How to fight against chronic insomnia

Hello! I am 60 years old, I have been suffering from chronic insomnia for a year. I have no major worries, I am retired, I have a peaceful and orderly life. I am otherwise healthy, my thyroid hormones are also fine. I exercise regularly, but being tired doesn’t help sleep either. The body would sleep, but the head does not want to. I have already tried many over-the-counter medications, including melatonin – unfortunately unsuccessful. I took kventiax, occasional fluzepan, long-term Trittico 150 mg.

Some helped, but the side effects were very severe, so I stopped taking them. I become chronically tense, in fear, a vicious cycle. Now I am referred to the CMS (Center for Sleep Disorders) clinic, the psychiatrist does not know what to do with me. He prescribed me Zolrix 5mg. They help me at the moment, I sleep through the night, absolutely nothing without them, but it’s not sound sleep. Judging by the instructions, Zolrix is ​​intended for the treatment of psychoses, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, I do not belong to this group. I am afraid that taking these pills for a long time will really trigger any of these diseases in me.

Please give your opinion.

Zdenka

Dear Ms. Zdenka,

in the postmenopausal state, many things change in our lives, especially for women. One of these changes is worse, shorter and weaker sleep. This is influenced by hormones. You begin to decline physiologically, sometimes there is also a rapid deterioration of sleep.

Based on your question, in which you inform me that otherwise everything is fine with you and your living conditions, I can judge that poor sleep is most likely caused by a changed hormonal state and also a decline in melatonin, our natural sleep hormone.

Since you’ve obviously tried some medications and you’re still not sleeping well and feeling bad, I advise you to start the sleep protocol described below.

Sleeping protocol

Set a time to go to bed. If it is, say, at 11 p.m., start getting ready for bed two hours earlier, that is, at 9 p.m. It’s good if you feel tired without nervousness and tension. As a rule, warm water calms the mind and body very nicely.

Treat yourself to a bath in the spa or a sitting shower, which has a relaxing effect. I hope you have a plastic shower seat.

Listen to music at a piano (lower) volume, the way you like it, during or after a bath in an armchair or in bed.

Serve with lemon balm, chamomile and St. John’s wort tea with a little honey. These are calming plants. Honey is also effective, especially if you don’t use too much of it. Just enough to sweeten the drink a little will be enough. Drink tea lukewarm, not hot.

If you like a good movie and you can play it with a time delay, it will also put you to sleep. When you feel the first sleepiness, do not delay sitting in the armchair, but go to bed immediately.

Also make sure you have peace of mind. Noise is very disturbing at night, and not only that, it can have a toxic effect, causing many disturbances.

Some people find a head, back or foot massage very helpful. This is a wonderful sleep aid, of course if you have someone with you who is willing to cuddle you for 10 minutes. We can also caress ourselves. Perhaps you can also give yourself a head and foot massage.

You must be calm in bed and wish for a peaceful and deep sleep with autosuggestion. Try to remove the thoughts that disturb you. Try to want sleep and look forward to it. Practice this for at least 14 days. If it does not hatch, it will be necessary to use other help.

Profimedia

Be careful with medicines

Then anxiolytics and hypnotics, which can be obtained by prescription, can help us. In such a case, I advise to occasionally take the lowest possible dose of a drug to really rest and recover from too long nights.

If your sleep is also disturbed by some pain, it makes sense to reach for mild analgesics (painkillers), which are also available in pharmacies. If pain is not the cause of insomnia, I advise you to contact your doctor and have him prescribe an anxiolytic.

If that doesn’t help either, ask your doctor to prescribe a sleeping pill. In practice, the drugs Perluna 5 mg or Sanval 5 mg work well. These doses should not be increased. If you follow the sleep protocol, this sleeping pill will work for a long time without the need to increase the dose. I warn you that addiction can develop, in which over time even an increased dose of sleeping pills no longer helps.

After all this, one more tip that can also help. These are psychotherapeutic treatments that can free us from too many mental fossils buried in the subconscious.

I greet you and wish you a good night’s sleep.

Vida Drame Orožim, specialist in neurology and psychiatry