In some cases it is useful to determine if there is also a psychiatric pathology (such as an anxiety disorder) that can justify the problem
I am 38 years old and I have been suffering from insomnia for several months, perhaps due to a period of work stress. I started sleeping 3/4 hours a night: initially it was not a burden, but with the passage of time joint and muscle pains, poor concentration and flu-like symptoms began, even without fever. I was prescribed clonazepam which gave me some relaxation, even though the hours of sleep did not increase. I have tried several supplements with no results. Now the situation got worse. I decided to seek counseling and my doctor prescribed zolpidem tartrate and melatonin for me. I have started the cure, but so far I have not seen great results. For some time I have also been suffering from anxiety and tachycardia throughout the day (increased blood pressure), which I assume are related to the fact that my body is unable to recover energy and consequently accumulates stress. I am in perfect physical shape, I have always played sports and I like to go out and be in company, but the anxiety of not sleeping night after night is ruining my existence. What do you advise me to do?
He answers Giancarlo Cerveradirector of the Complex Operating Unit of Psychiatry, ASST of Lodi (GO TO THE FORUM)
Lack of sleep produces effects on the brain and the whole organism that are directly related to the duration of insomnia. Forced sleep-suspension experiments in humans produce worsening psychiatric symptoms over the course of a few days. In animals, prolonged suspension causes severe pictures, up to death. The hypotheses on the sleep functions they range from the activity of reducing the accumulation of information during the day to the stimulation of learning mechanisms, to the stabilization of the mnemonic contents, up to the cleaning of the neuronal waste contents (neurotoxin and beta-amyloid protein). The end result is that prolonged sleep deprivation ends up causing damage to the brain that the organ on which psychiatric pathologies insist and therefore it is not strange to expect that the latter can emerge after periods of insomnia or that they can produce sleep alterations.
Environmental and biological factors
A prejudice to dispel that sleep is a position of equilibrium that the brain reaches if not stimulated. Many imagine that we function as a car which, without gear or acceleration, positions itself at a standstill and with the engine at idle (obviously the example applies to cars with a thermal engine). Sleep, on the other hand, is a condition that requires active processes to trigger and maintain itself. So be it environmental stimuli (stress, nutrition, stimulants) that biological factors (psychiatric pathologies) can produce alterations in the natural cycle connected with falling asleep and maintaining sleep. She refers to a stressful condition which appears to have preceded the onset of insomnia. It would be useful to establish if there is also a psychiatric pathology (such as an anxiety disorder) that can justify a state of alertness that is so relevant as to make sleep short and of unsatisfactory quality.
Relevant effects on the quality of life
The treatments that you have experienced were not effective: I believe that a specialist psychiatric framework is necessary to define a decisive intervention. Insomnia, if not treated properly, tends to produce an extremely relevant effect in the life of individuals, both in socio-relational terms (irritability and mood fluctuations), and in terms of work performance (attention and memory). In Italy the general practitioner is the one who most frequently intercepts this disorder and it is important that, for the more complex forms, he can avail himself of the collaboration of a psychiatrist.
April 2, 2022 (change April 2, 2022 | 10:50 am)
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