feel really as if the reason I took this combination of things to keep handling the stress has now caught up with me and fucks with my brains.

If I am alone, I get really anxious and of course I don't sleep then. I tend to keep thinking about the negative aspects which led me to here instead of the positive side of changes.

Normally, I am a very energetic, happy, positive person. Does anyone recognize the fact that one can become feeling depressed/focussing on negative things after taking a combination of benzo and alcohol? I have been doing so for about nine months.

It feels like the fundaments of my life are all on stake (my own house, my job, my emotional stability), just because of not being able to sleep. I do get very anxious when I do drink now, because I know which effect it can have.

For your information; I have been taking alcohol (about one bottle of wine a night) to sleep for about 3 years and for the last nine months with diazepam.

girlamsterdam I get the not sleeping thing. I have had trouble sleeping for years and years and now I am so lucky to be in Menopause (not) with severe hot flashes which are really full on sweats every 1/2 hour or hour. So I never sleep more than an hour at a time as the sweating and intense heat that courses through me wakes me up. Then on top of that I have Sjogren's syndrome that gives me very dry mouth and dry red eyes so I have to drink water every time I wake up and really cannot go anywhere without water. So in turn I have to get up and go to the bathroom 3-4 times a night. At least I took early retirement so I don't have to get up for work anymore but I did go through this for years when I was working too and was sooooo tired. I am the kind of person that needs at least 8 hours sleep too. I add drinking a bottle to 1 1/2 bottles of wine a night which makes EVERYTHING worse and have also gotten up the night to drink more to try and sleep. Well what I usually got from that was a crappy sleep and then I was hugely hungover the next day.
Remember alcohol is a depressant so it just exasperates a person feeling down even more.
Stay with the protocol as everyone says and good to have you to connect with. There are lots of us just starting out here and I am so glad to connect with all of them too.

I've had problems sleeping for years so eventually was prescribed Ambien/Zolpidem(generic Ambien) 10 mg by my doctor.
This has worked wonders for me with no side effects like morning grogginess. You might want to try something along these lines.
Drinking to help sleep always caused me dry mouth and dehydration overnight, not to mention the morning hang over.
Good luck.

Has anyone felt very drowsy? I am only taking 15mg but I feel so tired all the time. Its hard to increase dosage.
My doctor doesn't really know about Sinclair method so he prescribed as an aid to weight loss.
Wilma

Hi again Girlamsterdam, I am a lot like you in that I developed the "habit" of 3/4 to a bottle of wine to sleep. Also, I have had a history of TSM noncompliance because of side effects and to chase the buzz. This is where I am now and it seemed to work in the past, so It goes to reason it should work now. Anyhow, I titrate up slowly to 25 mgs of Nal as I've never gotten up to a full 50 mgs. By slowly I mean I slice the Nal in 1/4's and start with the smallest quarter and go from there. Even a small amount gives me some minor side effects, but they are more tolerable than a hangover. Here's to getting through the SE's so that we can stay compliant this time. Hugs, keek

I just began on April 1.
I took one quarter, drank my usual almost full bottle of wine. Still wanted that buzz. Slept relatively okay.

April 2, another quarter, drank a bit less, did not sleep well. The buzz seemed less important.

Last night, a 'bigger' quarter. Drank maybe one and a half glasses of wine while preparing dinner, horrible nausea set in, buzz forgotten amidst feeling ill, could not finish eating dinner, was up all night sweating and restlessly tossing and turning.

Finally took a Benadryl at 2am and was able to get 3 hours of sleep.

I'm on spring break now but have to get back to work on Tuesday. I am a preschool teacher and I NEED MY SLEEP. (Not to mention it would be nice to be able to eat my dinner.)

I sure do hope it gets better. I read someone's post about how they end up going AF just because of how awful they feel on Nal. This I can understand, but I was hoping for a different experience.