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Insomnia is Trouble sleeping Or the person is unable to continue with it. It can be dealt with by knowing its causes and changing the habits that lead to it, but in some cases a person may need to take medications, so what are these cases? What are the most prominent sleeping medications? What are the warnings of using it?
When a person suffers from insomnia, he may wake up during the night or wake up very early the next morning. Without adequate sleep, he may feel sleepy during the day, and this can make him more vulnerable to accidents at work or home, and also make driving dangerous.
A person may feel angry from lack of sleep, while some people have difficulty remembering things, do not accomplish many tasks, and do not enjoy being with family and friends.
Some people use caffeine through coffee and tea to help them cope with fatigue, but this may exacerbate their sleep problem.
Stress, for example, can prevent a person from sleeping well from time to time, and the problem can last for several days or weeks, and often improves in less than a month.
Chronic insomnia
But trouble sleeping can turn into a long-term problem, especially when you worry about not sleeping well. A long-term sleep problem is called chronic insomnia. One of its symptoms is often another health problem, such as depression or chronic pain.
Chronic insomnia is less common than short-term sleep problems.
Insomnia can occur due to menopause or problems such as depression, anxiety, and sleep apnea, and treating these conditions may relieve the person of the sleep problem.
When do you need medications to treat insomnia?
If the sleep problem is not related to previous conditions, or has been treated – such as depression – and the person cannot sleep well, then the doctor may prescribe sleeping pills.
Your doctor may recommend sleeping pills if:
- You need help right away to solve the sleep problem that is causing you problems.
- You tried to change your lifestyle and are still having trouble sleeping.
- You only plan to take it for a few weeks.
- You plan to try lifestyle changes while taking sleeping pills.
Sleeping pills work best and are safer if you use them for a short period and change your lifestyle.
Research shows that lifestyle and behavior changes are the best long-term option to help you sleep well.
Sleeping pills may have side effects, such as daytime sleepiness and nausea. Sleep medication may not work as well as your body gets used to it, and you may experience withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking the medication.
How effective are sleeping pills?
Sleeping pills work well to help a person with insomnia sleep. It can help for a short period to break the cycle of poor sleep, but over time, the medication does not work as well as changes in lifestyle and behavior. Some sleeping pills may be effective in part because of the placebo effect.
The placebo effect means that a person feels better because he took a medicine, even if the medicine was not effective or even if it was just a pill that did not contain any medical substance.
Your doctor may order you to take a sleeping pill every night for a few weeks. Or it can be taken for just a few nights each week. This is called intermittent therapy.
So you have to make sure to take the pills exactly as your doctor says.
Sleep medications
Your doctor can prescribe the right medication for your sleep problems, Never take it without a prescription.
Here are some types of medications used to treat sleep disorders, according to a report in WebMed.
Anti-Parkinson’s medications (dopamine agonists)
Examples include gabapentin, enacarbil (Horizant), pramipexole (Mirapex), ropinirole (Requip), and rotigotine (Neupro). These medications can be used to treat restless leg syndrome.
Benzodiazepines
Examples include alprazolam (Xanax), clonazepam (Klonopin), diazepam (Diastat, Valium), estazolam (Prosom), orazepam (Ativan), temazepam (Restoril), and triazolam (Halcion).
Sometimes, they are also used to treat teeth grinding and short-term insomnia. These ancient sleeping pills may come in handy when you need an insomnia medication that stays in your system longer.
These medications have some serious downsides, as they can cause addiction and dependence. Dependence means that you have physical withdrawal when you stop it.
Non-benzodiazepine hypnotics
Such as eszopiclone (Lunesta), zaleplon (Sonata), and zolpidem (Ambien, Edluar, Intermezzo, Zolpimist). These medications are used to treat short-term insomnia.
Melatonin receptor activator
It’s called ramelteon (Rozerem), and it’s used to treat insomnia.
Anticonvulsants
Such as carbamazepine (Carbatrol, Epitol, Tegretol), gabapentin (Neurontin), gabapentin enacarbil (Horizant), pregabalin (Lyrica), and valproate (Depakene, Depakote, Depacon). These medications can be used to treat night eating syndrome, restless legs syndrome, periodic limb movement disorder, and insomnia associated with bipolar disorder.
Antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications
Some medications used to treat anxiety and depression can be used for sleep, as drowsiness is one of their main side effects. These include medications such as mirtazepine (Remeron), quetiapine (Seroquel), and trazodone (Desyrel).
Orexin receptor antagonists
Orexins are chemicals involved in regulating the sleep-wake cycle and play a role in keeping a person awake. This type of medication changes the action of orexin in the brain.
These medications include daredorexant (Quevevic), lemborexant (Devigo), and suvorexant (Belsomra).
Doxepin (Silinor)
This is a sleeping medication that is approved for use in people who have difficulty sleeping.
Over-the-counter sleep aids
Most of these sleeping pills are antihistamines. There is no evidence that it is effective in treating insomnia, and it can cause some drowsiness the next day.
It’s safe enough to be sold without a prescription, but if you take other medications that also contain antihistamines — such as cold or allergy medications — you may unintentionally take too much.
Warnings of using hypnotics
Use caution, because sleep medications can cause rare allergic reactions, and people have been warned that taking sleep medications at night can impair their ability to drive or be fully alert even the next day.
Sleep medications are not for long-term use. So talk to your doctor if you’re still having trouble sleeping after two weeks.
A long-term solution to insomnia
On the other hand, the best long-term way to sleep well is to make changes in lifestyle and behavior.
There are many things you can try, including:
- Change the place and time of your sleep
- Stay away from caffeine and stimulants after midday
- Eat dinner 3 hours before bed
- Maintain regular sleep and wake times 7 days a week
- Avoid taking naps during the day
- Do relaxation exercises
