Insomnia - How to Diagnose Sleep Disorders

The term insomnia comes from the Greek, literally meaning lack of sleep or no sleep. When people think of a sleep disorder, I think insomnia commonly pops into the head. Most people at some point in their lives experience a mild case of insomnia, that comes and goes, sometimes in response to stress, grief or depression. Insomnia has a number of different causes.

It has a number of different ways to be relieved. It all depends on, sort of, what's going on or the underlying cause of the insomnia. It's not uncommon for children to have bouts of insomnia or for adults. Generally, insomnia resolves itself. When insomnia doesn't resolve, when people have chronic problems getting asleep or when that lack of sleep is causing irritability, fatigue or other issues during the day, that's when we see people in the Sleep Disorders Office for insomnia.

Patients are often seen when a primary care physician issues a prescription for a sleep aid, such as, Ambien, Lunesta or something of the like, that you've seen on TV and for some of the other medications that we may have. It's not uncommon for a primary care physician to refer a patient on to a sleep disorders physician when a temporary prescription or something like that fails to aid the insomnia patient or if the insomnia continues beyond the span of 7 to 14 days.