Chronic Insomnia Treatment

Like many people with chronic pain, I suffer from chronic insomnia. It is mostly managed with medication, but when I have pain flare up in the middle of the night it can daily wake me up. After that, even if I take pain medication prescription or over the counter, I have trouble getting back to sleep. It is as if my brain and body think that it is time to get up. For people with chronic pain this is a frequent complaint, but I talk about a chronic insomnia treatment that is effective for me. Insomnia can be caused by pain that interrupts sleep and even by the very medications a person is using to manage their pain. If you suffer from spinal related pain there are other things you can do to relieve chronic insomnia caused by this pain while lying down.

For me the best solution is to get up and do something outside of the bed room area. Otherwise I find that I just lay there trying to get to sleep or dozing and waking up dozens of times an hour (not exactly restful.) My theory as to why this works for me is that I have to get away from the bed and “reset.” I will sometimes drink something warm (without caffeine) and this will relax muscles. Or I will read something lite, like a local news paper or look for a human interest story in a magazine. I may eat a lite snack if I am hungry. But, I try to stay away from work or deep, technical literature. Anything that will get me thinking too hard will make it more difficult to get back to sleep.

I allow myself this time away from the bed for about 30 minutes. Then (after any pain relief regimen I feel I may need to reduce pain) I hit the hay again as if I was just going to sleep for the night. For me, this works about 75% of the time. And I feel better for having done something about the problem, rather than just lying in bed staring at the ceiling for three hours worring about how tired I will be in the morning.

Please leave comments and suggestions. If you have something that works, share it with other readers. This is a simple idea. I am sure there are more out there I have not tried.