Hello Sleep by Jade Wu

Author:Jade Wu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

How to Come Off Sleep Medications

The good news is if you want to come off sleep medications, the process is actually pretty straightforward. In fact, it might be one of the easier things in this book to do.

I remember one motivated patient named Paul who called me on January 2, 2019. He said that his number one goal for the year was to come off his cocktail of sleep aids, including a half-dozen over-the-counter supplements and one Ambien prescription. He said he had tried to quit multiple times before without success, but this time he meant to make it stick, so he’d set aside $10,000 toward this goal. He asked if I thought his timeline and budget were reasonable. Three months and a couple of hundred dollars in copays later, he was medication-free (and planning a $9,800 vacation to Europe).

Just because you’ve tried to come off sleep medications before without success doesn’t mean you can’t do it now. You just need some science-based guidance and realistic reassurance. The most effective and sustainable method for getting off insomnia medications is based on three principles:

Take decision-making out of the equation: We’re going to stop with the bargaining and agonizing and guilting. Instead, we’re going to make your medication-taking behavior so automated and banal that you’re going to almost forget that it’s a thing. In fact, the way Paul and many of my other patients ended up taking the final step to zero sleep medications is that they simply forgot to take them for a few nights in a row and never looked back.

Do it after completing the Hello Sleep program (or an equivalent evidence-based insomnia program): You’re much likelier to succeed if you have the foundational skills and knowledge from cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) and other components of the Hello Sleep program. Having a solid relationship with sleep first, or at least being on the trajectory to having one, is like fixing your car before you start a long road trip—it will make the journey smoother and more likely to go as planned. While you’re still working through Hello Sleep, you should continue taking your sleep medications on a consistent schedule (ideally, same dosage and timing every night, or at some other predictable interval).

Taper off gradually: Stopping sleep medications cold turkey is usually ineffective because rebound insomnia is so miserable. The experience of caving in after a few nights may even reinforce the idea that you can’t sleep without the drug. That’s why some people end up even more addicted to their sleep medication after a cold-turkey quit attempt than they were before. Also, quitting some medications cold turkey has dangerous side effects, so it’s never advisable to do so without consulting your doctor.

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