What is the longest time you have gone without sleep.

B

Blessed

Well-known Member
I have been going thru a bad spell of anxiety. I got out of bed on Tuesday about 2pm. I have not slept since. Yes, I do suffer from insomnia but I have never been this bad. I am about to finally crash, thank god. I just do not understand why this is happening. I have sleeping pills, muscle relaxers, sedatives (xanax) but have chosen not to take them unless I have too. Is this a problem as we age. I know the insomnia is but has anyone else gone without sleep for over 48 hours?
 

The longest I can remember was when I worked as a CNA and did double shifts. But I would go home and sleep. Never longer than that. I have never had trouble sleeping but recently started taking magnesium to stop cramps in the back of my legs (calves). I have to take it at bedtime otherwise I am so sleepy. I go to sleep almost immediately after taking it.
 

My best advice would be to "try to embrace the situation" rather than fight it.

Its hard to keep my awake for too long these days in the evening, and a sleep in the day isn't out of the question, but twenty or more years ago insomnia did become a bit of an issue, and I'd be thinking what I should do about it.

I didn't go to the doctors then and the watching of silly films or other stuff on tv in the hours of being awake was one way I dealt with it until my sleep pattern returned to something like normal.

Then about ten years ago, due to a combination of factors my inability to sleep properly really came back and this time I did seek assistance from the doctors, though I'm not sure they were able to provide a cure as such, though luckily as I've said, things did return to my now normal state of getting to sleep very easily, (though it took a few years I admit).
 
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I see you wrote this about 5 hours ago, @Blessed ... I hope you're sleeping restfully now and will feel great when you wake. To answer your question, I can't remember ever going past 48 hours, no... back when I used to pull all-nighters for work, studying, or just because I didn't want to sleep, it was only around 36-40.
 
About 4 days. Long ago when I was young I worked seasonally for the Forest Service. I got called to work on a large and growing forest fire in California. My job was radio operator, I took messages from field crews and passed them on to management and visa versa. They just kept me working until the messages I took became incoherent.

That was the longest, but when working the fireline I did a few 36 to 48 hour shifts. Long periods without sleep were pretty much the norm for firefighters back then. I believe that has changed, for safety reasons.
 
When I was in my late teens/twenties I could pretty easily stay awake for two days.

Blessed. Take the Xanax. You need to take it about half hour before you go to bed. Nothing bad will happen, only good.
 
Blessed, sorry for your insomnia. The longest I was without sleep was about 2 1/2 days. Well, there was this,party, and then I had to work, and another party and work. When I finally go home, just as I laid my head on the pillow, there was a persistent knock at the door. It was two guys, who wanted to save my soul. I wanted to beat their bodies.
 
Sorry for what you're going through, Blessed. I've suffered from insomnia all my life, I think in some cases, it's hereditary, and like a lot of other problems unfortunately, aging makes it worse. Also, for me, Vicodin (Norco), marijuana, and alcohol make it worse; the last time I took Vicodin, I was awake 36 hours.
 
That is very difficult, what you described in your OP,
@Blessed
As was said above, I hope you are sleeping by now, or at least doing some resting, the best you can.

I have sleep problems ongoing, too, and as some others said above, my worst sleep-weeks I remember, (none or little sleep for 3 days) were when stress was very high. Though I have it often, regardless, and it's a very tough thing to endure. Makes everything else harder to do and to cope with.
Take care, Blessed, and each one of you.
 
I used to go without sleep for long periods, quite often. 48 hours? Sometimes because of insomnia, sometimes by choice or for work.

Most recently, I got by on little or no sleep while driving across the country. Why spend $100 on a motel? Unless I'm *really* tired, I won't sleep anyway because I want to get back on the road.

Now my insomnia is less, and I don't have any need or desire to stay awake. But if I travel again, I'm sure I'll be pulling some all-nighters.

@Blessed and others who suffer from insomnia, my sympathies! It was a lifelong problem for me (until recently), and I know it's awful.
 
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About 30 hours in the Air Force. We had a big barracks inspection on a Saturday so we stayed up all of Friday night to prepare and naturally couldn't use the inspection ready bed. We passed and we got a day's leave on the town, but when I took nap beforehand, that nap turned into about 12 hours catch up sleep and I never could go downtown.
 
Blessed said:
I have been going thru a bad spell of anxiety. I got out of bed on Tuesday about 2pm. I have not slept since. Yes, I do suffer from insomnia but I have never been this bad. I am about to finally crash, thank god. I just do not understand why this is happening. I have sleeping pills, muscle relaxers, sedatives (xanax) but have chosen not to take them unless I have too. Is this a problem as we age. I know the insomnia is but has anyone else gone without sleep for over 48 hours?
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I rarely get more than 4 hours a night, period. Sleep has definitely become a problem for me after I turned 68 (5 years ago.) I am prescribed Trazadone which gets me to sleep but two to four hours later I wake up and that's all she wrote. I've tried all the typical stuff you hear about, Benadryl, melatonin, Valerian, CBD and non-medicinal approaches. Nothing works. The best sleep I remember having recently was with a Xanax offered by my sister. That gave me a good night's sleep. Good luck getting it prescribed, though. The recent opioid epidemic has doctors so scared that those who legitimately need something stronger to sleep (and I am not talking about opioids) are s**t out of luck.

On the up side, I am beginning to write more so there's that.
 
Thanks to everyone for your replies. It is a comfort to know others have gone through such a time. I did sleep for about 12 hours, finally. I was up a couple of times for bathroom breaks for me and the pups but able to go right back to sleep. We are all well rested.
 

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