plantmedicine

  Insomnia, a common sleep disorder,   is also known as the Disorder of Initiation and/or Maintenance of Sleep (DIMS). Insomnia means one or more of the following. ·          Difficulty in initiating sleep ( going off to sleep). ·          Difficulty in maintaining sleep ( remaining asleep). This can include both: a. Frequent awakening during the night, and b. Early morning awakening. ·          Non-restorative sleep where despite an adequate duration of sleep, there is a feeling of not having rested fully (poor quality sleep). Insomnia is very common, with nearly 15-30% of general population complaining of a period of insomnia per year requiring treatment. It is required for diagnosis that sleep disturbance occurs at least three times a week for at least one month, and that it causes either marked distress or interfers with social and occupational functioning. Causes The common causes of insomnia include: a. Medical illness ·          Any painful or uncomfortable c

Hypochondriasis is defined as a persistent preoccupation with a fear or belief of having one or more serious disease or diseases, based on person’s own interpretation of normal body function or a major physical abnormality. It is also known as illness anxiety disorder The other important features of hypochondriasis are : ·          Complete physical examination and investigations do not show presence of any significant abnormality. ·          The fear or belief persists despite assurance to the contrary by showing normal reports to the patient. ·          The fear or belief is not a delusion but is instead an example of an overvalued idea. The patient may agree regarding the possibility of his exaggerating the graveness of situation, at that time. ·          A preoccupation with medical terms and syndromes is quite common. The patient tends to change the physician frequently, in order to get investigated again. The usual age of onset is in the late third decade. The course

Dementia is a chronic organic mental disorder, characterized by the following main clinical features ·          Impairment of intellectual functions ·          Impairment of memory, predominantly of recent memory, especially in early stages ·          Deterioration of personality with lack of personal care Impairment of all these functions occurs globally, causing interference with day-to-day activities and interpersonal relationships. There is impairment of judgment and impulse control, and also impairment of abstract thinking. There is however no impairment of consciousness. The course of dementia is usually progressive though some forms of dementia can be reversible.   Additional features may also be present. These include: ·          Emotional lability, marked variation in emotional expression. ·          Catastrophic reaction. When confronted with an assignment which is beyond the residual intellectual capacity, patient may go into a sudden range ·          Thought