Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Insomnia and Sleep Apnea

Possibly the most common form of sleep disorder is insomnia, which can range from a few sleepless nights to the more serious problem of being unable to sleep for months even years. Unlike sleep apnea insomnia can be cured without surgery or wearing a cpap mask.

Insomnia can be broken down into 3 categories
1. Transient that lasts no longer than a week
2. Short term is greater than a week and less than 3 weeks
3. Chronic insomnia is anything longer than short term.

It is important to remember that insomnia isn’t just the inability to fall asleep it is also the inability to stay asleep.

There are many risks involved with insomnia, probably the most dangerous one is falling asleep while driving.

There are things that can be done to solve this problem such as cognitive behavior training, which is changing the sleeping behavior of the insomnia patients. This is considered to be a better way to cure insomnia than medication which can lead to dependency. It is always best to discuss this with your doctor.

Unfortunately many people who have sleep apnea may assume that their sleeping problem is insomnia. They will neglect to seek help because they might feel that this situation is only temporary without realizing that they may have sleep apnea with all its dangerous side effects.

As I have said in past posts, it is extremely important to go to a doctor and tell them about your sleep problems. They can send you on a sleep study (if they think that it is appropriate) and then you will know one way or the other if you have sleep apnea.

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3 comments:

  1. It's excellent that you are chronicling your search for the best treatment. I am a part of a CPAP forum, where members post their experiences and questions and encourage one another. The issues you've brought up here are perfect for the discussions there. The forum is called CPAPtalk.com. There's a lot of traffic there so a lot of people there to engage with. Have you used it?

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  2. Thanks Katherine, I'll check out that site.

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