Chronic insomnia can be difficult to treat, and long-term medication use is not the solution for many patients. Even with medication and cognitive-behavioral therapy, some people will struggle with sleeplessness for years—especially if chronic pain is involved.
If sleep improves by 60% to 80% after treatment for long-term insomnia, you're considered a success, says Michael J. Sateia, MD, chief of sleep medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. In clinical trials, insomniacs are sometimes considered "cured" when it takes less than 30 minutes to fall asleep, and they spend less than 30 minutes being awake at night. While no exact number can be applied to all patients, it can be a loose benchmark for doctors and patients to aim for.
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More about long-term disorders
Conditions such as restless legs syndrome and narcolepsy can last forever—and because they're suspected to have a genetic link, there's not much doctors can do to eliminate them. Instead, they aim to keep symptoms under control with medication and behavior modifications.
Sometimes RLS is caused by an underlying factor such as diabetes or iron deficiency; in that case, getting appropriate treatment may eliminate RLS symptoms permanently.
Finding the right treatment for whatever condition you're suffering from can be a long, and sometimes never-ending, process. And your quest isn't made any easier by the memory problems, exhaustion, and irritability you're probably experiencing, on top of stress about the condition itself. While you're struggling with treatment for your sleep disorder, you'll need ways to cope with its daily consequences—at work, on the road, and while interacting with friends and family.
