Insomnia with neurosis

First of all, let us trace the features of dreams that arise in functional disorders of the brain. The dreams of patients with neuroses without significant impairment of brain function are interesting in that they very clearly reflect a variety of changes in the body and the influence of the environment. The brain of neurotics is quite sensitive to the slightest changes taking place in the body and to stimuli acting during sleep.

Little things that do not affect sleep and dreams in a healthy person or go unnoticed cause significant changes in dreams in neurotics. In this regard, the dreams of people suffering from neuroses are predominantly suitable, promising material for research and study of the functional state of the brain in sleep, the peculiarities of its connection with the internal and external environment. The most interesting general patterns of brain activity during the REM and NREM sleep phases were observed in the dreams of patients suffering from neuroses and diseases such as:

neurasthenia;
hysteria;
hysteria or neurasthenia, aggravated by the use of alcohol and drugs;
reactive neurosis.

Causes of insomnia

Psychological traumas that a person has not been able to cope with, depression of a traumatic nature.
Stress from conflicts in the family, at work, constant forced communication with negative, unpleasant people.
Shock after the death of loved ones, apathy, guilt, grief.
Panic attacks, fear (including causeless), anxiety.
General emotional lability, susceptibility to frequent mood swings, hypersensitivity.
Changes in life, both for the worse and for the better, difficulties in adapting to them, experiences.

Symptoms of insomnia

Sleep disorders are one of the most common manifestations of neurosis. When worried, nervous, upset, even experiencing great joy from something, a person cannot sleep for a long time. His nervous system is in an excited state, and for sleep the brain must go into a state of inhibition.

Insomnia can be manifested by waking up too early, after which it is impossible to fall asleep again. The cause is often intrusive thoughts. It begins to seem to a person that these thoughts creep into his head even in his sleep, and the slightest coloring of thoughts with emotions causes awakening. When thoughts concern sad, tragic events, awakening may come from tears. Negatively colored emotions, fear, guilt, anxiety, and resentment provoke migraines. Even excitement from happy events often makes the heart literally beat faster, causing tachycardia and heart pain.

Insomnia can result in waking up in the middle of the night. Sometimes this happens at the same time, sometimes a person wakes up several times at random intervals. He can wake up from being drenched in sweat, or from any noise: a passing car, a gust of wind outside the window, an animal walking around the house. Sometimes the reason for awakening cannot be clearly formulated. For some people, insomnia is preceded by nightmares.

Irritability becomes a companion to insomnia. With an advanced lack of sleep, nothing pleases you, you have no strength for anything. Lack of sleep leads to apathy and reluctance to do anything. If the desire to act remains, then in combination with a lack of strength, uncertainty appears. It is difficult to finish what you start when you suffer from daytime sleepiness, fatigue, or constant fatigue. All these are companions of chronic insomnia.

When the circadian rhythm of sleep and wakefulness is disrupted, increased appetite or loss of appetite is often observed. As a result, the daily routine fails, which leads to dysfunction of all body systems.

All these signs can appear in various combinations, each of which is dangerous in its own way. If the depletion of the nervous system is not stopped in time, character (and in advanced cases even personality) will begin to undergo changes.

The appearance of nightmares before the diagnosis of the disease

It has been noticed that a negative background in dreams appears before the obvious manifestation of the disease. Before the disease, sleep becomes intermittent, problems with falling asleep in the presence of light and noise appear, the slightest external irritation causes awakening. Many unpleasant dreams appear. For some, this happened 1-2 weeks before the disease was detected, for others, several months. For different people, neurastic symptoms manifested themselves in dreams differently - from minor unpleasant scenes, dissatisfaction, to nightmares and a strong sense of fear.

It is interesting to note that with neurasthenia, as well as with mental and physical fatigue, nightmares were most often reproduced at the beginning of the night, but as the person rests, the background of dreams improves, and often very nightmares are replaced by calm ones from evening to morning. This distinguishes them from dreams in organic diseases of the brain, when disturbing dreams can be observed throughout the night and in the morning.

