A large number of clients coming into a drug rehab center have issues with their sleep pattern.  They are awake late at night and have difficulty falling asleep.  Changing the sleep pattern is always a priorty in the first month in a drug rehab center.  A lot of clients arrive with medications to assist them to "fall" alseep.  Are sleep medications a good idea in a drug rehab center?  While we are not here to give any medical advice, what approach may make the most sense in the long run?

What is the danger in using sleep medications in a drug rehab center?  The most obvious one is that many sleep medications have an addictive potential.  Any drug that alters moods or leads to drowsiness may be dangerous to a client at this stage.  Drowsiness may lead to poor decisions.  Even a small buzz may trigger cravings.  At some point a client may also need to make the connection that problems cannot be solved with pills.  Drug rehab centers are safe places.  People are around 24 hours a day.  What is the worst that will happen if you do not fall asleep?  You will be tired the next day.  If you stick to it sooner or later you will be tired enough to fall asleep at at your desired hour.  Pills will never do that for you.  You start to believe that for you to sleep well you need a pill.  Again a lot of pills are not as effective over time as they were intially, so you either have to increase the dose, or learn to sleep without pills. 

You are investing time and money for a place to change.  Avoid the seductive feeling of, "I just need this for a while to get through this."  Seek other solutions.  Exercise so much you are exhausted.  Read at night if you can't fall asleep, to make it productive.  Stay away from coffee and caffeine.  One more pilll is not really the answer for a lot of people.  In a drug rehab center, nobody dies from not going to sleep.  Clients do die who do not stop using drugs.  Make the smart choice.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.