The Problems with Being a Med Head
Aug 01, 2019
Insomnia sucks. That is for sure. There is really nothing worse than having to do word problems in your head: “if I fall asleep NOW, I can get 3 and a half hours of sleep.” And then worrying about how you might be on three and a half hours of sleep, which kills the half hour, so now you are down to three hours. So, maybe an Ambien might be a good thing… Or not…
Careful there. This time last year, a Georgia woman was arrested when she was driving the wrong way on the highway the day after using Ambien, AS PRESCRIBED, to help her sleep. She failed the standard sobriety test and told police that she had no idea of how she ended up going the wrong way.
So many times, it can be tempting to just “pop a pill” and make things all better. But sometimes that may have side effects which actually make insomnia worse, or you might have something else that is keeping you up, that you might not realize is keeping you up. One time, a colleague who is an athlete ended up with muscle cramps that kept him up, but not all the way up, but up enough to not get deep sleep.
He went and had some bloodwork done, only to realize that he was low on magnesium. He started taking extra mag (he already took a multivitamin), and the cramps disappeared, and he was able to get sleep.
Looking into nonpharmalogic interventions can be a good place to start. Dr. Kamel, who wrote an article for The American Journal of Medicine indicated that sometimes these are very underused by health care practitioners. When you can heal by getting good sleep, you might not even need to use anything else.
If it’s time to wake up refreshed because you got that DEEP SLEEP, click below to schedule your free 15 minute consult to see if you think we might be a good fit.
