Question
Dear Pastor Lance – I struggle from anxiety and I’m getting on medication for it. You have been very open about your use of medication, so I have a question. Do your meds help you sleep? Night time is my worst time. I’m terrified. Do anxiety meds help with that?
Answer
My friend, I’m so sorry you are hurting.
As far as anxiety meds impact on sleeping, it depends on what type of meds we are talking about. Remember there are immediate-help and long-term types of anxiety medications.
In my experience…
Long-term meds like Paxil and Zoloft do help with sleep, but not significantly. What it does is wind you down in general and that helps you chill out to sleep. It also stops some of the panic from waking you up. However, it’s not like a sleep aid and you may not notice the impact at all.
On the other hand ‘immediate-help’ meds like Ativan are also prescribed as sleep aids (especially Ativan). They significantly help sleep.
Fear at nighttime is very, very common. The reason is that we feel like we are handing over the control to ‘forces beyond our control’ (whether that be death or God), as well as the fear that we will die in our sleep.
During my tough seasons, night was the worst for me and I didn’t like bedtime at all.
However, here’s the reality (despite what you feel):
1.) Nothing is going to happen when you sleep but good stuff.
2.) Nighttime is no more dangerous than day time.
3.) Sleep is awesome for you.
4.) You’ll feel better when you wake up.
Okay, so I know you don’t believe me but here’s the practicality of it.
- Much of your struggle is in your mind, which mostly shuts down once it’s asleep. That’s a good thing.
- Some of your struggle is that your body is tense (shortness of breath, lack of peace to sleep, heart racing, etc.) and sleep levels that out.
- You are not ‘controlling’ the day as much as you think you are, any more than being in danger at night since God is really in charge and things are what they are, not because you are keeping everything afloat.
- We need a break and re-set to restart our mind computers (think rebooting). Sleep is the best way to do that.
- Sleep gives you energy to make decisions and feel strong to handle things, so we want sleep.
I’m only telling you what I need to tell myself during the tough times.
Hope this helps my friend.
Hugs,
Pastor Lance
