Stress Reduction and Sleep
September 25, 2020Why Zombies Don’t Need Sleep
October 25, 2020
Many people who call me are already on a sleep medication, sometimes multiple sleep medications. Sometimes the reason they’re calling me is they are tired of needing to rely on sleep meds to fall asleep. Other times they have an inkling that they could do this without medication but they aren’t ready to give it up just yet.
If you’re in the former camp and one of your goals for treatment is to get off of medications, then what I recommend is that you (or I, if you sign a release of information) speak to your doctor about a taper schedule that we can begin once you start CBT-I. You will then begin tapering off of the medication as you are learning the CBT-I methods. What’s nice about this is you’ll be meeting with me weekly and so if you have any rebound insomnia or difficulties with the taper schedule, I–along with your prescribing provider–can help you through it. In other words, your chance of success of getting off the sleep medication is higher.
What if I’m on multiple meds, you ask? No problem there, either. We’ll work with your doctor and prioritize which med to taper off of first, and then once that’s out of the picture we’ll move onto the next one.
If you’re in the latter camp and you want to stay on medications (or you’re not sure if you can come off of the meds without launching into a soul-crushing bout of insomnia), that’s fine too. CBT-I can be effective even if you decide to stay on medications for the time being. What I’ve found is that once people learn the basic skills of CBT-I, something just clicks, and then they’re usually ready to talk about coming off the meds at that point.
So, whatever your goal around medication, CBT-I can work for you! If you want to learn more, don’t hesitate to reach out and I’m happy to hop on the phone and tell you more!
