[dbaldino]

I have been told that setbacks are normal (whatever that is). I have had plenty of them. I have had a rough week sleep wise for no apparent reason. I am not in a stressful situation. What do some of you do if and when you have several bad nights in one week? < 4 hours. Do you go back to basics? I know Aaron Beck (father of CBT) used to say if you have an anxiety setback look at it as a positive opportunity to use the coping skills you learned. Is this also true of CBTI? Thank you. Regards, Deb

[dbaldino]

To add to my post, I went to two different therapists for insomnia and one takes Ambien and the other takes trazodone. Is this an insomnia pandemic?

[Martin Reed]

I think a helpful response can be to acknowledge what you are going through, to be kind to yourself, and then to redirect your focus onto the things you can control — the actions and behaviors that help create good conditions for sleep while also (and perhaps most importantly) engaging in daytime activities that keep you moving toward the life you want to live, even after difficult nights and even in the presence of the difficult thoughts and feelings that often come along for the ride.

When it comes to the medications you mentioned, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) states the following:

We suggest that clinicians not use trazodone as a treatment for sleep onset or sleep maintenance insomnia (versus no treatment) in adults.

For Ambien (zolpidem), the AASM task force found “…weak evidence of efficacy in the treatment of sleep onset and maintenance insomnia..” although “…benefits were deemed to marginally outweigh harms.”.

The AASM also states:

We recommend that clinicians use multicomponent cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia for the treatment of chronic insomnia disorder in adults.

With that being said, we are all different — there’s no one-size-fits-all approach here.

We all need to do whatever is right for us.

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If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[dbaldino]

Martin, thank you for your support. I do have a wonderful life (5 kids and 8 grands). I am going to grad school and teaching and I love it all. I was able to overcome anxiety using CBT and it took years but it worked. I know I need to try and be patient with CBTI. I would never take Ambien. I don’t think it is even safe. I would probably keep taking clonazepan on bad nights if my doc would prescribe it but that is not an option. I am going to try and be patient with CBTI. It is just taking much longer than I expected.

[Martin Reed]

Thanks for sharing! It’s great to hear that you are living a rich and meaningful life, even in the presence of insomnia. I think that might go to show that insomnia doesn’t prevent us from living a rich and meaningful life — our actions determine the kind of life we live. And, fortunately, we always have control over our actions (whereas we have no control over sleep and all the thoughts and feelings our brain generates as it does its job of looking out for us)!

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

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