If all neurasthenics are characterized by a predominance of repulsive, nightmare dreams (about 98% of the total), then in different individuals, depending on the predominance of certain disorders, as well as depending on what external causes the appearance of neurasthenia was associated with, the content of some dreams were different. As a rule, the dreams of neurasthenics are associated in an unpleasant way with the situation that contributed to the appearance of neurasthenia.

Diagnostics

If insomnia due to stress continues for a week or longer, you should consult a neurologist. He may also refer you for a consultation to a somnologist - a doctor who deals with sleep problems, and other specialists. Together, they will help improve sleep after stress for an adult or child.

Diagnosis of insomnia is carried out comprehensively and may include:

Study of the background of the disease.
Lab tests.
ECG of the heart.
Consultations with medical specialists (psychotherapist or psychiatrist, cardiologist, endocrinologist, etc.).
Ultrasound.
MRI.
Additional examinations of internal organs.
Polysomnography is a hardware-based study of bioprocesses during sleep.

Treatment of insomnia due to nervous disorders

It may take up to a year and a half to regain full sleep ability. Our body is so complex and the processes occurring in it are interconnected.

For treatment to be successful, it is necessary not only to get rid of the symptoms of insomnia, but also to eliminate its cause - neurosis. Not only medications will help with this, but also massage, sports with light physical activity, yoga, meditation, walks in the fresh air 1-2 hours before bedtime. In many cases, taking the most obvious measures helps improve sleep. For example, you can reduce your consumption of coffee and strong tea, be less involved in computer games and reading news, learn to separate the important and the unimportant, and not take events that do not concern you and your loved ones to heart. Psychology and psychotherapy come to help in the treatment of insomnia. Classes and consultations with experts in this field lead to positive results.

Drug therapy

To restore sleep after stress, three main types of medications are prescribed.

Sedatives - for calming, relieving nervous tension, and better relaxation. Many sedatives are made from medicinal herbs. Such products can be purchased in pharmacies without a prescription. These are the only medications that can be taken on your own (in reasonable doses). The most famous are tinctures of valerian, motherwort, hawthorn, and Novo-Passit tablets.
Sleeping pills can be addictive. It is better to entrust their prescription and dosage determination to a doctor. If sedatives are not enough to have an effect, sleeping pills are used. They make it easier to go to bed, lengthen the period of sleep and its depth.
Tranquilizers should be taken with caution, but sometimes they are the best or only way to get rid of neurosis. These are antidepressants that affect the central nervous system, promoting better brain function and normal sleep. The most popular medicine in this group, Phenibut, is often prescribed for restless sleep. Some patients experience dependence and withdrawal syndromes.
A course of vitamins and minerals is prescribed to improve metabolism, improve the functioning of brain activity, the nervous system, and strengthen the defenses of the whole body. Vitamins play the role of antioxidants, restore cells, normalize the functioning of the endocrine glands. The role of B vitamins, which improve the conductivity of nerve tissue, is especially important. Of the minerals, magnesium is the most important for insomnia.

Remember: any medications, except for ordinary sedatives made on the basis of herbal preparations, are prescribed only by a doctor. Their use is not indicated in every case of insomnia, but only in the presence of serious sleep disorders. In many cases, simpler treatment methods can be used. And following the rules for the prevention of neuroses will help to consolidate the effect.

Homeopathic remedies

Not everyone believes in homeopathy as an effective therapeutic method, but successful experience has been gained in its use. Homeopathic medicines have virtually no contraindications, are made from natural raw materials, and contain a minimum dose of the active medicine. To combat neuroses in this area of medicine, three types of medicines are used:

General strengthening drugs - to stimulate the body's defenses.
Normalizing processes of excitation and inhibition in the central nervous system.
Sleeping pills – to speed up the onset of sleep and deepen it.

The most common drugs are Sonilyuks and DreamZzz. But, despite the absence of contraindications, remember that you cannot “prescribe” medications to yourself or others. This should be done by a qualified homeopathic doctor.

