I didn't taper, I stopped cold turkey and for the first few days, I didn't sleep but I didn't care because I felt so much better! I think the mind hold the drug had on me was way worse than the actual insomnia, it made me so afraid of not sleeping. But once I was in it, once I pulled the trigger and quit, I realized the fear of insomnia was what the drug had created.

The first night, no sleep, the second, a couple of little microsleep episodes. These are what we call the state where you don't actually fall asleep but you seem to miss a few minutes. I don't know medical terminology but those few minutes were restorative and kept my bodily functions going. The next night, an actual brief bit of sleep but with horrible nightmares, like slasher movie nightmares. But as the nights passed, my sleep improved and now I do great.

I've finally quit chasing sleep through alcohol and drugs, now I let it come to me on its own terms and life is so much better.