[Guest]

I am a 45 year old male who has suffered from chronic sleep problems for several years. It's gotten worse in the past 5 years. I am in very good health except for mildly elevated blood pressure, under control with Altace. My GP referred me to a neurologist about a year ago, and he tried Remeron (at 15, 30 and 45 mg). 15 and 30 were ineffective, and at 45mg, the itching was unbearable. I phased out of it entirely now. I had a sleep study done in November with the following results: "...doesn't give us a significant amount of information as to the cause of your insomnia. It did show very poor sleep efficiency with a good bit of sleep fragmentation of unknown cause. You did not have any slow wave sleep during the night. You did not have significant numbers of sleep apneas or periodic limb movements, and there were no other EEG or chin EMG abnormalities that would explain your sleep fragmentation." I take Ambien (5mg)frequently, but its help is marginal at best. I am in a stressful job, but don't think about it at night. What I do know is that when I do get even 4 hours of relatively uninterrupted sleep, I am a much happier, healthier, more productive person. The difference is literally night and day.

I have tried all the normal stuff; gave up caffine and alcohol, every herbal remedy known to man, I exercise regularly (in the morning). I briefly tried sleep compression therapy, but caused sleep problems for my wife (who does not snore or have limb movements that wake me up).

After all this, my question is "What else can I try?" I need to make an appointment with the neurologist soon, and I have a regular appointment with my GP later this month. I would like to be able to suggest something that we could try.

Regards,

Kw

[Guest]

Sounds like you are doing many things already to help you sleep. Have you tried moving your exercise to the late afternoon? This can sometimes help. If not a hot bath(not shower) 2-3 hours before going to bed is helpful. Other remedies include learning relaxation techniques from a behavioral psychologist and some hypnotists are doing this as well. Other patients respond better to learning yoga or meditation. Even though you don't consciously think about work at night the stress of the job could be contributing to the problem.
[quote] I am a 45 year old male who has suffered from chronic sleep problems for several years. It's gotten worse in the past 5 years... [/quote]