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It has been said that only five percent of patients ever have an adequate evaluation of their sleep issues by any physician. (3) This is unfortunate, because lack of sleep is such a common problem. The term commonly applied to trouble getting a good night’s sleep is insomnia, but there are over one hundred sleep disorders. These are separate problems often associated with pain and stress. Two major disorders are restless leg syndrome and sleep apnea.

If sleep medications, pain medication and stress management do not help your sleep over a reasonable period of time, then you might want to get further testing by a sleep specialist to establish a firm diagnosis.

If you have a sleep disorder, then the strategies I outlined in the earlier posts will not be completely effective.  With sleep apnea, you require a positive pressure breathing system to really get a good night’s sleep.  Restless leg syndrome responds well to the category of medications used to treat Parkinson’s disease.

BF

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