Paradoxical insomnia: a case report

A diagnosis of paradoxical insomnia is made in patients presenting with the complaint of insomnia despite normal polysomnographic findings. These patients argue that they never sleep or have little sleep only for a few hours. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment options are available for the treatment of paradoxical insomnia. Although its prevalence can be as high as 50% in the clinical samples and studies, clinicians may not remember to include paradoxical insomnia in the differential diagnosis. In this article, we present a patient, who was diagnosed with paradoxical insomnia for the first time in our polysomnography laboratory. The patient had accompanying sleep apnea and responded to the treatment with olanzapine and psychoeducation, comprising polysomnographic video recordings and instructions of sleep hygiene. Because this is the first case presentation from our country, characterized by the abovementioned clinical features; we think that this article may increase clinician awareness and contribute to the information in the literature.