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Rebound insomnia
Rebound insomnia is when you can’t sleep after coming off sleeping
pills. Your brain and body have adjusted to the sleep medication to
some extent and almost anticipate it. The feedback mechanisms have
had their set point adjusted, to some extent. This set point changes
of course, but in the short run your body experiences insomnia in
response to the lack of drug. A related phenomenon is “rebound pain”
that people experience when they stop taking pain relievers. Some
people experience both rebound pain and rebound insomnia if they have
been taking something like Tylenol PM, which contains both a pain
reliever and an antihistamine.
Rebound insomnia is very common, and a reason to avoid medication
if possible. One way to reduce it is to wean yourself off the drug.
Reduce the dosage over a few nights to permit your body to slowly
get used to sleeping without the medicine. You can also try other
methods of getting to sleep: good sleep hygiene, exercise, warm milk.
Even a different type of sleeping pill would probably work, but doctors
would almost certainly not recommend using one sleep aid to counteract
rebound insomnia caused by stopping a different sleep aid. Consult
a doctor if you feel this is the only way.
"What the will and reason are powerless to remove, sleep
melts like snow in water" – Walter de la Mare – Behold, the Dreamer
Altitude insomnia
You sometimes hear the term “altitude insomnia” when people can’t
sleep after climbing a mountain (or flying to a city like Denver.)
More properly, there is a condition called Acosta’s syndrome, or hypobaropathy,
or altitude sickness, which can have many symptoms, including sleeplessness.
Sensitive individuals experience this when they go up as little as
2000 ft in elevation.
While in extreme cases altitude sickness can be serious, most people
suffer through the discomfort and adjust in a few days. The no-brainer
solution to this sickness is to descend back to the starting elevation,
at which point symptoms usually clear rapidly.
Insomnia related to substance use
Substance use refers to alcohol, stimulants, drugs (including sleep
aids, both prescription and over the counter.) Substances are often
used in tandem, compounding the effect and making identifying the
cause of the sleeplessness difficult.
The same substance can have opposite effects on different individuals:
caffeine seems to help some people fall asleep while it keeps others
up. Poisons can also interrupt sleep and a symptom of low dose poisoning
is insomnia. These poisons could include spider venom and lead.
Insomnia and menopause
Insomnia during pregnancy
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