I Never Sleep Through the Night: Can You Help?

Problems sleeping thwart good health, productivity, and, for over 50 million Americans, a sleep disorder is to blame. This is any type of chronic condition that interferes with the amount, quality, or timing of sleep a person should be getting in order to support their health and help them function during the day. 

There are many conditions that might be responsible for keeping you up or interrupting sound sleep repeatedly through the night. 

You can’t power your way through a sleep disorder — its negative effects can't be ignored, and they don’t get better on their own. Fortunately, the knowledgeable and dedicated care team at Houston Neurological Institute treats a wide range of sleep disorders and has replaced nights filled with fitful sleep with restful ones for scores of patients. 

We’re committed to leaving no stone unturned when it comes to evaluating you and getting to the bottom of your sleep disturbance. 

Why can’t you get the rest you want — and need — at night?

When something interferes with your high-quality rest, it’s hard to ignore. Problems with disturbed sleep include:

• Decreased performance at work and school, thanks to daytime tiredness
• Strained relationships due to mood shifts caused by exhaustion
• Problems focusing
• Weight gain
• Lowered libido and sexual dysfunction
• Serious health conditions, like type 2 diabetes, stroke, and heart attack

This list reflects the fact that sleep problems affect you physically and emotionally. Bad sleep disrupts your body’s critical ability to repair and recharge itself.

Which sleep disorder might you be coping with?

There are an array of sleep disorders that may be preventing all-night-long peaceful slumber.

1. Insomnia

There are few things more frustrating than being unable to fall asleep or stay asleep. As you stare at the clock, you become more and more agitated, since you know you’ll still need to make that important presentation at work, meet a critical deadline, or drive the kids in the school carpool the next morning, no matter what. 

You know you’re absolutely exhausted and desperate to drift off, but you can’t. Unfortunately, warm milk, counting sheep, and other home-grown strategies simply don’t help.

2. Sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea is a worrisome condition because even though you fall asleep initially, the soft tissues in the back of your throat relax and block your windpipe, causing you to stop breathing for a brief period. Your brain senses this danger and causes you to wake up, often gasping. 

When sleep apnea is severe, this can happen hundreds of times a night — certainly not a recipe for good rest. 

3. Restless legs syndrome (RLS)

This problem causes discomfort in your legs, and an urgent need to move them in order to get more comfortable as you’re trying to go to sleep for the night. The disconcerting sensations in your leg can feel achy, throbbing, itchy, and “creepy crawly.”

Unfortunately, moving your legs only provides temporary relief, and this cycle prevents you from falling into a restorative sleep.

4. Nocturnal seizures

These seizures, which affect those living with epilepsy, are prompted by electrical activity in the brain during some stages of the sleep-wake cycle. 

Symptoms that ruin a good night’s sleep include violent arm and leg movements, moving around restlessly, loud vocalizations, and waking suddenly and feeling disoriented. 

Since these seizures can happen more than once per night, it makes for rest that’s anything but peaceful.

It’s important to visit your provider at Houston Neurological Institute if you’re experiencing any of the symptoms of the conditions above so you can get your sleep back on track.

Treating sleep disorders

Treatments we might recommend include:

• Using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device if you live with sleep apnea
• InspireⓇ, an implantable device for treating sleep apnea
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for insomnia
• Counseling about developing good sleep hygiene and routines to improve insomnia
• Prescription medications for insomnia
• Medications for RLS: dopamine agonists, per new research
• Electronic stimulation: helps people coping with RLS
• Getting enough sleep, avoiding triggers, and medications help nighttime seizures

Before you can be properly treated for a sleep disorder, however, you need to be evaluated by your Houston Neurological Institute provider, so they can create a treatment plan specifically for you. 

Fortunately, we’re equipped with a full-service sleep center, where you can participate in a sleep study or sleep consultations. We also offer maintenance of wakefulness tests (MWT), which measure daytime alertness, multiple sleep latency tests (MSLT), which measure daytime alertness, and CPAP studies. 

All sleep center tests are administered by board-certified sleep experts. 

Call Houston Neurological Institute’s Pasadena or Pearland office to get started with learning more about your sleep disorder — and getting it treated — or book an appointment with us online.