Brief Answer:
insomnia is likey part of your psychological problem,provide more details

Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX

Thanks for writing to us. I can understand your concern.

By FFI you mean fatal familial insomnia if I am not wrong. It is very rare condition and runs in family. From your history your insomnia seems secondary to psychological problem.

Insomnia (sleep disturbance) is of two types:

1. Primary: There is problem of only sleep disturbance and no other physical or psychological problem is there. In this case treatment for sleep problem is needed.

2. Secondary: There is some underlying physical or psychological problem which is responsible for sleep disturbance. In this, main treatment is done for underlying problem.

First of all try to follow some measures called 'sleep hygiene' which would help in sleep. You can find the same in below link.

sleepfoundation.org/ask-the-expert/sleep-hygiene

Drinking a cup of warm milk before going to bed helps in 30-40% of patients and they do not need medicines as per my clinical experience.

As such drugs from benzodiazepine group and Z group sedatives are used in sleep disturbance. But all are prescription medicines and you need to consult doctor for prescription. Anti-histaminic and melatonin are also used sometime when sleep problem is not severe.

Let me know more so I can guide you further.

- Since when are you suffering from sleep disturbance?

- What is type of sleep disturbance there? Is there difficulty in sleep onset, fragmentation of sleep or early morning awakening?

- What was the schedule (timing) and duration of sleep before the problem started? How much reduction in sleep from previous?

-Which type of stress do you have (it can be social, economical, relationship, study/work or emotional)?

- Do you have any physical illness?

- Have you tried any medication? If yes, please provide the details of the same with effectiveness.

Hope I have answered your query, I will be happy to help further.

Regards,

Dr.Chintan Solanki.

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