Question:
My girlfriend has suffered (for most of her life) with the kind of insomnia
where she falls asleep with no problem, but wakes up in the middle of the
night and stays awake for 2-5 hours. Her body can be physically tired, but
her mind is mentally awake.
Any recommendations on things to help (natural or non-natural)??
Answer:
Even if she isn't depressed, some antidepressants are a quite safe way
to improve sleep quality. (This is a "see the doctor" type of thing.)
Seconded. Most (? of the ones I've seen, at least) are antidepressants
that didn't really work out as such because people were too fagged out
while taking them at a `therapeutic' (eg, enough to have an effect on
depression) dose; the quantities prescribed for sleep are relatively
trivial --
-- I find Trazodone nasty even in tiny quantities, but some people swear
by it; there's something relatively new (in the US, at least) called
Remeron which I'd look into. In minute doses, it'll keep me asleep for the
night with virtually no `hangover' the next day, and it doesn't seem to
lose effectiveness like Ambien or other sleeping pills.
The other option, if it's at all possible, is for her to just accept that
that's what her body wants to do right now, and spend the 2-5 hours with a
book or other pass-time, and to @@@@ with the rest of the world's
schedule. Like I said, *if possible*...
