Insomnia

Ah, my old friend, Insomnia.

Wiki says:

Insomnia is a symptom[1] of any of several sleep disorders, characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. Insomnia is a symptom, not a stand-alone diagnosis or a disease. By definition, insomnia is "difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or both" and it may be due to inadequate quality or quantity of sleep. It is typically followed by functional impairment while awake. Both organic and non-organic insomnia without other cause constitute a sleep disorder, primary insomnia.[2]

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services in the year 2007, approximately 64 million Americans regularly suffer from insomnia each year.[3] Insomnia is 1.4 times more common in women than in men.[4]

Ok, so it's a symptom, but of what? Diet? Stress? Hidden illness? Mental Disorder? Sensitivity to seasonal change? All of the above? I've never asked a doctor, I've always just dealt with the bouts of insomnia and moved on. Sometimes I have it for weeks. At other times I've had it for months... surely I've never had insomnia for years... or have I? No, I don't think so.

Wiki says:

Although there are several different degrees of insomnia, three types of insomnia have been clearly identified: transient, acute, and chronic.

Transient insomnia lasts from days to weeks. It can be caused by another disorder, by changes in the sleep environment, by the timing of sleep, severe depression, or by stress. Its consequences - sleepiness and impaired psychomotor performance - are similar to those of sleep deprivation.[5]

Acute insomnia is the inability to consistently sleep well for a period of between three weeks to six months.[6]

Chronic insomnia lasts for years at a time. It can be caused by another disorder, or it can be a primary disorder. Its effects can vary according to its causes. They might include sleepiness, muscular fatigue, hallucinations, and/or mental fatigue; but people with chronic insomnia often show increased alertness. Some people that live with this disorder see things as though they were happening in slow motion, whereas moving objects seem to blend together. Can cause double vision.[5]

Ok, now we're getting somewhere. It looks like I'm somewhere between Transient and Acute, leaning towards acute... perhaps even dipping into chronic at a point or two in my past.

This isn't a recent thing for me, either. I've suffered (I don't know if suffered is the right word. Although there have been times it felt like suffering but they have been rare.) with this problem for as long as I can remember. I can literally remember bouts of sleepless or semi-sleepless nights as early as 4 or 5 years of age. They have always come and gone in random patterns. A few days, a week, a few months, heck maybe even close to a year or more at a few points. It's hard to say, really. It's just something I've always had to deal with for a while and then not deal with for a while.

Wiki says:

The pattern of insomnia often is related to the etiology.[7] Insomnia affects 1 in 3 people.[citation needed]

Onset insomnia - difficulty falling asleep at the beginning of the night, often associated with anxiety disorders.

Middle-of-the-Night Insomnia - Insomnia characterized by difficulty returning to sleep after awakening in the middle of the night or waking too early in the morning. Also referred to as nocturnal awakenings. Encompasses middle and terminal insomnia.

Middle insomnia - waking during the middle of the night, difficulty maintaining sleep. Often associated with pain disorders or medical illness.

Terminal (or late) insomnia - early morning waking. Often a characteristic of clinical depression.

Ok, well this is a bit tough to nail down. When I am dealing with insomnia, it could be all of the above or just one or two. The most annoying form of insomnia I've dealt with over the years has been onset insomnia. You just lay there waiting for sleep until forever, it seems. Often times I'll finally zone into a super-light sleep in the wee hours of the morning, that doesn't even feel like sleep and when I wake up, I feel like I never slept but just managed to zone out or finally relax enough to feel slightly rested.

Then, there are bouts of waking late. 3:00 AM is a very familiar time to me. I've awakened literally thousands of times at, or around, 3:00 AM. Sometimes after hitting the sack at 9:00 PM and falling right asleep and others after turning it at 11:00 PM and falling right asleep... and still others after going to bed and not sleeping until 12:00 AM or 1:00 AM then, finally falling asleep only to roll over and see my old friend 3:00 Am staring at me from the clock on the night stand. No more sleep will be had that night.

Most often I am not going back to sleep once I've come awake early. I'll usually resign myself to that fact and pull up the internet to read, watch a movie, or write something (like tonight). Other times I simply can't go to sleep at all and will get back out of bed 3 hours after getting into bed to read, watch a movie or write something. Sometimes, after I've been dealing with insomnia for an extended length of time, I'll just sit quietly and think because I'm to tired to focus on anything or to frustrated to bother reading, watching a movie or writing something.

I have been known to go for walks in the wee hours of the morning. A couple of years ago I spent nearly an entire summer heading out the door at around 11:00 PM to take night photos. Not because I enjoyed the hobby that much but because I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep anyway. I'd return home long after the house had gone to sleep and I'd cat nap for 3 or 4 hours before waking for work, or to care for the kids.

Wiki says:

Insomnia can be caused by:

Psychoactive drugs or stimulants, including certain medications, herbs, caffeine, cocaine, ephedrine, amphetamines, methylphenidate, MDMA, methamphetamine and modafinil

Nope, I've always been a pretty non-drug kind of guy. I've experimented with substances but very rarely and never more than a few times.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotic drugs, see Fluoroquinolone toxicity, associated with more severe and chronic types of insomnia [8]

I've only been on antibiotics a handfull of times in my life and I don't recall them keeping me awake.

Restless Legs Syndrome can cause insomnia due to the discomforting sensations felt and need to move the legs or other body parts to relieve these sensations. It is difficult if not impossible to fall asleep while moving.

I remember this when I was younger. I grew out of it as I became less physically active, though.

