This is probably good advice for people who have occasional insomnia.
But if you have insomnia more regularly, especially for days at a time, or you consistently don't feel rested despite believing that you've slept, you really should try to talk to a doctor - not to ask for sleeping pills (although that may be a result), but to start the process of finding out if there's a larger problem that can be treated.
I deal with delayed sleep onset, which is livable - it just means that it takes me longer to fall asleep, and occasional insomnia on top of it wouldn't be a big deal.
But I also suffer from a REM-related parasomnia which apparently has never been officially described or named, so instead gets stuck in the "Other parasomnias - unspecified" bucket. Basically once I fall asleep, the NREM phases look perfectly normal, but once I enter REM, I suffer multiple arousals (basically I wake up, but for too short a period to be aware that I'm awake). So rather than going through REM phases, I spend that time waking up multiple times per minute.
Unfortunately so far nobody has been able to suggest a treatment. Gabapentin helps a little, but it's far from a solution.
That's certainly one of the first things they checked for, which is understandable.
They started with a home sleep study (you pick up the equipment and are shown how to put it on before bed), but it showed that my breathing was fine, blood oxygen levels were normal, and I snore less than the average person.
So that's when they had me do the full study where you sleep in a lab hooked up to monitors to track breathing, brainwaves, muscle movements, etc.
When my father did his sleep study, they found that for every hour he slept, he only got 15 minutes or less of restful sleep. Sleep apnea is crazy.
My own sleep study, done at age 24, showed that I had (have?) mild to moderate sleep apnea. They recommended I don't drink, lose ten pounds and exercise regularly. No CPAP until it's worse. I chose to suffer poor sleep instead.
Amitriptyline is primarily an antidepressant, and it's very common for them to cause drowsiness, but there doesn't seem to be many studies as to how well they help maintain sleep, which would probably be key to my issue.
It's good that Amitriptyline is able to help you with spasms, though!
It's quite commonly used off-label for sleep at doses below it's antidepressant dose.
Yeah the medication has been incredible at managing my issues, I only take the full dose at of gabapentin at night though as I find it makes me 'wooly' headed if I take it during the day.
I had been recommended agomelatine (in the form of Valdoxan) for my anxiety, but it's primarily a sleep regulator. I'm not a doctor, don't know much about medicine, but maybe it's relevant, dunno.
Agomelatine is being studied as a sleep regulator since it acts on melatonin receptors, but it's primarily used as an antidepressant. Interestingly, I see that there's no tapering needed when discontinuing this, so it may not hurt to ask my doctor if it's worth trying.
But if you have insomnia more regularly, especially for days at a time, or you consistently don't feel rested despite believing that you've slept, you really should try to talk to a doctor - not to ask for sleeping pills (although that may be a result), but to start the process of finding out if there's a larger problem that can be treated.
I deal with delayed sleep onset, which is livable - it just means that it takes me longer to fall asleep, and occasional insomnia on top of it wouldn't be a big deal.
But I also suffer from a REM-related parasomnia which apparently has never been officially described or named, so instead gets stuck in the "Other parasomnias - unspecified" bucket. Basically once I fall asleep, the NREM phases look perfectly normal, but once I enter REM, I suffer multiple arousals (basically I wake up, but for too short a period to be aware that I'm awake). So rather than going through REM phases, I spend that time waking up multiple times per minute.
Unfortunately so far nobody has been able to suggest a treatment. Gabapentin helps a little, but it's far from a solution.