“Why is my mom unable to sleep, even when she's taking medications?”
My mom is on Anxit 0.25 as a way to reduce her anxiety and stress to help her sleep better. However, she's noticeably anxious and still unable to sleep. Why is this happening? Can you recommend other methods to help her sleep?
3 Answers
it is important to determine the triggers for anxiety. Adding the pills would not help.- A psychiatric eval would help. Cognitive behaviour therapy helps better than pills
Insomnia affects 10% of adult population, there are 2 types primary vs secondary. Both are associated with hyper- arousal, increased sympathetic tone and metabolism. Your mom has co morbid anxiety that is affecting her Insomnia. She needs to be evaluated for other medical conditions besides anxiety and treated. Pharmacological treatment alone is not enough, she needs cognitive behavior therapy, sleep restrictions and stimulus control. The treatment usually takes time but with strict focus on non-pharmacological there is a good chance of success. Your mom needs care coordination between a psychiatrist and sleep specialist.
This does not have a really simple answer. The medication is a benzodiazepine. This is a small dose of a drug which is considered a sedative hypnotic. It is surely possible for it not to work. Common causes of insomnia include pain, depression, anxiety and poor sleep habits. In the United States all benzodiazepines are controlled substances. I would address this question in detail with the treating physician. There are particular behavioral interventions which are possible with many patients, which are called cognitive behavioral therapy. It might be appropriate. The details of the sleep difficulty matter. Is this difficulty falling asleep, or difficulty staying asleep, or difficulty with early awakenings, or all of the above? If there are awakenings can she go back to sleep again? When did this start? Is there evidence of depression? Is there snoring? What medications are currently being used for anything? Is alcohol being consumed? Is caffeine being consumed? What time is bed and what time is up and out of bed in the morning? Is there travel or shiftwork? If the treating doctor's response is to quickly write another sedative prescription without taking a detailed review of the problem, I would ask for a referral to a sleep specialist.
