Can sleeping pills lay my coronavirus fears to rest?

Q

I’VE always had a tendency to wake up in the early hours and then find it difficult to get back to sleep. But in the last few weeks it has got much worse. I’m overweight and because of my age I’ve been terrified of getting coronavirus as I know I could be badly affected.

I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything during the day and because I’m not getting enough sleep I don’t have the energy to exercise. I’ve tried sleep remedies from the chemist but they haven’t made any difference.

Would it be OK to ask my doctor for sleeping pills, I’m 67? I don’t want to waste her time.

ATHE Covid pandemic hasn’t just caused terrible physical illness, but has had a huge effect on mental health as well.Waking early is a classic sign of depression, which is often linked with anxiety and it sounds as if you are finding it impossible to switch off from worrying about coronavirus infection.

Sleeping pills – whether herbal from the chemist or on prescription from your doctor – are not the answer to this.They don’t give a natural night’s sleep and, more importantly, they don’t tackle the underlying problem causing the sleep disturbance. Antidepressant medication, which can also help relieve anxiety, is likely to be far more beneficial to you and can also also help improve sleep. Be warned, however, that to begin with they can sometimes make sleep disturbance a bit worse.

I think you would also benefit from some talking therapy to help to tackle your constant worrying. Being honest, you are more at risk from Covid, because of your age and weight.You can’t change your age but you can tackle your waistline and if you can shrink that, your risk will fall.

So even though you feel tired, make a real effort to get outside, do some exercise and get a little sunshine on your skin as well because boosting your vitamin D levels will also help your immune system.

QOVER the last few weeks my 22-year-old daughter, who has been staying with us since March while working from home, has had several attacks of hives. Her skin suddenly becomes covered in big itchy blotches for a few hours, for no apparent reason. We can’t make a link with any food she has eaten. I’ve read that this can be a sign of Covid-19 infection, so should I arrange for her to be tested?

ASKIN rashes, including an itchy blotchy one, like hives, have been described in people with Covid-19 infection. However they have had other symptoms as well, such as a cough, a fever and muscle aches while the rash has been a one off, single event.

It hasn’t come and gone over several weeks. I therefore think it more likely that your daughter has had attacks of what medics call urticarial, which is a raised, very itchy rash that can vary in size from a few just a couple of millimetres