Treatment of sleep disorders, appointed by a neurologist, depends on the cause of their occurrence. If this is a physical pathology, then therapy should be directed to the underlying disease. Reducing the depth of sleep and its duration, occurring in old age, is natural and often requires only an explanatory conversation with the patient. Before resorting to the treatment of sleep disorders with sleeping pills, you should follow the general rules of healthy sleep: do not go to bed in a nervous or angry state, do not eat before going to bed, do not drink alcohol, coffee or strong tea for the night, do not sleep in day time, exercise regularly, but do not exercise at night, keep clean in the bedroom. Patients with sleep disorders are useful to go to bed and wake up every day at the same time. If you can not fall asleep within 30-40 minutes, you have to get up and do things until you have a desire to sleep. You can introduce every evening calming procedures: a walk or a warm bath. Coping with sleep disorders is often helped by psychotherapy, various relaxing techniques.
As a drug for sleep disorders, benzodiazepine drugs are often used. Preparations with a short duration of action – triazolam and midazolam prescribed for violations of the process of falling asleep. But with their admission, there are often side reactions: agitation, amnesia, confusion, as well as violation of morning sleep. Sleeping drugs with long-acting diazepam, flurazepam, chlordiazepoxide are used in early morning or frequent nocturnal awakenings. However, they often cause daytime sleepiness. In such cases, prescribe medications for the average time of action – zopiclone and zolpidem. These drugs are characterized by a lower risk of dependence or tolerance.
Another group of drugs used in sleep disorders are antidepressants: amitriptyline, mianserin, doxepin. They do not lead to addiction, are shown to patients aged, patients with depressive conditions or suffering from chronic pain syndrome. But a large number of side effects limit their use.
In severe cases of sleep disorders and in the absence of the result of the use of other drugs, patients with confused consciousness use neuroleptics with a sedative effect: levomepromazine, promethazine, chlorprotixen. In cases of pathological somnolence, mild stimulants of the central nervous system are prescribed: glutamine and ascorbic acid, calcium preparations. At the expressed disturbances – psychotonic: iproniazid, imipramine.
Treatment of sleep rhythm disturbances in elderly patients is carried out in a complex combination of vasodilator drugs (nicotinic acid, papaverine, bendazole, vinpocetine), CNS stimulants and light tranquilizers of plant origin (valerian, motherwort). Admission of hypnotic drugs can be carried out only on the prescription of a doctor and under his supervision. After the end of the course of treatment, it is necessary to gradually reduce the dose of the drug and carefully reduce it to zero.