Monday, July 4, 2011

INSOMNIA

Insomnia- Is a sleep disorder in which a person experiences a difficult times sleeping.
chronic ongoing insomnia that occurs at least 3 days/ nights a weeks over 30 days or more.
I have insomnia chronic in nature and I use to get so upset with myself because I could not fall asleep. If you are sleepy why can't you fall asleep. I would try to just lay there and I would toss and turn. I would not understand what was going on. Then I would fall sleep for maybe an hour and then I would wake up and not be able to fall back to sleep or I would wake up every hour. This had been going on for at least 10 plus years.I had a friend at work that had sleep apnea and she was talking to me about this she asked If I snored and I said yes. She encouraged me to have it evaluated because she thought that I might have sleep apnea.  Even though I am a nurse and knew she has some valid point that I should have it evaluated I did not do it probably because I knew I would have to get a sleep study test and having a bunch of goop in my hair wasn't wait I call a great date to me.
Anyways long story short one day when I was at work I started having heart palpation and ended up going to the ER for heart rate of approximately 200 beat per minutes I was in atrial fibrillation.Anyways through all the test and they figured out that I had Sleep apnea. That is what caused my to have atrial  fibrillation and to keep waking up all the time due to low oxygenation. Now that I have a c pap I don't have insomnia as long as I wear my c-pap I sleep really well.
Treatment of insomnia
With insomnia sometimes it related to a healthy problem  this is called secondary insomnia chronic insomnia treatment  includes first treating any conditions or health problems that are causing the insomnia.
Identify and routine that cause your insomnia such as poor sleep environment, or engaging in stimulating behaviors such as watching TV, video games or writing your blog right before bedtime.


TIPS FOR GETTING A GOOD NIGHT REST
1. Try to sleep at the same time every night.
2. Avoid stimulating type items examples nicotine, caffeine.
3 Avoid drinking alcohol before bed can cause subsequently waking up and disrupts  your quality of sleep.
4. Avoid exercising 4-5 hour before bedtime. Put you should exercise regularly this helps with insomnia.
5. Eating large meals right before bed can cause you to wake up due to gastric reflux, so eat light meals may help you sleep. But no heavy meal 1-2 hours before bedtime.
6. Don't use your bed for anything beside sleep. If you use your bed to hang out in then your body gets confused about going to sleep.
7. If you can't fall asleep do get up and watch TV you should do something non-stimulating like reading a book and then when you fell drowsy go back to bed .


With insomnia you usually feel still tired and not refreshed as you should when you wake up.
when you do not get your proper sleep your body suffer from it your work performance and energy can have a decrease in quality of life. Here are a few other issue you may have due to insomnia slowed reaction while driving ,obesity, poor immune system function, long term disease such as diabetes and heart disease.


Common causes of insomnia include
Stress- concerned about family, friends school, or health problems stressful event  can lead to insomnia
Anxiety- people with anxiety disorder have difficulty sleeping.
Depression-When you are depressed you either sleep too much or not enough.This can be because chemical imbalance in your neurological system. Insomnia often accompanies mental health disorders.
Medical condition- Many times when you have chronic health issues that is linked with insomnia Here are a few examples GERD, overactive thyroid, pain disorders including arthritis, fibromyalgia, and  Alzheimer disorder.
There are medication that can be taken for insomnia but most physician do not want to medicate their patient for more than a few weeks due to some of these medication are habit forming.
You can use Over the counter sleep aids with antihistamine in them. You can get them at any store, the one side effect I have found with them are that you feel sleepy the next day.  But if you get enough sleep you will feel fine.
If your are depressed as well as having insomnia your doctor may order you an antidepressant with sedative effect here are a few examples. Trazadone, Doxepin or Remeron. I personally tried Trazadone and it worked very effectively for me and I did not have the drowsiness feeling that I had with the other  prescription sleeping pills. I only tired one put I had excessive daytime sleepiness with it. Other side-effect from sleeping pills include impaired thinking, night wandering  and agitation.
You reserve to have a good night sleep, It  is one of the most important thing you can do for your body. If you are having trouble with sleep please go see your physician and don't be think me and end up in the ER for something that could of been prevented.
DISCLAIMER- I am not a physician, you should  seek medical attention for evaluation and treatment of any sleep disorders. 
 This is a great website with great information  on insomnia if interested take a look.
http://www.theinsomniablog.com/
our site in the Hot Vs Not web directory You can find other related resources in the Chronic Illness Directory  

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