Any injury or condition that causes pain. Pain can preclude an individual from finding a comfortable position in which to fall asleep, and in addition can cause awakening if, during sleep, the person rolls over and puts pressure on the injured or painful area of the body.

Yeah, dealt with this for a while with a serious back injury but the pain drugs actually killed my insomnia for a while... then I started using to many pain drugs and when I backed off using them, the pain became so severe that I was forced into surgery. I didn't sleep for a solid week before the surgery and slept for nearly two straight days after it. I haven't taken a pain pill since and hope I never have to.

Hormone shifts such as those that precede menstruation and those during menopause

Not lately.

Life problems like fear, stress, anxiety, emotional or mental tension, work problems, financial stress, unsatisfactory meep life

Yes, I have problems with anxiety over some of the above.

Mental disorders such as bipolar disorder, clinical depression, generalized anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, or obsessive compulsive disorder.

I've long suspected that I could be bipolar. I have always had issues with depression swings and high on life swings. I think I've talked about them here before. I have never been diagnosed with any disorders but I've also never asked a doctor to make a diagnosis, so, there's always that. To be honest, I have a slight phobia regarding prescription medications. My struggle with pain meds while dealing with my injured back only reinforced that phobia. I truly have a fear of being resigned to taking pills for the rest of my life and I highly doubt that any doctor could treat me without resorting to pharmaceuticals. Maybe nocal can treat me with a custom diet?

Disturbances of the circadian rhythm, such as shift work and jet lag, can cause an inability to sleep at some times of the day and excessive sleepiness at other times of the day. Jet lag is seen in people who travel through multiple time zones, as the time relative to the rising and setting of the sun no longer coincides with the body's internal concept of it. The insomnia experienced by shift workers is also a circadian rhythm sleep disorder.

Nope.

Estrogen is considered to play a significant role in women's mental health (including insomnia). A conceptual model of how estrogen affects mood was suggested by Douma et al. 2005 based on their extensive literature review relating activity of endogenous, bio-identical and synthetic estrogen with mood and well-being. They concluded the sudden estrogen withdrawal, fluctuating estrogen, and periods of sustained estrogen low levels correlated with significant mood lowering. Clinical recovery from depression postpartum, perimenopause, and postmenopause was shown to be effective after levels of estrogen were stabilized and/or restored.[9][10]

From time to time, sleeplessness forces sand into my meep (I think the Sandman puts it there) but I don't think my meep has ever caused sleeplessness.

Certain neurological disorders, brain lesions, or a history of traumatic brain injury

I suffered a closed head injury in a car accident when I was 22 but it didn't seem to effect my sleep patterns in any way. My sleep issues started long before then.

Medical conditions such as hyperthyroidism and rheumatoid arthritis[11]

Possible, but for over 30 years?

Abuse of over-the counter or prescription sleep aids can produce rebound insomnia

Nope. Tried them a few times. They never worked for me.

Poor sleep hygiene, e.g., noise

Nope. I need quiet to sleep even when insomnia isn't visiting. The wife likes a fan in the room while sleeping. This has been the cause of a bit of tension between us in the past but she finally resigned to the fact that she can sleep without a fan if she has to, I can sometimes not sleep for weeks without one. Eventually I won that argument.

Parasomnia, which includes a number of disruptive sleep events including nightmares, sleepwalking, violent behavior while sleeping, and REM behavior disorder, in which a person moves his/her physical body in response to events within his/her dreams

Mmmm, not really.

A rare genetic condition can cause a prion-based, permanent and eventually fatal form of insomnia called fatal familial insomnia

With my luck I have this. Awesome.

Parasites can cause intestinal disturbances while sleeping.[citation needed]

Nope.

Sometimes a rare case of insomnia is also seen in individuals who have long hours of consistent television watching or computer surfing.[citation needed]

Wouldn't that be the ultimate catch 22. I use long hours of television/internet to fill the hours I can not sleep. It'd be a hoot if that caused me to also not be able to sleep, therefore forcing me to eventually divide by zero and implode the entire planet.

Wiki says:

Sleep studies using polysomnography have suggested that people who have insomnia with sleep disruption have elevated nighttime levels of circulating cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone They also have an elevated metabolic rate, which does not occur in people who do not have insomnia but whose sleep is intentionally disrupted during a sleep study. Studies of brain metabolism using positron emission tomography (PET) scans indicate that people with insomnia have higher metabolic rates by night and by day. The question remains whether these changes are the causes or consequences of long-term insomnia.[11]
Insomnia can be common after the loss of a loved one, even years or decades after the death, if they have not gone through the grieving process. Overall, symptoms and the degree of their severity affect each individual differently depending on their mental health, physical condition, and attitude or personality.
A common misperception is that the amount of sleep required decreases as a person ages. The ability to sleep for long periods, rather than the need for sleep, appears to be lost as people get older. Some elderly insomniacs toss and turn in bed and occasionally fall off the bed at night, diminishing the amount of sleep they receive.[12]

Well, after two hours reprinting this Wiki into this journal, it seems that it's actually starting to make me a little sleepy. Perhaps, if I continue it will promote a nap?

It seems that insomnia could be caused by so many meeping things that the average person would have going on in their life that it would be pretty much impossible to diagnose the cause for any one person and schedule some form of treatment to fix it.

So, anyway, this is my stupid journal about stupid insomnia. I'm entering into a new bout with it right now and we'll see how long this one lasts. I'm finally a bit tired and can probably cat-nap for an hour or two before the kids wake up. I guess I'd better give that a try.

Nighty-nite journal.