Folk remedies

If you have mild insomnia, you can try to normalize sleep with the help of folk recipes. In more serious cases, they will be a good addition to the main treatment.

15 g of dry lemon balm leaves are poured with a glass of boiling water and left for 30 minutes (can be covered or wrapped). Then you need to strain the infusion. Drink this drink before bed as warm tea or cooled to room temperature.
An infusion of dill seeds is prepared in the same way as lemon balm tea. In addition to sleep, dill water tidies up the digestive system. It is given little by little even to infants.
Infusion of a soothing and restorative herbal mixture. For it you need to take: 40 g of dry heather, 10 g of valerian root, 30 g each of marsh grass and motherwort. Pour 1 liter of boiling water over the herbal mixture, cover and let steep for 12 hours. Before going to bed, drink a glass of infusion.
Even if you are no longer a child, a mug of warm milk shortly before going to bed will be beneficial at any age. If you are not allergic to honey, you can drink milk with honey.
Honey, lemon and walnuts also help improve your night's rest. In addition, a mixture of these products strengthens the immune system and simply has an excellent taste. It is contraindicated only for people with allergies to honey, citrus fruits or nuts. Add 2 tablespoons of chopped walnut kernels to 200 ml of lemon juice or chopped lemon. Mix all this with 2 tablespoons of honey. (Dark buckwheat honey is best, but if you don't have it, any will do). Shortly before bedtime, you should eat a large spoonful of the resulting treat.
Another “honey” recipe. Mix 200 ml of natural honey with 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Eat 2 teaspoons of this medicine immediately before bed.

Inna, Voronezh

April 28, 2017

I am 59, I have the following diseases: hypertension, diabetes 2 t., tachycardia, all controlled. I had no problems sleeping before. Insomnia appeared after prolonged hypertensive crises, which were the result of a significant excess of fluid intake. While I was finding out the cause of the crises, I was frightened by possible dangerous complications of hypertension, anxiety and fear of worsening the disease appeared, and I was afraid to even measure my blood pressure. Persistent insomnia for about 4 months. Basically, it’s difficulty falling asleep, but sleep is also superficial, restless with several awakenings, sometimes after waking up early I can’t fall asleep, sometimes I don’t sleep almost the whole night. The workload is average, like that of a pensioner of this age. By nature I am choleric, not depressive, active, excitable, impressionable, delving, I experience problems for a long time, at the same time I am vulnerable, touchy, and can be irritable. A constant irritant is the often swearing husband, who has constant tantrums. During the crisis, I drank the herbal drug Fitosed, after the onset of insomnia, the neurologist prescribed 2 weeks of Gidazepam with a switch to Melatonin. With Gidazepam it became better, but my sleep did not improve completely; Melatonin alone did not work. Next was a course of Cortexin in parallel with a monthly course of Phenibut, the effect was the same as that of Gidazepam. Then they prescribed a 2-week course of Donormil with a transition to Afobazol and herbs. Donormil worked great, I slept for 8 hours. And when switching to Afobazole, sleep disturbances resumed. I took Afobazol for 3 weeks and before bed - brewed herbs, added Kurpatov’s methods of falling asleep. In recent days I have been observing an improvement, I sleep not 2-4 hours, but from 5 to 8 hours, but I am restless with 2-3 awakenings. I saw a psychiatrist, he said that there was no illness, but he believed that taking the antidepressant Lerivon for six months would help me. The neurologist does not recommend taking antidepressants, or at least trittico. I am scared by the side effect of “weight gain”, which is contraindicated for diabetes. The therapist advises to be treated only with herbs, and to get enough sleep to take Donormil. Please advise what to do? Is it possible to get rid of insomnia with a long course of pure sedatives or tranquilizers, such as Afobazole plus sedatives at night? Maybe I won’t be able to achieve the kind of sleep I used to have, since sleep disorders are already age-related, and pills for hypertension and beta blockers for tachycardia also contribute to insomnia? The dose of the blocker was reduced. Thank you in advance for your response. Best regards, Inna.

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depression

neurosis

insomnia

somatic diseases

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