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What's the strongest sleep medication?

I have an auto-immune disorder which causes my sleep to be disrupted every night. Before I resort to medication, what are some natural ways to combat my sleep deprivation?

  • Hello, You don't necessarily need to be a doctor to answer this question.     I had the unfortunate luck to contract a disease approx. 4 years ago, and since then ( among other things) my sleep has been disrupted. This disease affects my immune system; the immune system regulates everything in the body as well as sleep.     The cause of my sleep deprivation is entirely a biological process. It doesn't have too much to do on external factors, such as the time I go to sleep, whether it is light out, or mitigating noise. I have no trouble getting to sleep, but in the early hours of the morning I will awake. I have deduced that I am not getting the R.E.M portion of my sleep cycle, and when I wake up my mind is still tired but my body is restless and it is almost impossible to get back to sleep. Some nights I toss and turn, and awake numerous times.     Staying asleep was not a problem before I contracted this disease. I have tried drinking "Sleepy-Time" tea, and have tried an herbal remedy called "Deep Sleep." Also, I have tried smoking marijuana, but those remedies haven't worked.     This is having a huge effect on my daily routine, and I would like your help in exploring some natural ways to combat my sleep deprivation before I resort to medication! Thank you for your time. ***Also wanted to add that I am extremely healthy otherwise, I exercise and diet very well, with enough vegetables and fruit in my diet.

  • Answer:

    I have been asked to answer this - would probably not have done otherwise. Ordinarily I would say that the best natural way to combat sleep problems is physical activity - ideally a lot of quite strenuous exercise. But I note that you say you exercise well, and it may be that because of your health condition you can't be more active than you are already.  If it is possible for you to exercise more then that is the first thing I would suggest. Failing that, my next line of attack would be to ask, are you actually short of sleep? Or is it just that you are unable to sleep when you wish to do so?  If you are not excessively tired in the daytime, you are probably getting enough sleep in total.  My suggestion for this, quite seriously, is to get yourself a tablet device that you can read and play with while lying down in the dark, so that if you are awake you have something to do and enjoy for a while until you feel ready to sleep again, instead of just lying there worrying about it. (I hope your partner, if you have one, is not such a light sleeper that this will disturb him/her.) If you are unable to do more exercise and are not getting enough sleep as evidenced by daytime tiredness, then I am very sorry but I have nothing further to suggest.

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I am not a doctor, let alone a sleep specialist. All I can do is point out some possible avenues for your personal research and experimentation. You say you developed insomnia at the same time as some unspecified but presumably rather unfortunate immune disorder. Is the immune disorder actually known to cause insomnia? If not, I think it is worthwhile to try and just go through the same possibilities you would if you'd developed insomnia at some other time. Even if it is, your insomnia may be worse than it otherwise would be if there are multiple contributing factors. I've even heard of one case where a man's autoimmune disorder was actually caused by a sleep disorder, although I doubt this is common. First of all, I think it may be worthwhile getting a sleep study, preferably a real one in a sleep lab. Insomnia can be a symptom of sleep apnea, which in recent years is turning out to be much more common than was previously suspected, and can actually be treated. Insomnia can also be a symptom of various psychological disorders. The exact boundaries between the various diagnoses are a bit fuzzy, but luckily the treatments known to be effective overlap quite a bit too—as far as I can tell, pretty much any minor psychological disorder may benefit from cognitive therapy, physical exercise, meditation, and antidepressants, and while the art of making a precise diagnosis to point the way to a precise treatment is certainly advancing, the only way to know for sure what works for you is to try. Out of the four treatments I listed, I would say the first three are virtually without risk, and most modern antidepressants are very low risk. I am not aware that this possibility should necessarily be ruled out because your problem is with staying, rather than falling, asleep. There's a list of standard tips that any good doctor or nurse, regardless of specialty, should be able to rattle off for you. A representative example is the "https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/insomnia/DS00187/DSECTION=lifestyle-and-home-remedies" page from the Mayo clinic. While most of these seem to be more concerned with falling asleep than with staying asleep, which appears to be your issue, I think they are still mostly good advice.

Jaap Weel

Sleep deprivation is a serious condition Don't take it lightly You accumulate toxin in your body . The lack of sleep can trigger others disease far more serious . Your immunity decrease no matter what you eat . My advice is to really get professional advice and don't be afraid to take the right medication before your health get out of control.

Carole Zavala

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