Maarten Vasbinder lives in Isaan. His profession is general practitioner, a profession that he mainly practiced in Spain. On Thailandblog he answers questions from readers who live in Thailand and writes about medical facts.
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Dear Martin,
I am a man of 66 years young, smoker (20 a day) but not a drinker. I used a sleeping pill (Zolpidem) for 25 years and stopped taking it for 2 months, that took a lot of willpower, with all kinds of withdrawal symptoms. As I said, no problem for 2 months, but now I'm at it again, otherwise I won't sleep.
After searching the internet, I keep coming up with some kind of hormonal disturbance caused by the adrenal glands. All the symptoms described there (restless, unable to fall asleep, back pain, digestive problems, restless legs, etc.) apply to me, but no real solution is offered.
Can you help me ?
Regards,
P.
*****
Dear P.
Insomnia is common in the elderly. This is also because the elderly seem to need less sleep.
Zolpidem is indeed highly addictive. My advice is to stop smoking. Nicotine can also lead to insomnia and many other complaints: www.insleep.nl/sleepproblems/influence-smoking-on-sleep/
Quitting smoking also causes insomnia, but that will pass. Once you have stopped, you can go off Zolpidem again.
The lungs play an important role in hormone regulation. Not everything is known about this yet. Lung damage can interfere with that role, which can lead to, among other things, complaints that seem to originate from poorly functioning adrenal glands.
Adrenal problems can be a cause of your complaints, but are not at the top of the list of possibilities. In that case, blood tests, starting with cortisol, can provide clarity. If there is something wrong with that, a whole series of investigations will follow.
My most important advice in your case, in addition to quitting smoking, is to have a proper check-up, including a low-dose CT scan of the lungs, if not done recently. be done.
A simple X-ray of your lungs is not enough.
This is urgent advice.
Sincerely,
Dr. Maarten