Insomnia and Multiple Sclerosis

People with MS experience a whole area of complex symptoms such as fatigue, pain, reduced use of limbs, vision problems, sexual problems, bladder and bowel problems. In addition, insomnia is another symptom that leads to discomfort and it is affecting the quality of life of people with MS. Many people with MS accuse sleep problems, although they may not be the direct result of the disease.

As a direct factor that can lead to insomnia is the location of lesions in the central nervous system. Often these problems occur as secondary effects of factors such as stress, spasticity, lack of activity (in general), depression or anxiety. Inability to fall asleep or stay asleep is recognized as insomnia, one of the well-known sleep disorders.

Studies show that the prevalence of sleep problems is significantly higher in people with MS than in the general population or in people who are suffering from other chronic diseases, and these problems are independent of age, sex, education, specific treatment and disease duration, but are related to anxiety and depression. Often insomnia marks the onset of a depressive episode and is among the main complaints of patients.

There are several symptoms of insomnia:
- early morning awakening, by four o'clock or five in the morning, with a sinister restlessness and considerations, with a fear of the next day,
- difficulty falling asleep, waking up repeatedly during the night.
- waking up often during the night and having trouble going back to sleep
Fatigue is subject to insomnia, the depressed person is not felling restful after sleep. Some forms of depression are accompanied by an extension of time sleeping (hypersomnia), but without being felt as a boon. Improving sleep quality by treating insomnia is associated with decrease of  psychological tension or loss of physically and mentally discomfort created by lack of sleep and optimal rest required.

Individual group therapy or psychotherapy is a treatment that is effective in improving sleep quality when insomnia is caused or related to mental and emotional state of the person. Of course this psychological treatments does not have maximum effect and aren't enough in addressing the multitude of factors that can lead to insomnia in multiple sclerosis patients.
For insomnia causes on physiological level (bladder problems, spasticity, etc..) the treatment is based on drugs, but changes in the daily schedule, lifestyle and diet can lead to significant improvements.

Suggestions to avoid Insomnia:
- Relax before sleeping. Try not to resume all daily problems or to worry about tomorrow's schedule.
- Go to sleep when you're tired.
- Adapt light, temperature and sit comfortable in bed. If you do not fall asleep in the first 10-15 minutes, get up and try to do something active that can increase levels of physical fatigue. Do not stay in bed counting the seconds or waiting to fall asleep. That would be something unpleasant activity. So, in that why you will not associate insomnia with pleasurable activities. Return to bed only when you feel tired.
- If insomnia often occur at night, avoid sleeping during the day. You can rest without sleeping.
- Avoid using the bed for other activities (reading, eating, playing cards) than sleep and sex. Thus your body and your mind will associate the bed only to those activities.
- Do not worry about the possibility of having sleep disorders. As you will focus on this topic, before sleeping, anxiety will grow and it will reactivate other thoughts (on the same topic or related topics) that will lead to a longer period of sleeplessness.
- Do not make a preoccupation to count how many hours you sleep at night and how many have been up. You can make such an estimate in the morning.

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Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms

Multiple sclerosis symptoms generally occur in people aged between 20 and 40 years. Most times a patient may be suspected of Multiple Sclerosis if it has two or more symptoms of the disease. But even so, these symptoms are not always sufficient to diagnose the disease.

Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis is done through a series of MRI's and analyzes of cerebrospinal fluid.

Signs of early Multiple Sclerosis

The most common symptoms of onset multiple sclerosis are:
    -motor deficits such as weakness, stiffness, tendency to drop things in hand, feeling of heaviness in the usual movements, clumsiness or clumsiness, lack of coordination of movements;
    -visual disturbances such as blurred vision, dark spots or blurred, pain in the eye (especially their movements), double vision;
    -optic neuritis, which is a sudden loss of vision, accompanied by eye pain is a fairly common manifestation of disease onset, occurring in about 23% of people with multiple sclerosis;
    sensory symptoms such as tingling, pricking needle, needles, a tightening band around the torso or legs, feel the electrical impulses moving along the back, drain through the legs.

Advanced signs of Multiple Sclerosis

As multiple sclerosis progresses, symptoms may become more severe and may include:
    -increased motor deficits, may become so severe that walking becomes difficult, without excluding travel with a wheelchair be used periodically or permanently;
    -urinary incontinence or, more rarely, an inability to urinate;
    -constipation and other bowel disorders;
    -cognitive alterations, such as memory loss, difficulty concentrating, decreased attention;
    -emotional and behavioral disorders, such as depression, anxiety and anger.

Signs of accelerated rise of Multiple Sclerosis

Events that may indicate a more severe evolution of multiple sclerosis are:-frequent relapses during the first years of disease onset;
    -incomplete recovery between episodes;
    -motor difficulties arose early, persistent, significantly affect movement ability;
    -multiple injuries and "silent", which can be distinguished by MRI (magnetic resonance investigation), even though these injuries do not appear to be the cause of existing symptoms at some point.

There are cases where the patient may be asymptomatic. Most patients with multiple sclerosis live for decades. Although often those who are affected by Multiple sclerosis develop different motor disabilities, illness rarely threatening their life and, usually doesn't reduce the natural duration of the existence of the person concerned.

In most patients there is a type of relapsing-remitting disease type, after about a decade, about half of them will have secondary progressive development. Primary progressive multiple sclerosis occurs in a small number of people in all those with this condition. Some patients have only mild episodes with complete healing. This form is called benign multiple sclerosis.

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