Would somebody please dirrect me to information about insomnia caused by long term use of sedatives?
This is possible right, long term use of sedatives disrupting a persons ability to naturally fall asleep once they are taken off of the sedatives?
Check out rebound insomnia for advice on how to give up sleeping pills
You are right. If you have been taking sedatives for a long time you should not stop your therapy abruptly.
With a help from your doctor the dose of medication should be lowered slowly and eventually discontinued. The reason for this is that some sedatives cause physical or psychological dependence, another words you are addicted to them to some degree.
Anyways, you should not be taking sedatives for a very long time. Try to stop slowly whatever you are taking and in the meanwhile start to implement safer and healthier ways to get rid of your insomnia problems.
Good luck
What “sedatives” are you asking about?
Benzodiazapines have a well known “bounce back” effect, just like you are describing. You just have to wait it out.
Hi There. Yes, sedatives can cause insomnia. This is because your body naturally tries to return to a state of ‘homeostasis’ (balance) and thus when the body is sedated the natural response is to become more wakeful. This makes sedatives a problematic solution to sleep problems because they will cause the body to ‘wake up’ if used long term. I’ve had insomnia for 15 years and recently started 40 minutes of aerobic exercise 3 times a week. It has changed my life. I sleep more easily, I don’t wake up, and I feel great. Plus I’ve lost weight. There are sites on the internet to explain why exercise helps, it’s not that it makes you tired, it’s that it changes your body temperature early in the day which helps your internal clock function normally. I still take two RXs for insomnia (elavil and clonazopam) however I’ve started to reduce the doses and my doctor thinks I may be able to get off them all together. All this for doing something I should be doing anyway!
Best of luck!