Insomnia is a common health concern – One local woman shares her story
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – Insomnia is a disorder many are familiar with but may not understand its severity.
After struggling with an intense case of insomnia nearly her whole life, Shauna Schumann is no stranger to agonizing sleepless nights. She finally found relief and is telling others who may struggle that there is hope after her diagnosis was downplay for decades.
"It's such a relief to feel like I'm not crazy anymore," she said.
It is common for people to experience insomnia symptoms here and there, but only 10-15% of people are actually diagnosed with the disorder itself according to the National Sleep Foundation.
Brian Fortuin, the Sleep Disorders Medical Director for Madison Health, said, "Most people experience insomnia at some point in their life, and a third of people experience significant insomnia that lasts longer than just one or two nights."
Those sleepless nights posing a threat to health.
"We all agree that sleep is important and it restores us mentally, physically, psychologically, and just in general," Fortuin said. "So getting to sleep is critically important."
Many times, it's a person's own thoughts keeping them awake. One of the main risk factors of insomnia is just being a woman; Two things of which Schumann could relate.
"For me, it's just not being able to turn off my brain to go to sleep," she said. "And there were times when I would kind of start to drift and then all of a sudden my brain would be like, 'Don't forget this!' And it would be like a jolt, and then I'm like 'Oh, I'm awake now.'"
Schumann suffered with almost a lifetime of minimal sleep, unaware of what could be wrong.
"It didn't even occur to me that i had insomnia," she said. "I would just go to bed and lay there and be really mad at my husband who was snoring... I wasn't really mad he was snoring. I was mad he was asleep."
Her doctor eventually prescribing her with Quviviq, a medication that has changed her life. Schumann said, "It honestly took a couple of weeks for it to fully work. But the first night I was like, 'This is working pretty good for me.' And then I was like, 'I wonder what it will be like when it really starts to work.'"
But in less extreme cases, insomnia can be treated naturally with proper and consistent sleep habits, schedule, new eating habits and more according to NSF.
"Almost any sleep thing you do, whether it be a medication or having cookies and milk or brushing your teeth. Your body wants those habits, so you're always it's going to become a habitual thing that you're going to have trouble sleeping if you don't have your favorite teddy bear or blankie or whatever it might be," Fortuin said.
If you feel your case is severe like Schumann, you can contact a medical sleep specialist.
